Medical Disclaimer: DexBar is an unofficial, personal convenience tool and is not a medical device. It is not intended to be used for medical decisions, treatment, or diagnosis. Always use your official Dexcom receiver, app, or other clinically approved methods to verify your blood glucose before making any medical decisions. Do not rely solely on this app.

DexBar

A native menu bar / system tray app that displays real-time blood glucose readings from your Dexcom CGM via the Dexcom Share API. Available for macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Features

• Live readings — displays your current blood sugar value and trend arrow in the menu bar (e.g. 94 →)
• Auto-refresh — polls Dexcom every 5 minutes, timed to the actual reading timestamp so refreshes stay aligned even after manual refreshes
• mg/dL or mmol/L — toggle units in Settings
• Configurable alerts — native notifications (macOS notifications, Linux libnotify, Windows balloon tips) for:
  • High blood sugar (above a threshold you set)
  • Low blood sugar (below a threshold you set)
  • Rising fast (↑ ⇈)
  • Dropping fast (↓ ⇊)
• Alert cooldowns — same-type alerts won't repeat within 15 minutes
• Secure credential storage — username and password stored in macOS Keychain / Linux Secret Service / Windows settings
• Auto-connect on launch — reconnects automatically using saved credentials
• Region support — US, Outside US, and Japan Dexcom Share endpoints

Requirements

• macOS 14 Sonoma or later
• A Dexcom account with Share enabled and at least one follower set up
• Xcode 15+ (to build from source)

Getting Started

Download (easiest)

One-line install — paste this in Terminal. No quarantine warnings, no Gatekeeper prompts:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SucculentGoose/dexbar/main/install.sh | bash

The script downloads the latest release directly via curl (bypassing macOS quarantine), installs to /Applications, and launches the app.

Manual install instead

1. Go to the Releases page and download the latest DexBar-vX.X.X.zip
2. Unzip and drag DexBar.app to your /Applications folder
3. Bypass Gatekeeper: Because DexBar is not notarized, macOS will show a "damaged and can't be opened" warning. Run this once in Terminal:

   xattr -cr /Applications/DexBar.app

4. Open DexBar from /Applications normally

Build from source

1. Clone the repo:

   git clone https://github.com/your-username/dexbar.git
   cd dexbar

2. Generate the Xcode project (requires xcodegen):

   brew install xcodegen
   xcodegen generate

3. Open the project in Xcode:

   open DexBar.xcodeproj

4. Select your Team under Signing & Capabilities, then build and run (⌘R).

First-time setup

1. Click the icon in your menu bar
2. Click Settings…
3. Enter your Dexcom username, password, and region
4. Click Connect

Your credentials are saved to the macOS Keychain. From this point on, DexBar will connect automatically every time it launches.

Settings

Setting	Description
Username / Password	Your Dexcom Share account credentials
Region	US / Outside US / Japan
Units	mg/dL or mmol/L
Refresh interval	1, 2, 5, 10, or 15 minutes
High alert threshold	Notify when BG exceeds this value
Low alert threshold	Notify when BG falls below this value
Rising fast alert	Notify on SingleUp or DoubleUp trend
Dropping fast alert	Notify on SingleDown or DoubleDown trend

How it works

DexBar uses the Dexcom Share API — the same service used by Dexcom's follower app. It requires your (or the patient's) Dexcom credentials, not a follower's credentials.

API endpoints used:

• POST /General/AuthenticatePublisherAccount — authenticates and returns an account ID
• POST /General/LoginPublisherAccountById — exchanges account ID + password for a session token
• GET /Publisher/ReadPublisherLatestGlucoseValues — fetches the latest glucose reading

Note: Dexcom Stelo is not compatible with the Share service and is not supported.

