Kitty Dashboard Panel

A system panel for Kitty terminal that displays real-time system metrics using terminal-based utilities.

Features

• Launches btop for system monitoring
• Displays real-time audio visualization with cava
• Shows system info (bluetooth, volume, brightness, wifi, location, microphone, screenshare, time, calender, weather)
• Uses kitty remote control to automate the entire setup.

Prerequisites

Ensure you have the following installed:

• Kitty terminal
• btop (for system monitoring)
• cava (for audio visualization)
• brightnessctl (for brightness control)
• pactl (PulseAudio control)
• iwconfig (for network info, part of wireless-tools)
• yay (AUR package manager for Arch-based systems)
• bluetoothctl (bluetooth management)
• curl (for weather)
• upower (for power management)
• pw-dump (pipewire for screenshare and microphone state monitoring)
• js (script interpreter)

For more information about the Kitty Config, refer to the Kitty Configuration Docs.

Installation

Clone the repository and make the script executable:

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/5hubham5ingh/kitty-panel
cd kitty-panel
chmod +x kittyPanel.js

Usage

Update btop config to add these presets-

presets = "net:0:default,mem:0:default,cpu:0:default,gpu1:0:default proc:0:default,gpu0:0:default"

Run the script to launch the dashboard:

kitty -1 -o allow_remote_control=yes -o window_margin_width=0 --hold -o background_opacity=0.8 -o window_border_width=0 ./kittyPanel.js

Or, to launch the bar

kitty +kitten panel -1 --edge=bottom --margin-bottom=5 --toggle-visibility -o background_opacity=0 -o font_size=10 --detach=yes ./kittyPanel.js --bar

This will:

1. Set the font size.
2. Split the Kitty window and launch btop.
3. Further split and launch cava.
4. Display real-time system info in another pane.

Hyprland setup

Set a special workplace, window, key-bind, start on system startup, etc-

# Define commands to launch bar and dashboard
$bar = kitty +kitten panel -1 --listen-on=unix:@bar --edge=bottom --margin-bottom=3 --toggle-visibility -o background_opacity=0 -o font_size=11 --detach=yes /PATH/TO/kittyPanel.js --bar
$dashboard = kitty -1 -o allow_remote_control=yes -o window_margin_width=0 --hold -o background_opacity=0.8 -o window_border_width=0 /PATH/TO/kittyPanel.js

# Launch on start-up (set only bar to launch on start-up then the single keybind will alternate the visibility of bar and dashboard)
# exec-once = hyprctl dispatch togglespecialworkspace dashboard
exec-once = $bar

# Key binds
bindd = $mainMod, d, Toggle dashboard workspace, togglespecialworkspace, dashboard
bindd = $mainMod, d, Toggle bar visibility, exec, $bar

# Workspace
workspace = special:dashboard, gapsout:50, bordersize:5, on-created-empty:$dashboard

Or, use window rules instead of special workspace like for the screen saver-

$screenSaver = kitty -1 -o background_opacity=0 --title=screenSaver /PATH/TO/screenSaver.js
windowrulev2 = float, title:^(screenSaver)$ 
windowrulev2 = pin, title:^(screenSaver)$
windowrulev2 = stayfocused, title:^(screenSaver)$
windowrulev2 = size 100% 100%, title:^(screenSaver)$
windowrulev2 = bordersize 0, title:^(screenSaver)$
windowrulev2 = noshadow, title:^(screenSaver)$
bindd = $mainMod, escape, Start screen saver, exec, $screenSaver

Result

kitty-panel-and-bar.mp4

Customization

Modify kittyPanel.js to:

• Change the font size
• Adjust window layout and sizes
• Add or replace utilities
• Change style and colors.