feat(better-clock): add digital clock widget

[yugaaank]

Plugin

• Id: yugaaank/better-clock

• Noctalia version tested against: 5.0.0-beta.7

• Plugin API level: 19

• New plugin

• Update to an existing plugin (version bumped in plugin.toml)

What it does

A minimal digital clock desktop widget with customizable time and date format strings. Uses noctalia.formatTime() for locale-aware formatting with a monospace font and primary color palette.

External dependencies

None

Testing

• Tested on Niri
• Tested on Hyprland
• Tested on Sway
• Tested on another compositor:

Screenshots / Videos

Desktop widget showing time and date below it.

Checklist

• The directory name matches the part of id after the / in plugin.toml exactly.
• It ships plugin.toml, README.md, thumbnail.webp, and translations/en.json.
• README.md follows the README template, documents every entry id and dependency, and includes exact panel IPC commands and launcher prefixes where applicable.
• I created thumbnail.webp with the thumbnail generator.
• version follows semver and is bumped in this PR; plugin_api is the oldest API level this plugin requires.
• Every non-English translation in this PR uses a locale supported by Noctalia core, and I can read, write, and understand that language well enough to review and maintain it (no unreviewed machine/LLM translations).
• I did not edit catalog.toml; CI generates it.
• This PR touches exactly one plugin directory.

Code review attestation

Plugins run as trusted, unsandboxed Luau in the user's session. Confirm:

• The code is readable and not obfuscated, minified, or generated.
• It does not download and execute remote code.
• Every network call, filesystem write, and spawned process is something the description above accounts for.
• I have the right to publish this code under the license declared in plugin.toml.

[ItsLemmy]

1. blocking - better-clock/thumbnail.webp
   The thumbnail is a generic template image reading "Example - A minimal
   reference plugin" with a "Demo" button. It does not depict the Better
   Clock widget or any clock-related content. Thumbnails should represent
   the actual plugin.

2. non-blocking - better-clock/widget.luau:5,12
   Labels are constructed with value = "" but updated via .text.
   Every other plugin in the repository uses text in the ui.label
   constructor (e.g. todo/panel.luau, w-engine/w-engine-panel.luau).
   value is likely an unrecognized property and may result in no
   initial content or a runtime warning.

3. non-blocking - better-clock/widget.luau:2,7,14
   Properties use snake_case (font_size, h_align, v_align) while
   every other plugin in the repository uses camelCase (fontSize,
   fontWeight). If the API does not alias these, the properties will
   be silently ignored, resulting in default sizing and alignment.

4. non-blocking - better-clock/README.md:14
   README states the widget "updates every 30 seconds" but
   widget.luau:29 creates the timer with a 1000ms (1 second) interval.

5. non-blocking - better-clock/widget.luau:29
   The timer handle is assigned to a local variable timer that is
   never referenced again. If cleanup or cancellation is expected on
   widget teardown, this is a potential resource leak. Minor for a
   simple clock widget.

[yugaaank]

I've addressed the feedback from the review:

1. Thumbnail: Updated to a 960x540 WebP image showing a simple 12:34 clock representation.
2. Labels: Changed value to text in ui.label constructors.
3. Properties: Changed snake_case properties (font_size, h_align, v_align) to camelCase (fontSize, hAlign, vAlign).
4. Timer: Updated the interval from 1000ms to 30000ms (30 seconds) to match the documentation.
5. Memory Leak: Removed the unused local timer = variable assignment.