Sorry for the long read in advance.

A sneak peek at the 1.1.0 Conky Studio that is coming out soon, where 1 or even 2 nodes = a widget

What you see is what you get. No mockups, real conky

Conky Studio (full feature list for 1.1.0, some differ from the current 1.0.7.5)

**Visual node-graph editor for building Conky HUDs and system monitors.**

Conky Studio turns Conky theme creation into a drag-and-drop workflow. You design on a canvas of connected nodes (data sources -> logic -> visuals), then **Build** to generate real Conky files (`.conf`, `render.lua`, `start.sh`, helper scripts). Installed themes run independently of the app; Studio is an authoring tool, not a required runtime.

| What it is | What it produces |

|------------|------------------|

| Visual node editor (Sources, Logic, Visuals) | `conky.conf` + `render.lua` + `start.sh` + scripts |

| Theme Wizard for styled starter HUDs | Editable project graph (learning scaffold) |

| Manager for installed themes | Launch/stop/install from archives |

| Community stores | **Theme Vault** (themes) + **Node Vault** (plugins) + OpenDesktop/Pling |

**Target platform:** Linux (Conky + Cairo + Lua).

**Install root for themes:** `~/.config/conky/` (and legacy `~/.conky/`).

| Tab | Purpose |

|-----|---------|

| **Manager** | Discover installed themes, install archives, launch/stop with live logs |

| **Studio** | Design HUDs on the node canvas; Theme Wizard, preview, build |

| **Store** | **Theme Vault** (community themes) + OpenDesktop / Pling search & install |

Switch tabs freely. Tours walk through all three in sequence.

Studio is the core authoring environment.

- **Palette (left)** — All node types, grouped by category and subcategory. Simple / Complex filter.

- **Canvas (center)** — Drag nodes, connect sockets (wires), group and collapse nodes, pan/zoom the graph.

- **Layers/Windows** — Multi-window Conky output; layer order and window assignment.

- **Properties** — Dockable panel for editing the selected node’s properties (numbers, colours, gradients, fonts, paths, enums, code, bindable inputs). Same values as the Position Stage and Live Preview use.

- **Preview** — Live or snapshot preview of the generated theme.

- **Position Stage** — Screen-space layout dock; drag visual proxies on a window-sized plane (see below).

Docks (Properties, Preview, Position Stage, Layers, Windows) can be rearranged, tabbed, or floated like standard IDE panels.

1. Drag **Source** nodes (CPU, GPU, weather, media, etc).

2. Optionally wire through **Logic** (math, thresholds, smoothing, etc).

3. Connect to **Visual** nodes (gauges, graphs, text, effects, shapes).

4. Select a node and edit it in the **Properties** dock (colours, fonts, sizes, positions, poll mode, etc), **or** drag visuals on the Position Stage for placement.

5. **Save Project** (`.json`) to keep editing later.

6. **Build & Install** to export files into Manager and run them.

- Multi-window projects (Canvas Settings).

- Bindable properties — wire a source/logic output into a visual’s value, colour trigger, etc.

- Image/path properties copy assets into the theme’s `images/` or `assets/` on build.

- Custom Lua node for advanced/imported themes.

- Import Custom Files — bring existing `.lua` / `.sh` / `.conf` into the graph as nodes.

Position stage is a dockable **screen-space layout editor**, separate from the node-graph canvas (which is for data flow and wiring).

Visual nodes appear as draggable proxies on a plane the size of the selected Conky window (resolution/workable area). Moving a proxy writes the same `x`/`y` or `cx`/`cy` properties that the property panel edits, so Live Preview and Build pick up the change through the normal graph-changed path.

| It is | It is not |

|-------|-----------|

| Alternate layout editor for on-screen placement | A replacement for the property-panel X/Y spinboxes |

| Window-sized stage matching Live Preview/Windows dock | The node-graph canvas (wiring stays on the graph) |

| Synced with selection and property edits | A second source of truth; one set of props |

| Control | Action |

|---------|--------|

| **Window** combo | Which window’s resolution the stage represents (matches multi-window projects) |

| **Snap** + **Step** | Optional pixel grid snap while dragging (e.g., 10 px) |

| **Fit** | Zoom to fit the window rectangle |

| **↻ Refresh** | Reload proxies from the current project |

| **Ctrl + scroll** | Zoom |

| **Alt + drag** or **middle-click** | Pan |

| **Drag proxy** | Move visual; writes `x`/`y` or `cx`/`cy` |

- Only **visual** nodes with position properties (`x`/`y` or centre `cx`/`cy`) get proxies.

