6 conky - A system monitor for X originally based on the torsmo code, but
7 more kickass. It just keeps on given’er. Yeah.
10 1mconky 22m[4moptions24m]
13 Conky is a system monitor for X originally based on torsmo. Since its
14 inception, Conky has changed significantly from its predecessor, while
15 maintaining simplicity and configurability. Conky can display just
16 about anything, either on your root desktop or in its own window. Not
17 only does Conky have many built-in objects, it can also display just
18 about any piece of information by using scripts and other external pro‐
21 Conky has more than 250 built in objects, including support for a
22 plethora of OS stats (uname, uptime, CPU usage, mem usage, disk usage,
23 "top" like process stats, and network monitoring, just to name a few),
24 built in IMAP and POP3 support, built in support for many popular music
25 players (MPD, XMMS2, BMPx, Audacious), and much much more. Conky can
26 display this info either as text, or using simple progress bars and
27 graph widgets, with different fonts and colours.
29 We are always looking for help, whether its reporting bugs, writing
30 patches, or writing docs. Please use the facilities at SourceForge to
31 make bug reports, feature requests, and submit patches, or stop by
32 #conky on irc.freenode.net if you have questions or want to contribute.
34 Thanks for your interest in Conky.
37 For users compiling from source on a binary distro, make sure you have
38 the X development libraries installed. This should be a package along
39 the lines of "libx11-dev" or "xorg-x11-dev" for X11 libs, and similar
40 "-dev" format for the other libs required (depending on your configure
43 Conky has (for some time) been available in the repositories of most
44 popular distributions. Here are some installation instructions for a
47 Gentoo users -- Conky is in Gentoo’s Portage... simply use "emerge app-
48 admin/conky" for installation. There is also usually an up-to-date
49 ebuild within Conky’s package or in the git repo.
51 Debian, etc. users -- Conky should be in your repositories, and can be
52 installed by doing "aptitude install conky".
54 Example to compile and run Conky with all optional components (note
55 that some configure options may differ for your system):
57 1msh autogen.sh # Only required if building from the git repo0m
59 1m./configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --in‐0m
60 1mfodir=/usr/share/info --datadir=/usr/share --sysconfdir=/etc --local‐0m
61 1mstatedir=/var/lib --disable-own-window --enable-audacious[=yes|no|lega‐0m
62 1mcy] --enable-bmpx --disable-hddtemp --disable-mpd --enable-xmms2 --dis‐0m
63 1mable-portmon --disable-network --enable-debug --disable-x11 --dis‐0m
64 1mable-double-buffer --disable-xdamage --disable-xft0m
68 1mmake install # Optional0m
72 Conky has been tested to be compatible with C99 C, however it has not
73 been tested with anything other than gcc, and is not guaranteed to work
78 Conky is generally very good on resources. That said, the more you try
79 to make Conky do, the more resources it is going to consume.
81 An easy way to force Conky to reload your ~/.conkyrc: "killall -SIGUSR1
82 conky". Saves you the trouble of having to kill and then restart. You
83 can now also do the same with SIGHUP.
86 Command line options override configurations defined in configuration
89 1m-v | -V | --version0m
90 Prints version and exits
94 Run Conky in ’quiet mode’ (ie. no output)
97 1m-a | --alignment=ALIGNMENT0m
98 Text alignment on screen, {top,bottom,middle}_{left,right,mid‐
102 1m-b | --double-buffer0m
103 Use double buffering (eliminates "flicker")
106 1m-c | --config=FILE0m
107 Config file to load instead of $HOME/.conkyrc
111 Daemonize Conky, aka fork to background
119 Prints command line help and exits
122 1m-o | --own-window0m
123 Create own window to draw
127 Text to render, remember single quotes, like -t ’ $uptime ’
130 1m-u | --interval=SECONDS0m
134 1m-w | --window-id=WIN_ID0m
147 Number of times to update Conky (and quit)
150 1mCONFIGURATION SETTINGS0m
151 Default configuration file location is $HOME/.conkyrc or
152 ${sysconfdir}/conky/conky.conf. On most systems, sysconfdir is /etc,
153 and you can find the sample config file there (/etc/conky/conky.conf).
155 You might want to copy it to $HOME/.conkyrc and then start modifying
156 it. Other configs can be found at http://conky.sf.net/
159 Aligned position on screen, may be top_left, top_right, top_mid‐
160 dle, bottom_left, bottom_right, bottom_middle, middle_left, mid‐
161 dle_right, or none (also can be abreviated as tl, tr, tm, bl,
166 Boolean value, if true, Conky will be forked to background when
171 Border margin in pixels
175 Border width in pixels
178 1mcolorN 22mPredefine a color for use inside TEXT segments. Substitute N by
179 a digit between 0 and 9, inclusively. When specifying the color
180 value in hex, omit the leading hash (#).
184 The number of samples to average for CPU monitoring
188 If true, cpu in top will show usage of one processor’s power. If
189 false, cpu in top will show the usage of all processors’ power
194 Default color and border color
197 1mdefault_outline_color0m
198 Default outline color
201 1mdefault_shade_color0m
202 Default shading color and border’s shading color
206 Use the Xdbe extension? (eliminates flicker) It is highly recom‐
207 mended to use own window with this one so double buffer won’t be
212 Draw borders around text?
215 1mdraw_graph_borders0m
216 Draw borders around graphs?
227 1mfont 22mFont name in X, xfontsel can be used to get a nice font
230 1mgap_x 22mGap, in pixels, between right or left border of screen, same as
231 passing -x at command line, e.g. gap_x 10
234 1mgap_y 22mGap, in pixels, between top or bottom border of screen, same as
235 passing -y at command line, e.g. gap_y 10.
