What Is BitBar and How Does It Relate to xbar for Showing Script Output in the macOS Menu Bar?

BitBar is the original name of a macOS tool that puts the output of a script or program into the menu bar; xbar is its reboot and current version, distributed at xbarapp.com. If you search for BitBar today, the practical answer is: install xbar. It runs any executable script or program and renders that output as menu bar items, so the decision you're making is whether a menu bar display of your own command output is useful to you, and whether you want to write a plugin or start from a pre-built one.

BitBar vs. xbar at a glance

The site presents xbar under the heading "Put anything in your macOS menu bar" and explicitly labels it "(the BitBar reboot)." That single line is the relationship: same idea, current name, current codebase.

How the script-to-menu-bar model works

xbar's premise is narrow and easy to reason about: an executable script or program produces output, and xbar places that output in your menu bar. You don't need a GUI framework or a menu bar API — the interface between your code and the menu bar is the script's output itself.

That means the language question is settled by your own toolchain rather than by xbar. The site states you can "write your own plugins — in any language," so a shell script, a Python file, or a compiled program are all viable inputs as long as they run on your Mac and produce output.

A concrete case: suppose you want your external IPv4 address visible at a glance. The Network Info plugin on the site does exactly this class of job — it "provides network status information about your Mac: Internal and external IPv4+IPv6 addresses, Whois information and Speedtest.net results." You can install that plugin, or write a small script that queries an address service and prints the result, then let xbar display it. The second path is the one to take when no existing plugin matches your data source.

The plugin model

Two routes exist, and they suit different situations:

• Pre-built plugins. The site advertises "hundreds of pre-built plugins" and lets you browse them by category: AWS Cloud, Cryptocurrency, Dev, E-Commerce, Email, Environment, Finance, Games, IoT, Lifestyle, Music, Network, Politics, Science, Sports, System, Time, Tools, Travel, Weather, and Web. Named examples on the page include Network Info, YubiKey MFA (TOTP codes from YubiKey OATH), OKX Ticker, a Bluetooth Trackpad battery indicator, Miner Stat, and a Simple RSS reader.
• Your own plugins. Use this when your data is internal, proprietary, or simply not covered by the categories above. The site links a "Writing plugins guide" alongside the download.

Pick the pre-built route when a listed plugin already covers your data and you only need it displayed. Pick the write-your-own route when the value is in a script you already run — a build status check, an internal service health probe, a log counter — and you want its output glanceable instead of buried in a terminal.

Deciding whether to install it

Install xbar if all of the following hold:

1. You work on macOS and want specific information visible without switching windows.
2. The information can be produced by a command or program on your machine.
3. You're willing to either configure a plugin or maintain a small script.

Skip it if the data you care about is already surfaced by a native menu bar item, or if you'd rather not maintain a script for it.

To proceed, use the "Download xbar for macOS" link on xbarapp.com, then browse the plugin categories or open the writing plugins guide depending on which route above fits. Verify the install by confirming your chosen plugin or script appears in the menu bar and updates as expected.

Verifying the project and its status

Because BitBar and xbar share a lineage, it's worth confirming you're on the maintained project rather than an old BitBar download. The site provides the checks directly: an MIT License statement, a link to the GitHub project, the author handle @matryer, and a version string with a last-updated date. The page also asks users to sponsor the project on GitHub, which is a signal of ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment.

One caveat to keep in view: the version shown is a beta build (v2.1.7-beta-44), so if you need maximum stability for a work-critical menu bar item, treat that label as information about the release channel rather than a guarantee.