sleek-modeline

The default Emacs mode-line is functional but visually dated and hard to configure. sleek-modeline replaces it with a minimal, elegant alternative that surfaces the most relevant information while keeping the implementation small and straightforward.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Customization
  • General
  • Inactive mode-line
  • Segments
    • Version Control
    • Diagnostics
    • Project
    • LSP
• Interactions
• Extending
• Contributing
• License

Features

• Minimal, left/right-aligned layout.
• Configurable size / height via a box property.
• Buffer name with optional icon and modified-state highlighting.
• Major mode display with suffix indicators stripped.
• Modal editing state marker (evil and meow support).
• Line ending indicator (shown only for file-backed buffers).
• Version control segment: branch name with icon and state-aware coloring.
• Diagnostics segment: error, warning and info counts (support both flycheck and flymake integration).
• Project name segment (supports both projectile and the built-in project.el).
• LSP indicator segment (supports both eglot and lsp-mode backends).
• Optional nerd-icons support throughout, with Unicode fallbacks when unavailable.
• Optionally blank the mode-line on inactive windows, or hide it entirely in chosen major modes.
• Adapts to theme changes automatically.

Installation

sleek-modeline is available on MELPA. With MELPA in your package-archives, install it with M-x package-install RET sleek-modeline RET, or use one of the declarative recipes below.

From MELPA

(use-package sleek-modeline
  :ensure t
  :config
  (sleek-modeline-mode 1))

From Git

Using use-package’s built-in :vc keyword (Emacs 30.1+):

(use-package sleek-modeline
  :vc (:url "https://github.com/abidanBrito/sleek-modeline"
       :branch "main")
  :config
  (sleek-modeline-mode 1))

On Emacs 29, fetch the same recipe with M-x package-vc-install RET https://github.com/abidanBrito/sleek-modeline RET.

Or with =straight.el=:

(use-package sleek-modeline
  :straight (sleek-modeline
             :type git
             :host github
             :repo "abidanBrito/sleek-modeline")
  :config
  (sleek-modeline-mode 1))

From source

git clone https://github.com/abidanBrito/sleek-modeline.git ~/path/to/sleek-modeline

With use-package:

(use-package sleek-modeline
  :load-path "~/path/to/sleek-modeline"
  :config
  (sleek-modeline-mode 1))

Or without use-package:

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/path/to/sleek-modeline")

(require 'sleek-modeline)
(sleek-modeline-mode 1)

Customization

All options live under M-x customize-group RET sleek-modeline. Here are the main ones:

General

Variable	Default	Description
sleek-modeline-size	small	Mode-line height: small, medium or large.
sleek-modeline-height	nil	Custom box height in pixels. Overrides sleek-modeline-size when set.
sleek-modeline-show-icons	t	Show nerd-icons throughout. Requires nerd-icons.
sleek-modeline-background	nil	Custom mode-line background color. If nil, derives from default face.
sleek-modeline-edge-padding	2	Number of spaces added at the left and right edges.
sleek-modeline-highlight-modified-buffer-name	t	Highlight the buffer name when it has unsaved changes.
sleek-modeline-show-modal-state	nil	Show a modal editing state marker (evil / meow).
sleek-modeline-separator	" » "	Separator string between right-side segments.
sleek-modeline-suppress-default-mouse	t	Disable Emacs’ stock mode-line mouse actions and echo-area hints, keeping only the segment bindings sleek-modeline adds.
sleek-modeline-disabled-modes	nil	List of major modes for which the mode-line is hidden. Matches with derived-mode-p, so descendant modes are also covered.

Inactive mode-line

sleek-modeline-hide-inactive is the master switch: when non-nil, every segment is blanked on non-selected windows and the bar blends into the buffer background. The bar keeps its height, so that changing focus never shifts the window layout.

Variable	Default	Description
sleek-modeline-hide-inactive	nil	Blank the entire mode-line on non-selected windows.

The options below instead hide individual segments when the mode-line belongs to a non-selected window.

Variable	Default	Description
sleek-modeline-hide-file-icon-inactive	nil	Hide the file icon in inactive mode-lines.
sleek-modeline-hide-major-mode-inactive	nil	Hide the major mode name in inactive mode-lines.
sleek-modeline-hide-line-ending-inactive	nil	Hide the line ending style in inactive mode-lines.
sleek-modeline-hide-modal-inactive	nil	Hide the modal state marker in inactive mode-lines.

Segments

Top-level switches for optional segments. Disabling one prevents its package from being loaded.

Variable	Default	Description
sleek-modeline-enable-diagnostics	t	Enable the diagnostics (Flycheck) segment.
sleek-modeline-enable-project	t	Enable the project name segment.
sleek-modeline-enable-lsp	t	Enable the LSP indicator segment.

