Issues around AppleInterfaceThemeChangedNotification

[rogeruiz]

I'm experiencing some issues using AppleInterfaceThemeChangedNotification on macOS 13.5.2. I'm currently using version v2.16.3. I have a minimal reproduction config and script that I call outlined below.

PLUGIN_DIR="$HOME/.config/sketchybar/plugins"

# WARN: Estos variables tiene que ser el mismo de ~/.yabairc con el mismo
# nombre.
margins=22
altura=40

sketchybar --bar height=$altura \
  --bar corner_radius="10" \
  --bar margin=$margins \
  --bar y_offset=$((margins)) \
  --bar padding_left="5" \
  --bar padding_right="5"

##### Changing Defaults #####
# We now change some default values that are applied to all further items
# For a full list of all available item properties see:
# https://felixkratz.github.io/SketchyBar/config/items

sketchybar --default updates=when_shown                    \
                     drawing=on                            \
                     icon.font="M+1Code Nerd Font:Regular:18.0"  \
                     label.font="M+1Code Nerd Font:Regular:14.0" \
                     label.padding_left=4                  \
                     label.padding_right=4                 \
                     icon.padding_left=4                   \
                     icon.padding_right=4

# colors are managed seperately in the set_theme which listens to theme_changed
# events, to swap between Catppuccin Mocha and Latte. Add `update_freq=2 \` to
# test theme changes on save of set_theme.sh.

sketchybar --add event theme_changed AppleInterfaceThemeChangedNotification
sketchybar \
    --add item theme center \
    --set theme \
    drawing=off \
    script="$PLUGIN_DIR/set_theme.sh" \
    --subscribe theme theme_changed

