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#5186·Waybar

possible memory leak with minimal Hyprland-only config

Author: WXZhao7Created Jul 6, 2026Updated Sep 15, 2026
Labelsbugmemoryhyprlandcustomclock

Describe the bug

Waybar appears to grow memory steadily over time even with a very small configuration.

Image

In this test run, CSS was disabled and only two built-in Hyprland modules were enabled:

  • hyprland/workspaces
  • hyprland/window

All center/right modules were commented out.

To reproduce

systemctl --user start waybar.service

jsonc
{
  "layer": "top",
  "position": "top",
  "height": 34,
  "spacing": 0,
  "modules-left": [
    "hyprland/workspaces",
    "hyprland/window"
  ],
  "hyprland/workspaces": {
    "format": "{icon} {windows}",
    "format-window-separator": "",
    "sort-by": "id",
    "show-special": true,
    "special-visible-only": true,
    "on-scroll-up": "hyprctl dispatch 'hl.dsp.focus({ workspace = \"e+1\" })'",
    "on-scroll-down": "hyprctl dispatch 'hl.dsp.focus({ workspace = \"e-1\" })'",
    "format-icons": {
      "urgent": "",
      "special": ""
    },
    "workspace-taskbar": {
      "enable": true,
      "update-active-window": true,
      "format": "{icon}",
      "icon-size": 20,
      "on-click-window": "hyprctl dispatch 'hl.dsp.focus({ window = \"address:{address}\" })'"
    }
  },
  "hyprland/window": {
    "format": "{title}",
    "icon": true,
    "icon-size": 16,
    "max-length": 54,
    "separate-outputs": true,
    "rewrite": {
      "^\\s*$": "Desktop"
    }
  }
}

Expected behaviour Waybar memory usage should remain mostly stable over time after startup.

Screenshots If applicable, add screenshots to help explain the problem.

Environment

  • Waybar: v0.15.0
  • OS/kernel: Linux arch 7.1.2-arch3-1 x86_64
  • Installed from Arch Linux official package: extra/waybar 0.15.0-2
  • Compositor: Hyprland 0.55.4

Debug output

❯ waybar -l debug
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.807] [debug] Try expanding: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/waybar/config
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.807] [debug] Try expanding: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/waybar/config.jsonc
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.807] [debug] Found config file: /home/xxx/.config/waybar/config.jsonc
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.807] [info] Using configuration file /home/xxx/.config/waybar/config.jsonc
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.809] [debug] Try expanding: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/waybar/style.css
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.809] [debug] Try expanding: $HOME/.config/waybar/style.css
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.809] [debug] Try expanding: $HOME/waybar/style.css
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.809] [debug] Try expanding: /etc/xdg/waybar/style.css
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.809] [debug] Found config file: /etc/xdg/waybar/style.css
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.809] [info] Using CSS file /etc/xdg/waybar/style.css
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.817] [debug] Output detection done: DP-2 (Xiaomi Corporation Mi Monitor )
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.818] [debug] window-rewrite is not defined or is not an object, using default rules.
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.818] [info] Hyprland IPC starting
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.818] [debug] Initializing workspaces
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.822] [debug] Initializing persistent workspaces
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.822] [info] Loading persistent workspaces from Hyprland workspace rules
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.822] [info] Registering for Hyprland's 'activewindowv2' events because 'update-active-window' is set to true.
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.831] [debug] GTK widget tree:
window#waybar.background.top.DP-2..mode-default.solo.firefox:dir(ltr)
  decoration:dir(ltr)
  box.horizontal:dir(ltr)
    box.horizontal.modules-left:dir(ltr)
      widget:dir(ltr)
        box#workspaces.horizontal.module:dir(ltr)
      widget:dir(ltr)
        box#window.horizontal.module:dir(ltr)
          image:dir(ltr)
          label:dir(ltr)
    box.horizontal.modules-center:dir(ltr)
    box.horizontal.modules-right:dir(ltr)

[2026-07-06 19:15:32.831] [debug] Creating workspace special:magic
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.832] [debug] Creating workspace 2
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.832] [debug] Creating workspace 1
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.832] [debug] Creating workspace 3
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.832] [debug] Creating workspace 4
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.832] [debug] Creating workspace 5
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.832] [debug] Creating workspace 6
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.835] [debug] Using 'desktop' search path prefix: 
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.835] [debug] Using 'desktop' search path prefix: /home/xxx/.local/share/
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.835] [debug] Using 'desktop' search path prefix: /usr/local/share/
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.835] [debug] Using 'desktop' search path prefix: /usr/share/
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.876] [debug] Received SIGCHLD in signalThread
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.880] [info] Bar configured (width: 1920, height: 34) for output: DP-2
[2026-07-06 19:15:32.885] [debug] hyprland IPC received openlayer>>waybar
[2026-07-06 19:16:02.864] [debug] Received SIGCHLD in signalThread
[2026-07-06 19:16:02.883] [debug] Received SIGCHLD in signalThread

Additional context Anything else that might help.

Source: Alexays/Waybar

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