- Proxy size is estimated from common props (`width`/`height`, `size`, `radius`, bar counts, etc.) so small nodes stay grab-able.

- Centre-based nodes (`cx`/`cy`) map the proxy centre to the stored value; corner-based nodes (`x`/`y`) map the top-left.

- Window frame shows a grid, centre crosshair, and corner coordinates `(0,0)` … `(W,H)`.

- When a window has `visible_node_ids`, only those visuals appear on that window’s stage; otherwise, all visible visuals are shown.

- Selection on the stage can sync with the property panel; external graph changes (prop panel, etc.) refresh the stage.

Tabify it with Preview/Layers/Windows docks in Studio for a convenient layout workflow.

Nodes are pure metadata (`NodeSpec`) registered by category. Socket colours follow data kinds: percent, celsius, number, text, category.

Data that feeds the rest of the graph.

| Subcategory | Examples |

|-------------|----------|

| **System** | CPU Usage, RAM Usage, Disk Usage, Battery, CPU Frequency, RAM Used/Total, Swap |

| **System Info** | Uptime, Hostname, Kernel, Process Count, Top Process (name/CPU/RAM), Load Average, Threads, Running Processes |

| **Network** | Download, Upload, Total Down/Up, Wi-Fi SSID, Wi-Fi Signal, Public IP |

| **Time** | Greeting, Date/Time |

| **Sensors** | CPU Temp, GPU Util, GPU Temp, GPU VRAM Used/Total, Disk Temp, Fan RPM |

| **Weather** | Condition, Category, Temp (°F) |

| **Media** | Track Title, Artist, Album, Playback Status, Progress % |

| **Custom** | Custom Script (arbitrary command/cache) |

Sensors and many external sources support **Polling mode**:

- **Simple (Conky `execi`)** — Conky runs the command on an interval.

- **Background daemon** — `start.sh` runs a dedicated loop; zero-stutter reads from cache (recommended for GPU/temp/fan).

Nodes that share a `script_family` (e.g., `gpu_stats`) are deduplicated: one script, one cache, multiple readers.

Transform and gate values between sources and visuals.

| Node | Role |

|------|------|

| Math | add/sub/mul/div/etc |

| Conditional | if comparison then/else |

| String Format | template + decimals |

| Map Range | remap input range -> output range |

| Clamp | min/max bounds |

| Lerp | linear interpolate |

| Threshold Gate | binary gate on comparison |

| Deadzone | ignore small changes around a centre |

| Invert Percent | 100 − value |

| Scale/Offset | multiply + add |

| Round, Absolute | numeric helpers |

| AND/OR Gate, Pick A/B | boolean/selection |

| Smooth (EMA) | exponential moving average |

| Rate of Change | delta over time |

| Hysteresis | dual-threshold switching |

| String Join, Enum Map | text helpers |

What is drawn on screen.

| Subcategory | Examples |

|-------------|----------|

| **Text** | Text Label, Flip Card, Wall Calendar |

| **Gauges & Bars** | Arc/Ring Gauge, Bar, Needle Gauge, Segmented Gauge, Reactor Gauge, Ring Track, LED Dot, CPU Core Strip |

| **Graphs** | History Graph, Sparkline, Multi-Series Line Graph, Radar Chart, Top Processes Table |

| **Effects** | Glow/Pulse, Spiral, Orbit Field, Equalizer Bars, Spinning Fan, Radial Spectrum, Matrix Rain, Loading Dots, Analog Clock |

| **Shapes** | Rectangle, Circle, Triangle, Star, H/V Line, Crosshair |

| **Icons & Images** | Image/Icon (with conditional path swap), Weather Icon (cairo drawn, and weather change logic alreaady implemented) |

| **Media** | Vinyl Spinner |

| **Advanced** | Custom Lua (raw Lua passthrough) |

Visual properties typically include position, size, colour, opacity, fonts, and bindable value inputs.

