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wvkbd(1) General Commands Manual wvkbd(1)

NAME

wvkbd - on-screen virtual keyboard for wayland compositors using wlroots

SYNOPSIS

wvkbd-mobintl [OPTIONS]...

NOTE: Your binary may have a different suffix depending on which layout you compiled.

DESCRIPTION

This project aims to deliver a minimal but practically usable implementation of a wlroots on-screen keyboard in legible C. This will only be a keyboard, not a feedback buzzer, led blinker, or anything that requires more than what's needed to input text quickly. The end product should be a static codebase that can be patched to add new features.

OPTIONS

-D

enable debug mode.

-o

print pressed keys to standard output.

-O

print intersected keys to standard output.

-l layers

comma separated list of layers in vertical/portrait mode.

--landscape-layers layers

comma separated list of layers used in horizontal/landscape mode.

--list-layers

prints a list of all available layers.

-H pixels

Height of the keyboard in pixels, for vertical/portrait mode.

-L pixels

Height of the keyboard in pixels, for horizontal/landscape mode

--fn font

set font and size (e.g. DejaVu Sans 20)

--hidden

Start hidden (send SIGUSR2 to show).

--alpha int

Set alpha value (i.e. transparency) for all colors [0-255]

--bg rrggbb|aa

Set color of background

--fg rrggbb|aa

Set color of keys

--fg-sp rrggbb|aa

Set color of special keys

--press rrggbb|aa

Set color of pressed keys

--press-sp rrggbb|aa

Set color of pressed special keys

--swipe rrggbb|aa

Set color of swiped keys

--swipe-sp rrggbb|aa

Set color of swiped special keys

--text rrggbb|aa

Set color text on keys

--text-sp rrggbb|aa

Set color text on special keys

--version

Print version information

-h, --help

Print usage help

SIGNALS

You can send signals to wvkbd to hide/show it (e.g. using kill(1) with -s):

SIGUSR1

Hide the keyboard.

SIGUSR2

Show the keyboard

SIGRTMIN

Toggle visibility

COMPOSE BUTTON

The default mobile international layout features a Compose button (Cmp) which, when combined with another key, opens up a layout that offers variants for that key. This is similar to functionality that other keyboards implemented using a long press (wvkbd has no such notion, holding a key will repeat it like on a physical keyboard).

For example, press Cmp + a to access variants with diacritics like á,à,â,ä, etc..

Most layouts also feature the following that are less obvious:

  • Press Cmp and . to access more punctuation
  • Press Cmp and - or , to access 'mathematical' symbols (+,-,=,etc)
  • Press Cmp and ' or 0 or 9 to access more brackets and quotes
  • Press Cmp and q to access emojis

Last, but not least, pressing Cmp + space or Cmp + ⌨ or Cmp + Abc opens up an index that allows you to immediately jump to any layout by name, even layouts not explicitly added to your layers on startup.

AUTHORS

Created by John Sullivan <jsullivan@csumb.edu>, maintained by the Sxmo project <https://sxmo.org> in collaboration with other open source contributors. For more information about wvkbd development, see <https://git.sr.ht/~proycon/wvkbd> or <https://github.com/jjsullivan5196/wvkbd>.

2025-06-23