Aerospace workspace switch is highlighted correctly only with update_freq=1 specified in Sketchybar configuration

[samundra]

What is my problem?

I have to include update_freq=1 to my Sketchybar item otherwise the Aerospace workspace change won't be highlighted during workspace switch. It seems that Sketchybar is not triggering aerospace_workspace_change event. When I trigger the event aerospace_workspace_change manually from CLI, the highlighting works as expected.

I use below command to trigger it manually during test

$ sketchybar --trigger aerospace_workspace_change FOCUSED_WORKSPACE=2

Highlighting works when update_freq=1 so what is the problem?

• it adds a 1s of delay to every workspace change. I would like it to be as instantaneous as possible similar to that of Front app switched.

Aerospace and Sketchybar information

$ sketchybar --version
sketchybar-v2.22.1

$ aerospace --version
aerospace CLI client version: 0.18.5-Beta 4213dfd9d958dbfe3f801e07d7d5af53303baa75
AeroSpace.app server version: 0.18.5-Beta 4213dfd9d958dbfe3f801e07d7d5af53303baa75

~/.config/sketchybar/sketchybarrc

sketchybar --add event aerospace_workspace_change

# Left items
for sid in $(aerospace list-workspaces --all); do
    sketchybar --add item space.$sid left 			\
        --subscribe space.$sid aerospace_workspace_change 	\
        --set space.$sid 					\
	      width=24						\
	      padding_left=5					\
	      padding_right=5					\
	      background.padding_left=5				\
	      background.padding_right=5			\
              background.color=$BG_ITEM 			\
              background.corner_radius=5 			\
              background.height=24 				\
	      background.border_color=$GREEN 			\
	      background.border_width=1.0 			\
              background.drawing=off 				\
              label="$sid" 					\
	      label.color=$FG_ITEM				\
	      label.padding_left=0				\
	      label.padding_right=0				\
	      update_freq=1 					\
	      updates=on					\
              script="$PLUGIN_DIR/aerospace.sh $sid"		\
              click_script="aerospace workspace $sid" 		
done

## Show SOFTRED in workspaces that have windows in them
for sid in $(aerospace list-windows --all --format %{workspace} | sort -u); do
  sketchybar --set space.$sid label.color=$SOFTRED
done

sketchybar --trigger aerospace_workspace_change

~/.config/sketchybar/plugins/aerospace.sh

#!/bin/sh

# make sure it's executable with:
# chmod +x ~/.config/sketchybar/plugins/aerospace.sh

if [ -z "$FOCUSED_WORKSPACE" ]; then
    FOCUSED_WORKSPACE=$(aerospace list-workspaces --focused)
fi

if [ "$1" = "$FOCUSED_WORKSPACE" ]; then
  sketchybar --set $NAME width=24 background.drawing=on
else
  sketchybar --set $NAME background.drawing=off
fi

~/.config/aerospace/aerospace.toml

exec-on-workspace-change = ['/bin/bash', '-c',
    'sketchybar --trigger aerospace_workspace_change FOCUSED_WORKSPACE=$AEROSPACE_FOCUSED_WORKSPACE'
]

Help Needed to make it work without adding update_freq=1

I have seen most config online and they don't have update_freq=1 workaround. It seems to be working fine for them. Thus, I would like to understand why it's not working for me without adding update_freq=1. Is there any config change that the switching is highlighted instantly?

[samundra]

After fiddling around configs, my issue has been resolved and now my Sketchybar item script doesn't require update_freq=1 in its item config.

Those who have the same issue. Here are few things that I tried before finding the actual solution that worked.

• Compiled previous versions of Sketchybar from source, still the problem persisted. Then, at one point, I noticed, the issue was gone. I wasn't sure what resolved it. Since, I was trying various things, one of these could have resolved it. Once issue was resolved, I have reverted Sketchybar version to the latest one and it's working fine too.

• Restarted my machine

Solution that worked

✅ Add full path to Sketchybar executable in aerospace.toml. Notice the use of /usr/local/bin/sketchybar

```shell
// Filename : ~/.config/aerospace/aerospace.toml

exec-on-workspace-change = ['/bin/bash', '-c',
    '/usr/local/bin/sketchybar --trigger aerospace_workspace_change FOCUSED_WORKSPACE=$AEROSPACE_FOCUSED_WORKSPACE'
]

```