https://github.com/jxai/lean-conky-config
Lean Conky config that just works
https://github.com/jxai/lean-conky-config
conky conky-config conky-configurations conky-theme conkyrc linux-desktop system-monitoring
Last synced: 3 months ago
JSON representation
Lean Conky config that just works
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/jxai/lean-conky-config
- Owner: jxai
- License: mit
- Created: 2021-03-02T09:18:36.000Z (over 5 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2026-03-31T00:38:31.000Z (3 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-03-31T03:41:58.497Z (3 months ago)
- Topics: conky, conky-config, conky-configurations, conky-theme, conkyrc, linux-desktop, system-monitoring
- Language: Lua
- Homepage:
- Size: 1.36 MB
- Stars: 169
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 35
- Open Issues: 2
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: docs/README.md
- Funding: .github/FUNDING.yml
- License: LICENSE
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README
# Lean Conky Config
Lean Conky Config (LCC) is, well, a lean [Conky](https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky/wiki) config that just works.
## Features
- **Simple**: works out of the box, automatically discovers storage, network etc.; supports **any** screen resolution (4K, 2K, 1080p ...) with a **single config**
- **Elegant**: clean, sleek and functional layout
- **Customizable**: pick the components you love to build the panel, change colors and fonts with ease
- **Extensible**: modular system, template-based component design, easy to extend
## Installation
LCC works with Conky 1.10.0 or above. If you haven't, install Conky first. On Ubuntu/Debian:
```bash
sudo apt install conky
```
For other operating systems, refer to [Conky documentation](https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky/wiki/Installation).
You can find the latest release of LCC [here](https://github.com/jxai/lean-conky-config/releases/latest), to install just download the package and decompress it into a directory of your choice. If you want to try the current dev version, download [this file](https://github.com/jxai/lean-conky-config/archive/refs/heads/master.zip) instead, or clone the repository:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/jxai/lean-conky-config [/path/to/lean-conky-config]
```
If `~/.config/conky` doesn't exist yet, you may simply use that path which is the default for Conky config.
It is recommended to install the [LCC font](#Enabledisable-LCC-font), but that is optional.
## How to Run
Start Conky/LCC by:
```bash
/path/to/lean-conky-config/start-lcc.sh
```
In a few seconds you should see the panel showing up, docked to the right side your desktop. If you have multiple monitors, the panel should appear on one of them.
If there are Conky instances running already, the LCC script will terminate them first. The script is selective and only kills processes started by itself.
### Use AppImage or a custom Conky binary
You might have installed Conky [as an AppImage](https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky#quickstart) or built it from source, and the binary is not at a standard location. If it is the only Conky installation, you might simply symlink to it from system paths (e.g. `~/.local/bin` or `/usr/local/bin`). In case you have multiple Conky executables and want a specific one for LCC to use, start it this way:
```bash
/path/to/lean-conky-config/start-lcc.sh -p /path/to/your/conky
```
Conky [releases](https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky/releases) AppImage packages officially, give it a try if a more recent version is preferred. For instance, if the network meters [show nothing](brndnmtthws/conky#1307), you might need v1.17 or above.
### Auto-start
In order to auto-start Conky on Ubuntu, follow [this tutorial](https://linuxconfig.org/ubuntu-20-04-system-monitoring-with-conky-widgets#h2-enable-conky-to-start-at-boot), replacing Command with the `start-lcc.sh` command line you have run successfully (note that you need to specify the full path to the script). For other desktop environments, check the information [here](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Autostarting#On_desktop_environment_startup).
### Enable/disable LCC font
You might have noticed the icons and LCD-style time in the screenshot above. LCC renders them with a custom font named `LeanConkyConfig`, which is automatically installed in your local font directory (`~/.local/share/fonts`) when LCC starts. If you don't see the font in effect, likely your desktop environment doesn't load it properly. In this case you can manually install the font, located at `font/lean-conky-config.otf`. This is optional though. LCC is designed to just work, it would fall back gracefully instead of breaking the layout, even if the font is not loaded by the system.
In case you prefer the plain font and simple layout, here's a workaround to disable the LCC font:
```bash
/path/to/lean-conky-config/font/install -u && \
touch ~/.local/share/fonts/lean-conky-config.otf
```
And to re-enable it:
```bash
/path/to/lean-conky-config/font/install -f
```
### Automatic device discovery
Unlike many other Conky configs out there, LCC works out of the box. It automatically discover network interfaces and mounted disks, so you don't have to manually configure them. Moreover, it monitors device changes. When WiFi is toggled, the NETWORK section is dynamically updated; and when you plug/unplug USB drives, DISK USAGE will reflect almost instantly.
## Customization
While LCC is made to work out of the box, it is also designed to serve your needs for customization. To get started, create your local configuration file `local.conf`:
```bash
cp local.conf.example local.conf
```
and make changes there (instead of directly in `conky.conf`), this way your custom settings wouldn't get lost when LCC itself is updated.