239 How strict should if_up be when testing an interface for being
240 up? The value is one of up, link or address, to check for the
241 interface being solely up, being up and having link or being up,
242 having link and an assigned IP address.
245 1mimap 22mDefault global IMAP server. Arguments are: "host user pass [-i
246 interval] [-f folder] [-p port] [-e command] [-r retries]". De‐
247 fault port is 143, default folder is ’INBOX’, default interval
248 is 5 minutes, and default number of retries before giving up is
249 5. If the password is supplied as ’*’, you will be prompted to
250 enter the password when Conky starts.
254 Mail spool for mail checking
257 1mmax_port_monitor_connections0m
258 Allow each port monitor to track at most this many connections
259 (if 0 or not set, default is 256)
263 Maximum number of special things, e.g. fonts, offsets, aligns,
264 etc. (default is 512)
267 1mmax_user_text bytes0m
268 Maximum size of user text buffer, i.e. layout below TEXT line in
269 config file (default is 16384 bytes)
272 1mtext_buffer_size bytes0m
273 Size of the standard text buffer (default is 256 bytes). This
274 buffer is used for intermediary text, such as individual lines,
275 output from $exec vars, and various other variables. Increasing
276 the size of this buffer can drastically reduce Conky’s perfor‐
277 mance, but will allow for more text display per variable. The
278 size of this buffer cannot be smaller than the default value of
282 1mmaximum_width pixels0m
283 Maximum width of window
286 1mminimum_size width (height)0m
287 Minimum size of window
302 1mmusic_player_interval0m
303 Music player thread update interval (defaults to Conky’s update
308 The number of samples to average for net data
312 Substract (file system) buffers from used memory?
315 1moverride_utf8_locale0m
316 Force UTF8? requires XFT
320 Boolean, create own window to draw?
324 Manually set the WM_CLASS name. Defaults to "Conky".
327 1mown_window_colour colour0m
328 If own_window_transparent no, set a specified background colour
329 (defaults to black). Takes either a hex value (#ffffff) or a
330 valid RGB name (see /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt)
333 1mown_window_hints undecorated,below,above,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager0m
334 If own_window is yes, you may use these window manager hints to
335 affect the way Conky displays. Notes: Use own_window_type desk‐
336 top as another way to implement many of these hints implicitly.
337 If you use own_window_type override, window manager hints have
338 no meaning and are ignored.
342 Manually set the window name. Defaults to "<hostname> - conky".
345 1mown_window_transparent0m
346 Boolean, set pseudo-transparency?
350 if own_window is yes, you may specify type normal, desktop, dock
351 or override (default: normal). Desktop windows are special win‐
352 dows that have no window decorations; are always visible on your
353 desktop; do not appear in your pager or taskbar; and are sticky
354 across all workspaces. Override windows are not under the con‐
355 trol of the window manager. Hints are ignored. This type of win‐
356 dow can be useful for certain situations.
360 Print text to stdout.
364 Pad percentages to this many decimals (0 = no padding)
367 1mpop3 22mDefault global POP3 server. Arguments are: "host user pass [-i
368 interval] [-p port] [-e command] [-r retries]". Default port is
369 110, default interval is 5 minutes, and default number of re‐
370 tries before giving up is 5. If the password is supplied as ’*’,
371 you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
375 Shortens units to a single character (kiB->k, GiB->G, etc.). De‐
380 Shows the maximum value in scaled graphs.
384 Shows the time range covered by a graph.
388 Border stippling (dashing) in pixels
392 Desired output unit of all objects displaying a temperature.
393 Parameters are either "fahrenheit" or "celsius". The default
394 unit is degree Celsius.
398 Define a template for later use inside TEXT segments. Substitute
399 N by a digit between 0 and 9, inclusively. The value of the
400 variable is being inserted into the stuff below TEXT at the cor‐
401 responding position, but before some substitutions are applied:
406 ’\N’ -> template argument N
410 Total number of times for Conky to update before quitting. Zero
411 makes Conky run forever
415 Update interval in seconds
419 Boolean value, if true, text is rendered in upper case
423 Adds spaces around certain objects to stop them from moving oth‐
424 er things around. Arguments are left, right, and none (default).
425 The old true/false values are deprecated and default to
426 right/none respectively. Note that this only helps if you are
427 using a mono font, such as Bitstream Vera Sans Mono.
431 Use Xft (anti-aliased font and stuff)
435 Alpha of Xft font. Must be a value at or between 1 and 0.
442 1mTEXT 22mAfter this begins text to be formatted on screen. Backslash (\)
443 escapes newlines in the text section. This can be useful for
444 cleaning up config files where conky is used to pipe input to
449 Colors are parsed using XParsecolor(), there might be a list of them:
450 /usr/share/X11/rgb.txt. Also, ⟨http://sedition.com/perl/rgb.html⟩.
