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Alien Conky Suite

A modular, feature-rich collection of 30 Conky scripts across 12 categories, designed to create a cohesive and interactive desktop experience. Run everything together or each component independently.

  • All components are fully modular
  • Designed for low clutter, high signal
  • Easily customizable and extendable
  • Conky scripts built on Linux Mint 22.3/Cinnamon Edition

GitHub Stars GitHub Forks GitHub Issues GitHub License

Alien Conky Suite

Overview

Category Scripts
Analog Clock Analog Clock, Analog Clock Rings
Clock Animated Clock, Now Playing (Song Info), Now Playing Sidepanel
Weather Current Conditions (top + sidepanel), Forecast (small + sidepanel), Full Panel
Calendar Horizontal Calendar (Lua), Horizontal Calendar (Bash), Multi-Month Calendar, khal calendar, allcombined Lua Calendar, Side Panel calendar
System Single-line System Monitor
Network vnStat Bandwidth Monitor, Network Traffic Panel
Arc Enhanced Arc (weather + moon phase)
Google Calendar Month-view (gcalcli + Lua)
RSS Click-enabled Feed Viewer
Stocks Current stock prices
Terminator Day/night terminator map
Solar Dial Solar Dial, Solar Dial Ring

The Earth Viewer component is adapted from the Aurora set.

Getting Started

Install conky and dependencies:

sudo apt install conky-all tmux curl xdotool vnstat jq python3-ephem playerctl librsvg2-bin luarocks gcalcli khal git fonts-ibm-plex

Install Alien:

cd ~/.conky
git clone https://github.com/rew62/alien.git
cd alien

Run the setup script:

./configure-alien.sh    # interactive setup only
./configure-alien2.sh   # setup + automated font install from fonts/

This will:

  • Create or update .env with:

    • OWM_API_KEY — OpenWeatherMap API key
    • FINNHUB_API_KEY — FinnHub API key (stocks widget)
    • CITY_ID — OWM city ID
    • LAT / LON — Latitude and longitude (auto-detected via GeoClue or IP geolocation if you accept the prompt)
    • UNITS — metric (Celsius) or imperial (Fahrenheit)
    • LANG — Language code (e.g. en, fr, de)
    • ICON_SOURCE — cdn or local weather icons
    • CACHE_TTL — Weather cache lifetime in seconds (default: 300)
    • INTERFACE_NAME — Network interface (auto-detected)
    • CRONPATH — Cron user (defaults to current user)

  • Patch calendar/sys-small.rc with the active network interface

  • Patch vnstat/vnstat.lua with the active network interface

  • Update earth/crontab with the correct home path (if present)

  • Optionally auto-detect your latitude/longitude via GeoClue (if available) or IP geolocation, pre-filling the LAT/LON defaults

  • Run a font availability check (configure-alien.sh) or install all bundled fonts from fonts/ and then check (configure-alien2.sh)

See .env-example for the format reference.

Features

Interactive RSS Feed

  • Clickable articles using xdotool

  • Toggle feeds via the double-arrow control

  • Fully customizable via:

    RSS/feeds.conf

Animated Clock Enhancements

  • Seconds are visualized within the minute divider

Weather System

  • Uses National Weather Service (NWS) data for forecast and openweathermap.org (OWM) API for current conditions.

  • Separate scripts for:

    • Current conditions
    • Forecast

Stock Price table display for current stock prices

  • Requires an API key from FinnHub for stock data. You can obtain one free at https://www.finnhub.io/
  • Customize stock symbols at stocks/symbols.conf

Arc Widget Enhancements

  • Includes current forecast and moon phase rendering
  • Expanded from original github/@gtex62 design

Modular Design

  • Every widget runs independently:

    conky -c script.rc

tmux Integration

  • Launch all widgets at once (runs the default group):

    ./atmux

  • Stop everything:

    ./atmux quit

atmux — Selective Launch

atmux lets you launch any subset of widgets by passing short codes as arguments. Up to 4 conky processes are grouped per tmux window; the layout is tiled automatically. With no arguments it launches the default group. Use atmux help to list all codes.

Usage:

# Launch the default group
./atmux

# Launch specific widgets by code
./atmux t a wc wf

# Or pass a bracketed, comma-separated list
./atmux [t,a,wc,wf]

# Launch a named group
./atmux stack1

Named Groups:

Group Codes
default h2 s2 a g t m wf ac vs r e $ tm
stack1 h2 a sc mc sd wfs mp n vs
stack2 h2 lc wf

Widget Codes:

