tray_manager is built on nativeapi, a Flutter binding of one C++ core library (libnativeapi/nativeapi) shared by macOS, Windows and Linux. Coming from 0.5.x? See Upgrading from 0.5.x.
This package lets Flutter desktop apps put an icon, with a tooltip, a title and a context menu, in the system tray.
English | 简体中文
| Linux | macOS | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| macOS | Linux | Windows |
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On Linux the tray icon is a StatusNotifierItem, which needs a panel that hosts them. KDE Plasma and most other desktops do; GNOME does only with the AppIndicator extension (Ubuntu ships it enabled).
Add this to your package's pubspec.yaml file:
dependencies:
tray_manager: ^0.7.0Or
dependencies:
tray_manager:
git:
url: https://github.com/leanflutter/tray_manager.git
ref: main- Flutter 3.47 / Dart 3.13 or later, macOS 10.15 or later.
- Linux build machines need GTK 3, X11 and Xi development files. The tray icon is a
StatusNotifierItem over D-Bus, so
libayatana-appindicator3-devis no longer needed.
sudo apt-get install libgtk-3-dev libx11-dev libxi-dev
import 'package:tray_manager/tray_manager.dart';
final trayIcon = TrayIcon.create()!;
trayIcon.icon = ImageAsset.fromAsset('images/tray_icon.png');
trayIcon.setTooltip('tray_manager');
final menu = Menu.create()!;
final showWindowItem = MenuItem.createWithLabelAndType(
'Show Window',
MenuItemType.normal,
)!;
showWindowItem.addListener((event) {
if (event is MenuItemClickedEvent) {
// Show the application window.
}
});
menu.addItem(showWindowItem);
menu.addSeparator();
menu.addItem(MenuItem.createWithLabelAndType('Exit App', MenuItemType.normal));
trayIcon.setContextMenu(menu);
trayIcon.setVisible(true);The example app of this plugin covers the 0.5.x compatible API. For the full example — several icons, animated icons, every native property — see nativeapi's tray_icon_example.
Code written for tray_manager 0.5.x keeps working by importing
package:tray_manager/legacy.dart instead of package:tray_manager/tray_manager.dart.
It provides the old trayManager, TrayListener, Menu and MenuItem
(menu_base is no longer a dependency) on top of the native API.
The import has to change on purpose: legacy.dart is a bridge, not the future of this
package. Its classes are marked @Deprecated and will be removed in a later
release — move to the native API above when you can.
import 'package:tray_manager/legacy.dart';
await trayManager.setIcon('images/tray_icon.png');
await trayManager.setToolTip('tray_manager');
await trayManager.setContextMenu(
Menu(
items: [
MenuItem(key: 'show_window', label: 'Show Window'),
MenuItem.separator(),
MenuItem(key: 'exit_app', label: 'Exit App'),
],
),
);What differs from 0.5.x:
- Builds need Flutter 3.47 / Dart 3.13 and macOS 10.15 (0.5.x: Flutter 3.3, macOS 10.11).
- A click is reported when it completes, as
onTrayIconMouseDownimmediately followed byonTrayIconMouseUp(same for the right button). 0.5.x sent the two separately on macOS and only the first on Windows. Linux still reports no tray icon clicks at all: the panel keeps them and opens the menu itself. - Calls a platform has no use for are ignored instead of throwing
MissingPluginException:setTitleandsetIconPositionon Windows;setIconPosition,popUpContextMenuandgetBounds(which answersnull) on Linux.setToolTipnow works on Linux. setIconthrows anArgumentErrorwhen the image cannot be loaded, on every platform. Windows takes.pngas well as.iconow.bringAppToFrontofpopUpContextMenuis accepted but ignored.MenuItem.onClickruns once per click, also when noTrayListeneris registered.label,toolTip,checkedanddisabledof aMenuItemupdate the visible menu as soon as they are assigned; adding or removing items still needs anothersetContextMenucall.sublabel,onHighlightandonLoseHighlightare kept but unused.
0.5.x (legacy.dart) |
Native API (tray_manager.dart) |
|---|---|
trayManager (one icon per app) |
TrayIcon.create() — as many as you need; keep the object, dispose() it when done |
setIcon('images/icon.png') |
trayIcon.icon = ImageAsset.fromAsset('images/icon.png') (also Image.fromFile, Image.fromBase64) |
setIcon(isTemplate:, iconSize:, iconPosition:), setIconPosition |
trayIcon.isIconTemplate, trayIcon.iconSize, trayIcon.iconPosition |
setToolTip(text) / setTitle(text) |
trayIcon.setTooltip(text) / trayIcon.setTitle(text) — null clears; getTooltip() / getTitle() read back |
setContextMenu(Menu(items: [...])) |
Menu.create(), menu.addItem(MenuItem.createWithLabelAndType(label, MenuItemType.normal)), menu.addSeparator(), then trayIcon.setContextMenu(menu) |
MenuItem.checkbox(checked:), disabled:, toolTip: |
MenuItemType.checkbox with item.state (set it yourself in the click listener; a click does not toggle it), item.isEnabled, item.tooltip |
MenuItem.submenu(submenu:) |
MenuItemType.submenu with item.submenu = otherMenu |
MenuItem(onClick:), onTrayMenuItemClick + menuItem.key |
item.addListener((event) { if (event is MenuItemClickedEvent) ... }) per item |
popUpContextMenu() from onTrayIconRightMouseDown |
trayIcon.setContextMenuTrigger(ContextMenuTrigger.rightClicked), or trayIcon.openContextMenu() |
TrayListener |
trayIcon.addListener((event) { switch (event) { case TrayIconClickedEvent(): ... } }) — also TrayIconRightClickedEvent, TrayIconDoubleClickedEvent (none of them on Linux) |
getBounds() |
trayIcon.getBounds() (synchronous; physical pixels on Windows, an empty Rect on Linux) |
destroy() |
trayIcon.dispose() |
Keep a reference to every TrayIcon for as long as it should be shown: a wrapper that is
garbage-collected releases its native handle, and that removes the icon. A Menu or
MenuItem that is attached stays alive natively, but keep the ones you want to change
later.
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tray_manager now re-exports tray-related APIs from nativeapi, including
TrayIcon, TrayManager, Menu, MenuItem, Image, and tray/menu events.
Import package:tray_manager/legacy.dart only for code that still uses the
0.5.x API.