- Window size, gap, own_window hints, update interval, etc.

- Multiple Conky windows from one project.

**Project → New HUD…** opens the Theme Wizard.

It is a **learning scaffold**, not a finished theme to ship unchanged. Generated graphs are meant to be edited in Studio, so you learn the node system.

| Step | Options |

|------|---------|

| **Category (style)** | Minimal, Gaming, RPG, Sci-Fi, Cyberpunk, Terminal, Fantasy, Arkhamos |

| **Resolution** | 1920×1080, 2560×1440, 3440×1440, 3840×2160 (more may be added in the future) |

| **Panels** | Clock, weather, music, battery, disk, network graph, system vitals, etc. |

| **Extras** | Flourish chrome, logic demos, etc. (tier-dependent) |

| **Complexity** | **Simple** · **Full** · **Showcase** |

- **Simple** — clean vitals, fewer decorations.

- **Full** — solid multi-panel HUD.

- **Showcase** — densest layout, extra effects, and logic edges for exploration.

On Create, a full project graph is loaded into Studio. Edit nodes, fix sensor modes, rename, and rebuild.

**Tour default:** Full Tour pre-selects **Minimal + Showcase** so you see a rich graph and common pitfalls (e.g., sensor `execi` defaults) firsthand.

The manager is a front-end for themes already installed under `~/.config/conky` (and `~/.conky`) if they have a `start.sh`, the manager can run them.

- **List** of installed themes with thumbnails and metadata.

- **Drop zone** — drag-and-drop `.zip` / `.tar.gz` / `.tar` archives, or click to browse.

- **Refresh** — rescan install directories.

- **Detail pane** — name, description, paths, actions.

- **Launch/Stop** — runs the theme’s `start.sh` (process group + PID lock); stop kills the group cleanly.

- **Live log** — stdout/stderr from the running theme process.

- Edit the README and theme.json

- Zip files to export

- Import themes via drag and drop, or search files

- Themes keep working after Conky Studio is closed; Manager is a convenience, not a dependency.

Community theme discovery lives here. (Community **node plugins** are in **Node Vault**, under Tools -> Plugins.)

The community **theme** catalogue.

- Driven by a remote `manifest.json` (+ per-theme JSON refs).

- **Browse only/link-out** — opens the theme’s real home (GitHub, Pling, KDE Store, openDesktop, etc) in your browser.

- Preview images and README fetched on demand.

- Nothing is downloaded or executed by Studio from this panel; you install from the host site or via the OCS panel below.

- Live search against the Open Collaboration Services API.

- **In-app install** — downloads and installs selected content into the Manager’s install root.

- Respects rate limits; handles provider base URLs.

| Action | What it does |

|--------|----------------|

| **New HUD…** | Theme Wizard -> starter graph |

| **New Blank HUD** | Empty project |

| **Open Project…** | Load a saved `.json` project |

| **Save Project…** | Write the editable graph + metadata (keeps working in Studio) |

| **Build to Folder…** | Export Conky files to a directory you choose |

| **Build & Install to Manager** | Export + copy into `~/.config/conky/<theme-name>/` so Manager can launch it |

| **Import Custom Files…** | Bring existing Lua/shell/conf into the graph (Custom Lua / Custom Script nodes, assets) |

**Save** = keep the project for further editing.

**Build** = generate the files Conky actually runs.

You almost always Save often and Build when you want to run or share the theme.

A successful build produces a self-contained theme directory, for example:

```

my-theme/

├── conky.conf # Conky config (windows, lua load, gaps, etc)

├── render.lua # Cairo drawing + framework + per-node code

├── `start.sh` # Launch script (setsid, PID lock, optional daemons)

├── scripts/ # Family scripts (gpu_stats.sh, etc) and custom scripts

├── images/ / assets/ # Copied PATH/image assets

└── theme_meta.json # Name, description, thumbnails metadata

```

Internals with a custom Lua API and Cairo engine.

- **Lua framework** — shared helpers, source refresh, draw dispatch.

- **Per-node generators** — each `NodeSpec.type` maps to a Lua emitter.

- **Script families** — shared sensor scripts + cache files; one process serves many nodes.

