Problem

Currently, SwiftBar is great at:

• Adding permanent menu bar item
• Dynamically adding and hiding a menu bar item using StealthMode

SwiftBar is not great at showing transient menubar items. A basic example: you launch a long shell process and want to have an indication(red or green circle) in the menu bar when it finishes. Currently, there is no easy way to do this.

Solution

Add Ephemeral plugins, so you can tell SwiftBar to show a menubar item without adding a plugin.

Key features:

• can be created\updated\deleted through URL Scheme, Shortcuts and CLI(TBD if this is to much of a hustle)
• Full support of SwiftBar plugin syntax
• Can be removed from the menu bar using a special menu item specific to this type of plugin
• all ephemeral plugins disappear on SwiftBar restart
• ephemeral plugin can have a lifetime, i.e. self remove after 20 minutes