How glimpse fits together

glimpse is a set of small programs, each a systemd user service with one job. They read the same configuration and talk over the session bus. Exec applets are separate programs that the panel starts for you.

Who owns what

• Each program owns its own state. Nothing else writes it; others ask over D-Bus.
• The panel starts no applet process itself. Every exec applet is a transient systemd unit, so systemd owns its process, restarts, memory limit and logs.
• config.toml and panel.toml are the only configuration. Every program reloads its part when a file changes, and only the panel reads panel.toml.

How an applet runs follows one applet from config to screen. systemd and D-Bus lists the units, bus names and the applet host interface.