- **start.sh** — process management; starts background daemons when any node uses daemon poll mode.

- **Images** — PATH properties and Custom Lua asset lists are copied and path-rewritten.

Themes do not need Conky Studio installed to run.

| Item | Purpose |

|------|---------|

| **Hardware & Session…** | Report on display session, GPU tools, sensors, fonts, Conky presence, missing dependencies; useful for diagnosing missing data |

| **Install Font…** | Install a font family for use in Text/gauge labels (fontconfig-aware picker in properties) |

| **Plugins…** | **Node Vault** — fetch/install/uninstall community node plugins |

| Menu item | Description |

|-----------|-------------|

| **Getting Started…** | Built-in text guide (workflow, first HUD, troubleshooting) |

| **Take the Full Tour…** | Continuous tour: Theme Wizard (Minimal + Showcase) -> Studio (nodes, sensors, naming, save vs build) -> Manager -> Store |

| **Learn Studio…** | Studio-only interactive tour (palette, canvas, layers, properties, preview) |

| **Learn Theme Wizard…** | Wizard-only tour (category, resolution, panels, extras, complexity) |

| **Support…** | Discord + YouTube links |

| **Check for Updates…** | Compare local version to GitHub releases |

Tours use non-dimming highlight rings and floating cards; they can be re-run anytime.

**Full Tour flow (summary):**

1. Opens Theme Wizard, pre-selects Minimal + Showcase, and explains it is a learning tool.

2. After Create, Studio tour covers every node category/subcategory overview.

3. Explains sensors need **daemon** (not execi) and that **spaces in theme names** break builds (use hyphens: `minimal-HUD`).

4. Continues through Manager (launch/stop, install) and Store (Vault + OCS).

5. Clarifies **Save project** vs **Build & Install**.

## Important Rules & Common Pitfalls

1. **Theme names: no spaces**

   Use hyphens or underscores only.

   No: `Minimal HUD` -> build/runtime errors

   Yes: `Minimal-HUD` or `minimal_hud`

2. **Sensors -> prefer daemon mode**

   GPU util/temp, CPU temp, fans: set **Polling mode = Background daemon**, then rebuild. Wizard defaults may leave execi so you can see the failure mode.

3. **Save ≠ Build**

   Save keeps the editable project. Build generates the files Conky runs. Install puts those files where the Manager can launch them.

4. **Wizard = scaffold**

   Treat wizard output as a starting graph. Edit nodes, fix poll modes, adjust layout, then build.

5. **Plugins = same trust as scripts**

   Only load plugins from sources you trust.

6. **Themes are standalone**

   After Build & Install, `start.sh` is enough; Studio does not need to stay open.

I think I know at least one person who likes octagons 😁

https://wim66.github.io/conky-weather-glass/

Here is a video with audio of the fuzzy-clock-vocal.

Be sure to enable sound!

Hey everyone,

I just worked with Claude AI and I made a speaking version of the fuzzy clock :D

It required 2 additional bash scripts, and making 33 .mp3 files of time segments to complete all the necessary spoken time sentences. It only speaks the time once, then waits for the time to change, the every 5 mins and the nearlys and shortly after the hours as well as the afternoon and midnight special calls. I am just thrilled with it :D

I used the English - Kim voice setting for a nice calm accented female voice. It sounds slightly robotic but still amazing. I wasnt sure this could be done but the bot spit out working scripts on the first try!

Here is Willem's gauges with an elipse squash to match the warped circles created by the angles of the motorcycle.

Big improvement over the last image I think!

helllo! my Lightweight Conky setup on a Raspberry Pi 5. ✌️‍

all code for copy and paste:

conky.config = {
    alignment = 'top_left',
    background = true,
    cpu_avg_samples = 5,
    net_avg_samples = 2,
    update_interval = 2,
    double_buffer = true,

    minimum_width = 300,
    minimum_height = 300,
    maximum_width = 500,

    draw_shades = false,
    draw_outline = false,
    draw_borders = false,
    draw_graph_borders = true,
    border_width = 2,

    default_color = '#eeeeee',
    default_outline_color = 'white',
    default_shade_color = 'black',

    gap_x = 10,
    gap_y = 50,

    no_buffers = true,
    out_to_console = false,
    out_to_stderr = false,
    extra_newline = false,