451 Color can be also in #rrggbb format (hex).
454 IP address for an interface, or "No Address" if no address is
459 IP addresses for an interface (if one - works like addr). Linux
464 ACPI ac adapter state.
472 ACPI temperature in C.
476 CPU temperature from therm_adt746x
480 Fan speed from therm_adt746x
484 Right-justify text, with space of N
492 Display APM AC adapter status (FreeBSD only)
496 Display APM battery life in percent (FreeBSD only)
500 Display remaining APM battery life in hh:mm:ss or "unknown" if
501 AC adapterstatus is on-line or charging (FreeBSD only)
504 1maudacious_bar (height),(width)0m
508 1maudacious_bitrate0m
509 Bitrate of current tune
512 1maudacious_channels0m
513 Number of audio channels of current tune
516 1maudacious_filename0m
517 Full path and filename of current tune
520 1maudacious_frequency0m
521 Sampling frequency of current tune
525 Total length of current tune as MM:SS
528 1maudacious_length_seconds0m
529 Total length of current tune in seconds
532 1maudacious_playlist_position0m
533 Playlist position of current tune
536 1maudacious_playlist_length0m
537 Number of tunes in playlist
540 1maudacious_position0m
541 Position of current tune (MM:SS)
544 1maudacious_position_seconds0m
545 Position of current tune in seconds
549 Player status (Playing/Paused/Stopped/Not running)
552 1maudacious_title (max length)0m
553 Title of current tune with optional maximum length specifier
556 1maudacious_main_volume0m
557 The current volume fetched from Audacious
561 Battery status and remaining percentage capacity of ACPI or APM
562 battery. ACPI battery number can be given as argument (default
566 1mbattery_bar (height),(width) (num)0m
567 Battery percentage remaining of ACPI battery in a bar. ACPI bat‐
568 tery number can be given as argument (default is BAT0).
571 1mbattery_percent (num)0m
572 Battery percentage remaining for ACPI battery. ACPI battery num‐
573 ber can be given as argument (default is BAT0).
576 1mbattery_time (num)0m
577 Battery charge/discharge time remaining of ACPI battery. ACPI
578 battery number can be given as argument (default is BAT0).
582 Artist in current BMPx track
586 Album in current BMPx track
590 Title of the current BMPx track
594 Track number of the current BMPx track
598 Bitrate of the current BMPx track
602 URI of the current BMPx track
606 Amount of memory buffered
609 1mcached 22mAmount of memory cached
613 Change drawing color to color
616 1mcolorN 22mChange drawing color to colorN configuration option, where N is
617 a digit between 0 and 9, inclusively.
629 CPU architecture Conky was built for
633 CPU usage in percents. For SMP machines, the CPU number can be
634 provided as an argument. ${cpu cpu0} is the total usage, and
635 ${cpu cpuX} (X >= 1) are individual CPUs.
638 1mcpubar (cpu number) (height),(width)0m
639 Bar that shows CPU usage, height is bar’s height in pixels. See
640 $cpu for more info on SMP.
643 1mcpugraph ("normal"|"log") (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradi‐0m
644 1ment colour 2) (scale) (cpu number)0m
645 CPU usage graph, with optional colours in hex, minus the #. See
646 $cpu for more info on SMP. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see
647 small numbers) when you use "log" instead of "normal".
651 Displays current disk IO. Device is optional, and takes the form
652 of sda for /dev/sda. Individual partitions are allowed.
655 1mdiskiograph ("normal"|"log") (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gra‐0m
656 1mdient colour 2) (scale) (device)0m
657 Disk IO graph, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If scale is
658 non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph. Uses a logarithmic
659 scale (to see small numbers) when you use "log" instead of "nor‐
663 1mdiskio_read (device)0m
664 Displays current disk IO for reads. Device as in diskio.
667 1mdiskiograph_read ("normal"|"log") (height),(width) (gradient colour 1)0m
668 1m(gradient colour 2) (scale) (device)0m
669 Disk IO graph for reads, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If
670 scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph. Device as
671 in diskio. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when
672 you use "log" instead of "normal".
675 1mdiskio_write (device)0m
676 Displays current disk IO for writes. Device as in diskio.
679 1mdiskiograph_write ("normal"|"log") (height),(width) (gradient colour 1)0m
680 1m(gradient colour 2) (scale) (device)0m
681 Disk IO graph for writes, colours defined in hex, minus the #.
682 If scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph. Device
683 as in diskio. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small numbers)
684 when you use "log" instead of "normal".
687 1mdisk_protect device0m
688 Disk protection status, if supported (needs kernel-patch).
689 Prints either "frozen" or "free " (note the padding).
693 Download speed in KiB
697 Download speed in KiB with one decimal
700 1mdownspeedgraph ("normal"|"log") (height),(width) (gradient colour 1)0m
701 1m(gradient colour 2) (scale) (net)0m
702 Download speed graph, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If
703 scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph. Uses a
704 logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when you use "log" in‐
708 1melse 22mText to show if any of the above are not true
712 Current entropy available for crypto freaks
715 1mentropy_bar (height),(width)0m
716 Normalized bar of available entropy for crypto freaks
720 Total size of system entropy pool for crypto freaks
724 Executes a shell command and displays the output in conky. warn‐
725 ing: this takes a lot more resources than other variables. I’d
726 recommend coding wanted behaviour in C and posting a patch.
730 Same as exec, except if the first value return is a value be‐
731 tween 0-100, it will use that number for a bar. The size for the
732 bar is currently fixed, but that may change in the future.
735 1mexecgraph ("normal"|"log") (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradi‐0m
736 1ment colour 2) (scale) command0m
737 Same as execbar, but graphs values. Uses a logaritmic scale when
738 the log option is given (to see small numbers). Values still
739 have to be between 0 and 100.