sketchybar --update

Contents of set_theme.sh

```sh #!/usr/bin/env bash # vim:fdm=marker # shellcheck disable=SC2034 # these warnings are irrelevant for this script # color definitions {{{ # mocha {{{ mocha_rosewater="f5e0dc" mocha_flamingo="f2cdcd" mocha_pink="f5c2e7" mocha_mauve="cba6f7" mocha_red="f38ba8" mocha_maroon="eba0ac" mocha_peach="fab387" mocha_yellow="f9e2af" mocha_green="a6e3a1" mocha_teal="94e2d5" mocha_sky="89dceb" mocha_sapphire="74c7ec" mocha_blue="89b4fa" mocha_lavender="b4befe" mocha_text="cdd6f4" mocha_subtext1="bac2de" mocha_subtext0="a6adc8" mocha_overlay2="9399b2" mocha_overlay1="7f849c" mocha_overlay0="6c7086" mocha_surface2="585b70" mocha_surface1="45475a" mocha_surface0="313244" mocha_base="1e1e2e" mocha_mantle="181825" mocha_crust="11111b" ## }}} ## macchiato {{{ macchiato_rosewater="f4dbd6" macchiato_flamingo="f0c6c6" macchiato_pink="f5bde6" macchiato_mauve="c6a0f6" macchiato_red="ed8796" macchiato_maroon="ee99a0" macchiato_peach="f5a97f" macchiato_yellow="eed49f" macchiato_green="a6da95" macchiato_teal="8bd5ca" macchiato_sky="91d7e3" macchiato_sapphire="7dc4e4" macchiato_blue="8aadf4" macchiato_lavender="b7bdf8" macchiato_text="cad3f5" macchiato_subtext1="b8c0e0" macchiato_subtext0="a5adcb" macchiato_overlay2="939ab7" macchiato_overlay1="8087a2" macchiato_overlay0="6e738d" macchiato_surface2="5b6078" macchiato_surface1="494d64" macchiato_surface0="363a4f" macchiato_base="24273a" macchiato_mantle="1e2030" macchiato_crust="181926" ## }}} # frappe {{{ frappe_rosewater="f2d5cf" frappe_flamingo="eebebe" frappe_pink="f4b8e4" frappe_mauve="ca9ee6" frappe_red="e78284" frappe_maroon="ea999c" frappe_peach="ef9f76" frappe_yellow="e5c890" frappe_green="a6d189" frappe_teal="81c8be" frappe_sky="99d1db" frappe_sapphire="85c1dc" frappe_blue="8caaee" frappe_lavender="babbf1" frappe_text="c6d0f5" frappe_subtext1="b5bfe2" frappe_subtext0="a5adce" frappe_overlay2="949cbb" frappe_overlay1="838ba7" frappe_overlay0="737994" frappe_surface2="626880" frappe_surface1="51576d" frappe_surface0="414559" frappe_base="303446" frappe_mantle="292c3c" frappe_crust="232634" ## }}} ## latte {{{ latte_rosewater="dc8a78" latte_flamingo="dd7878" latte_pink="ea76cb" latte_mauve="8839ef" latte_red="d20f39" latte_maroon="e64553" latte_peach="fe640b" latte_yellow="df8e1d" latte_green="40a02b" latte_teal="179299" latte_sky="04a5e5" latte_sapphire="209fb5" latte_blue="1e66f5" latte_lavender="7287fd" latte_text="4c4f69" latte_subtext1="5c5f77" latte_subtext0="6c6f85" latte_overlay2="7c7f93" latte_overlay1="8c8fa1" latte_overlay0="9ca0b0" latte_surface2="acb0be" latte_surface1="bcc0cc" latte_surface0="ccd0da" latte_crust="dce0e8" latte_mantle="e6e9ef" latte_base="eff2f5" ## }}} # }}} LIGHT_THEME="latte" DARK_THEME="mocha" # check wether or not macOS is in dark mode if defaults read -g AppleInterfaceStyle &>/dev/null then theme=$DARK_THEME else theme=$LIGHT_THEME fi function color() { alpha=${2:-255} color="$1" printf -v alpha "%02x" "$alpha" selected_color="${theme}_${color}" echo "0x${alpha}${!selected_color}" } sketchybar \ --bar \ color="$(color base)" \ --default \ icon.color="$(color subtext0)" \ label.color="$(color subtext1)" \ --set /space\./ \ icon.color="$(color mauve)" \ icon.highlight_color="$(color green)" \ --set front_app \ background.color="$(color green)" \ icon.color="$(color mantle)" \ label.color="$(color mantle)" \ --set music \ background.color="$(color mauve)" \ label.color="$(color crust)" \ --set mic \ background.color="$(color base)" \ icon.color="$(color red)" \ icon.highlight_color="$(color green)" \ --set sound \ background.color="$(color crust)" \ icon.color="$(color green)" \ label.color="$(color subtext1)" \ icon.highlight_color="$(color red)" \ label.highlight_color="$(color red)" \ --set headphones \ background.color="$(color crust)" \ icon.color="$(color sapphire)" \ label.color="$(color subtext1)" \ --set wifi \ background.color="$(color mantle)" \ icon.color="$(color flamingo)" \ label.color="$(color subtext1)" \ --set battery \ background.color="$(color crust)" \ label.color="$(color subtext0)" \ --set clock \ icon.color="$(color mauve)" \ label.color="$(color subtext0)" \ ~/.local/bin/darwin/current_visual_mode # set the yabai colours as well yabai \ -m config active_window_border_color "$(color pink)" \ -m config normal_window_border_color "$(color mauve)" \ -m config feedback_color "$(color pink)" ```

I have tried the following things to troubleshoot the issue myself.

• Run sketchybar manually to see if there were any errors pertaining the the script. There were none.
• Run set_theme.sh manually. There were only errors related to the yabai commands. This seems unrelated to sketchybar.
• I removed everything from my ~/.sketchybarrc config except for the theme changes and the issue still persisted.
• I changed drawing=off to drawing=on to see if this had any affect and it still was unresponsive.
• I tested current_visual_mode called from the set_theme.sh script, and it runs properly.
• I have sketchybar set to on in the System Preferences under Automation, Screen Recording, and Accessibility.
• I've done various restarts in hopes that the issue would go away.
• Killed the service, uninstalled, and re-installed sketchybar using Homebrew.

The expected behavior here for me is that I want sketchybar to run the set_theme.sh script whenever AppleInterfaceThemeChangedNotification is fired.

Thanks so much for building this tool and taking the time to read this. I am open to trying out other things to troubleshoot if needed as well.

[FelixKratz]

I think it might have been removed by apple in a recent software update. I might look into adding a native event for theme change by observing the appkit effectiveAppearance field from the C side.

This is the config I have tested this with:

#!/bin/sh

sketchybar --bar color=0xff000000 \
           --add event theme_change AppleInterfaceThemeChangedNotification \
           --add item theme left \
           --set theme script="echo 'Event'" \
           --subscribe theme theme_change

other notifications still work fine, e.g. AppleInterfaceMenuBarHidingChangedNotification

[rogeruiz]

I think it might have been removed by apple in a recent software update.

Aha! This was my best guess but wanted to exhaust all the other options first. I wish it were more documented but I guess that's what I get for heavily relying on undocumented Apple APIs. Thanks @FelixKratz.

For now I'll manually change things, but I look forward to an update in the future with a custom event. I also have some free time and may look into the code for this. Could you point me to the files that would need to be changed to add this?

[FelixKratz]

It should work again in v.2.16.4, it seems this was a problem due to some recent changes I made to the run loop of the app.

[rogeruiz]

hi @FelixKratz I've been trying to get it working again by uninstalling and reinstalling the new version and restarting my machine. I'm still not seeing the AppleInterfaceThemeChangedNotification event getting triggered on my machine. Here's a video of it attached. I'm currently on version 2.16.4 via Homebrew. I am on macOS 14.0 still as well.

[FelixKratz]

Try this sketchybarrc:

#!/bin/bash

bar=(
    height=30
    color=0xff000000
    position=top
    sticky=on
)

sketchybar --bar "${bar[@]}"

sketchybar --add event theme_change AppleInterfaceThemeChangedNotification

sketchybar --add item theme left \
           --set theme script="osascript -e 'display notification \"Theme Changed\" with title \"Note\"'" \
           --subscribe theme theme_change

echo "sketchybar configuration loaded.."

It should work fine. I think there is a problem in the theme item that you posted above: You have set updates=when_shown as a default and set drawing=off for the theme item. This means that the script is not executed even when an event occurs. You would have to explicitly set updates=on for the theme item, such that it receives events even though it is not rendered to screen. Might that be why you are not seeing it working?

[rogeruiz]

ah perfect! thank you so much @FelixKratz that cleared the issue up. I appreciate your time looking into this for me. 💯