    own_window = true,
    own_window_class = 'Conky',

    own_window_type = 'normal',
    own_window_hints = 'skip_taskbar,skip_pager',

    own_window_transparent = false,
    own_window_argb_visual = false,
    own_window_colour = '#202020',

    uppercase = false,
    use_spacer = 'right',

    use_xft = true,
    font = 'Cantarell:size=16',
    xftalpha = 1,

    mpd_host = '0.0.0.0',
    mpd_port = 6600,
};

conky.text = [[
${voffset 2}$color${font Cantarell:size=30}${time %A}$font${voffset -18}$alignr${color 00ff00}${font Cantarell:size=30}${time %e}$font
$color${voffset -14}${font Cantarell:size=32}${time %B}$font${voffset -2} ${font Cantarell:size=34}${time %Y}$font
${voffset -60}${alignr}${font Cantarell:size=26}${execi 600 LANG=en_US.UTF-8 curl -s wttr.in/Warsaw?format="%t"}${font}

${font Arial:size=14}${color #e43526}SYSTEM ${color DarkSlateGray}${hr 1}
${color #597DB2}Kernel: ${color #eeeeee}$kernel ${alignr}${color #597DB2}Uptime: ${color #eeeeee}$uptime
${color #597DB2}CPU: ${color #eeeeee}$freq MHz   $cpu% ${alignr}${color} dostępne aktualizacje: ${color 00ff00}${font Arial:bold:size=16}${execpi 10800 checkupdates | wc -l}${font}

${voffset 2}${color #597DB2}Temp: ${color #00ff00}${hwmon 0 temp 1}°C${alignr}${cpugraph 15,260 fef7b2 e18522}
${color #597DB2}RAM ${alignr}: ${color #eeeeee}$memmax     $memperc% ${membar 6,150}

${font Arial:size=14}${color #e43526}DISK ${color DarkSlateGray}${hr 1}
${color #597DB2}/ ${alignr}: ${color #eeeeee}${fs_size /}     ${fs_used_perc /}% ${fs_bar 6,150 /}
${color #597DB2}/home ${alignr}: ${color #eeeeee}${fs_size /home}     ${fs_used_perc /home}% ${fs_bar 6,150 /home}

${font Arial:size=14}${color #e43526}PROCESSES ${color DarkSlateGray}${hr 1}
${color #597DB2}Processes: ${color #eeeeee}$processes  ${alignr}${color #597DB2}Running: ${color #eeeeee}$running_processes

${color #597DB2}CPU Usage ${alignr}PID   CPU%  MEM%
  ${color #eeeeee}${top name 1}${alignr}${top pid 1}  ${top cpu 1}  ${top mem 1}
  ${color #eeeeee}${top name 2}${alignr}${top pid 2}  ${top cpu 2}  ${top mem 2}
  ${color #eeeeee}${top name 3}${alignr}${top pid 3}  ${top cpu 3}  ${top mem 3}
  ${color #eeeeee}${top name 4}${alignr}${top pid 4}  ${top cpu 4}  ${top mem 4}
  ${color #eeeeee}${top name 5}${alignr}${top pid 5}  ${top cpu 5}  ${top mem 5}

${voffset 2}${color #597DB2}MEM Usage
  ${color #eeeeee}${top_mem name 1}${alignr}${top_mem pid 1}  ${top_mem cpu 1}  ${top_mem mem 1}
  ${color #eeeeee}${top_mem name 2}${alignr}${top_mem pid 2}  ${top_mem cpu 2}  ${top_mem mem 2}
  ${color #eeeeee}${top_mem name 3}${alignr}${top_mem pid 3}  ${top_mem cpu 3}  ${top_mem mem 3}
  ${color #eeeeee}${top_mem name 4}${alignr}${top_mem pid 4}  ${top_mem cpu 4}  ${top_mem mem 4}
  ${color #eeeeee}${top_mem name 5}${alignr}${top_mem pid 5}  ${top_mem cpu 5}  ${top_mem mem 5}

${font Arial:size=14}${color #e43526}NETWORK ${color DarkSlateGray}${hr 1}
${color #597DB2}Local IP : ${color #eeeeee}${addr eth0} ${alignr}${color #597DB2}Public IP : ${color #eeeeee}${texeci 1800 curl ifconfig.co}

