eww
A Rust tool for building your own custom desktop widgets on Linux window managers.
- Stars
- 12.7k
- Forks
- 540
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- Rust
- Last update
- 4 months ago
- Type
- App
What it is
Eww (Elkowars Wacky Widgets) is a standalone widget system written in Rust. It lets you create custom on-screen widgets such as bars and panels for your desktop, and it is designed to work with any window manager. People use it to build personalized desktop setups, often shared in the Linux customization community.
- Build a custom top or side bar for a window manager
- Create a small widget that displays system information
- Adapt example bars from the project's examples folder as a starting point
Great for
- Linux users who run a tiling or minimal window manager and want custom bars or panels
- People who enjoy designing their own desktop look and are comfortable editing config files
- Users who want to replace a default status bar with something fully customized
Not ideal for
- Users who want a ready-made desktop with no configuration, since widgets must be written by hand
- People on Windows or macOS, as the README frames it around Linux window managers and GTK
- Anyone who needs a stable, fully documented configuration format, since the README notes some examples use an old syntax
How to get it
- 1
Clone and build from source
You'll need: Rust toolchain · GTK3 development libraries
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/elkowar/eww - 2
Run it
- Read the installation instructions in the official documentation at https://elkowar.github.io/eww
- Build the project following the documentation steps
- Start from the example bar in the examples/eww-bar folder
- Adjust the configuration to your own layout and style
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Start from the examples folder and the community setups linked in the README
- Read the beginner-friendly guide by Dharmx linked in the README
- Browse the linked community dotfile repositories to see different approaches
Downloads
Strengths
- Works with any window manager, not tied to one desktop environment
- Written in Rust and open source under the MIT license
- Has an active community sharing example setups and guides
Trade-offs
- Requires writing your own widget configuration, which has a learning curve
- The README notes some examples still use an older configuration syntax
- The latest release, v0.6.0, has no prebuilt binaries, so you will likely need to build it yourself
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| eww (this) | 12.7k | App | intermediate | 4 months ago | Linux users who run a tiling or minimal window manager and want custom bars or panels |
| polybar | 15.4k | App | intermediate | 1.1 years ago | Linux users who run a tiling window manager such as i3 or bspwm |
| Waybar | 12.1k | App | intermediate | 8 days ago | Sway or Hyprland users who want a configurable status bar |
| popcorntime | 10.7k | App | intermediate | 2 months ago | People who want one app to browse movies and TV shows across platforms |
| atom | 60.7k | App | beginner | 3.8 years ago | Developers who want a desktop code editor they can customize with packages |
| hyper | 44.8k | App | beginner | 3 months ago | Developers who want a terminal they can customize with extensions or themes |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.