PowerAdapter

PowerAdapter

Print power adapter name and charging watts

Module type	poweradapter
Default order	46 (only used by --gen-config)
Module source	src/modules/poweradapter/poweradapter.c
Detection source	src/detection/poweradapter/

Prints one line per detected mains power supply. The default line is the adapter's name, and falls back to its wattage when the name is empty:

Power Adapter: 65W

That fallback is the normal case on Linux — see the pitfalls. Everything else the detection layer reads (manufacturer, model, description, serial) is only reachable through a custom format or the JSON output.

Platform support

Platform	Implementation	Notes
Linux	poweradapter_linux.c	Reads /sys/class/power_supply/
macOS	poweradapter_apple.c	IOPSCopyExternalPowerAdapterDetails()
Windows	poweradapter_nosupport.c	Reports Not supported on this platform
Android	poweradapter_nosupport.c	Not supported, even though it is a Linux kernel
FreeBSD / MidnightBSD / DragonFly	poweradapter_nosupport.c	Not supported
NetBSD	poweradapter_nosupport.c	Not supported
OpenBSD	poweradapter_nosupport.c	Not supported
Solaris / illumos	poweradapter_nosupport.c	Not supported
Haiku	poweradapter_nosupport.c	Not supported
GNU/Hurd	poweradapter_nosupport.c	Not supported

Only Linux and macOS have an implementation — Android compiles the nosupport stub despite having a Linux kernel. Elsewhere the module reports Not supported on this platform, which becomes the JSON error and — because display.showErrors defaults to false — makes the text run print nothing at all.

Configuration

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

There is no module-specific option. Every key other than the generic ones produces Unknown JSON key ….

Format string

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

Variable	Description
{watts}	Power adapter watts
{name}	Power adapter name
{manufacturer}	Power adapter manufacturer
{model-name}	Power adapter model
{description}	Power adapter description
{serial}	Power adapter serial number

None of the six is marked * in the help output, so none is available in the key format.

{watts} is a plain integer with no unit — 65, not 65W. The default line is the only place the W suffix appears, and it is appended by the module itself.

JSON output

[
    {
        "type": "PowerAdapter",
        "result": [
            {
                "description": "",
                "manufacturer": "Apple Inc.",
                "modelName": "",
                "name": "",
                "serial": "0",
                "watts": 65
            }
        ]
    }
]

• result is always an array, one object per adapter. When detection fails the module carries {"type": "PowerAdapter", "error": "…"} instead, with no result key.
• watts is a number; the five other fields are strings and are "" when unknown — never null and never omitted.
• The key inside the object is modelName, not model-name: the JSON uses camelCase while the format variable uses a hyphen.
• The key order inside each object is description, manufacturer, modelName, name, serial, watts.

Examples

// Watts with the unit, plus the manufacturer
{ "type": "poweradapter", "format": "{watts}W ({manufacturer})" }

// The model and serial, skipping everything else
{ "type": "poweradapter", "format": "{model-name} #{serial}" }

// Rename the line
{ "type": "poweradapter", "key": "Charger" }

Pitfalls

• On Linux the name is always empty, so the default line is always a wattage. The Linux backend fills watts, manufacturer, modelName and serial but never touches name, and description stays empty as well. Power Adapter: 65W is therefore the only shape the default line can take there, and a config that wants a nicer line has to set format explicitly.
• An empty result is an error in text but an empty array in JSON. The text path reports No power adapters found when the list is empty; the JSON path has no such check and emits {"result": []} with no error. The same divergence exists in keyboard and mouse.
• Linux only reports adapters that are online right now. A supply is skipped when present is 0, when type is not exactly Mains, when scope is Device, or when online is not 1. A charger that is plugged in but not currently supplying power therefore disappears, and so does a battery (whose type is Battery).
• watts on Linux comes from input_power_limit, not from a nameplate rating. The sysfs value is in microwatts and is divided by 1e6 and rounded, so it is the kernel's current input power limit. On a machine that negotiates a lower limit the number changes, and a supply that does not expose input_power_limit at all is skipped entirely.
• watts can legitimately be 0. Both backends initialise it to 0 and only overwrite it when the corresponding key is present, so 0 means "unknown" rather than "no power".
• macOS reports nothing at all when running on battery. IOPSCopyExternalPowerAdapterDetails() returns NULL with no adapter connected, which is the common case — the module then falls into the empty-list branch rather than reporting an error.
• On macOS the model and serial have numeric fallbacks. When the Model string is missing the adapter id (kIOPSPowerAdapterIDKey) is formatted as a decimal number instead, and when SerialString is missing the serial number is formatted as upper-case hex ("%X", no 0x prefix). Both fallbacks leave a numeric-looking string where a name would be expected.
• Windows, the BSDs, Solaris, Haiku and GNU/Hurd have no implementation, so on those platforms the module never prints anything unless display.showErrors is true.

Implementation

ffDetectPowerAdapter() appends FFPowerAdapterResult values (five FFstrbufs — description, name, modelName, manufacturer, serial — plus an int watts) to a list and returns an error string. ffPrintPowerAdapter() and ffGeneratePowerAdapterJsonResult() each call it and each release the strings of every element afterwards; nothing is cached, so a --dynamic-interval run re-reads the supply state on every round.

With more than one adapter the lines are numbered by index, and with a single adapter the bare key is printed.

Linux

/sys/class/power_supply/ is enumerated with opendir() and each entry is opened with openat(). An entry is kept only when all of these hold: present is not 0, type is exactly Mains (after trimming trailing whitespace), scope is either missing or not Device, online is 1, and input_power_limit exists and is non-empty. watts is input_power_limit / 1e6 rounded to the nearest integer. manufacturer, model_name and serial_number are read and trimmed; when manufacturer is missing and the directory is named macsmc-ac (Apple Silicon under Asahi) it is set to Apple Inc. name and description are left empty.

macOS

IOPSCopyExternalPowerAdapterDetails() is called once and, when the dictionary contains kIOPSPowerAdapterWattsKey, a single adapter is produced. name comes from kIOPSNameKey, manufacturer from Manufacturer, description from Description, and watts from kIOPSPowerAdapterWattsKey. modelName comes from the Model string with the numeric adapter id as a fallback, and serial from SerialString with the numeric serial in hex as a fallback. Note that this backend can only ever produce one adapter, whereas the Linux one produces as many as sysfs exposes.