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Title:
Daybar
URL:
https://nandomoreira.dev/en/lab/noctalia-daybar

Daybar

Plugin for Noctalia Shell that gathers the day into a bar: a quick-capture field that understands free text ("buy bread tomorrow 9am" becomes a task, "/e meeting Friday 3pm-4pm" becomes an event on Google Calendar), plus today's checklist, pomodoro and timer (which also open in their own window or pinned to a screen corner), favorites with page preview and Markdown notes.

Problem

Logging a task, an appointment, a link or an idea meant opening a different app for each one and leaving what I was doing on the desktop.

Decisions

A plugin of the shell itself, in QML, instead of a separate app: everything opens by shortcut, from the bar. Capture identifies the type by the prefix (/e event, /l reminder, /n note), by a URL or by an account. Google Calendar is read and written through khal and synced by vdirsyncer, with OAuth credentials kept in the system keyring and not in a file. Pomodoro and timer share the same tab and only one runs at a time: starting one pauses the other, without losing the time that was left. Both also respond to capture (/t 10m tea starts a timer, /p starts or pauses the pomodoro) and leave the panel with a click, in a Niri window or as a small clock pinned to the screen corner.

Outcome

Personal use on my desktop with CachyOS and Niri, published under the MIT license. Tested on Noctalia 4.7.7; it does not yet run on Noctalia v5, which has a different plugin system, and the port is planned.

Shortcuts

  • Mod+Space: opens quick capture
  • Mod+Shift+Space: opens the panel with the tabs
  • Tab: switches the capture type
  • Enter: saves and closes
  • Shift+Enter: saves and keeps the field open
  • Esc: closes
  • Ctrl+E: switches the note preview for the editor
  • Ctrl+S: saves the note right away

Links

---
title: Daybar
url: https://nandomoreira.dev/en/lab/noctalia-daybar
collection: lab
tech:
  - QML
  - JavaScript
  - Noctalia Shell
  - Google Calendar
date: 2026-10-09
---

# Daybar

Plugin for Noctalia Shell that gathers the day into a bar: a quick-capture field that understands free text ("buy bread tomorrow 9am" becomes a task, "/e meeting Friday 3pm-4pm" becomes an event on Google Calendar), plus today's checklist, pomodoro and timer (which also open in their own window or pinned to a screen corner), favorites with page preview and Markdown notes.

## Problem

Logging a task, an appointment, a link or an idea meant opening a different
app for each one and leaving what I was doing on the desktop.

## Decisions

A plugin of the shell itself, in QML, instead of a separate app: everything
opens by shortcut, from the bar. Capture identifies the type by the prefix
(/e event, /l reminder, /n note), by a URL or by an account. Google Calendar
is read and written through khal and synced by vdirsyncer, with OAuth
credentials kept in the system keyring and not in a file. Pomodoro and timer
share the same tab and only one runs at a time: starting one pauses the
other, without losing the time that was left. Both also respond to capture
(/t 10m tea starts a timer, /p starts or pauses the pomodoro) and leave the
panel with a click, in a Niri window or as a small clock pinned to the
screen corner.

## Outcome

Personal use on my desktop with CachyOS and Niri, published under the MIT
license. Tested on Noctalia 4.7.7; it does not yet run on Noctalia v5, which
has a different plugin system, and the port is planned.

## Shortcuts

- `Mod+Space`: opens quick capture
- `Mod+Shift+Space`: opens the panel with the tabs
- `Tab`: switches the capture type
- `Enter`: saves and closes
- `Shift+Enter`: saves and keeps the field open
- `Esc`: closes
- `Ctrl+E`: switches the note preview for the editor
- `Ctrl+S`: saves the note right away

## Links

- Repo: https://github.com/nandomoreirame/noctalia-daybar

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