Dock & Taskbar

Introduction

Wails provides a cross-platform Dock service for desktop applications. This service allows you to:

  • Hide and show the application icon in the macOS Dock
  • Display badges on your application tile or dock/taskbar icon (macOS and Windows)

Basic Usage

Creating the Service

First, initialize the dock service:

import "github.com/wailsapp/wails/v3/pkg/application"
import "github.com/wailsapp/wails/v3/pkg/services/dock"

// Create a new Dock service
dockService := dock.New()

// Register the service with the application
app := application.New(application.Options{
    Services: []application.Service{
        application.NewService(dockService),
    },
})

Creating the Service with Custom Badge Options (Windows Only)

On Windows, you can customize the badge appearance with various options:

import "github.com/wailsapp/wails/v3/pkg/application"
import "github.com/wailsapp/wails/v3/pkg/services/dock"
import "image/color"

// Create a dock service with custom badge options
options := dock.BadgeOptions{
    TextColour:       color.RGBA{255, 255, 255, 255}, // White text
    BackgroundColour: color.RGBA{0, 0, 255, 255},     // Blue background
    FontName:         "consolab.ttf",                 // Bold Consolas font
    FontSize:         20,                             // Font size for single character
    SmallFontSize:    14,                             // Font size for multiple characters
}

dockService := dock.NewWithOptions(options)

// Register the service with the application
app := application.New(application.Options{
    Services: []application.Service{
        application.NewService(dockService),
    },
})

Dock Operations

Hiding the dock app icon

Hide the app icon from the macOS Dock:

// Hide the app icon
dockService.HideAppIcon()

Showing the dock app icon

Show the app icon in the macOS Dock:

// Show the app icon
dockService.ShowAppIcon()

Badge Operations

Setting a Badge

Set a badge on the application tile/dock icon:

// Set a default badge
dockService.SetBadge("")

// Set a numeric badge
dockService.SetBadge("3")

// Set a text badge
dockService.SetBadge("New")

Setting a Custom Badge (Windows Only)

Set a badge with one-off options applied:

options := dock.BadgeOptions{
    BackgroundColour: color.RGBA{0, 255, 255, 255},
    FontName:         "arialb.ttf", // System font
    FontSize:         16,
    SmallFontSize:    10,
    TextColour:       color.RGBA{0, 0, 0, 255},
}

// Set a default badge
dockService.SetCustomBadge("", options)

// Set a numeric badge
dockService.SetCustomBadge("3", options)

// Set a text badge
dockService.SetCustomBadge("New", options)

Removing a Badge

Remove the badge from the application icon:

dockService.RemoveBadge()

Getting the set badge

dockService.GetBadge()

Platform Considerations

On macOS:

  • The dock icon can be hidden and shown
  • Badges are displayed directly on the dock icon
  • Badge options are not customizable (any options passed to NewWithOptions/SetCustomBadge are ignored)
  • The standard macOS dock badge styling is used and automatically adapts to appearance
  • Label overflow is handled by the system
  • Providing an empty label displays a default badge of “●”

Best Practices

  1. When hiding the dock icon (macOS):

    • Ensure users can still access your app (e.g., via system tray)
    • Include a “Quit” option in your alternative UI
    • The app won’t appear in Command+Tab switcher
    • Open windows remain visible and functional
    • Closing all windows may not quit the app (macOS behavior varies)
    • Users lose the standard way to quit via Dock right-click

  2. Use badges sparingly:

    • Too many badge updates can distract users
    • Reserve badges for important notifications

  3. Keep badge text short:

    • Numeric badges are most effective
    • On macOS, text badges should be brief

  4. For Windows badge customization:

    • Ensure high contrast between text and background colors
    • Test with different text lengths as font size decreases with length
    • Use common system fonts to ensure availability

API Reference

Service Management

Method Description
New() Creates a new dock service
NewWithOptions(options BadgeOptions) Creates a new dock service with custom badge options (Windows only; options are ignored on macOS and Linux)

Dock Operations

Method Description
HideAppIcon() Hides the app icon from the macOS Dock (macOS only)
ShowAppIcon() Shows the app icon in the macOS Dock (macOS only)

Badge Operations

Method Description
SetBadge(label string) error Sets a badge with the specified label
SetCustomBadge(label string, options BadgeOptions) error Sets a badge with the specified label and custom styling options (Windows only)
RemoveBadge() error Removes the badge from the application icon
GetBadge() *string Gets the current badge

Structs and Types

// Options for customizing badge appearance (Windows only)
type BadgeOptions struct {
    TextColour       color.RGBA  // Color of the badge text
    BackgroundColour color.RGBA  // Color of the badge background
    FontName         string      // Font file name (e.g., "segoeuib.ttf")
    FontSize         int         // Font size for single character
    SmallFontSize    int         // Font size for multiple characters
}
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