Brightness: brings back realtime brightness monitoring for internal(laptop) display.

The pill will open and show the change in real time

Modules/Bar/Widgets/Brightness.qml

@@ -37,28 +37,26 @@ Item {
     target: getMonitor()
     ignoreUnknownSignals: true
     function onBrightnessUpdated() {
-      Logger.log("Bar-Brightness", "OnBrightnessUpdated")
+      // Ignore if this is the first time we receive an update.
-      var monitor = getMonitor()
+      // Most likely service just kicked off.
-      if (!monitor)
-        return
-      var currentBrightness = monitor.brightness
-
-      // Ignore if this is the first time or if brightness hasn't actually changed
       if (!firstBrightnessReceived) {
         firstBrightnessReceived = true
-        monitor.lastBrightness = currentBrightness
         return
       }
 
-      // Only show pill if brightness actually changed (not just loaded from settings)
+      pill.show()
-      if (Math.abs(currentBrightness - monitor.lastBrightness) > 0.1) {
+      hideTimerAfterChange.restart()
-        pill.show()
-      }
-
-      monitor.lastBrightness = currentBrightness
     }
   }
 
+  Timer {
+    id: hideTimerAfterChange
+    interval: 2500
+    running: false
+    repeat: false
+    onTriggered: pill.hide()
+  }
+
   NPill {
     id: pill
 

Services/BrightnessService.qml

@@ -110,9 +110,43 @@ Singleton {
     property real lastBrightness: 0
     property real queuedBrightness: NaN
 
+    // For internal displays - store the backlight device path
+    property string backlightDevice: ""
+    property string brightnessPath: ""
+    property string maxBrightnessPath: ""
+    property int maxBrightness: 100
+    property bool ignoreNextChange: false
+
     // Signal for brightness changes
     signal brightnessUpdated(real newBrightness)
 
+    // FileView to watch for external brightness changes (internal displays only)
+    readonly property FileView brightnessWatcher: FileView {
+      id: brightnessWatcher
+      // Only set path for internal displays with a valid brightness path
+      path: (!monitor.isDdc && !monitor.isAppleDisplay && monitor.brightnessPath !== "") ? monitor.brightnessPath : ""
+      watchChanges: path !== ""
+      onFileChanged: {
+        reload()
+        if (monitor.ignoreNextChange) {
+          monitor.ignoreNextChange = false
+          return
+        }
+        if (text() === "")
+        return
+        var current = parseInt(text().trim())
+        if (!isNaN(current) && monitor.maxBrightness > 0) {
+          var newBrightness = current / monitor.maxBrightness
+          // Only update if it's actually different (avoid feedback loops)
+          if (Math.abs(newBrightness - monitor.brightness) > 0.01) {
+            monitor.brightness = newBrightness
+            monitor.brightnessUpdated(monitor.brightness)
+            //Logger.log("Brightness", "External change detected:", monitor.modelData.name, monitor.brightness)
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
     // Initialize brightness
     readonly property Process initProc: Process {
       stdout: StdioCollector {
@@ -121,8 +155,8 @@ Singleton {
           if (dataText === "") {
             return
           }
-          Logger.log("Brightness", "Raw brightness data for", monitor.modelData.name + ":", dataText)
 
+          //Logger.log("Brightness", "Raw brightness data for", monitor.modelData.name + ":", dataText)
           if (monitor.isAppleDisplay) {
             var val = parseInt(dataText)
             if (!isNaN(val)) {
@@ -140,14 +174,20 @@ Singleton {
               }
             }
           } else {
-            // Internal backlight
+            // Internal backlight - parse the response which includes device path
-            var parts = dataText.split(" ")
+            var lines = dataText.split("\n")
-            if (parts.length >= 2) {
+            if (lines.length >= 3) {
-              var current = parseInt(parts[0])
+              monitor.backlightDevice = lines[0]
-              var max = parseInt(parts[1])
+              monitor.brightnessPath = monitor.backlightDevice + "/brightness"
+              monitor.maxBrightnessPath = monitor.backlightDevice + "/max_brightness"
+
+              var current = parseInt(lines[1])
+              var max = parseInt(lines[2])
               if (!isNaN(current) && !isNaN(max) && max > 0) {
+                monitor.maxBrightness = max
                 monitor.brightness = current / max
                 Logger.log("Brightness", "Internal brightness:", current + "/" + max + " =", monitor.brightness)
+                Logger.log("Brightness", "Using backlight device:", monitor.backlightDevice)
               }
             }
           }
@@ -171,7 +211,7 @@ Singleton {
 
     function increaseBrightness(): void {
       var stepSize = Settings.data.brightness.brightnessStep / 100.0
-      setBrightnessDebounced(brightness + stepSize)
+      setBrightnessDebounced(monitor.brightness + stepSize)
     }
 
     function decreaseBrightness(): void {
@@ -183,22 +223,23 @@ Singleton {
       value = Math.max(0, Math.min(1, value))
       var rounded = Math.round(value * 100)
 
-      if (Math.round(brightness * 100) === rounded)
+      if (Math.round(monitor.brightness * 100) === rounded)
         return
 
       if (isDdc && timer.running) {
-        queuedBrightness = value
+        monitor.queuedBrightness = value
         return
       }
 
-      brightness = value
+      monitor.brightness = value
-      brightnessUpdated(brightness)
+      brightnessUpdated(monitor.brightness)
 
       if (isAppleDisplay) {
         Quickshell.execDetached(["asdbctl", "set", rounded])
       } else if (isDdc) {
         Quickshell.execDetached(["ddcutil", "-b", busNum, "setvcp", "10", rounded])
       } else {
+        monitor.ignoreNextChange = true
         Quickshell.execDetached(["brightnessctl", "s", rounded + "%"])
       }
 
@@ -208,7 +249,7 @@ Singleton {
     }
 
     function setBrightnessDebounced(value: real): void {
-      queuedBrightness = value
+      monitor.queuedBrightness = value
       timer.restart()
     }
 
@@ -218,8 +259,11 @@ Singleton {
       } else if (isDdc) {
         initProc.command = ["ddcutil", "-b", busNum, "getvcp", "10", "--brief"]
       } else {
-        // Internal backlight - try to find the first available backlight device
+        // Internal backlight - find the first available backlight device and get its info
-        initProc.command = ["sh", "-c", "for dev in /sys/class/backlight/*; do if [ -f \"$dev/brightness\" ] && [ -f \"$dev/max_brightness\" ]; then echo \"$(cat $dev/brightness) $(cat $dev/max_brightness)\"; break; fi; done"]
+        // This now returns: device_path, current_brightness, max_brightness (on separate lines)
+        initProc.command = ["sh", "-c", "for dev in /sys/class/backlight/*; do "
+                            + "  if [ -f \"$dev/brightness\" ] && [ -f \"$dev/max_brightness\" ]; then " + "    echo \"$dev\"; "
+                            + "    cat \"$dev/brightness\"; " + "    cat \"$dev/max_brightness\"; " + "    break; " + "  fi; " + "done"]
       }
       initProc.running = true
     }