GNOME Tray Toggle

A GNOME Shell extension that adds a toggle button to hide/show system tray application icons with smooth animations.

Features

• 🎯 Toggle Button - Adds a convenient button to your top panel
• ✨ Smooth Animations - Icons slide in/out with elegant fade effects
• 🎨 Yaru Icons - Uses native Ubuntu/GNOME icons that match your theme
• 🔒 Smart Filtering - Only hides app tray icons, keeps system icons visible
• 🚀 Lightweight - Minimal resource usage, clean code

Demo

Tray Visible:

Tray Hidden:

Installation

From Source (Manual Installation)

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/szamski/gnome-tray-toggle.git
cd gnome-tray-toggle

2. Install the extension:

make install

3. Restart GNOME Shell:

   • X11: Press Alt+F2, type r, press Enter
   • Wayland: Log out and log back in

4. Enable the extension:

gnome-extensions enable tray-toggle@maciek

From GNOME Extensions Website

Visit extensions.gnome.org and search for "Tray Toggle" (coming soon).

Usage

1. Look for the toggle icon (→) in your top panel, to the right of the system menu
2. Click the icon to hide application tray icons
3. Icon changes to (←) when tray is hidden
4. Click again to show the icons

Keyboard Shortcut: Not implemented yet (planned feature)

Compatibility

• GNOME Shell: 47, 48, 49
• Ubuntu: 25.10+ (Oracular Oriole)
• Tested on: Ubuntu 25.10 with Wayland

Configuration

Currently, the extension works out of the box with no configuration needed. Future versions may include:

• Customizable keyboard shortcuts
• Animation speed settings
• Icon selection options

Development

Project Structure

gnome-tray-toggle/
├── extension.js       # Main extension code
├── metadata.json      # Extension metadata
├── stylesheet.css     # Custom styles
├── README.md          # This file
├── LICENSE            # GPL-3.0 license
├── Makefile          # Build and install scripts
└── screenshots/       # Screenshots for documentation

Building

# Install to local extensions directory
make install

# Create a distributable zip file
make zip

# Clean build artifacts
make clean

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Troubleshooting

Extension doesn't appear after installation

• Make sure you've restarted GNOME Shell (logout/login on Wayland)
• Check if the extension is enabled: gnome-extensions list --enabled
• View logs: journalctl -f -o cat /usr/bin/gnome-shell

Icons don't hide properly

• Ensure you're running GNOME Shell 47 or later
• Check that AppIndicator extension is enabled: gnome-extensions list --enabled | grep appindicator

Animation issues

The extension uses Clutter animations. If you experience issues:

• Check if animations are enabled in your system settings
• Try disabling other panel extensions that might conflict

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Credits

• Icon animations inspired by Waybar's tray behavior on Hyprland
• Uses Yaru icon theme by Ubuntu Design Team
• Built with GNOME Shell Extension API

Changelog

Version 1.0.0 (2026-02-03)

• Initial release
• Toggle button with smooth slide animations
• Smart filtering (hides only app icons, not system icons)
• Support for GNOME Shell 47-49