Indicator Statusline

The indicator statusline used to be a feature, from the old DEC VT level 4 terminals. Contour revives this feature to prominently show the terminal status.

Configuration

profiles:
    your_profile:
        status_line:
            indicator:
                left: "{InputMode:Bold,Left= ,Right= ,Chip,Hide=Insert}{Context:Left= }{Cwd:Color=success,Left= }{Git:Left=  }"
                middle: "{LastCommand}{Selection:Left=  }{SearchPrompt:Color=warning,Left=  }"
                right: "{Progress:Color=accent,Right=  }{Scroll:Right=  }{Clock:Faint,Right= }"

This is the default of a configuration with defaults_edition: native2026: the vi mode as a chip (hidden while typing), the directory and Git branch, how the last command went, the selection and search, and the scroll position and clock. Its colours are roles, so it follows the color scheme.

A configuration with defaults_edition: classic (one written before the redesign) keeps the earlier default, with the tabs, the title and fixed colors:

profiles:
    your_profile:
        status_line:
            indicator:
                left: " {InputMode:Bold,Color=#FFFF00}{TraceMode:Bold,Color=#FFFF00,Left= │ }{Tabs:ActiveColor=#FFFF00,Left= │ }{ProtectedMode:Bold,Left= │ }{Context:Left= │ }"
                middle: "« {Title} »"
                right: "{HistoryLineCount:Faint,Color=#c0c0c0} │ {Clock:Bold}"

Each segment, left, middle, and right may contain text to be displayed in the left, middle, or right segment of the indicator statusline.

This text may contain placeholders to be replaced by their respective dynamic content.

Variables

Variable	Description
`{Clock}`	current clock in HH:MM format
`{Cwd}`	the working directory the shell reports, with the home directory as `~` when it is on this machine; at most `MaxWidth=` columns (default `40`), eliding the middle directories (`/…/d59`)
`{Command}`	yields the output of the given command, as specified via parameter `Program=...` (or the `{Command:<command>}` shorthand), re-run every `Interval=...` seconds
`{Extension}`	what the status-line extension named by parameter `Name=...` (or the `{Extension:<name>}` shorthand) draws
`{UserVar}`	the value a program last set for the user variable named by parameter `Name=...` (or the `{UserVar:<name>}` shorthand) with `OSC 1337 ; SetUserVar=<name>=<base64 value>`, as iTerm2 and WezTerm do; empty while it is unset. At most 64 variables of at most 4096 bytes each are kept per session, and they survive a terminal reset
`{Git}`	the branch of the Git repository the shell's directory is in (a ref outside `refs/heads/` as `remotes/origin/x`, a detached HEAD as its first 7 hex digits in parentheses, `(a1b2c3d)`), read from `.git/HEAD` or a worktree's `.git` file; empty outside a repository or in a directory on another machine. It is looked up in the background, so it shows a moment after the directory does, and again only after a command ends or the shell reports its directory, never per frame. As git does by default, the search for the repository stops at a filesystem boundary. The directory is walked as the shell reports it: in a symlink to a directory inside a repository, no branch shows. A repository using the reftable ref backend (`git init --ref-format=reftable`) shows no branch for now.
`{HistoryLineCount}`	number of lines in history (only available in primary screen)
`{Hyperlink}`	reveals the hyperlink at the given mouse location
`{LastCommand}`	how the last command went, from the shell integration's command blocks (OSC 133): `✓ make · 4ms` after a success, `✗ exit 8 ctest · 12s` after a failure; the status drawn in the `success` or `danger` role and the duration in `muted`, unless the item names a `Color=` of its own. Empty while a command runs, and when a newer prompt ended one that reported no exit status. A multi-line command's line breaks and tabs read as spaces. The command text is at most `MaxWidth=` columns (default `32`), cut at its end with `…`
`{InputMode}`	current input mode (e.g. INSERT, NORMAL, VISUAL); see `Hide=` and `Chip` below
`{ProtectedMode}`	indicates protected mode, if currently enabled
`{Scroll}`	how far the view is scrolled back into the history, out of how far it can be: `↑ 1 240 / 10 000`, thousands grouped by a space. Empty at the bottom, and while the view cannot scroll (the alternate screen)
`{SearchMode}`	indicates search highlight mode, if currently active
`{SearchPrompt}`	the active search pattern, if any (read-only; search is typed into the find bar)
`{Selection}`	how much the selection holds, as `y` would copy it: `12 lines · 418 chars`, thousands grouped by a space (`1 240`). Empty without a selection. The characters are those a copy yields: each row up to its last non-blank cell, the spaces between words included, a wide character once. They are counted only while the selection spans fewer than 10 000 cells (its rows at the page's width, or at a rectangle's own width); a larger one shows its lines alone, `1 240 lines`
`{Tabs}`	indicates active tabs
`{Text}`	given text (makes only sense when customized with flags)
`{Title}`	current window title
`{VTType}`	currently active VT emulation type

Formatting Styles

Each Variable, as specified above, can be parametrized for customizing the look of it. The common syntax to these variables and their parameters looks as follows:

{VariableName:SomeFlag,SomeKey=SomeValue}

So parameters can be specified after a colon (:) as a comma separated list of flags and key/value pairs. A key/value pair is further split by equal sign (=).

