A minimalistic alternative to i3status, i3blocks or py3status. Each element of the status line is a Python class with a basic interface, polled by a controller class. Configuration is done by editing the entry point python code directly (and intuitively). This is much in the spirit of XMonad, except with fewer catamorphisms.

The emphasis is on total user control and code transparency. This application is geared toward those willing and able to program python to configure it.

To override the display style of a unit, write a class inheriting from it and override the format method. Details below.

A good place to do this would be in your local run_py9s.py file.

To add a new unit, derive the PY9Unit class and override the three core methods:

• read
• format and, optionally,
• handle_click

read takes no argument and produces a dict of output values. This dict will be processed by the format method. It is recommended to document the output well, following the convention in the example units.

format takes the dict output by read and outputs a string, with pango formatting, to be displayed on the statusline. For well written units, the documentation should document read's output, and format should be overwritable without delving into read's inner workings.

handle_click is called when the unit's output block is clicked on the status line. handle_click takes a dict corresponding to a click event (according to the i3bar JSON API) and returns nothing. Use your imagination.

In addition to in-string display styles and colours, which are controlled by unit.format, global styles conforming to the i3bar JSON API can be set in three ways, in increasing order of precedence:

• 1. at the instantiation of the PY9Status controller in run_py9s.py by passing an i3 API-conformant style dict to the chunk_kwargs kwarg. This will be applied to all units.
• 2. on a per-unit basis through the unit.permanent_overrides dict. When the unit's output is read, the style will be updated with these parameters.
• 3. on a per-unit basis through the unit.transient_overrides dict. Each time the unit's output is read, the style will be updated with these parameters, and this dictionary will be cleared by the control loop.

• 1. put py9core.py and py9s_default_units.py in your PYTHONPATH. pip install --user on this repo is the best way to achieve this.
• 2. put a copy of run_py9s.py in your PATH and configure i3 to run it with status_command run_py9s.py in your config. For the default units to work out of the box, enable pango formatting.
• 3. edit run_py9s.py to configure the output. Important entries to change are the network and drive names.