What is AnyBar?
AnyBar is a small menu-bar indicator that does one thing: it displays a coloured dot. What the dot means, and when it changes, is up to you. AnyBar listens on UDP port 1738 by default, so any script on the machine can change the dot — `echo -n "black" | nc -4u -w0 localhost 1738` sets it black. It understands 13 built-in styles (white, red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, black, question, exclamation, filled, hollow) and can also display custom 19×19 or 38×38 images from `~/.AnyBar`. It is open source under the Eclipse Public License.
Verified product facts
- Type
- menu bar indicatorEditorially reviewed
- Platform
- macOS
- Pricing
- Open sourceDeveloper-stated
- Open source
- Yes
- Relationship to Nuanyue
- Third-party product — not published by NuanyueEditorially reviewed
- Licence
- EPL-1.0
- Current version
- 0.2.3Developer-stated
- Official website
- github.com/tonsky/AnyBar
Last updated . Facts marked developer-stated come from the developer and are not independently confirmed; editorially reviewed marks a Nuanyue judgement.
Key features
What AnyBar does at a glance.
Displays a single coloured dot
In the menu bar
Controlled over UDP, port 1738 by default
Thirteen
Built-in styles including question, exclamation, filled and hollow
Displays custom 19×19 or 38×38 images
From the ~/.AnyBar directory
Runs several instances
On different ports with ANYBAR_PORT
Sets the initial dot colour
With ANYBAR_INIT and a title with ANYBAR_TITLE
What you can use AnyBar for
- Showing whether a long build succeeded, from the build script itself
- Marking a background job as finished without watching a terminal
Who is AnyBar for?
- People who already have scripts and want their output visible in the menu bar
- Users who want a status indicator they define rather than one an app picks
Who is AnyBar not for?
- People who want a fixed set of readouts — AnyBar shows one dot you choose the meaning of
Strengths and trade-offs
What AnyBar does well, and what to weigh before choosing it. Points marked developer-stated come from the developer’s own material and have not been independently confirmed.
Strengths
- Open source under the Eclipse Public License, with no account and no paid tier.
- Listens on UDP port 1738, so any script in any language can set the dot without a dedicated client.
- Client libraries exist for Bash, Zsh, Fish, Go, Node, Deno, PHP, Java, Python, Ruby, Rust, Nim, Erlang, C, C#, Crystal and Emacs.
- Takes custom 19×19 or 38×38 images from ~/.AnyBar, so the indicator is not limited to the 13 built-in styles.
Trade-offs
- The last version is 0.2.3, released 2021-02-18, so the project has not shipped in years.
- It shows one dot and nothing else — there is no text, no history and no graph.Editorially reviewed
- Anything sent over UDP is unauthenticated and unencrypted, so a listener is only appropriate on a machine you trust.Editorially reviewed
What it does
AnyBar shows one coloured dot in your menu bar. That is the whole app. The project’s own framing is that what the dot means, and when it changes, is up to you — AnyBar supplies the dot and nothing else.
The mechanism is what makes it usable. AnyBar listens on UDP port 1738, so anything on the machine can set it:
echo -n "black" | nc -4u -w0 localhost 1738There are 13 built-in styles: the eight colours plus black and white, question
and exclamation, and filled and hollow. The last two exist because on Big
Sur the menu bar’s text colour follows the wallpaper, so a fixed black or white
dot can disappear. filled and hollow invert with the menu bar’s appearance
instead.
Where it fits
Because the interface is a UDP port rather than a client library, every language can talk to it. The project lists working clients for Bash, Zsh, Fish, Go, Node, Deno, PHP, Java, Python, Ruby, Rust, Nim, Erlang, C, C#, Crystal and Emacs, plus AppleScript and an Alfred workflow. There are also integrations that already speak to it — a webpack build-status plugin, an IntelliJ plugin, a Jupyter extension, and a tool that monitors commands across iTerm tabs.
You can run several instances on different ports with ANYBAR_PORT, distinguish
them with ANYBAR_TITLE, and set their starting colour with ANYBAR_INIT. And
the dot is not limited to the built-ins: drop a 19×19 or 38×38 image in
~/.AnyBar and send its name.
Two things to know before relying on it. The last release is 0.2.3, from February 2021 — this is a finished app rather than a maintained one. And because it listens on UDP, anything on the machine can talk to it unauthenticated, which is fine for a laptop you control and worth thinking about on a shared one.
Questions about AnyBar
What does AnyBar actually show?
One coloured dot. The project states that what the dot means and when it changes is up to you.
How do I change the dot from a script?
Send a style name to UDP port 1738 — for example echo -n "black" | nc -4u -w0 localhost 1738, or in bash echo -n "black" > /dev/udp/localhost/1738.
Can I use my own icon?
Yes. Place a 19×19 (or 38×38 for retina) image in ~/.AnyBar and send its name to the port.
Can I run more than one AnyBar?
Yes. Set the ANYBAR_PORT environment variable and launch each instance with open -na AnyBar; ANYBAR_TITLE names them and ANYBAR_INIT sets the starting colour.
Alternatives to AnyBar
Apps that could replace this one — the same job, a different trade-off.
AirStats
Lightweight menu bar system monitor for CPU, GPU, memory, network, disk, battery, and temperature, with a desktop widget.
Both put status in the menu bar. AirStats shows fixed readouts for CPU, GPU, memory, network, disk and temperature; AnyBar shows one dot whose meaning your script decides.
stats
free Mac system monitor for the menubar.
Both are menu-bar indicators. Stats shows CPU, memory, network and disk sensors with graphs; AnyBar shows a single dot driven over UDP.
Works well with
Not a replacement — apps commonly used alongside this one.
Vorssaint
Open-source menu bar toolkit for per-app volume, system monitoring, window control, clipboard history, keeping awake, and app cleanup.
AnyBar is a blank slate your scripts drive; Vorssaint is a menu-bar toolkit with its own monitoring already built in.
Links
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the sources below. Last updated .
- AnyBar — official websiteGrade B
- AnyBar — source repositoryGrade D
