How the Status Bar Works

The status bar runs along the bottom of the window: on the left the active repository (which, with Auto, follows the open tab), on the right the open file's cursor and format, update news, the running operation, help links and memory use. The Help > Keyboard Shortcuts window is in Menu Keys and Routing. For the user side, see Status Bar and Help.

Why we need it

In a workspace with many repositories, it is easy to lose track of which repository and branch a file belongs to, and which one the sidebars act on. People expect a status bar with a repository picker and an Auto entry that makes the active repository follow the active editor.

Memory is a feature of this app (see Architecture), so we show it honestly, counted the way Activity Monitor counts it. And when something goes wrong, reporting it should take one click, with the version already filled in.

How it works

StatusBar.svelte lays out the UI library's StatusBar and StatusItems from existing stores; the memory item and its popover are MemoryStatus.svelte, the one part that calls a Tauri command.

flowchart LR
    subgraph Left
        R["Repository name"]
        B["Branch"]
        Y["Sync or Publish"]
        C["Changes count"]
        X["Conflicts"]
        O["Operation in progress"]
    end
    subgraph Right
        F["Ln, Col, Spaces, LF or CRLF, language"]
        U["Update available"]
        W["Busy label or Reading changes N of M"]
        S["Star and bug buttons"]
        M["Memory"]
    end
    RS["repoStore statuses"] --> Left
    ES["editorStatus"] --> F
    UP["updates"] --> U
    RS --> W
    MU["memory_usage command"] --> M

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Following the screen

screenRepo in views/repoSelection.ts (pure, tested) decides which repository the screen shows. It returns a repository, outside (a file tab in no repository) or active (nothing ties the screen to one):

flowchart TD
    A["changesSelection.shownView"] --> B{"Which view?"}
    B -->|"file"| T{"Which tab?"}
    T -->|"commit, history or branch tab"| R2["The tab's repoRoot"]
    T -->|"terminal tab"| R3["Repository of the terminal's folder,<br/>else active"]
    T -->|"file"| C["locateAbsolute(repos, openFilePath)"]
    C --> C2{"Inside a repository?"}
    C2 -->|"yes"| R1["That repository"]
    C2 -->|"no"| R0["outside"]
    B -->|"diff"| D["Repository of the selected change"]
    B -->|"log or none"| E["active"]

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The repository picker and Auto

Clicking the repository name calls openRepoPicker() in views/repoSelection.svelte.ts. It opens dialogs.pick with repoPickItems: Auto first, then every repository under "Repositories" with its branch and folder. The choice is activeRepoAuto in state.json (true by default), saved by settings.setActiveRepoAuto.

flowchart LR
    P["Select a Repository"] -->|"Auto"| ON["activeRepoAuto = true"]
    P -->|"a repository"| OFF["activeRepoAuto = false<br/>setActiveRepo(root)"]
    ON --> F["followOpenTab effect"]
    S["currentScreenRepo()"] --> F
    F -->|"screen is a repository<br/>and differs"| SA["repoStore.setActiveRepo"]

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followOpenTab() runs one $effect, set up by runWorkspace() (views/workspaceLife.svelte.ts). While Auto is on and the screen shows a repository, it makes that repository active. It does not track the active repository itself, so picking one another way (the header menu, Set as Active Repository) holds until the tab changes. It waits while the merge tool or the Conflicts dialog is open, since setActiveRepo would close them.

The left side reads the same answer: with Auto it describes the screen's repository (or says No repository for outside), without Auto it always describes repoStore.repo. Branch, ahead and behind, the changes count, conflicts and the operation come from repoStore.statuses[contextRepo.root], with no extra git call. Clicking the branch opens the Branches popup for that repository. The branch name is capped at 200 px with an ellipsis, and its button may shrink, so a long name never pushes the other items out of the bar. Clicking changes opens the Changes tab for that repository (see How the Changes Tab Works), and clicking conflicts opens that repository's Conflicts dialog. Spaces opens Settings on the Editor section (settings.openDialog("editor")).

Sync

After the branch comes the Synchronize Changes item. It is the same button as the Sync button of a repository row in Changes, so both use rowSync, rowSyncBadge and rowSyncTooltip from views/changes/sync.ts and run syncFromRow from views/changes/repoActions.ts:

flowchart TD
    H["head of the context repository"] --> K{"rowSync(head)"}
    K -->|"no branch or unborn"| N["Hidden"]
    K -->|"no upstream"| P["cloud-upload icon:<br/>publishBranch"]
    K -->|"upstream"| S["sync icon and 1↓ 2↑:<br/>syncRepo, or pull when in step"]

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The icon spins while the click runs. The button is disabled while another operation is busy or a merge, rebase, cherry-pick or revert is in progress.

