cbatticon

Show the battery icon in the system tray

$ cbatticon

$ cbatticon [[-u|--update-interval]] [20]

$ cbatticon [[-t|--list-icon-types]]

$ cbatticon [[-i|--icon-type]] [standard|notification|symbolic]

$ cbatticon [[-p|--list-power-supplies]]

$ cbatticon [BAT0]

$ cbatticon [[-r|--critical-level]] [5] [[-c|--command-critical-level]] [poweroff]

cbatticon [-h] [-d] [-i dir] [-t thresh] [-u secs] [-w pct] [-c pct] [-x] [-b] [-r] [-v]

-h
    Show help and exit

-d
    Print debug info to stdout

-i dir
    Icon directory (default: /usr/share/cbatticon)

-t thresh
    Full icon threshold percent (default: 100)

-u secs
    Update interval in seconds (default: 10)

-w pct
    Warning percentage (default: 30)

-c pct
    Critical percentage (default: 5)

-x
    Exit on critical battery

-b
    Use bigger icons

-r
    Reverse icon order (AC first)

-v
    Show version

cbatticon is a simple, efficient command-line daemon that displays battery status icons in the X11 system tray.

Designed for lightweight window managers like i3, bspwm, or Openbox, it monitors battery charge via UPower or ACPI, showing color-coded icons (green for full, yellow for medium, red for low).

Features include customizable update intervals, low-battery warnings with notifications and sounds, critical thresholds triggering exit or alerts, and support for multiple batteries (e.g., laptop + UPS).

It uses minimal resources, runs unobtrusively in the background, and supports custom icon sets. Ideal for users avoiding heavy desktop environments while needing clear battery visibility.

Launch it once at session start; it handles charging/discharging states automatically.

X11 systray only (no Wayland support).
Requires icons package or manual setup.
Multiple batteries may need configuration.

libnotify, libX11; optional: alsa-utils for sounds, cbatticon-icons package

Add to ~/.xinitrc or WM autostart: cbatticon -u 5 -w 20

Developed by Michał Dybczak since 2013.
Originally for personal use in i3wm; open-sourced on GitHub.
Actively maintained with UPower support added later.

acpi(1), upower(1), notify-send(1)