742 1mexeci interval command0m
743 Same as exec but with specific interval. Interval can’t be less
744 than update_interval in configuration. See also $texeci
747 1mexecibar interval command0m
748 Same as execbar, except with an interval
751 1mexecigraph interval command0m
752 Same as execgraph, but takes an interval arg graphs values
756 Executes a shell command and displays the output in conky. warn‐
757 ing: this takes a lot more resources than other variables. I’d
758 recommend coding wanted behaviour in C and posting a patch. This
759 differs from $exec in that it parses the output of the command,
760 so you can insert things like ${color red}hi!${color} in your
761 script and have it correctly parsed by Conky. Caveats: Conky
762 parses and evaluates the output of $execp every time Conky
763 loops, and then destroys all the objects. If you try to use any‐
764 thing like $execi within an $execp statement, it will function‐
765 ally run at the same interval that the $execp statement runs, as
766 it is created and destroyed at every interval.
769 1mexecpi interval command0m
770 Same as execp but with specific interval. Interval can’t be less
771 than update_interval in configuration. Note that the output from
772 the $execpi command is still parsed and evaluated at every in‐
777 Specify a different font. This new font will apply to the cur‐
778 rent line and everything following. You can use a $font with no
779 arguments to change back to the default font (much like with
784 Returns CPU #n’s frequency in MHz. CPUs are counted from 1. If
785 omitted, the parameter defaults to 1.
789 Returns CPU #n’s frequency in GHz. CPUs are counted from 1. If
790 omitted, the parameter defaults to 1.
794 Returns CPU #n’s frequency in MHz (defaults to 1), but is calcu‐
795 lated by counting to clock cycles to complete an instruction.
796 Only available for x86/amd64.
800 Returns CPU #n’s frequency in GHz (defaults to 1), but is calcu‐
801 lated by counting to clock cycles to complete an instruction.
802 Only available for x86/amd64.
805 1mfs_bar (height),(width) fs0m
806 Bar that shows how much space is used on a file system. height
807 is the height in pixels. fs is any file on that file system.
811 Free space on a file system available for users.
814 1mfs_free_perc (fs)0m
815 Free percentage of space on a file system available for users.
827 File system used space
830 1mgoto x 22mThe next element will be printed at position ’x’.
834 Displays the default route’s interface or "multiple"/"none" ac‐
838 1mgw_ip 22mDisplays the default gateway’s IP or "multiple"/"none" accord‐
842 1mhddtemp dev, (host,(port))0m
843 Displays temperature of a selected hard disk drive as reported
844 by the hddtemp daemon running on host:port. Default host is
845 127.0.0.1, default port is 7634.
848 1mhead logfile lines (interval)0m
849 Displays first N lines of supplied text text file. If interval
850 is not supplied, Conky assumes 2x Conky’s interval. Max of 30
851 lines can be displayed, or until the text buffer is filled.
855 Horizontal line, height is the height in pixels
858 1mhwmon (dev) type n0m
859 Hwmon sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). Parameter dev may be omit‐
860 ted if you have only one hwmon device. Parameter type is either
861 ’in’ or ’vol’ meaning voltage; ’fan’ meaning fan; ’temp’ meaning
862 temperature. Parameter n is number of the sensor. See
863 /sys/class/hwmon/ on your local computer.
866 1miconv_start codeset_from codeset_to0m
867 Convert text from one codeset to another using GNU iconv. Needs
868 to be stopped with iconv_stop.
872 Stop iconv codeset conversion.
876 I2C sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). Parameter dev may be omitted
877 if you have only one I2C device. Parameter type is either ’in’
878 or ’vol’ meaning voltage; ’fan’ meaning fan; ’temp’ meaning tem‐
879 perature. Parameter n is number of the sensor. See
880 /sys/bus/i2c/devices/ on your local computer.
884 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
885 whether ac power is on, as listed in /proc/i8k (translated to
886 human-readable). Beware that this is by default not enabled by
891 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
892 the bios version as listed in /proc/i8k.
895 1mi8k_buttons_status0m
896 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
897 the volume buttons status as listed in /proc/i8k.
901 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
902 the cpu temperature in Celsius, as reported by /proc/i8k.
906 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
907 the left fan’s rate of rotation, in revolutions per minute as
908 listed in /proc/i8k. Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans
912 1mi8k_left_fan_status0m
913 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
914 the left fan status as listed in /proc/i8k (translated to human-
915 readable). Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans in re‐
919 1mi8k_right_fan_rpm0m
920 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
921 the right fan’s rate of rotation, in revolutions per minute as
922 listed in /proc/i8k. Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans
926 1mi8k_right_fan_status0m
927 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
928 the right fan status as listed in /proc/i8k (translated to hu‐
929 man-readable). Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans in
934 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
935 your laptop serial number as listed in /proc/i8k.
939 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
940 the version formatting of /proc/i8k.
944 If running the IBM ACPI, displays the fan speed.
948 If running the IBM ACPI, displays the temperatures from the IBM
949 temperature sensors (N=0..7) Sensor 0 is on the CPU, 3 is on the
954 If running the IBM ACPI, displays the "master" volume, con‐
955 trolled by the volume keys (0-14).
