System Requirements

channelBar App (macOS)

  • macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
  • Apple Silicon or Intel Mac

channelBar Terminal Command

Platform Requirements Features
macOS macOS 14.0+ Full functionality (local + cloud)
Linux x86_64 or ARM64 Cloud features only

Installation

Installing the macOS App

  1. Open the Mac App Store
  2. Search for "channelBar"
  3. Click Get to download and install
  4. Launch channelBar from your Applications folder

After installation, you'll see the channelBar icon in your menu bar.

Installing the Terminal Command

On macOS, we recommend installing via Homebrew. This makes future updates much easier — a simple brew upgrade channelbar is all you need. If you prefer not to install Homebrew, you can use the PKG installer instead. Note that you'll need to download and install the PKG manually for each new version.

macOS (Homebrew) brew.sh 

brew tap codebio/tap
brew install channelbar

macOS (PKG Installer)

Download the latest .pkg installer from the releases page and run it.

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

curl -fsSL https://apt.channelbar.app/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/channelbar.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/channelbar.gpg] https://apt.channelbar.app stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/channelbar.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install channelbar

Linux (Fedora/RHEL)

sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://dnf.channelbar.app/channelbar.repo
sudo dnf install channelbar

Verify Installation

channelbar version

First Steps

Step 1: Create Your First Channel

  1. Click the channelBar icon in your menu bar
  2. Select Settings (or press ⌘,)
  3. Go to the Channels tab
  4. Click the + button to create a new channel
  5. Enter a name (e.g., "alerts") and click Create

Your channel is now ready to receive messages.

Step 2: Send Your First Message

The quickest way to send a message is using the CLI tool. Open Terminal and run:

channelbar set alerts 'Hello from channelBar!'

You should see your message appear in the menu bar immediately.

The terminal command requires the app to be running

The terminal command on macOS communicates with the channelBar app via a local connection. Make sure the channelBar app is running before sending messages.

Step 3: Explore the Menu

Click the channelBar icon in your menu bar to see:

  • Your current message is displayed in the menu bar
  • The submenu shows the history of received messages
  • You can customize the menu to your own preferences later

Alternative Ways to Send Messages

Beyond the terminal command, channelBar supports multiple message providers:

URL Scheme

Send messages from Apple Shortcuts, AppleScript, or any app that supports URL schemes:

channelbar://set?channel=alerts&message=Hello%20World

Webhook

Enable the webhook server in Settings and send HTTP requests:

curl -X POST http://localhost:51515/ \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"channel": "alerts", "message": "Hello from curl!"}'

MQTT

Connect to an MQTT broker and subscribe to topics for real-time updates from IoT devices.

Home Assistant

Integrate channelBar with Home Assistant to receive notifications from your smart home.

File Watcher

Monitor text files for changes — perfect for integrating with legacy systems.

channelBar Cloud

Send messages from anywhere — even when your Mac is not directly reachable. Perfect for CI/CD pipelines and remote servers.

See the User Guide for detailed configuration of each provider.

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User Guide