What you need
- Multimeter for macOS 13 or later, $19.99 once.
- The direct download version of Multimeter from this site (the Script source isn’t in the Mac App Store version).
jqfor picking numbers out of JSON. It comes with macOS 15 and later; on macOS 13 or 14 runbrew install jq.
Set it up
- Find your latitude and longitude. Open-Meteo’s place search gives them for any town (the first result’s
latitudeandlongitude):Terminalcurl -s 'https://geocoding-api.open-meteo.com/v1/search?name=Plano&count=1' - Add a Script meter with your coordinates in this command:Command
curl -s -m 8 'https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude=33.02&longitude=-96.70&daily=sunset&timezone=auto&forecast_days=1&timeformat=unixtime' | jq '(.daily.sunset[0] - now) / 60 | floor' - Refresh every 5 minutes. Range 0 to 720, unit
min, alerts on Low values at 60 (golden hour) and 20.
Multimeter settings
In Customize This Meter… (from the meter’s menu):
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Source | Script |
| Command | the curl … | jq line above |
| Refresh every | 5 minutes |
| Range | 0 to 720 |
| Unit | min |
| Alerts | Low values: warning 60, critical 20 |
| Label | SUN |
| Face | Level Bar, Laser Sword or Label & Value |
Tested: Run on October 29, 2026 at 11:45 in Plano, Texas: 412 minutes.
Script meters need the direct download version of Multimeter from this site, which is the one on sale now. How commands run, the PATH they see and the 10 second limit are in the Script meters guide.
Limits
- After sunset the number goes negative until the next day’s data. Alerts stay red, which reads as “it’s dark”.
Variations
Minutes until sunrise
Use daily=sunrise&forecast_days=2 and .daily.sunrise[1] for tomorrow’s.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The script didn’t print a number | The command failed or printed an error message instead. | Run the exact command in Terminal. If it works there, check for tools that live outside the meter’s PATH and use their full path (which tool). |
| The script took longer than 10 seconds | A slow network call. Multimeter stops scripts after 10 seconds. | Keep the -m timeout on curl, and refresh less often. |
| Scripts need the version from multimeterapp.com | This copy of Multimeter came from the Mac App Store, which can’t run scripts. | Use the direct download version, or run the command from cron or launchd and point a File meter at its output. |
Questions
Does this work in the Mac App Store version?
Script meters need the direct download version from multimeterapp.com, because the App Store sandbox doesn’t let apps run your commands. Web Address, File and Sent Value meters work in every version.