959 If running the IBM ACPI, displays the brigtness of the laptops’s
964 if conky variable VAR is empty, display everything between
965 $if_empty and the matching $endif
968 1mif_existing file (string)0m
969 if FILE exists, display everything between if_existing and the
970 matching $endif. The optional second paramater checks for FILE
971 containing the specified string and prints everything between
972 $if_existing and the matching $endif.
975 1mif_gw 22mif there is at least one default gateway, display everything be‐
976 tween $if_gw and the matching $endif
979 1mif_match expression0m
980 Evaluates the given boolean expression, printing everything be‐
981 tween $if_match and the matching $endif depending on whether the
982 evaluation returns true or not. Valid expressions consist of a
983 left side, an operator and a right side. Left and right sides
984 are being parsed for contained text objects before evaluation.
985 Recognised left and right side types are:
987 1mdouble22m: argument consists of only digits and a single dot.
988 1mlong22m: argument consists of only digits.
989 1mstring22m: argument is enclosed in quotation mark or the checks for
990 double and long failed before.
992 Valid operands are: ’>’, ’<’, ’>=’, ’<=’, ’==’, ’!=’.
995 1mif_running (process)0m
996 if PROCESS is running, display everything $if_running and the
1000 1mif_mounted (mountpoint)0m
1001 if MOUNTPOINT is mounted, display everything between $if_mounted
1002 and the matching $endif
1005 1mif_smapi_bat_installed (INDEX)0m
1006 when using smapi, if the battery with index INDEX is installed,
1007 display everything between $if_smapi_bat_installed and the
1011 1mif_up (interface)0m
1012 if INTERFACE exists and is up, display everything between $if_up
1013 and the matching $endif
1016 1mimap_messages (args)0m
1017 Displays the number of messages in your global IMAP inbox by de‐
1018 fault. You can define individual IMAP inboxes seperately by
1019 passing arguments to this object. Arguments are: "host user pass
1020 [-i interval] [-p port] [-e command] [-r retries]". Default port
1021 is 143, default interval is 5 minutes, and default number of re‐
1022 tries before giving up is 5. If the password is supplied as ’*’,
1023 you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
1026 1mimap_unseen (args)0m
1027 Displays the number of unseen messages in your global IMAP inbox
1028 by default. You can define individual IMAP inboxes seperately by
1029 passing arguments to this object. Arguments are: "host user pass
1030 [-i interval] [-p port] [-e command] [-r retries]". Default port
1031 is 143, default interval is 5 minutes, and default number of re‐
1032 tries before giving up is 5. If the password is supplied as ’*’,
1033 you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
1036 1mioscheduler disk0m
1037 Prints the current ioscheduler used for the given disk name
1038 (i.e. e.g. "hda" or "sdb")
1041 1mkernel 22mKernel version
1045 The value of /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode
1049 (1,2,3)> System load average, 1 is for past 1 minute, 2 for past
1050 5 minutes and 3 for past 15 minutes.
1053 1mloadgraph ("normal"|"log") (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradi‐0m
1054 1ment colour 2) (scale)0m
1055 Load1 average graph, similar to xload, with optional colours in
1056 hex, minus the #. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small num‐
1057 bers) when you use "log" instead of "normal".
1061 Displays the number of lines in the given file
1065 Machine, i686 for example
1068 1mmails (mailbox) (interval)0m
1069 Mail count in the specified mailbox or your mail spool if not.
1070 Both mbox and maildir type mailboxes are supported. You can use
1071 a program like fetchmail to get mails from some server using
1072 your favourite protocol. See also new_mails.
1075 1mmboxscan (-n number of messages to print) (-fw from width) (-sw subject0m
1077 Print a summary of recent messages in an mbox format mailbox.
1078 mbox parameter is the filename of the mailbox (can be encapsu‐
1079 lated using ’"’, ie. ${mboxscan -n 10 "/home/brenden/some box"}
1082 1mmem 22mAmount of memory in use
1085 1mmembar (height),(width)0m
1086 Bar that shows amount of memory in use
1089 1mmemgraph ("normal"|"log") (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradi‐0m
1090 1ment colour 2) (scale)0m
1091 Memory usage graph. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small num‐
1092 bers) when you use "log" instead of "normal".
1096 Amount of free memory including the memory that is very easily
1097 freed (buffers/cache)
1101 Amount of free memory
1104 1mmemmax 22mTotal amount of memory
1108 Percentage of memory in use
1112 Prints the mixer value as reported by the OS. Default mixer is
1113 "vol", but you can specify one of the following optional argu‐
1114 ments: "vol", "bass", "treble", "synth", "pcm", "speaker",
1115 "line", "mic", "cd", "mix", "pcm2", "rec", "igain", "ogain",
1116 "line1", "line2", "line3", "dig1", "dig2", "dig3", "phin",
1117 "phout", "video", "radio", "monitor". Refer to the definition of
1118 SOUND_DEVICE_NAMES in <linux/soundcard.h> (on Linux), <sound‐
1119 card.h> (on OpenBSD), or <sys/soundcard.h> to find the exact op‐
1120 tions available on your system.
1123 1mmixerbar (device)0m
1124 Displays mixer value in a bar as reported by the OS. See docs
1125 for $mixer for details on arguments.
1129 Prints the right channel mixer value as reported by the OS. See
1130 docs for $mixer for details on arguments.
1133 1mmixerrbar (device)0m
1134 Displays the right channel mixer value in a bar as reported by
1135 the OS. See docs for $mixer for details on arguments.