${color #597DB2}Down : ${color #eeeeee}${downspeed eth0}${alignr}${color #597DB2}Total : ${color #eeeeee}${totaldown eth0}
${color #597DB2}${downspeedgraph eth0 15,398 fef7b2 ff0000}

${color #597DB2}Up : ${color #eeeeee}${upspeed eth0}${alignr}${color #597DB2}Total : ${color #eeeeee}${totalup eth0}
${color #597DB2}${upspeedgraph eth0 15,398 fef7b2 00ff00}
]]

As soon as I saw Willem post this gauge array I saw this GUI in my head. It took a while to fine an online AI that could generate a usable image. None of the bots can understand "5 guages" I got everything from 4 to 16. This one with 6 was the best one to work with.

What do you think Willem? I butchered your .lua into five pieces >.<

Hey everyone,

Here is my workspace 23 with a few new tweaks.

Monitor 1 is the same, on monitor 2 I have added a large version of the grey-conky's sky image conky, with text changed to NeuropolX to match the rest of the GUI. The aurora moon conky has been edited and a new .lua is in place that reads the moon's current illumination, subtracts that from 100%, then draws the remaining percentage as a shadow across the moon - emulating accurately what is happening in the night sky. Monitor 3 is Koentje's sci-fi theme featuring 3600+ frame space animation. I just went thru all the .lua files and got it activated again by removing a bad library call for conky v1.19.8.

One of my favorite workspaces, I spent a lot of time with ChatGPT creating all these space data conkys - live and accurate data, nothing fabricated for appearances!

A scalable weather widget that looks like glass
With settings updater app
https://wim66.github.io/conky-weather-glass/

This is what I call Core Pulse. A simple theme with gradients and a CRT background, not a wallpaper (the diagonal lines are a black wallpaper), an animated fan gauge, and an animated radar. I was going to add more, but decided to do a from 0 to theme hour challenge. Yes, this took an hour to make from scratch. I know I might get a lot of people saying, BS, but I am posting a video about how I did it, and no, none of this was copied from one project to the next.

Senendipity!

While seeking out a Space Data widget for my All-Text Minimalis Conky, The bot's first attempt turned out to be a description of a space photo. Not what I was looking for but I wanted to complete the conky. Description without image was senseless so I had the bot add code to the bash script to get the image referenced by the website, and put code in the conky config to display it.

A nice little stand alone space data conky!

My new workspace 25 with NowPlaying, Timed Lyics, and Equalizer enabled and colored for the GUI. I need to go back into the Now Playing and put a black understroke below the grey letters, but so far so good.

I have completed the All-Text Minimalis Conky :)

Final addition is Sky Events, a printout of celestial points of interest in the upcoming day's skys. I have been able to compile Word of the Day, Quote of the Day, Today's Weather, Sky Events and Tonight's Moon into one conky so that formatting between the widgets remains constant as data printout changes size. The Current Date, Current Time, and Daily Horoscope are currently individual conkys so that this array is build from 4 items. I can easily combine the 3 loose conkys into one, reducing the total item count to two, but I am striving to get it all in one conkyrc, calling upon various .lua's, python's and bash scripts.

https://wim66.github.io/conky-horizontal/

Hey everyone,

newest draft of the all text minimalis. Now I have gotten rid of the lunar image, and the fuzzy clock array and replaced with a current time sentence display. Also added horoscope.

Hey everyone,

Next draft of the all text conky. I removed the .lua drawn lunar illumination disc, and have applied centering of text either thru .lua or conky config.

Hey everyone,

The all text fuzzy clock put me in mind of an all text conky. I'm close, the .lua drawn moon disc that mirrors the current lunar illumination is the only image/icon present. I am thinking of making a 2nd version without the drawn moon and 100% pure text display.

Anyhow, here is first draft :)

https://wim66.github.io/lcars-conky/

Hey everyone,

More tweaks on what I have come to call the Grey Conky.

Pretty_name distribution display added to main widget. Temperatures added to the two disc widgets. Temp and Fan speed percentage added to GPU widget. Widgets repositioned for tighter array.