Application aware layer switching 🔁 with kanata ⌨️ and sway 💨

Additional features:

Current layer text overlay

• Using sdl2 for rendering just text, is overkill
• Find a more lightweight alternative
• Is there any better way of showing current-layer information?
• Maybe some sway prompt using ipc?

TODO 📔

• Configuration

  • List of registered apps that have specific layers
    • Currently getting from file system (~/.config/keyboard/apps/*)
    • Get from config file?
  • Aliases and patterns for application names

• Refactor the code

• Don't rely on swaymsg, make universal

  • Now using swayipc
  • Make it work on other than sway?

• Whitelist/blacklist

• Make the overlay a compile time feature

• Fork kanata and apply the logging patches

How it works ⚙️

1. You have a main layer, this will be used by default.
2. You have a ~/.config/keyboard/apps/org.telegram.desktop layer. When telegram is focused it sends the window name (org.telegram.desktop in this case) to kanata. Kanata switches to this layer. NOTE: If it can't find the corresponding file in /apps it fallbacks to the default layer (main)

• Create a file and include it in your kanata configuration
  • NOTE: The name of the file should match what sway returns

Check out my kanata config for reference 💡

Development

Using Cargo

Dependencies:

• SDL2 for the overlay window, optional (todo)

git clone https://github.com/veyxov/qanata
cd qanata/
cargo run -- --port 7070

Using Nix

You can use the provided flake.nix to setup all build- and run-time dependencies:

1. Enable Flakes in your Nix configuration.
2. Add direnv to your profile: nix profile install nixpkgs#direnv
3. cd into the directory where you have cloned this directory.
4. Allow use of .envrc: direnv allow
5. After the dependencies have been installed, your shell will now have all of the necessary development dependencies.

Visualize statistics generated from kanata

python script for generating heatmap for key presses

How to run:

./run_stats.sh --file path/to/kanata/log

# Current format: actual_key_presses|layer|resulting_key_press

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Bugs 🐞

• Panics if there are no windows in current workspace (when the wallpaper is visible)
• Overheats the CPU when sway is locked; Fixed in commit

Caution: This is very experimental and raw. Needs a lot of work to make usable