1139 Prints the left channel mixer value as reported by the OS. See
1140 docs for $mixer for details on arguments.
1143 1mmixerlbar (device)0m
1144 Displays the left channel mixer value in a bar as reported by
1145 the OS. See docs for $mixer for details on arguments.
1149 Current state of MOC; playing, stopped etc.
1153 File name of the current MOC song
1157 Title of the current MOC song
1161 Artist of the current MOC song
1165 The current song name being played in MOC.
1169 Album of the current MOC song
1173 Total length of the current MOC song
1177 Time left in the current MOC song
1181 Current time of the current MOC song
1185 Bitrate in the current MOC song
1189 Rate of the current MOC song
1193 Number of the monitor on which conky is running
1201 Artist in current MPD song must be enabled at compile
1205 Album in current MPD song
1208 1mmpd_bar (height),(width)0m
1209 Bar of mpd’s progress
1213 Bitrate of current song
1217 Playing, stopped, et cetera.
1220 1mmpd_title (max length)0m
1221 Title of current MPD song
1237 Percent of song’s progress
1241 Random status (On/Off)
1245 Repeat status (On/Off)
1249 Prints the MPD track field
1253 Prints the MPD name field
1257 Prints the file name of the current MPD song
1260 1mmpd_smart (max length)0m
1261 Prints the song name in either the form "artist - title" or file
1262 name, depending on whats available
1266 if mpd is playing or paused, display everything between
1267 $if_mpd_playing and the matching $endif
1270 1mnameserver (index)0m
1271 Print a nameserver from /etc/resolv.conf. Index starts at and
1275 1mnew_mails (mailbox) (interval)0m
1276 Unread mail count in the specified mailbox or mail spool if not.
1277 Both mbox and maildir type mailboxes are supported.
1284 1mnvidia threshold temp gpufreq memfreq imagequality0m
1285 Nvidia graficcard support for the XNVCtrl library. Each option
1286 can be shortened to the least significant part. Temperatures
1287 are printed as float, all other values as integer.
1289 1mthreshold22m: the thresholdtemperature at which the gpu slows down
1290 1mtemp22m: gives the gpu current temperature
1291 1mgpufreq22m: gives the current gpu frequency
1292 1mmemfreq22m: gives the current mem frequency
1293 1mimagequality22m: which imagequality should be choosen by OpenGL ap‐
1297 1moutlinecolor (color)0m
1298 Change outline color
1302 If running on Apple powerbook/ibook, display information on bat‐
1303 tery status. The item parameter specifies, what information to
1304 display. Exactly one item must be specified. Valid items are:
1306 1mstatus22m: Display if battery is fully charged, charging, discharg‐
1307 ing or absent (running on AC)
1308 1mpercent22m: Display charge of battery in percent, if charging or
1309 discharging. Nothing will be displayed, if battery is fully
1311 1mtime22m: Display the time remaining until the battery will be fully
1312 charged or discharged at current rate. Nothing is displayed, if
1313 battery is absent or if it’s present but fully charged and not
1317 1mplatform (dev) type n0m
1318 Platform sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). Parameter dev may be
1319 omitted if you have only one platform device. Platform type is
1320 either ’in’ or ’vol’ meaning voltage; ’fan’ meaning fan; ’temp’
1321 meaning temperature. Parameter n is number of the sensor. See
1322 /sys/bus/platform/devices/ on your local computer.
1325 1mpop3_unseen (args)0m
1326 Displays the number of unseen messages in your global POP3 inbox
1327 by default. You can define individual POP3 inboxes seperately by
1328 passing arguments to this object. Arguments are: "host user pass
1329 [-i interval] [-p port] [-e command] [-r retries]". Default port
1330 is 110, default interval is 5 minutes, and default number of re‐
1331 tries before giving up is 5. If the password is supplied as ’*’,
1332 you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
1335 1mpop3_used (args)0m
1336 Displays the amount of space (in MiB, 2^20) used in your global
1337 POP3 inbox by default. You can define individual POP3 inboxes
1338 seperately by passing arguments to this object. Arguments are:
1339 "host user pass [-i interval] [-p port] [-e command] [-r re‐
1340 tries]". Default port is 110, default interval is 5 minutes, and
1341 default number of retries before giving up is 5. If the password
1342 is supplied as ’*’, you will be prompted to enter the password
1346 1mpre_exec shell command0m
1347 Executes a shell command one time before conky displays anything
1348 and puts output as text.
1352 Total processes (sleeping and running)
1355 1mrunning_processes0m
1356 Running processes (not sleeping), requires Linux 2.6
1359 1mscroll length (step) text0m
1360 Scroll ’text’ by ’step’ characters showing ’length’ number of
1361 characters at the same time. The text may also contain vari‐
1362 ables. ’step’ is optional and defaults to 1 if not set. If a var
1363 creates output on multiple lines then the lines are placed be‐
1364 hind each other separated with a ’|’-sign. Do NOT use vars that
1365 change colors or otherwise affect the design inside a scrolling
1366 text. If you want spaces between the start and the end of
1367 ’text’, place them at the end of ’text’ not at the front ("foo‐
1368 bar" and " foobar" can both generate "barfoo" but "foobar " will
1369 keep the spaces like this "bar foo").