Code RC File Widget
ac aclock/aclock.rc Analog clock
ac2 clock/alien-clock2.lua Analog clock rings
a arc/arc.rc Arc (horizon, planets, sun/moon, weather)
e earth/earth.rc Earth satellite image viewer
g gcal/gcal.rc Google Calendar month-view
h2 calendar/hcal2.rc Horizontal Lua calendar (full-width)
hc calendar/hcal.rc Horizontal calendar (compact, bash)
mc calendar/multimon.rc Multi-month calendar
kc calendar/kcalendar.rc khal-based calendar panel
lc calendar/lcalendar.rc Lua-drawn allcombined calendar
m music/song-info.rc Now Playing (song info)
mp music/playerctl.rc Now Playing sidepanel
r rss/rss.rc RSS feed viewer
$ stocks/ticker.rc Stock price table
s calendar/sys-small.rc Single-line system monitor
s2 calendar/sys-small2.rc Single-line system monitor (larger font)
sc calendar/sidepanel-calendar.rc Side panel calendar
sd solardial/solardial.rc Solar Dial
sdr solardial/solardialring.rc Solar Dial Ring
t clock/clock.rc Animated clock
v vnstat/vnstat.rc vnStat bandwidth monitor
vs vnstat/vnstat-summary.rc vnstat short
n vnstat/net.rc network traffic panel
wa weather/full.rc Full weather panel
wc weather/owm_current_top.rc Current conditions (top bar)
wcs weather/owm_current_sidepanel.rc Current conditions sidepanel
wf weather/nws_forecast_small.rc 5-day forecast strip
wfs weather/nws_forecast_sidepanel.rc Forecast sidepanel
tm terminator/terminator.rc Day/night terminator map
kr utils/kroy.lua Killroy Was Here

Directory and File Tree

├── alien.png
├── atmux                               - launch widgets via tmux (default group or codes)
├── background.png                      - Alien theme background (3440×1440)
├── aclock/
│   └── aclock.rc                       [ac] Analog clock
├── arc/
│   ├── arc.rc                          [a]  Arc (horizon, planets, sun/moon, weather)
│   ├── arc3.lua
│   ├── settings.lua
│   └── sky_update.py
├── calendar/
│   ├── hcal2.rc                        [h2] Horizontal Lua calendar (full-width)
│   ├── hcal.rc                         [hc] Horizontal calendar (compact, bash)
│   ├── multimon.rc                     [mc] Multi-month calendar
│   ├── kcalendar.rc                    [kc] khal-based calendar panel
│   ├── lcalendar.rc                    [lc] Lua-drawn allcombined calendar
│   ├── sidepanel-calendar.rc           [sc] Side panel calendar
│   ├── sys-small.rc                    [s]  Single-line system monitor
│   ├── sys-small2.rc                   [s2] Single-line system monitor (larger font)
│   ├── fmt.lua
│   ├── hcal2.lua
│   ├── hcal.sh
│   ├── khal-calendar.sh
│   ├── loadall.lua
│   └── settings.lua
├── clock/
│   ├── alien-clock2.lua                [ac2] Analog clock rings
│   ├── clock.rc                        [t]  Animated clock widget (0.5 s updates)
│   ├── clock.lua
│   ├── loadall.lua
│   └── settings.lua
├── configure-alien.sh                  - interactive setup (API key, lat/lon, interface)
├── configure-alien2.sh                 - setup with automated font install
├── earth/
│   ├── earth.rc                        [e]  Earth satellite image viewer
│   ├── crontab
│   ├── fourmilab-earth.sh
│   ├── loadall.lua
│   └── settings.lua
├── fonts/                              - bundled font files
├── gcal/
│   ├── gcal.rc                         [g]  Google Calendar month-view
│   ├── gcal2.lua
│   ├── loadall.lua
│   └── settings.lua
├── music/
│   ├── playerctl.rc                    [mp] Now Playing sidepanel
│   ├── song-info.rc                    [m]  Now Playing (song info)
│   └── music_info.sh
├── rss/
│   ├── rss.rc                          [r]  RSS feed viewer
│   ├── feeds.conf
│   ├── rss-click.sh
│   ├── rss-daemon.sh
│   ├── rss-fetch.sh
│   ├── rss-next.sh
│   ├── loadall.lua
│   └── settings.lua
├── scripts/                            - shared scripts and Lua libraries
│   ├── owm_fetch.sh
│   ├── owm_fetch.lua
│   ├── nws_fetch.lua
│   ├── allcombined2.lua
│   ├── background.lua
│   ├── json.lua
│   ├── loadall.lua
│   └── lua3-bars.lua
├── stocks/
│   ├── ticker.rc                       [$]  Stock price table
│   ├── symbols.conf
│   ├── stocks.lua
│   ├── loadall.lua
│   └── settings.lua
├── solardial/
│   ├── solardial.rc                    [sd]  Solar Dial
│   ├── solardialring.rc                [sdr] Solar Dial Ring
│   ├── dial2.lua
│   ├── loadall.lua
│   └── settings.lua
├── terminator/
│   └── terminator.rc                   [tm] Day/night terminator map
├── theme.lua                           - global colors (borders, backgrounds)
├── utils/
│   ├── kroy.lua                        [kr] Killroy Was Here
│   ├── rc                              - shortcut launcher (place on PATH)
│   └── save-pos.sh                     - save all conky window positions
├── vnstat/
│   ├── vnstat.rc                       [v]  vnStat bandwidth monitor
│   ├── vnstat-summary.rc                   [vs] vnstat short
│   ├── net.rc                              [n]  network traffic panel
│   ├── vnstat.lua
│   ├── vnstat-summary.lua
│   ├── loadall.lua
│   └── settings.lua
└── weather/
    ├── owm_current_top.rc              [wc]  Current conditions (top bar)
    ├── owm_current_sidepanel.rc        [wcs] Current conditions sidepanel
    ├── nws_forecast_small.rc           [wf]  5-day forecast strip
    ├── nws_forecast_sidepanel.rc       [wfs] Forecast sidepanel
    ├── full.rc                         [wa]  Full weather panel
    ├── draw_owm_current_top.lua
    ├── draw_owm_current_sidepanel.lua
    ├── draw_nws_forecast_small.lua
    ├── draw_nws_forecast_sidepanel.lua
    ├── draw_owm_nws_full.lua
    ├── loadall.lua
    └── settings.lua

