Simple system info applet for cosmic

Features

• CPU usage — percentage of total CPU utilization
• RAM usage — percentage of memory used (optionally including swap)
• Network speed — download and upload speeds in MB/s
• CPU temperature — reads from common thermal sensors via sysinfo
• GPU temperature — reads from sysinfo components (AMD/Intel), falls back to nvidia-smi for NVIDIA
• GPU usage — reads from sysfs (gpu_busy_percent), falls back to nvidia-smi for NVIDIA
• Color-coded values — metrics change color (normal → yellow → red) based on severity using COSMIC theme colors

Display Template

The applet uses a configurable template string to control what is displayed and in what order. Edit the template file in your config directory:

~/.config/cosmic/io.github.cosmic-utils.cosmic-ext-applet-sysinfo/v1/template

Default template

CPU {cpu_usage} RAM {ram_usage} ↓{dl_speed}M/s ↑{ul_speed}M/s

Available variables

When a sensor is not available, it shows -- (e.g. --°C, --%).

Use {{ and }} for literal braces in your template.

Example templates

All metrics with separators:

{gpu_temp} {gpu_usage} | {cpu_temp} {cpu_usage} | {ram_usage} | ↓{dl_speed} ↑{ul_speed}

→ 48°C 3% | 51°C 45% | 67% | ↓1.23 ↑0.45

Grouped by category:

CPU {cpu_usage} {cpu_temp} | GPU {gpu_usage} {gpu_temp} | RAM {ram_usage}

→ CPU 45% 51°C | GPU 3% 48°C | RAM 67%

Network focused:

↓{dl_speed}M/s ↑{ul_speed}M/s | CPU {cpu_usage}

→ ↓1.23M/s ↑0.45M/s | CPU 45%

Minimal:

{cpu_usage} {ram_usage}

→ 45% 67%

Temps only:

CPU {cpu_temp} GPU {gpu_temp}

→ CPU 51°C GPU 48°C

Color Coding

Values are automatically color-coded using COSMIC theme colors:

Download and upload speeds are not color-coded (high speed is not a problem).

GPU Monitoring

GPU temperature and usage are read using sysinfo components and sysfs for AMD/Intel GPUs. For NVIDIA GPUs, the applet falls back to nvidia-smi when sysinfo/sysfs data is unavailable.

nvidia-smi is an optional dependency — GPU metrics will simply show -- if it is not installed and sysfs data is unavailable.

Installation

Flatpak

Depending on how you've installed COSMIC Desktop, the Sysinfo applet may show up in your app store by default. In COSMIC Store it should be under the "COSMIC Applets" category.

If the applet does not show up in your app store, you'll need to add cosmic-flatpak as a source:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists --user cosmic https://apt.pop-os.org/cosmic/cosmic.flatpakrepo

Then, proceed to your preferred app store and search for Sysinfo applet.

Manual

The applet can be installed using the following steps:

sudo apt install libxkbcommon-dev just
git clone https://github.com/cosmic-utils/cosmic-ext-applet-sysinfo.git
cd cosmic-ext-applet-sysinfo
just build
sudo just install

libxkbcommon-dev is required by smithay-client-toolkit

Arch Linux

On Arch Linux, the applet can be installed using the PKGBUILD cosmic-ext-applet-sysinfo-git, available on the AUR.

Network Interface Detection & Configuration

The applet automatically monitors physical network interfaces (Ethernet and Wi-Fi), ignoring virtual interfaces and loopback.

Advanced Configuration

The applet also provides a configuration that can be used to specify interfaces to include or exclude.

cd ~/.config/cosmic/io.github.cosmic-utils.cosmic-ext-applet-sysinfo/v1/

Example configuration:

Include interface(s) in the include_interfaces file:

Some(["enp7s0", "wlp4s0"])

Or exclude specific interface(s) in exclude_interfaces file:

Some(["lo", "br0", "docker0", "virbr0"])

or

None

• include_interfaces: Only monitor listed interfaces
• exclude_interfaces: Ignore listed interfaces
• Both options can be combined; include_interfaces is applied first
• Without configuration: all physical interfaces are monitored
• For hotplugged devices (10s rescan interval), prefer exclude_interfaces as interface names may be unpredictable

Uninstall

To uninstall files installed by just install, run:

sudo just uninstall