panel

A small Emacs startup panel focused on recent files, startup info, and optional weather.

What it does

• Shows up to 9 recent files with optional icons and keyboard actions.
• Shows the full path when point is on a recent file or the mouse hovers over its displayed path.
• Shows a terminal-friendly ASCII intro block by default in TTY Emacs.
• Shows startup time and loaded package count.
• Optionally shows current weather from Open-Meteo.
• Optionally shows a centered image.

Requirements

• Emacs 28.1+
• nerd-icons for file and status icons (optional but recommended)

recentf, ElDoc, and the URL library are built into Emacs.

Installation

use-package with straight.el

(use-package panel
  :straight (:host github
             :repo "LuciusChen/panel")
  :config
  (panel-create-hook))

Local checkout

(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/panel")
(require 'panel)
(panel-create-hook)

Run M-x panel-refresh to open or refresh the panel immediately.

Configuration

Basic

All options are available through M-x customize-group RET panel RET. They can also be set from the init file, for example:

(setq panel-title "Quick access"
      panel-show-file-path nil
      panel-time-format "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")

panel-time-format accepts the standard format string understood by format-time-string. Set panel-use-icons to nil to force text fallbacks.

Terminal intro

The intro block is rendered with plain text, so it works in terminal Emacs without image support.

(setq panel-intro-display 'tty
      panel-intro-lines
      '("┌─┐ ┌┬┐ ┌─┐ ┌─┐ ┌─┐"
        "├┤  │││ ├─┤ │   └─┐"
        "└─┘ ┴ ┴ ┴ ┴ └─┘ └─┘")
      panel-intro-help-lines
      '(("C-x C-f" . "find a file")
        ("C-h t" . "start the Emacs tutorial")
        ("q" . "close this panel")))

• panel-intro-display: show the intro in tty, always, or never.
• panel-intro-lines: override the ASCII logo lines.
• panel-intro-horizontal-offset: shift the top header horizontally. Affects both the TTY intro and the graphical image.
• panel-intro-help-lines: override the key hints shown below the logo.

Weather

Set both coordinates to enable weather. Negative values are valid.

(setq panel-latitude 31.2304
      panel-longitude 121.4737)

Weather is fetched directly from Open-Meteo with Emacs's built-in URL library; redirects are not followed. Updates and retries run while the panel is visible. Timing and retry options are available in the panel Customize group.

Image

If panel-image-file points to an image format supported by Emacs, it is shown above the recent-files list in graphical Emacs.

(setq panel-image-file "~/Pictures/panel.png"
      panel-image-width 200
      panel-image-height 200)

Keybindings

• RET: open the recent file on the current line
• o: open the recent file on the current line
• d: forget the recent file on the current line without deleting it
• 1..9: open recent file by index
• M-s-1..M-s-9: open recent file by index
• g: refresh panel
• r: refresh panel

Notes

• The panel buffer is *panel*.
• Set panel-show-file-path to nil to hide directory prefixes in recent-file entries.
• Missing files are shown in the list and opening them reports a user error instead of creating a new buffer.
• Rendering or forgetting remote recent-file entries does not connect to the remote host; opening one explicitly enters TRAMP.