Project structure

dexbar/
├── Sources/
│   └── DexBarCore/                   # Shared library (macOS + Linux)
│       ├── Models/
│       │   └── GlucoseReading.swift  # Data model, trend enum, unit conversion
│       ├── Services/
│       │   └── DexcomService.swift   # Dexcom Share API client (async/await)
│       └── Shared/
│           └── CoreTypes.swift       # MonitorState, TiRStats, TimeRange enums
├── DexBar/                           # macOS app
│   └── Sources/
│       ├── DexBarApp.swift           # App entry point, MenuBarExtra
│       ├── Services/
│       │   └── KeychainService.swift # Secure credential storage (Keychain)
│       ├── Managers/
│       │   ├── GlucoseMonitor.swift  # Polling loop, alert evaluation
│       │   └── NotificationManager.swift  # macOS notification delivery
│       └── Views/
│           ├── MenuBarView.swift     # Popover UI
│           ├── SettingsView.swift    # Settings window
│           └── GlucoseChartView.swift
├── DexBarWindows/                    # Windows app (.NET 8 / WPF)
│   ├── Program.cs                    # Single-instance entry point
│   ├── App.xaml.cs                   # Application startup, tray setup
│   ├── TrayManager.cs               # NotifyIcon tray with glucose badge
│   ├── Controls/
│   │   └── GlucoseChartControl.xaml.cs  # Custom-rendered glucose chart
│   ├── Pages/                        # Settings tab pages
│   │   ├── AccountPage.xaml
│   │   ├── DisplayPage.xaml
│   │   ├── AlertsPage.xaml
│   │   ├── AboutPage.xaml
│   │   └── DisclaimerPage.xaml
│   ├── Services/
│   │   └── UpdateChecker.cs          # Auto-update via appcast XML
│   ├── Windows/
│   │   ├── PopupWindow.xaml          # Glucose status popup
│   │   └── SettingsWindow.xaml       # Tabbed settings window
│   ├── Themes/                       # WPF resource dictionaries
│   ├── installer.iss                 # Inno Setup installer script
│   └── DexBarWindows.csproj
└── DexBarLinux/                      # Linux app
    └── Sources/
        ├── main.swift                # Entry point (GLib main loop)
        ├── Managers/
        │   ├── GlucoseMonitorLinux.swift  # Polling loop, alert evaluation
        │   └── LinuxNotificationManager.swift  # libnotify notifications
        ├── Services/
        │   └── SecretServiceStorage.swift  # KDE Wallet / GNOME Keyring
        └── Views/
            ├── TrayIcon.swift        # D-Bus StatusNotifierItem tray icon
            ├── PopupWindow.swift     # GTK4 status popup
            ├── SettingsWindow.swift  # GTK4 settings window
            └── AutoStart.swift      # ~/.config/autostart/ management

---

Linux

DexBar also runs on Linux as a system tray application. It is tested on KDE Plasma 6 but works on any desktop environment that supports the StatusNotifierItem protocol (GNOME with AppIndicator extension, XFCE, etc.).

Linux Requirements

• Swift 6.0+ — swift.org/download
• GTK4: libgtk-4-dev
• System tray menu: libdbusmenu-glib-dev
• Wayland overlay: libgtk4-layer-shell-dev
• Credential storage: libsecret-1-dev
• Desktop notifications: libnotify-dev

Linux Installation

# 1. Install system dependencies (Debian/Ubuntu/KDE Neon)
sudo apt install libgtk-4-dev libdbusmenu-glib-dev libgtk4-layer-shell-dev libsecret-1-dev libnotify-dev

# 2. Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/SucculentGoose/dexbar
cd dexbar
swift build -c release --product DexBarLinux

# 3. Install (user-local, no sudo needed)
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
cp .build/release/DexBarLinux ~/.local/bin/dexbar

Or use the install script which does all of the above:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SucculentGoose/dexbar/main/install.sh | bash

Linux First Run

dexbar &

A tray icon appears in your system tray. Click it to open the menu, then choose Show Status to open the glucose popup or Open Settings to configure the app. In Settings → Account, enter your Dexcom credentials, choose your region, and click Connect.

Credentials are stored securely in KDE Wallet (or GNOME Keyring) via the Secret Service D-Bus API. On first run KDE Wallet may prompt you to create a wallet or unlock an existing one.

