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Welcome to the zenbu wiki!

• It's good to read the Conventions before starting to write any variable files.
• If you're coming from whiskers, check Migration.
• If you're running into odd issues, check Common gotchas.

Zenbu elaborated (courtesy of fullsalvo)

zenbu is a file templater written in python. It uses Jinja2 and YAML as the base for file templating. This means that when you run it, it'll use variables you've assigned to fill in fields in other files you've created templates for. To be exact, zenbu uses the folder $HOME/.config/zenbu/templates/ as a clone of your $HOME directory. Files within this folder are rewritten, filling in fields of the form {{ variable_name }} with what variable_name has been defined as within yaml files. This gives you the power to rewrite configuration files on-the-fly then reload your programs to update apperances almost instantly (or at least that's how I use zenbu). The standard yaml file referenced is $HOME/.config/zenbu/defaults.yaml. Variations you make should be stored in $HOME/.config/zenbu/variable_sets/ (which also allows you to nest folders for better organization).

Let's have an example. Say you want to change your files to a theme in a file bright.yaml in your variable_sets directory and you have one file in your templates directory, .Xresources. In bright.yaml, contents might look something like

colors:
  primary:        "red"
  secondary:      "cyan"
  background:     "#F1F2E0"
  foreground:     "#695F6C"
  cursor:         "#695F6C"
  black:
    normal:       "#695F6C"
    bold:         "#A5B9C4"
  red:
    normal:       "#A75D4d"
    bold:         "#A75D4d"
  green:
    normal:       "#A4D485"
    bold:         "#A4D485"
  yellow:
    normal:       "#FDD485"
    bold:         "#FDD485"
  blue:
    normal:       "#90AABE"
    bold:         "#90AABE"
  magenta:
    normal:       "#B17FBC"
    bold:         "#B17FBC"
  cyan:
    normal:       "#6BD6E3"
    bold:         "#6BD6E3"
  white:
    normal:       "#A5B9C4"
    bold:         "#F1F2E0"

This is the typical structure for colors used in zenbu. Accessing nested elements can be a hassle, but this is something typically handled from within the defaults.yaml file with a section for convenience, like

bgc:        "{{ colors.background }}"
fgc:        "{{ colors.foreground }}"
csc:        "{{ colors.cursor }}"

n_black:    "{{ colors.black.normal }}"
b_black:    "{{ colors.black.bold }}"
n_red:      "{{ colors.red.normal }}"
b_red:      "{{ colors.red.bold }}"
n_green:    "{{ colors.green.normal }}"
b_green:    "{{ colors.green.bold }}"
n_yellow:   "{{ colors.yellow.normal }}"
b_yellow:   "{{ colors.yellow.bold }}"
n_blue:     "{{ colors.blue.normal }}"
b_blue:     "{{ colors.blue.bold }}"
n_magenta:  "{{ colors.magenta.normal }}"
b_magenta:  "{{ colors.magenta.bold }}"
n_cyan:     "{{ colors.cyan.normal }}"
b_cyan:     "{{ colors.cyan.bold }}"
n_white:    "{{ colors.white.normal }}"
b_white:    "{{ colors.white.bold }}"

n_primary:  "{{ colors[colors.primary].normal }}"
b_primary:  "{{ colors[colors.primary].bold }}"
n_secondary:  "{{ colors[colors.secondary].normal }}"
b_secondary:  "{{ colors[colors.secondary].bold }}"

Anyway, if .Xresources looks something like

! Colors
*.borderColor:  {{ bgc }}
*.background:   {{ bgc }}
*.foreground:   {{ fgc }}
*.cursorColor:  {{ csc }}

! Black
*.color0:       {{ n_black }}
*.color8:       {{ b_black }}

! Red
*.color1:       {{ n_red }}
*.color9:       {{ b_red }}

! Green
*.color2:       {{ n_green }}
*.color10:      {{ b_green }}

! Yellow
*.color3:       {{ n_yellow }}
*.color11:      {{ b_yellow }}

! Blue
*.color4:       {{ n_blue }}
*.color12:      {{ b_blue }}

! Magenta
*.color5:       {{ n_magenta }}
*.color13:      {{ b_magenta }}

! Cyan
*.color6:       {{ n_cyan }}
*.color14:      {{ b_cyan }}

! White
*.color7:       {{ n_white }}
*.color15:      {{ b_white }}

Then the ultimately rewritten file from a call of zenbu bright (zenbu will load from defaults.yaml unless other yamls are called as arguments by their basename) would be in $HOME/.Xresources as

! Colors
*.borderColor:  #F1F2E0
*.background:   #F1F2E0
*.foreground:   #695F6C
*.cursorColor:  #695F6C

! Black
*.color0:       #695F6C
*.color8:       #A5B9C4

! Red
*.color1:       #A75D4d
*.color9:       #A75D4d

! Green
*.color2:       #A4D485
*.color10:      #A4D485

! Yellow
*.color3:       #FDD485
*.color11:      #FDD485

! Blue
*.color4:       #90AABE
*.color12:      #90AABE

! Magenta
*.color5:       #B17FBC
*.color13:      #B17FBC

! Cyan
*.color6:       #6BD6E3
*.color14:      #6BD6E3

! White
*.color7:       #A5B9C4
*.color15:      #F1F2E0

This process only rewrites the file, however. If you want functionality with reloading like metakirby5 and fullsalvo have, you need to use scripting, like a script in wz-utils, rhisk. This was designed for whizkers, so you'll need to substitute with zenbu as necessary.

This example is only the tip of the iceberg of what zenbu can be used for. If you want to understand all its power, start messing around with it yourself! Have fun!