---
title: gate-waybar-pomodoro-not-showing
type: note
permalink: dotfiles/gates/gate-waybar-pomodoro-not-showing
tags:
- gate
- critic
- waybar
- pomodoro
- approved
---

# Critic Gate: Waybar Pomodoro Not Showing

## Verdict
- [decision] APPROVED — plan is clear, correctly scoped, and adequately de-risked #gate #approved

## Rationale
- [finding] Root cause (bare binary name in PATH-less Waybar launch environment) is the most likely explanation and is well-supported by explorer research
- [finding] All 8 bare `waybar-module-pomodoro` references are confined to the two target files: `.config/waybar/config` (3 refs) and `.config/waybar/scripts/pomodoro-preset.sh` (5 refs) — no other source files reference this binary
- [finding] Verification steps (bash -n, --help check) adequately gate against the alternative failure mode of a missing binary
- [finding] Plan scope is correctly limited to pomodoro-only; no decomposition needed

## Assumption Challenges
- [challenge] Binary path validity → mitigated by plan's --help verification step
- [challenge] Completeness of reference coverage → confirmed all 8 references across both files; no others in repo
- [challenge] JSONC $HOME expansion → confirmed Waybar does shell-expand $HOME in exec/on-click fields (existing config uses it on lines 94, 138)

## Coder Guidance
- [recommendation] Update or remove the `command -v waybar-module-pomodoro` guard (line 7 of pomodoro-preset.sh) since it checks bare PATH and will fail in the same environment that caused the original bug
- [recommendation] Consider using `$HOME/.local/bin/waybar-module-pomodoro` to match existing config style conventions (lines 94, 138 already use `$HOME`)

## Files Evaluated
- `.config/waybar/config` (142 lines)
- `.config/waybar/scripts/pomodoro-preset.sh` (33 lines)

## Relations
- gates [[waybar-pomodoro-not-showing]]
- related_to [[knowledge]]