Utilities

  • save-pos.sh — Calculates the current position of all running conkys. Using alt+mouse drag, relocate conkys to your desired position and in a separate terminal window run save-pos.sh. The script can also be run on individual windows using the keys below.

    Note: Each conky redraws at its next update interval. Widgets with long intervals (such as calendar scripts) should be restarted after repositioning to reflect the change immediately.

    Window Reference — keys used to target individual windows:

    Key Window Title RC File
    rss rss rss/rss.rc
    sys-small sys-small calendar/sys-small.rc
    sys-small2 sys-small2 calendar/sys-small2.rc
    current w-current weather/owm_current_top.rc
    forecast w-forecast weather/nws_forecast_small.rc
    full w-full weather/full.rc
    song-info song-info music/song-info.rc
    clock conky_clock clock/clock.rc
    vnstat vnstat vnstat/vnstat.rc
    vnstat-summary vnstat-summary vnstat/vnstat-summary.rc
    hcal2 hcal2 calendar/hcal2.rc
    hcal hcal calendar/hcal.rc
    arc conky-arc arc/arc.rc
    sp-cal sp-cal calendar/sidepanel-calendar.rc
    khal-cal khal-cal calendar/kcalendar.rc
    ac-cal ac-cal calendar/lcalendar.rc
    earth earth earth/earth.rc
    gcal gcal gcal/gcal.rc
    stocks stocks stocks/ticker.rc
    aclock aclock aclock/aclock.rc
    c2 c2 clock/alien-clock2.lua
    multimon multimon calendar/multimon.rc
    sp-playerctl sp-playerctl music/playerctl.rc
    solardial solardial solardial/solardial.rc
    solardialring solardialring solardial/solardialring.rc
    terminator terminator terminator/terminator.rc
    sp-net sp-net vnstat/net.rc
    wcs w-sidepanel weather/owm_current_sidepanel.rc
    wfs w-forecast-sidepanel weather/nws_forecast_sidepanel.rc
    killroy killroy utils/kroy.lua

  • rc — Place in your ~/bin or any directory on PATH. Run any conky script with rc conky, saving keystrokes. Useful for launching individual conkys quickly.

Theming

Global appearance is controlled via:

theme.lua

This file defines:

  • Border colors
  • Background colors
  • Theme font

Dependencies

Required

  • conky (with Lua + Cairo support)
  • jq
  • curl
  • xdotool
  • tmux
  • vnstat
  • python3

Calendar & Agenda

  • khal — local calendar store; used by kcalendar.rc
  • gcalcli — Google Calendar CLI; used by gcal.rc

Media

  • playerctl — MPRIS media player control; used by song-info.rc, playerctl.rc

Fonts

Bundled (in fonts/):

  • Orbitron
  • Oxanium
  • Barlow Condensed — rss.rc
  • DejaVuSansM Nerd Font Propo — monospace / Nerd Font glyphs
  • Feather — icon font
  • GE Inspira
  • Good Times — sidepanel-calendar.rc, hcal2.rc
  • Material — icon font
  • Metropolis — clock.rc, sidepanel-calendar.rc
  • MonaspiceNe Nerd Font — primary monospace, earth.rc
  • Rubik — variable font, weather widgets

Additional fonts required (install separately):

  • FiraCode Nerd Font — sys-small.rc, song-info.rc
  • SpaceMono Nerd Font — sys-small.rc, song-info.rc

Nerd Fonts: https://www.nerdfonts.com/

Optional

  • lua-cjson (fallback included in scripts/json.lua)
  • librsvg2-bin (only needed if weather icons are returned as SVG and you want PNG conversion)

Related Projects

  • auzia-conky — Forked and modified from SZinedine/auzia-conky

    git clone https://github.com/rew62/auzia-conky.git

  • conky-aurora — Aurora conky set (source of the Earth Viewer component used in this suite)

    git clone https://github.com/rew62/conky-aurora.git

Credits

  • github/@gtex62 — Original author of gtex62-clean-suite - weather widget formed the foundation of the enhanced Arc implementation
  • github/@wim66 — Original author of background.lua, lua3-bars.lua
  • allcombined2.lua - Original Lua scripting: Mr Peachy, Modified/Maintained by: github/@Fehlix (MX Linux Team), MX Linux Conky Collection

About

Alien - a modular themed set of conkys with 12 information categories

Topics

conky lua conky-theme

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Readme

License

MIT license
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