Plasma 6 Panel Configuration Skill

Plasma 6 Panel Configuration

Purpose: Modify Plasma panel/widget configs without trial-and-error pain. When to use: Panel styling, clock fonts, colorizer issues, multi-monitor panel sync.

Critical: Edit Workflow

Plasmashell overwrites config on exit. Always:

pkill plasmashell
# make edits to config file
nohup plasmashell &>/dev/null &

Config File

Location: ~/.config/plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc

Format: INI-style with nested sections. File is ~66K tokens - use grep/offset reads.

Structure:

[Containments][PANEL_ID]
lastScreen=SCREEN_NUMBER
plugin=org.kde.panel

[Containments][PANEL_ID][Applets][WIDGET_ID]
plugin=org.kde.plasma.digitalclock

[Containments][PANEL_ID][Applets][WIDGET_ID][Configuration][Appearance]
# widget-specific settings here

Finding Things

| Find | Grep Pattern | |------|-------------| | All panels | plugin=org.kde.panel | | Digital clocks | plugin=org.kde.plasma.digitalclock | | Panel Colorizer | plugin=luisbocanegra.panel.colorizer | | Screen mapping | lastScreen= | | Appearance sections | \[Configuration\]\[Appearance\] |

Digital Clock Font Settings

Under [Containments][PANEL][Applets][CLOCK][Configuration][Appearance]:

| Setting | Required Value | Notes | |---------|---------------|-------| | autoFontAndSize | false | CRITICAL - must be false or font settings ignored | | fontFamily | e.g. Hack Nerd Font | Font name exactly as system knows it | | fontSize | e.g. 9 | Integer | | boldText | true or false | | | fontStyleName | e.g. Bold | | | fontWeight | e.g. 700 | 400=normal, 700=bold |

BAD: Adding font settings without autoFontAndSize=false

fontFamily=Hack Nerd Font
fontSize=9

Result: Settings silently ignored, uses system default.

GOOD: Include the disable flag

autoFontAndSize=false
fontFamily=Hack Nerd Font
fontSize=9
fontStyleName=Bold
fontWeight=700
boldText=true

Panel Colorizer

Preset Location

~/.local/share/plasma/plasmoids/luisbocanegra.panel.colorizer/contents/ui/presets/

Config Location

Under [Containments][PANEL][Applets][COLORIZER][Configuration][General]:

globalSettings={"panel":{"normal":{"enabled":true,...huge JSON...}}}
lastPreset=/path/to/preset

The JSON Blob

globalSettings is a single-line JSON blob (thousands of chars). Key paths:

| JSON Path | Purpose | Required for Styling | |-----------|---------|---------------------| | panel.normal.enabled | Master enable | Must be true | | panel.normal.backgroundColor.enabled | Enable bg color | Yes for custom bg | | panel.normal.backgroundColor.custom | Hex color | e.g. #000000 | | panel.normal.backgroundColor.sourceType | Color source | 0 = use custom | | widgets.normal.foregroundColor.enabled | Enable text color | Yes for custom text | | widgets.normal.foregroundColor.custom | Hex color | e.g. #FFFFFF |

BAD: Panel colorizer not styling

"panel":{"normal":{"enabled":false,...

Result: All styling silently disabled.

GOOD: Enable the panel styling

"panel":{"normal":{"enabled":true,...

Copying Colorizer Between Panels

Find source panel's colorizer widget ID
Copy entire globalSettings= line to target
Copy lastPreset= line if using presets

Randy's Current Panel Mapping

| Panel ID | Screen | Monitor | Clock Widget | Colorizer Widget | |----------|--------|---------|--------------|------------------| | 209 | 2 | HP | 309 | 323 | | 273 | 0 | LG | 276 | 321 | | 291 | 1 | ASUS | 326 | 345 |

Note: Widget IDs are arbitrary. Always grep for plugin names to find current IDs.

Common Gotchas

| Issue | Cause | Fix | |-------|-------|-----| | Edits not persisting | Plasmashell overwrote on restart | Kill plasmashell BEFORE editing | | Font settings ignored | Missing autoFontAndSize=false | Add the flag | | Colorizer does nothing | panel.normal.enabled: false in JSON | Set to true | | Wrong panel modified | Screen numbers changed | Verify lastScreen values | | Can't find widget | Grepping wrong plugin name | Use exact plugin string |

Quick Copy-Paste Templates

Clock with Hack Nerd Font

[Containments][PANEL_ID][Applets][CLOCK_ID][Configuration][Appearance]
autoFontAndSize=false
boldText=true
customDateFormat=ddd, MMM d |
dateDisplayFormat=BesideTime
dateFormat=custom
fontFamily=Hack Nerd Font
fontSize=9
fontStyleName=Bold
fontWeight=700
showLocalTimezone=true
showSeconds=2
use24hFormat=2

Agent Skills: Plasma 6 Panel Configuration

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