1372 1mshadecolor (color)0m
1373 Change shading color
1377 when using smapi, display contents of the /sys/devices/plat‐
1378 form/smapi directory. ARGS are either ’(FILENAME)’ or ’bat (IN‐
1379 DEX) (FILENAME)’ to display the corresponding files’ content.
1380 This is a very raw method of accessing the smapi values. When
1381 available, better use one of the smapi_* variables instead.
1384 1msmapi_bat_bar (INDEX),(height),(width)0m
1385 when using smapi, display the remaining capacity of the battery
1386 with index INDEX as a bar.
1389 1msmapi_bat_perc (INDEX)0m
1390 when using smapi, display the remaining capacity in percent of
1391 the battery with index INDEX. This is a separate variable be‐
1392 cause it supports the ’use_spacer’ configuration option.
1395 1msmapi_bat_power INDEX0m
1396 when using smapi, display the current power of the battery with
1397 index INDEX in watt. This is a separate variable because the
1398 original read out value is being converted from mW. The sign of
1399 the output reflects charging (positive) or discharging (nega‐
1403 1msmapi_bat_temp INDEX0m
1404 when using smapi, display the current temperature of the battery
1405 with index INDEX in degree Celsius. This is a separate variable
1406 because the original read out value is being converted from mil‐
1410 1mstippled_hr (space)0m
1411 Stippled (dashed) horizontal line
1414 1mswapbar (height),(width)0m
1415 Bar that shows amount of swap in use
1418 1mswap 22mAmount of swap in use
1422 Total amount of swap
1426 Percentage of swap in use
1430 System name, Linux for example
1433 1mtcp_portmon port_begin port_end item (index) 4m22m(ip424m 4monly24m 4mat24m 4mpresent)0m
1434 TCP port monitor for specified local ports. Port numbers must be
1435 in the range 1 to 65535. Valid items are:
1437 1mcount 22m- total number of connections in the range
1438 1mrip 22m- remote ip address
1439 1mrhost 22m- remote host name
1440 1mrport 22m- remote port number
1441 1mrservice 22m- remote service name from /etc/services
1442 1mlip 22m- local ip address
1443 1mlhost 22m- local host name
1444 1mlport 22m- local port number
1445 1mlservice 22m- local service name from /etc/services
1447 The connection index provides you with access to each connection
1448 in the port monitor. The monitor will return information for in‐
1449 dex values from 0 to n-1 connections. Values higher than n-1 are
1450 simply ignored. For the "count" item, the connection index must
1451 be omitted. It is required for all other items.
1454 1m${tcp_portmon 6881 6999 count} 22m- displays the number of connec‐
1455 tions in the bittorrent port range
1456 1m${tcp_portmon 22 22 rip 0} 22m- displays the remote host ip of the
1457 first sshd connection
1458 1m${tcp_portmon 22 22 rip 9} 22m- displays the remote host ip of the
1459 tenth sshd connection
1460 1m${tcp_portmon 1 1024 rhost 0} 22m- displays the remote host name of
1461 the first connection on a privileged port
1462 1m${tcp_portmon 1 1024 rport 4} 22m- displays the remote host port of
1463 the fifth connection on a privileged port
1464 1m${tcp_portmon 1 65535 lservice 14} 22m- displays the local service
1465 name of the fifteenth connection in the range of all ports
1467 Note that port monitor variables which share the same port range
1468 actually refer to the same monitor, so many references to a sin‐
1469 gle port range for different items and different indexes all use
1470 the same monitor internally. In other words, the program avoids
1471 creating redundant monitors.
1473 1mtexeci interval command0m
1474 Runs a command at an interval inside a thread and displays the
1475 output. Same as $execi, except the command is run inside a
1476 thread. Use this if you have a slow script to keep Conky updat‐
1477 ing. You should make the interval slightly longer then the time
1478 it takes your script to execute. For example, if you have a
1479 script that take 5 seconds to execute, you should make the in‐
1480 terval at least 6 seconds. See also $execi.
1484 Move text over by N pixels. See also $voffset.
1487 1mrss url delay_in_minutes action item_num0m
1488 Download and parse RSS feeds. Action may be one of the follow‐
1489 ing: feed_title, item_title (with num par), item_desc (with num
1490 par) and item_titles.
1493 1mtab (width, (start))0m
1494 Puts a tab of the specified width, starting from column ’start’.
1497 1mtail logfile lines (interval)0m
1498 Displays last N lines of supplied text text file. If interval is
1499 not supplied, Conky assumes 2x Conky’s interval. Max of 30 lines
1500 can be displayed, or until the text buffer is filled.
1503 1mtemplateN (arg1) (arg2) (arg3 ...)0m
1504 Evaluate the content of the templateN configuration variable
1505 (where N is a value between 0 and 9, inclusively), applying sub‐
1506 stitutions as described in the documentation of the correspond‐
1507 ing configuration variable. The number of arguments is option‐
1508 al, but must match the highest referred index in the template.
1509 You can use the same special sequences in each argument as the
1510 ones valid for a template definition, e.g. to allow an argument
1511 to contain a whitespace. Also simple nesting of templates is
1514 Here are some examples of template definitions:
1517 template1 \1: ${fs_used \2} / ${fs_size \2}
1520 The following list shows sample usage of the templates defined
1521 above, with the equivalent syntax when not using any template at
1524 using template same without template
1525 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1526 ${template0 node name} $nodename
1527 ${template1 root /} root: ${fs_free /} /
1529 ${template1 ${template2\ disk\ root} /} disk root: ${fs_free /} / ${fs_size /}
1533 Local time, see man strftime to get more information about for‐
1538 Display time in UTC (universal coordinate time).
1541 1mtztime (timezone) (format)0m
1542 Local time for specified timezone, see man strftime to get more
1543 information about format. The timezone argument is specified in
1544 similar fashion as TZ environment variable. For hints, look in
1545 /usr/share/zoneinfo. e.g. US/Pacific, Europe/Zurich, etc.
