# ubuntu/gnome-shell-extension-appindicator

Adds KStatusNotifierItem support to the Shell

Repository: https://github.com/ubuntu/gnome-shell-extension-appindicator
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/gnome-shell-extension-appindicator
Homepage: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/615/appindicator-support/
Language: JavaScript
License: GPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Last push: 2026-07-25T02:55:50+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 87/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 94, release rhythm 71, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4939, "days_push": 39, "days_rel": 39, "gap_med": 129.5, "n_releases_24m": 5}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1553, forks 243 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:02.826939+00:00)

## What it is
A GNOME Shell extension that adds support for AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem tray icons, including legacy tray icons, to the GNOME Shell top panel. It lets applications that use libappindicator (e.g., Electron apps) display their indicator icons and menus in GNOME.

## Use cases
- show tray icons in GNOME Shell panel
- restore missing app indicator icons on Ubuntu GNOME
- display Electron app tray icons in GNOME
- support KStatusNotifierItem icons on GNOME
- show legacy tray icons in GNOME Shell
- open indicator menus by clicking panel icons

## When to choose
- you use GNOME/Ubuntu and apps' tray icons are missing from the top bar
- you need AppIndicator or KStatusNotifierItem support in GNOME Shell
- you want legacy tray icon support on a modern GNOME desktop

## When to avoid
- you use a desktop environment that already supports tray icons natively (KDE, XFCE)
- you need indicator tooltips, which are not implemented
- you rely on indicators with huge embedded icon sets that may freeze the shell

## Facets
- artifact type: plugin
- maturity: active
- function: ui-components, plugin-system, developer-tools
- domain: desktop-applications, operating-systems, developer-tools
- platform: -
- tags: gnome-shell, gnome-extension, appindicator, systray, tray-icons, kstatusnotifieritem, linux, desktop

## Member repositories
- ubuntu/gnome-shell-extension-appindicator (main) score 87

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:02.826939+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:30:10.913805+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/ubuntu/gnome-shell-extension-appindicator (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:02.826939+00:00, sha 747b26eab58b)
  - homepage: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/615/appindicator-support/ (fetched 2026-08-29T11:31:02.439525+00:00, sha 8d6f7459fff4)
  - site_page: https://extensions.gnome.org/about (fetched 2026-08-29T11:31:02.445229+00:00, sha 65eab6fe28f2)
  - site_page: https://www.gnome.org/about (fetched 2026-08-29T11:31:02.447811+00:00, sha 46caf25c454c)
  - site_page: https://extensions.gnome.org/local (fetched 2026-08-29T11:31:02.442912+00:00, sha 9f75ee36978b)
  - site_page: https://help.gnome.org (fetched 2026-08-29T11:31:02.449965+00:00, sha 4dd6b2a63fdc)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.