Linux Features

• Status popup — macOS-style popup with a live glucose chart (3h/6h/12h/24h), Time in Range bar (2d–90d), GMI, and real-time countdown to the next reading
• Auto-update — checks for updates on launch and daily; one-click install from the tray menu
• Credential storage — passwords stored securely via the Secret Service D-Bus API (KDE Wallet / GNOME Keyring)

KDE Plasma Widget (optional)

DexBar also ships as a native KDE Plasma 6 widget that lives in your panel:

Install via the wizard:

1. Right-click the panel → Add Widgets → Get New Widgets → Install From File
2. Select DexBarKDE/org.kde.plasma.dexbar.plasmoid

Install from the command line:

cd DexBarKDE && ./package.sh
kpackagetool6 --install org.kde.plasma.dexbar.plasmoid --type Plasma/Applet

First launch: Click the widget in the panel → enter your Dexcom Share credentials → Connect.

Requirements: KDE Plasma 6.0+, org.kde.notification (included in plasma-workspace)

Note: Credentials are stored in your Plasma configuration file (~/.config/plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc). Consider restricting file permissions (chmod 600) or using a dedicated Dexcom Share account.

Windows

DexBar runs on Windows as a system tray application built with WPF and .NET 8.

Windows Requirements

• Windows 10 or later
• .NET 8 runtime (included in the self-contained installer)

Windows Installation

Download DexBarSetup-X.X.X.exe from the Releases page and run the installer. It includes options for:

• Start Menu shortcut
• Desktop shortcut (optional)
• Launch at Windows startup (optional)

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/SucculentGoose/dexbar
cd dexbar/DexBarWindows
dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained

The published output is in bin/Release/net8.0-windows/win-x64/publish/. To build the installer, install Inno Setup 6+ and run:

iscc installer.iss

Windows First Run

After installing, launch DexBar from the Start Menu. A tray icon appears in the system tray notification area. Click it to open the glucose status popup. Right-click for the context menu, then choose Settings to configure the app. In Settings → Account, enter your Dexcom credentials, choose your region, and click Connect.

Windows Features

• Status popup — click the tray icon to see a live glucose chart (3h/6h/12h/24h), Time in Range bar (2d–90d), GMI, and real-time countdown to the next reading
• Auto-update — checks for updates every 4 hours; balloon notification with one-click install
• Modern tray icon — glucose value rendered as a colored badge in the notification area
• Dark theme — settings window uses a dark theme with tabbed navigation

Releasing a New Version

The release is fully automated via GitHub Actions — pushing a VERSION change to main triggers builds for all three platforms. Before merging, complete these steps:

Pre-release checklist

1. Bump the version in all source files:

   • VERSION — the single source of truth
   • project.yml — MARKETING_VERSION (macOS)
   • DexBarLinux/Sources/AppVersion.swift — AppVersion.current (Linux)
   • DexBarWindows/DexBarWindows.csproj — <Version> (Windows)
   • DexBarWindows/installer.iss — #define MyAppVersion (Windows installer)

2. Update CHANGELOG.md — add a new ## [X.X.X] - YYYY-MM-DD section at the top with Added/Changed/Fixed subsections. The release workflow extracts the first section as GitHub Release notes.

3. Merge to main — the release workflow triggers on any push to main that changes VERSION.

What the release workflow does automatically

• macOS: Builds with xcodegen + xcodebuild, signs with Sparkle, creates DexBar-vX.X.X.zip, updates appcast.xml, creates the GitHub Release and git tag
• Linux: Builds with Swift, packages as dexbar-linux-x86_64-vX.X.X.tar.gz, updates appcast-linux.xml
• Windows: Builds with dotnet publish, creates DexBarSetup-vX.X.X.exe with Inno Setup, updates appcast-windows.xml

Note: The workflow also stamps project.yml and AppVersion.swift during CI, so even if you forget to update them locally, the built artifacts will have the correct version. However, keeping them in sync in source avoids confusion.

Do NOT manually update

• appcast.xml, appcast-linux.xml, appcast-windows.xml — these are updated automatically by the release workflow
• DexBar.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj — regenerated by xcodegen during CI

License

MIT