Wi-Fi Hotspot

Start and stop a NetworkManager Wi-Fi hotspot from the bar, inspect connected devices in a panel, and control the service over IPC.

Plugin

Field	Value
ID	cleboost/hotspot
Entries	Bar widget: toggle; panel: panel; service: hotspot

Requirements

Install nmcli from NetworkManager, plus iw and ip from iproute2, on PATH. The active user must be allowed to manage NetworkManager connections (the default on most desktop setups).

Usage

1. Open the plugin settings and set the hotspot name and password.
2. Add the toggle widget to a bar.
3. Left-click the widget to open the panel with the connected device list.
4. Right-click the widget to start or stop the hotspot.

noctalia msg panel-toggle cleboost/hotspot:panel

Starting a hotspot may disconnect the Wi-Fi adapter from its current network while the access point is active.

Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
ssid	string	Noctalia Hotspot	Network name broadcast to clients.
password	string	(empty)	WPA password. Must be at least 8 characters before starting.
interface	string	(empty)	Optional Wi-Fi interface such as wlan0. Auto-detected when empty.
refresh_interval	int	5	Seconds between status and client-list refreshes.

IPC

noctalia msg plugin cleboost/hotspot:hotspot all enable
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/hotspot:hotspot all disable
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/hotspot:hotspot all toggle
noctalia msg plugin cleboost/hotspot:hotspot all refresh

The enable, disable, and toggle events change the hotspot state. refresh and status re-read NetworkManager without changing it. IPC events take no payload.

Notes

• The plugin uses nmcli device wifi hotspot to create the access point and nmcli connection down to stop the active AP profile.
• Connected devices are discovered with iw station dump and ip neigh.
• The plugin makes no network requests and writes no user content to disk.
• Notifications use the host notification-show IPC with Wi-Fi glyphs (wifi, wifi-off, alert-circle) because noctalia.notify() does not accept a custom icon yet.
• Hotspots started outside Noctalia are detected when NetworkManager reports an active 802-11-wireless connection in ap mode.