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EasyBar Native Quick Start

This guide installs EasyBar Native, adds one Lua package, and verifies that you are operating on the Native frontend's isolated state.

1. Install and launch

brew tap easybar-app/tap
brew install --cask easybar-app/tap/easybar-native
open -a "EasyBar Native"

Confirm that the Native launcher is available:

easybar-native --version

2. Add a Lua widget

Install the official Caffeinate package into Native's package store:

easybar-native widgets install caffeinate
easybar-native config reload

A Caffeinate status item should appear in the normal macOS menu-bar area. The package uses the system /usr/bin/caffeinate command and does not require an EasyBar helper agent.

Verify the installation when the item does not appear:

easybar-native widgets installed
easybar-native logs --runtime lua --level debug --follow

Leave the log command running and issue easybar-native config reload from another terminal to capture a fresh load attempt.

3. Know which state you changed

The command above writes below:

~/.local/share/easybar-native/packages

It does not install the package for EasyBar. To use the same package in both frontends, install it again with easybar widgets install caffeinate.

4. Optional: add an Inbox publisher

Inbox is the one host-owned built-in in EasyBar Native. Lua packages can publish structured items into it without creating a separate status icon for every source. For example:

easybar-native widgets install inbox-brew
easybar-native config reload

The package requires Homebrew in the configured command path. Other Inbox publishers may require authentication through tools such as gh or glab; read the package page before installation.

What Native intentionally does not add

EasyBar Native does not turn the shared configuration schema's battery, Wi-Fi, calendar, Spaces, volume, CPU, or group sections into status items. Use Lua packages for custom Native items, or choose EasyBar when you want the complete native built-in set and full-width layout.

Next steps