Minimal Wayland keystroke overlay using evdev for input and GTK4 + layer-shell for the on-screen display.

• Linux (Wayland)
• GTK4 + gtk4-layer-shell dev packages
• xkbcommon

sudo pacman -S gtk4 gtk-layer-shell xkbcommon

cargo run

Default config path:

• ~/.config/keyway-visualizer/config.toml

The file is created on first run. Example:

position = "bottom-right"
margin = 40
max_items = 5
ttl_ms = 900
show_mouse = true
pause_hotkey = "Ctrl+Shift+P"
repeat_coalesce_ms = 200
modifier_grace_ms = 120
drag_enabled = false
custom_x = 40
custom_y = 40
app_filter_enabled = false
disabled_apps = ["firefox", "org.keepassxc.keepassxc"]

You can override via CLI:

cargo run -- --position top-left --ttl-ms 1200 --show-mouse false

Positions supported: bottom-right, bottom-center, bottom-left, top-right, top-center, top-left, center, custom. Use custom with custom_x/custom_y for pixel placement, or enable drag mode and move the overlay.

Hotkey parsing accepts tokens like Ctrl+Shift+P, Super+F13, and named keys like Plus or Comma for symbols.

Open the system tray icon and choose Settings. Changes can be applied live or saved to the config file.

This app reads input events from /dev/input/event*.

If you see "No keyboard devices found" or permission errors:

sudo usermod -aG input $USER
# log out and back in

Alternatively, set up a udev rule to grant read access.

• Shows key combos (e.g., Ctrl+Shift+A) in a small overlay.
• Shows mouse clicks: LMB, RMB, MMB.
• Items fade out after ~900ms.
• Pause/resume capture via hotkey (default: Ctrl+Shift+P).
• System tray menu for pause/resume and quit.
• Drag mode to reposition the overlay (tray or settings).
• App filter to disable the overlay for specific apps.

App filtering uses hyprctl -j activewindow on Hyprland to match against the active window class or title (case-insensitive). Add one string per line in Settings, or use:

cargo run -- --app-filter-enabled true --disabled-app firefox --disabled-app keepass

If hyprctl is not available, the filter is ignored.

This repo includes example files you can adapt:

• packaging/keyway-visualizer.desktop
• packaging/keyway-visualizer.service