### Scale to fit your screen
In a plain Conky config, layout parameters (`voffset` and `goto` values, font sizes etc.) are hard-coded, making it difficult to adapt to different screen resolutions. When you try a new config from the web, you might find it to appear too large or too small on your desktop, and have to manually adjust many parameters, rather tedious work.
LCC addresses this issue elegantly. To globally scale the panel while **preserving the layout**, simply change the `lcc.config.scale` variable in your `local.conf`, a value larger than 1 magnifies the LCC panel to fit a monitor of higher resolution.
Under the hood, LCC achieves this by offering a few transform functions (defined in `tform.lua`), which you can apply to numerical values that need to be changed on-the-fly:
- `T_.sr`: **s**cale and **r**ound to the nearest integer, suitable for most use cases where an integer value is required.
- `T_.sc`: **sc**ale to a floating-point number, suitable for situations where precise sizing is desired, e.g. font size.
- `T_.sh`: **s**cale to a multiple of 0.5 (**h**alf), _might_ be useful in case such an option is needed.
For values embedded in a string, wrap them with `$sr{}`/`$sc{}` and tranform the whole string with the `T_` function, e.g.:
```lua
font = T_ "sans-serif:normal:size=$sc{8}"
```
### Pick your favorite colors and fonts
Colors can be customized through standard Conky settings.
To make it easy to customize fonts, LCC implements a **named fonts** mechanism. Fonts for different elements are defined in the `lcc.fonts` table.
Check `local.conf.example` to see how various settings can be customized. For a full reference, dig `conky.conf`.
### Components
LCC is modular. The panel consists of components which you can freely pick and organize. Currently the following core components are available:
- `datetime`
- `weather`
- `system`
- `cpu`
- `memory`
- `storage`
- `network`
To include any of them, add an entry in the `lcc.panel` table, e.g.:
```
{ "", [, , ...] },
```
If no arguments are required, the entry can just be a string:
```
"",
```
Check `local.conf.example` for examples. You might notice a special component `vspace`, which is used to trim the trailing panel space at the bottom. It can also insert a vertical spacing if a positive height is given.
### Weather
The `weather` component shows current conditions and a 3-day forecast. It supports the following options:
- `location` (default: `"auto"`): Location to query weather for. If `"auto"`, it is guessed from your IP. If the auto location is not accurate, specify a city name (e.g. `"London"` or `"London, UK"`) or coordinates (e.g. `"51.5,-0.12"`).
- `interval` (default: `900`): Interval in seconds to refresh weather data.
- `backend` (default: `"openmeteo"`): Weather data provider. Supported backends are `"openmeteo"` ([Open-Meteo](https://open-meteo.com/)) and `"wttrin"` ([wttr.in](https://wttr.in/)).
- `metric` (default: `1`): Set to `0` for imperial units (°F, mph, in), or `1` for metric (°C, km/h, mm).
### GPU support
LCC comes with a component supporting Nvidia GPUs, `gpu.nvidia`, which is not enabled by default (because not every system is equipped with an Nvidia GPU). To enable it, add a `gpu.nvidia` entry to `lcc.panel`.
Under the hood, `gpu.nvidia` has two backends. The preferred one depends on Python and `pynvml`, and you need to install that package first, e.g.:
```bash
pip install pynvml
```
If the `pynvml` backend doesn't work, `gpu.nvidia` falls back to a backend offered by Conky itself, which is less powerful. In case your Conky was not compiled with `nvidia` support, an error message would show up in the LCC panel.
### Customize storage mountpoints
In the STORAGE section, LCC by default shows mountpoints from local filesystems most commonly found on major Linux distros. In case you don't see some of your drives, or on the other hand would rather hide certain mountpoints, LCC offers several configurable options in `lcc.config` to help you:
- `storage_include_fs`: Extra filesystem types to show, specified as a comma-separated string e.g. `"cifs,nfs"`. To find the supported types, you may check `/proc/filesystems` or `/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/fs`.
- `storage_exclude_fs`: Filesystems you want to hide, a comma-separated string e.g. `"fat,ntfs"`.
- `storage_exclude_paths`: An array of [Lua patterns](https://www.lua.org/pil/20.2.html) matching specific mountpoints you want to hide. If a mountpoint matches any of the patterns it won't show up. Check `local.conf.example`.
## More Information
Check official Conky documentation:
- [Configuration Settings](http://conky.sourceforge.net/config_settings.html)
- [Objects/Variables](http://conky.sourceforge.net/variables.html)
In fact, the `man` page might provide more up-to-date information for the Conky version installed on your system:
```bash
man -P "less -p 'CONFIGURATION SETTINGS'" conky
man -P "less -p 'OBJECTS/VARIABLES'" conky
```
Also, here is a great [third-party reference](http://www.ifxgroup.net/conky.htm) with examples.
## Support
If you find this project useful, consider [becoming a sponsor :heart:](https://github.com/sponsors/jxai) to help me keep it maintained and evolving.