A modern Rust implementation of wshowkeys - displays keystrokes in real-time with a beautiful transparent overlay.

This project provides a polished, professional keystroke display overlay:

• ✅ Real-time Key Display: Shows keystrokes as you type with intelligent key combinations
• ✅ Smart Modifier Handling: Displays Ctrl+L, Ctrl+Shift+L instead of individual keys
• ✅ Transparent Overlay: Fully transparent, borderless window that floats over applications
• ✅ Hyprland Integration: Native Wayland support with window rules for perfect positioning
• ✅ Auto-hide/show: Appears on keypress, automatically hides after 3 seconds
• ✅ Comprehensive Key Support: Letters, numbers, function keys (F1-F12), punctuation, arrows
• ✅ Visual Polish: Professional button styling with consistent 32x24px sizing and proper spacing
• ✅ Enhanced Layout: Optimized margins, padding, and text rendering for maximum readability
• ✅ Multi-device Support: Captures from all keyboard devices simultaneously

• Input Handling: Uses evdev for low-level keyboard capture from /dev/input/event*
• GUI Rendering: Native eframe/egui overlay with Wayland transparency support
• Key Processing: Intelligent modifier combination logic and state tracking
• Window Management: Borderless, transparent overlay controlled by Hyprland window rules
• Visual Design: Professional button styling with consistent sizing and adaptive text rendering

• Linux system with /dev/input/ access
• Wayland compositor (tested with Hyprland)
• User access to input devices (typically via input group)

cargo build --release

./target/release/wshowkeys_rs

./target/release/wshowkeys_rs --console

Add these window rules to your ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf for optimal overlay positioning:

# wshowkeys_rs overlay positioning
windowrulev2 = move 20 750, class:^(wshowkeys_rs)$
windowrulev2 = size 300 100, class:^(wshowkeys_rs)$
windowrulev2 = float, class:^(wshowkeys_rs)$
windowrulev2 = pin, class:^(wshowkeys_rs)$
windowrulev2 = bordersize 0, class:^(wshowkeys_rs)$
windowrulev2 = rounding 0, class:^(wshowkeys_rs)$
windowrulev2 = noshadow, class:^(wshowkeys_rs)$
windowrulev2 = noblur, class:^(wshowkeys_rs)$
windowrulev2 = opacity 1.0 override 1.0 override, class:^(wshowkeys_rs)$
windowrulev2 = noanim, class:^(wshowkeys_rs)$
windowrulev2 = noinitialfocus, class:^(wshowkeys_rs)$

Note: No sudo required! Works with standard user permissions on modern Linux systems.

• Single Keys: A, 1, SPACE, ENTER, ESC
• Combinations: Ctrl+C, Ctrl+Shift+V, Alt+TAB
• Function Keys: F1, F5, F12
• Navigation: UP, DOWN, HOME, END, PGUP, PGDN
• Punctuation: ;, ', ,, ., /, [, ], \
• Professional Layout: Consistent 32x24px buttons with optimal spacing and margins
• Auto-fade: Keys gradually fade and disappear after 3 seconds

cargo test

RUST_LOG=debug cargo run

src/
├── main.rs           # Entry point and argument parsing
├── app.rs            # Application coordination and channels
├── input.rs          # evdev keyboard input capture
├── egui_render.rs    # GUI overlay rendering (primary)
└── render.rs         # Console rendering (fallback)

• v1.3.0: Enhanced visual design, comprehensive key support, improved button styling and spacing
• v1.2.0: Native Wayland support, key combinations, Hyprland integration
• v1.1.0: Initial console implementation with evdev capture

• Customizable themes and colors
• Multiple display modes and layouts
• Window positioning options
• Configuration file support
• Mouse click display
• Recording and playback features

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Copyright 2025 wshowkeys_rs contributors

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.