Brimline in the Basalt theme: a dark bar across the top of a desktop with a bright geometric wallpaper. On the left are media controls and the playing artist and track, in the middle the time and date, and on the right the microphone status, Mic on.

Brimline

A thin bar across the top of your Windows 11 screen.

Media controls on the left, the time and date in the middle, your microphone on the right.

Coming soon to Steam

What’s on the bar

The bar is 32 pixels tall at 100% scale and runs the full width of the screen. It has three parts.

The left end of the bar: previous, pause and next buttons, followed by the artist and track that are playing.

Media, on the left

Previous, play/pause and next, with the artist and track that’s playing. Brimline reads them from Windows, so music playing in your browser shows up too.

The middle of the bar: the time and the date.

Time and date, in the middle

Shown in the format set in your Windows region settings.

The right end of the bar showing Mic on. The right end of the bar showing Muted. The right end of the bar showing No mic.

Microphone, on the right

Shows Mic on, Muted or No mic. Click it to mute or unmute, or use the shortcut from any app: Ctrl+Alt+M by default. If another program already uses the shortcut, the bar warns you.

Above your windows

Windows sets aside the strip at the top of the screen for Brimline. Maximized windows start just below the bar instead of sliding under it.

When an app goes full screen, such as a full-screen video, the bar steps aside. It comes back when you leave full screen.

A lintel is the beam over a door or window.

The top right corner of the screen: the bar, and directly below it a maximized window with its minimize, maximize and close buttons.

Five themes

Basalt, Linen, Smoke, Frost and Moss. Pick one of eight accent colors, or let the bar use your Windows accent color.

The Basalt theme: a dark charcoal bar above a light wallpaper.
Basalt
The Linen theme: a warm off-white bar with dark text above a dark wallpaper.
Linen
The Smoke theme: a dark, see-through bar with the light wallpaper softly blurred behind it.
Smoke
The Frost theme: a pale, see-through bar with the dark wallpaper softly blurred behind it.
Frost
The Moss theme: a dark green bar with a gold pause button, above a light wallpaper.
Moss

Frosted glass

Choose a transparency level and the bar turns to frosted glass. The wallpaper behind it is really blurred, not just faded through.

The right end of the bar in the Frost theme, opaque, above a blue arch in the wallpaper.
Opaque
The same spot with a transparency level chosen: the blue arch shows through the bar as a soft blur.
Transparent
The menu that opens when you right-click the bar, with the Theme submenu listing Basalt, Linen, Smoke, Frost and Moss.

Right-click to change it

Every choice is in the menu that opens when you right-click the bar. Finer settings live in a JSON file.

It keeps to itself

Brimline doesn’t inject code into Explorer or any other program.

It doesn’t ask for an account, and it doesn’t send anything over the internet.

Questions

Which versions of Windows does it run on?

Windows 11 only.

How much will it cost?

The price hasn’t been announced yet.

Does Brimline send any data?

No. Brimline doesn’t ask for an account and doesn’t send anything over the internet.

Does it change Explorer or other programs?

No. Brimline doesn’t inject code into Explorer or any other program. Windows sets aside the strip at the top of the screen, and the bar sits there.

Where can I get it?

Brimline is coming to Steam. The store page isn’t open yet; this page will link to it once it is.