While nothing else is busy, repoStore.loadingChanges shows "Reading changes 2 of 5" with a spinner (text from loadingChangesText in stores/openingProgress.ts), right after a folder opens. See How workspaces work.

The file details come from editorStatus (stores/editorStatus.svelte.ts). The visible FileView calls editorStatus.report(info) with line, column, selection, line endings, tab size and language (from languageName in editor/setup.ts). report ignores unchanged info, so the bar does not re-render, and the bar shows it only when its filePath matches the open tab.

Memory

The memory item calls memory_usage every 5 seconds while the window is visible and shows the total, as Activity Monitor counts it, with a breakdown popover. It shows the memory icon and the size only; the word Memory is in its tooltip and aria-label, so it takes less room. How the number is measured, the debug memory log and the live recorder are in How memory is measured.

Help links

The star button calls updates.openRepository(). The bug button opens a small menu with Report a Bug and Request a Feature. bugReportUrl(version, platform) in update/releases.ts builds a GitHub new-issue link for the bug_report.yml form with version and platform filled in. updates.reportBug() asks the backend with api.osInfo() (os_info: sw_vers -productVersion on macOS, /etc/os-release on Linux, ver on Windows) and osLabel makes "macOS 15.4.1" or "Windows 11 build 26200.8037". WebKit freezes the macOS version in the user agent at 10.15.7, so platformName(navigator.userAgent) is only a fallback and gives just the family name, such as "macOS". The field ids in .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml must match those parameter names. The same links are in Settings, About.

Where the code lives

File	What it does
src/lib/views/StatusBar.svelte	The bar: context repository, file details, update item, links
src/lib/views/MemoryStatus.svelte	The memory item, its popover and Clear Cache
src/lib/views/changes/sync.ts	rowSync, the badge and tooltip of the Sync item (shared with Changes)
src/lib/views/repoSelection.ts	screenRepo and repoPickItems (pure)
src/lib/views/repoSelection.svelte.ts	currentScreenRepo, the Auto effect followOpenTab and openRepoPicker
src/lib/stores/editorStatus.svelte.ts	Cursor and file details of the visible editor
src/lib/views/files/FileView.svelte	Reports cursor details while it is the visible tab
src/lib/editor/setup.ts	languageName
src/lib/stores/workspacePaths.ts	locateAbsolute
src/lib/stores/openingProgress.ts	loadingChangesText
src-tauri/src/commands/config.rs	memory_usage, and os_info: the OS name and version
src/lib/update/releases.ts	bugReportUrl, featureRequestUrl, osLabel, platformName
.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml	The bug form whose fields are pre-filled

Design decisions

Reuse statuses, do not query. The status of every repository is already in memory, so following the screen is only a $derived.

Auto by default. Most people expect the sidebars to act on the file they are looking at. Pinning one repository stays one click away, and the choice is remembered in state.json because it is a habit, not a preference to edit by hand.

Pre-fill, do not collect. The bug link carries the version and OS in the URL, and the user sees and sends the form themselves. The app gathers no other data.

Bugs we fixed

The status bar and Help bugs and their fixes are in Status Bar Bugs We Fixed.

Tests

• src/lib/views/changes/sync.test.ts: the Sync item's kind, badge and tooltip.
• src/lib/views/repoSelection.test.ts: the screen's repository for file, commit, terminal and diff tabs, outside and active, and the picker items with Auto and the selected mark.
• src/lib/stores/settingsData.test.ts: activeRepoAuto is validated and defaults to true.
• src/lib/stores/openingProgress.test.ts: the Reading changes text.
• src/lib/editor/languageName.test.ts: language names for common files, Dockerfile and unknown extensions.
• src/lib/update/releases.test.ts: the pre-filled bug link, osLabel and the user agent fallback.
• src-tauri/src/commands/config.rs: reads_the_macos_product_version, reads_the_linux_distribution.

Keeping this page in sync

• Update this page when StatusBar.svelte, MemoryStatus.svelte, repoSelection.ts or the issue link helpers change.
• Update Status Bar and Help for new items or clicks.
• Retake status-bar.png, help-menu.png and settings-about.png when they change (the shortcuts window shot, menus-shortcuts-window.png, belongs to Menus).
• Record bug fixes in Status Bar Bugs We Fixed.
• Related: How the Changes Tab Works, How Updates Work, How Workspaces Work, How Memory Is Measured.