Host

Host

Print your computer's product name

Module type	host
Default order	4 (only used by --gen-config)
Module source	src/modules/host/host.c
Detection source	src/detection/host/

Prints the machine's product name, with the product version in parentheses when the firmware provides one.

The key defaults to the module name; the key and the output both print plain text, so there is no separate key format string here.

Host: MacBook Pro (16-inch, 20XX)
Host: MACHINE-TYPE-ID (Vendor Product Family Gen N)
Host: Standard PC (KVM/QEMU)

Platform support

Platform	Implementation	Notes
Linux	host_linux.c	DMI (/sys/class/dmi/id/*), device-tree fallback, WSL/FreeBSD-compat special cases
Android	host_android.c	Android system properties
FreeBSD / MidnightBSD / DragonFly	host_bsd.c	kenv OIDs via sysctl
NetBSD	host_nbsd.c	machdep.dmi.* sysctls
OpenBSD	host_obsd.c	hw.vendor / hw.product sysctls
macOS	host_apple.c on arm64, host_windows.c on Intel	IOKit on Apple Silicon, SMBIOS on Intel Macs
Windows	host_windows.c	SMBIOS type 1 (System Information)
Solaris / illumos / Haiku	host_windows.c	SMBIOS type 1 as well
GNU/Hurd	host_nosupport.c	Reports Not supported on this platform

src/detection/host/host_mac.c is not in this table because it is compiled on every platform: it holds the hard-coded Mac model-ID table used by host_apple.c and, under #if __x86_64__, by host_linux.c and host_windows.c as a Hackintosh fixup.

Configuration

Key	Type	Default	Description
key	string	module name	Module key. A single space hides the key and the separator.
keyColor	color	–	Overrides display.color.keys.
keyWidth	integer	–	Overrides display.key.width.
keyIcon	string	built-in glyph	Printed when display.key.type includes the icon bit. Any glyph works; "" prints none.
outputColor	color	–	Overrides display.color.output.
format	string	–	Custom output format (see below).
condition	object	–	Show the module only if the conditions match.

There are no module-specific keys.

Format string

Run fastfetch -h host-format for the authoritative list.

Variable	Description
{family}	Product family
{name}	Product name
{version}	Product version
{sku}	Product SKU
{vendor}	System vendor
{serial}	Product serial number
{uuid}	System UUID

JSON output

{
    "type": "host",
    "result": {
        "family": "MACHINE-TYPE-ID",
        "name": "Vendor Product Family Gen N",
        "version": "",
        "sku": "LENOVO_MT_20QF_BU_Think_FM_ThinkPad X1 Yoga 4th",
        "vendor": "LENOVO",
        "serial": "0123456789ABCDEF",
        "uuid": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
    }
}

Examples

{ "type": "host", "format": "{vendor} {name}" }

{ "type": "host", "key": "Machine", "format": "{name} · {sku}" }

Pitfalls

• The default line hides most of what is detected. Only name and version are printed; the vendor, SKU, serial and UUID are reachable solely through format or --format json.
• Serial and UUID identify the machine. They are printed by --format json and by {serial} / {uuid} without any opt-in, so a config shared as a screenshot or a bug report leaks them. Use condition or a trimmed format if that matters.
• Firmware placeholders become empty. DMI/SMBIOS strings such as To Be Filled By O.E.M., To be set by O.E.M., System Product Name and None are dropped by ffCleanUpSmbiosValue(), so a white-box board can end up with no name at all.
• An empty result is an error, not a blank line. If both name and family end up empty the module reports neither product_family nor product_name is set by O.E.M.
• {family} and {name} are easy to swap. On macOS the model ID (MacBookProXX,Y-style) lands in family and the human-readable name in name; on Windows both come from SMBIOS and either may be empty depending on the firmware.
• KVM/QEMU guests are relabelled. A DMI product name starting with Standard PC is prefixed with KVM/QEMU .
• On WSL the module reports the WSL distro, not the host. With no DMI data present it prints Windows Subsystem for Linux - <distro>, sets family: WSL and runs wslinfo --wsl-version -n for the version (silently skipped on older WSL builds).
• A Linux binary running under FreeBSD's compatibility layer reports Linux Binary Compatibility on FreeBSD instead of the hardware.
• {version} is frequently empty on Apple Silicon. host_apple.c reads the IOKit version property, which the newer registry entries do not always carry.
• Android never reports a serial or UUID. host_android.c fills only family, name, version and vendor, so {serial} and {uuid} are always empty there. It also prepends the vendor to the name when it is not already present, and strips a leading product name off ro.product.model before storing it as {version}.

Implementation

Linux

Two paths, selected by whether DMI gave anything:

1. ffGetSmbiosValue("/sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/product_name", "/sys/class/dmi/id/product_name", …) for product_name and product_family; if either is present, the sibling files product_version, product_sku, product_serial and sys_vendor are read too.
2. Otherwise the device-tree/ARM path: family from …/smbios/smbios/system/family or …/system/product, name from …/base/model or …/banner-name, serial from …/system/serial or …/serial-number, vendor from …/system/manufacturer. The /tmp/sysinfo/model file is also tried and validated with ffIsSmbiosValueSet().

ffGetSmbiosValue prefers the /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/ file and falls back to /sys/class/dmi/id/; it exists because /sys/class/dmi/id is a symlink that may be missing in containers.

Two carve-outs follow:

• Asahi Linux — the DMI product_family is empty, so on __aarch64__, when the vendor is Apple Inc. and the name starts with Mac, family is moved from name and the real product name/serial is re-read from the device tree.
• Hackintosh — under __x86_64__, ffHostDetectMac() rewrites a generic DMI product name using the hard-coded Mac model-ID table in host_mac.c.

Windows and Intel macOS (SMBIOS)

ffGetSmbiosHeaderTable() locates the raw SMBIOS entry point, then type 1 is walked as a packed FFSmbiosSystemInfo struct. String fields (Manufacturer, ProductName, Version, SerialNumber, SKUNumber, Family) are resolved with ffSmbiosLocateString() — which returns nullptr for both "the firmware wrote index 0" and "no strings at all", and ffStrbufSetStatic() treats nullptr as the empty string, so unset fields degrade quietly. Each field is then passed through ffCleanUpSmbiosValue().

UUID is assembled from the packed structure only when the header length proves the field exists, and the three 16/32-bit halves are read with FF_READ_LE before being formatted as %08X-%04X-%04X-%02X%02X-%02X%02X%02X%02X%02X%02X. SKUNumber and Family are likewise length-gated, because they were added in SMBIOS 2.4. Three static_asserts pin the packed offsets (UUID at 0x08, SKUNumber at 0x19, Family at 0x1A) so a compiler that changes packing fails the build instead of corrupting the parse.

macOS (Apple Silicon)

ffSysctlGetString("hw.product", &family) — falling back to hw.model — gives the Intel-style model ID that Apple Silicon keeps reporting. name is then resolved in three steps: the hard-coded model-ID table; failing that, IODeviceTree:/product's product-name through IOKit; failing that, the raw model ID. Serial, UUID, vendor and version come from the IOPlatformExpertDevice registry entry (kIOPlatformSerialNumberKey, kIOPlatformUUIDKey, manufacturer, version).

BSD family

FreeBSD reads kenv keys through sysctlbyname; NetBSD uses the machdep.dmi.* namespace; OpenBSD uses the hw.vendor and hw.product sysctls and has no serial, UUID or SKU to report.