The following list of formatting styles are supported:

Parameter	Description
`Left=TEXT`	text to show on the left side, if the variable is to be shown
`Right=TEXT`	text to show on the right side, if the variable is to be shown
`Color=COLOR`	text color: `#RRGGBB`, or one of the roles `accent`, `success`, `danger`, `warning`, `muted`
`BackgroundColor=COLOR`	background color: `#RRGGBB`, or one of the roles `accent`, `success`, `danger`, `warning`, `muted`
`Bold`	text in bold font face
`Italic`	text in italic font face
`Underline`	underline text (only one underline style can be active)
`CurlyUnderline`	curly underline text (only one underline style can be active)
`DoubleUnderline`	double underline text (only one underline style can be active)
`DottedUnderline`	dotted underline text (only one underline style can be active)
`DashedUnderline`	dashed underline text (only one underline style can be active)
`Blinking`	blinking text
`RapidBlinking`	rapid blinking text
`Overline`	overline text
`Inverse`	inversed text/background coloring

These parameters apply to all variables above.

{Cwd}, {Context}, {LastCommand} and {UserVar} additionally take this attribute:

Parameter	Description
`MaxWidth=N`	the widest the item may draw, in columns; beyond it the middle is elided and both ends kept. Default `40` for `{Cwd}`, `32` for `{Context}` and for `{LastCommand}`'s command text, which is cut at its end instead, as is `{UserVar}`'s value (default `40`); a value that is not a number `> 0` keeps the default.

A role names a color by what it means rather than by its value, and takes it from the active color scheme when the line is drawn, so it follows a scheme change: accent is palette color 4 (blue), success 2 (green), danger 1 (red), warning 3 (yellow) and muted 8 (bright black). The scheme is the configured one: a program changing the palette (OSC 4) recolours its own text, not the status line. Where a role's color would not read on the bar it is drawn on (at 4.5:1; muted, secondary text, at 3:1), the role's text takes the bar's legible ink instead -- the scheme's foreground or background, bright white, then black or white -- so it stays readable in every input mode and scheme; a #RRGGBB color is drawn as written. Roles are read in any case and written lowercase. A value that is neither a role nor a color leaves the color unset. The same values are accepted by the Tabs attributes ActiveColor and ActiveBackground.

The InputMode variable additionally takes these attributes:

Parameter Description

Hide=<mode> shows nothing, Left=/Right= included, while the terminal is in that mode: Normal, Insert, Visual, VisualLine, VisualBlock or Hint, read in any case. An unknown mode hides the item in none.

Chip draws the item, Left= and Right= included, as a chip filled with its mode's colors (indicatorStatusLine*Mode of the color scheme), while the rest of the line keeps the idle (Insert) colors in every mode. The chip's text takes the fill's legible ink where the scheme's own would not read at 4.5:1. Only the focused pane's chip is colored, and an item naming Color= or BackgroundColor= takes those instead. Without Chip, the whole line takes the mode's colors.

They are written after the other attributes:

{InputMode:Bold,Left= ,Right= ,Chip,Hide=Insert}

The Command variable additionally takes these attributes:

Parameter	Description
`Program`	the command to execute (required, unless the shorthand below is used)
`Interval`	seconds between runs; default `10`. An invalid value or one `<= 0` selects the default.

{Command:Program=git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD,Interval=30,Bold}

Shorthand. {Command:<command>} takes everything after Command: verbatim as the command, so it may contain commas and =, but no styling and no Interval=: {Command:git log -1 --format=%h,%s}. A template naming Program= or Interval= is read in the attribute form instead; anything else is the shorthand, so {Command:Bold} runs a program named Bold (a style flag needs Program=). A command cannot contain }.

Execution. Commands run asynchronously in the background, so they never slow down rendering and, on Windows, never open a console window. The item shows the output of the previous run until a new one arrives, and is empty before the first run completes. A command that is still running after 5 seconds (or after its Interval, if that is shorter) is killed together with its child processes, and the previous output is kept.

Only the first line of the command's standard output is shown. Standard error and the exit status are ignored, and a command that cannot be started shows the operating system's error message.

Unlike popen, background processes a command leaves behind are killed as soon as the command finishes, even when it succeeds (the process group on Unix, the job object on Windows): a command like start notepad starts nothing that outlives it.

Tabs formatting extensions

The Tabs key allows additional styling through the following attributes:

Parameter	Description
`ActiveColor`	color of the active tab
`ActiveBackground`	background color of the active tab

{Tabs} versus the GUI tab bar

The indicator status line belongs to a pane, so with split panes a window draws one {Tabs} list per pane rather than one per window — several tab lists side by side, each describing the same tabs.

If what you want is the terminal look rather than the placement, set the global ui_style to terminal. That keeps the single window-level tab bar and every one of its affordances (drag to reorder, tear off, rename, close, context menu) but draws it cell-quantized, in the terminal font, with square corners and box-drawing separators.

{Tabs} remains fully supported, and the two can be used together.