package-managers.md

package-managers.json

Config file describing the package managers the applet tracks. Lives next to applet.js; read on startup. depgraph.json is sourced from pacman only, but any manager whose packages live in the pacman database (e.g. yay for AUR) can opt into impact counts via uses_depgraph.

Schema

{
  "package_managers": [
    {
      "name": "pacman",
      "check_cmd": "checkupdates",
      "check_no_updates_exit_code": 2,
      "check_parse": "lines",
      "update_cmd": "sudo pacman -Syu",
      "update_needs_terminal": true,
      "check_interval_minutes": 10,
      "provides_depgraph": true
    },
    {
      "name": "aur (yay)",
      "check_cmd": "yay -Qua",
      "check_no_updates_exit_code": 1,
      "check_parse": "lines",
      "update_cmd": "yay -Syu",
      "update_needs_terminal": true,
      "check_interval_minutes": 10,
      "uses_depgraph": true
    },
    {
      "name": "rustup",
      "check_cmd": "rustup check",
      "check_parse": { "count_regex": "Update available" },
      "update_cmd": "rustup self update && rustup update",
      "update_needs_terminal": false,
      "check_interval_minutes": 720
    },
    {
      "name": "claude",
      "self_managed": true
    }
  ]
}

Fields

Field	Meaning
name	Display name, used in tooltip/notification breakdown (pacman: 5, aur: 2).
check_cmd	Read-only command listing pending updates. Must be safe to run unattended: no sudo, no side effects.
check_no_updates_exit_code	Exit code meaning "no updates" (vs. a real error). checkupdates exits 2 when nothing is pending; yay -Qua exits 1 (like pacman -Qu). Default: exit 0 with empty output.
check_parse	How to count updates from output: "lines" = one non-empty line per update; { "count_regex": "..." } = count matching lines (e.g. rustup check also prints up-to-date components).
update_cmd	Command to apply updates. Absent for self-managed entries.
update_needs_terminal	true → open interactive terminal (sudo/confirm prompts); false → run headless, notify on completion.
check_interval_minutes	Per-manager check cadence. Keeps rustup from being polled every 10 minutes.
provides_depgraph	This manager feeds depgraph.json (and implicitly gets impact counts). Only pacman.
uses_depgraph	This manager's updated packages are installed via pacman, so they appear in depgraph.json; show impact counts for them. Used by yay/AUR.
self_managed	Tool updates itself (e.g. claude). No commands run; shown in UI so the user knows it's accounted for.

Notes

• yay/pacman overlap: yay -Syu updates repo and AUR packages, and checkupdates already covers the repo side. So yay's check is AUR-only (yay -Qua) to avoid double counting; its superset update command is harmless.
• AUR impact counts come for free: installed AUR packages appear in pacman -Qi, so they are already in the depgraph — hence uses_depgraph on the yay entry.
• Applet badge: the applet runs every manager's check on its own interval and shows the summed count; the tooltip and notification show the per-manager breakdown.