Version Control

Variable	Default	Description
sleek-modeline-vc-show-icon	t	Show a branch icon. Requires nerd-icons.
sleek-modeline-vc-use-github-icon	nil	Use the GitHub mark icon instead of the git branch icon.
sleek-modeline-vc-show-status-symbol	t	Append a symbol indicating VC state: ~ modified, + added, - removed, ! conflict, ↓ needs update, ? unregistered.
sleek-modeline-hide-vc-icon-inactive	nil	Hide the VC icon in inactive mode-lines.
sleek-modeline-hide-vc-branch-inactive=| =nil	Hide the VC branch name in inactive mode-lines.

Diagnostics

Variable	Default	Description
sleek-modeline-diagnostics-show-info	t	Show info-level diagnostics.
sleek-modeline-diagnostics-error-symbol	"✕"	Symbol for errors.
sleek-modeline-diagnostics-warning-symbol	"▲"	Symbol for warnings.
sleek-modeline-diagnostics-info-symbol	"●"	Symbol for info notes.
sleek-modeline-diagnostics-ok-symbol	nil	Symbol shown when the buffer is clean.

Project

Variable	Default	Description
sleek-modeline-hide-project-name-inactive	nil	Hide the project name in inactive mode-lines.

LSP

Variable	Default	Description
sleek-modeline-lsp-symbol	"LSP"	Fallback text when nerd-icons is unavailable or icons are off.
sleek-modeline-lsp-show-name	nil	Show the LSP server name next to the icon.
sleek-modeline-hide-lsp-inactive	nil	Hide the LSP indicator in inactive mode-lines.

Example configuration

(use-package sleek-modeline
  :straight (sleek-modeline
             :type git
             :host github
             :repo "abidanBrito/sleek-modeline")
  :custom
  (sleek-modeline-size 'medium)
  (sleek-modeline-show-modal-state t)
  (sleek-modeline-separator " | ")
  (sleek-modeline-vc-use-github-icon nil)
  (sleek-modeline-diagnostics-ok-symbol "✓")
  (sleek-modeline-disabled-modes '(dired-mode vterm-mode help-mode))
  :config
  (sleek-modeline-mode 1))

Interactions

Several segments respond to the mouse. Hovering shows a short tooltip in the echo area. A couple also react to clicks.

Segment	Hover shows	Click
Buffer name	The file path, or a note when the buffer is not file-backed.	N/A
Major mode	A hint to list minor modes.	mouse-1 pops up a menu of active minor modes, and selecting one describes it.
Version control	The VC backend and, for Git, commits behind/ahead of the upstream.	N/A
Project	The project backend and its root directory.	N/A
Line ending	The line-ending convention.	N/A
LSP	The active LSP server name.	N/A

Dragging the mode-line with mouse-1 resizes the window, just as in stock Emacs. Setting sleek-modeline-suppress-default-mouse to t (the default) disables Emacs’ other built-in mode-line mouse actions and their echo-area hints, but leaves the segment tooltips and drag-to-resize intact.

Extending

Segments are self-registering: each built-in segment calls sleek-modeline-register-segment at load time, and you can register your own the same way.

/NOTE:/ a segment is a function that returns a (propertized) string or nil, along with a plist describing where it goes.

(defun my-clock-segment ()
  "Return the current time, or nil to display nothing."
  (format-time-string "%H:%M"))

(sleek-modeline-register-segment 'clock
  :fn 'my-clock-segment
  :side 'right
  :priority 5
  :separator t)

Registering a segment under a :name that already exists replaces it, so you can override a built-in segment by re-registering its name. The mode-line format is built when sleek-modeline-mode is enabled; after registering, removing, or reprioritising a segment while the mode is already on, call M-x sleek-modeline-refresh to recompute the format in place. Segments that need to install their own hooks through :on-enable should be added before enabling the mode.

Supported keys:

Key	Description
:name	Symbol uniquely identifying the segment. Re-using a name replaces the existing segment.
:fn	Symbol naming the display function. It takes no arguments and returns a string or nil.
:side	left or right.
:priority	Integer ordering within a side. Lower values sit closer to the outer edge.
:separator	nil for no suffix, t for the standard sleek-modeline-separator, or a literal string to append after a non-nil result.
:condition	Optional variable that must be non-nil for the segment to display.
:on-enable	Optional function called when sleek-modeline-mode activates (e.g. to add hooks).
:on-disable	Optional function called when sleek-modeline-mode deactivates (e.g. to remove them).

Built a segment you like? Please open an issue and send a pull request. See Contributing first.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue before sending a pull request. See CONTRIBUTING.org for the full workflow and guidelines.

When reporting a bug, include:

• Your Emacs version (M-x emacs-version).
• Your sleek-modeline settings.
• Steps to reproduce the issue.

License

This repository is released under the MIT license. See LICENSE for more information.