Yes, it’s possible to make the background of sway-bar transparent in Sway WM on Arch Linux. To achieve this, you’ll need to configure the sway-bar color settings to use transparency in the RGBA format. Here’s how you can do it:

Steps:

  1. Edit the Sway Config: Open your Sway configuration file (usually located at ~/.config/sway/config).

  2. Set Bar Colors: In the bar configuration section, specify the colors in RGBA format with the alpha channel set to 00 (fully transparent).

    Example:

    bar {
    colors {
        background #00000000
        statusline #ffffff
        separator #666666
        # Adjust other colors as needed, keeping the background transparent
    }
}

  3. Install a Compositor: Sway uses Wayland, and transparency requires a compositor. Sway has built-in compositing, so this should work without extra setup. If you encounter issues, ensure no conflicting configurations exist.

  4. Reload Sway: After saving the configuration file, reload Sway by pressing the shortcut (default is Mod+Shift+C) or restarting Sway.

  5. Check the Output: If the transparency doesn’t appear as expected, ensure your terminal or desktop background supports transparency to see the effect.

Notes:

  • Transparency behavior can depend on the wallpaper manager or background setter you are using.
  • If you’re using an image for your background, ensure it’s correctly set up with tools like swaybg.

This configuration should make your sway-bar background transparent, blending seamlessly with your desktop.