1549 Total download, overflows at 4 GB on Linux with 32-bit arch and
1550 there doesn’t seem to be a way to know how many times it has al‐
1551 ready done that before conky has started.
1555 This takes arguments in the form:top (name) (number) Basically,
1556 processes are ranked from highest to lowest in terms of cpu us‐
1557 age, which is what (num) represents. The types are: "name",
1558 "pid", "cpu", "mem", "mem_res", "mem_vsize", and "time". There
1559 can be a max of 10 processes listed.
1562 1mtop_mem type, num0m
1563 Same as top, except sorted by mem usage instead of cpu
1567 Total upload, this one too, may overflow
1570 1mupdates Number of updates0m
1579 Upload speed in KiB with one decimal
1582 1mupspeedgraph ("normal"|"log") (height),(width) (gradient colour 1)0m
1583 1m(gradient colour 2) (scale) (net)0m
1584 Upload speed graph, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If
1585 scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph. Uses a
1586 logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when you use "log" in‐
1594 Uptime in a shorter format
1598 Number of users logged in
1602 Lists the names of the users logged in
1606 Lists the consoles in use
1610 Lists how long users have been logged in for
1613 1mvoffset (pixels)0m
1614 Change vertical offset by N pixels. Negative values will cause
1615 text to overlap. See also $offset.
1619 Returns CPU #n’s voltage in mV. CPUs are counted from 1. If
1620 omitted, the parameter defaults to 1.
1624 Returns CPU #n’s voltage in V. CPUs are counted from 1. If omit‐
1625 ted, the parameter defaults to 1.
1628 1mwireless_essid net0m
1629 Wireless access point ESSID (Linux only)
1632 1mwireless_mode net0m
1633 Wireless mode (Managed/Ad-Hoc/Master) (Linux only)
1636 1mwireless_bitrate net0m
1637 Wireless bitrate (ie 11 Mb/s) (Linux only)
1641 Wireless access point MAC address (Linux only)
1644 1mwireless_link_qual net0m
1645 Wireless link quality (Linux only)
1648 1mwireless_link_qual_max net0m
1649 Wireless link quality maximum value (Linux only)
1652 1mwireless_link_qual_perc net0m
1653 Wireless link quality in percents (Linux only)
1656 1mwireless_link_bar (height), (width) net0m
1657 Wireless link quality bar (Linux only)
1661 Displays the number of words in the given file
1665 Artist in current XMMS2 song
1669 Album in current XMMS2 song
1673 Title in current XMMS2 song
1677 Genre in current XMMS2 song
1681 Comment in current XMMS2 song
1689 Transport plugin used
1693 Full path to current song
1697 Track number in current XMMS2 song
1701 Bitrate of current song
1705 XMMS2 id of current song
1709 Duration of current song
1717 Size of current song
1721 Percent of song’s progress
1725 XMMS2 status (Playing, Paused, Stopped, or Disconnected)
1728 1mxmms2_bar (height),(width)0m
1729 Bar of XMMS2’s progress
1733 Prints the song name in either the form "artist - title" or file
1734 name, depending on whats available
1737 1mif_xmms2_connected0m
1738 Display everything between $if_xmms2_connected and the matching
1739 $endif if xmms2 is running.
1742 1meve api_userid api_key character_id0m
1743 Fetches your currently training skill from the Eve Online API
1744 servers (http://www.eve-online.com/) and displays the skill
1745 along with the remaining training time.
1749 conky 1m-t ’${time %D %H:%M}’ -o -u 300m
1750 Start Conky in its own window with date and clock as text and 30
1751 sec update interval.
1753 conky 1m-a top_left -x 5 -y 500 -d0m
1754 Start Conky to background at coordinates (5, 500).
1757 4m~/.conkyrc24m default configuration file
1760 Drawing to root or some other desktop window directly doesn’t work with
1761 all window managers. Especially doesn’t work well with Gnome and it has
1762 been reported that it doesn’t work with KDE either. Nautilus can be
1763 disabled from drawing to desktop with program gconf-editor. Uncheck
1764 show_desktop in /apps/nautilus/preferences/. There is -w switch in
1765 Conky to set some specific window id. You might find xwininfo -tree
1766 useful to find the window to draw to. You can also use -o argument
1767 which makes Conky to create its own window. If you do try running Conky
1768 in its own window, be sure to read up on the own_window_type settings
1772 ⟨http://conky.sourceforge.net/⟩
1774 ⟨http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/conky⟩
1776 #conky on irc.freenode.net
1779 Copyright (c) 2005-2008 Brenden Matthews, Philip Kovacs, et. al. Any
1780 original torsmo code is licensed under the BSD license (see LICENSE.BSD
1781 for a copy). All code written since the fork of torsmo is licensed un‐
1782 der the GPL (see LICENSE.GPL for a copy), except where noted different‐
1783 ly (such as in portmon code, timed thread code, and audacious code
1784 which are LGPL, and prss which is an MIT-style license).
1787 The Conky dev team (see AUTHORS for a full list of contributors).