docs: simplify the README
Trim the technical detail (state file paths, reload pipeline internals, scoring formulas) and move the combo mode GIF next to the preview image. Also fixes stale references: the bar widget section now says Filter and six placements, and the How it works table is gone.
This commit is contained in:
felixzsh
@@ -1,171 +1,81 @@
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# Omarchy Key Visualizer
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A tiny [Omarchy](https://omarchy.org/) plugin that shows the keys you press
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on screen. No keycap images, no animations — just the characters and
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combinations, rendered with the shell's own styles, appearing while a key is
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held and lingering briefly after release.
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Built for keybinding tutorials and screencasts: Omarchy is a keybinding-heavy
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desktop, so a combo like `Super + Shift + G` shows up as three small chips
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at the bottom of the screen.
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on screen — no keycap images, no fuss. Great for keybinding tutorials, demos
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and screencasts.
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## Preview
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## How it works
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| Piece | Where it runs | What it does |
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|----------------|--------------------------------------------|--------------|
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| `key-visualizer.lua`| Hyprland Lua config (inside the compositor)| Listens to `input.keyboard.key`, tracks the pressed combo, writes it to `$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/omarchy-key-visualizer.json` |
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| `KeyVisualizer.qml`| Quickshell `omarchy-shell` (keep-loaded panel)| Watches the state file and renders the chips |
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| `BarWidget.qml`| Quickshell bar (per monitor) | Keyboard glyph that pauses/resumes the display |
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No background daemons, no special permissions, no extra packages: the
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compositor is already the source of truth for keys, and the shell is already
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running.
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## Install
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Validate the folder first (optional but handy for plugin authors):
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```bash
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omarchy plugin validate ./omarchy-key-visualizer
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```
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Then add it — a local path works as well as a git URL (`plugin add` clones
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with git, and `git clone` accepts local paths):
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```bash
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omarchy plugin add /path/to/omarchy-key-visualizer --enable
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# or once published:
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# omarchy plugin add https://github.com/YOU/omarchy-key-visualizer --enable
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```
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`--enable` enables it right away; without it, enable later with
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`omarchy plugin enable felixzsh.key-visualizer`. The plugin is a panel and a bar
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widget: the panel shows the keys, and the bar widget is a toggle — enable
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prompts for its bar section (or pass `--section right`). If you added from a
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local path, `omarchy plugin update felixzsh.key-visualizer` pulls your local
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changes into the installed copy.
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That's it: the panel shows the keys and the keyboard glyph in the bar opens
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the menu. On first load the plugin adds a small hook to your
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`~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua` (safe to remove) and Hyprland reloads it on
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its own — no manual steps.
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That's the whole install: on first load the panel appends a small guarded
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block to `~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua` that loads the capture script into
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Hyprland's Lua config, and Hyprland auto-reloads on save. Nothing else to
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do — no manual edits, no `hyprctl reload`.
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> Plugin authors: `omarchy plugin validate ./omarchy-key-visualizer` checks
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> the manifest first.
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### Requirements
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- Hyprland with Lua config support (0.56+), as shipped by Omarchy.
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- The plugin enabled in the shell (done above).
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**Notes**
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- If the glyph doesn't appear right after enabling, run
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`omarchy-shell shell rescanPlugins`.
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- If a deployed change seems stuck, `omarchy restart shell` loads everything
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fresh.
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## Bar widget
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The keyboard glyph in the bar (right section by default) opens a small
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menu, following the native bar-widget pattern:
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The keyboard glyph (right section by default) opens a small menu:
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- **Show keys** — toggle that pauses/resumes the display (useful mid-demo).
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The glyph button itself does not toggle; the menu does.
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- **Mode** — `All keys` or `Bindings only` (only combos with a modifier).
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- **Position** — a dropdown with all nine placements (top/middle/bottom
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× left/center/right) of the screen.
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- **Linger** — a numeric field (wheel, +/− buttons, or typing) for how long
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a released combo stays, 0–10s in 500ms steps; `0` keeps the last combo on
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screen until the next key.
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- **Show keys** — pause/resume the display.
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- **Filter** — `All keys` or `Bindings only` (only combos with a modifier).
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- **Position** — six placements (top/bottom × left/center/right).
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- **Linger** — how long a released combo stays, 0–10s; `0` keeps it until
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the next key.
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- **History** — how many combos stack on screen (1–5); older ones fade.
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- **Combo mode** — turns the display into a game counter with score and
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effects (see below).
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The menu writes the same pause flag and `config.json` that the display
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panel watches, so it stays in sync across monitors. You can also drive it
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over IPC (routed to the display panel):
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You can also drive it from the terminal:
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```bash
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omarchy-shell key-visualizer toggle
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omarchy-shell key-visualizer pause
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omarchy-shell key-visualizer resume
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omarchy-shell key-visualizer paused # true | false
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```
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Move the glyph with `omarchy bar move felixzsh.key-visualizer --section left`
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(or right/center).
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### After installing: no restart needed
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If the glyph does not appear in the bar right after `omarchy plugin enable`,
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run a plugin rescan instead of restarting the whole shell:
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```bash
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omarchy-shell shell rescanPlugins
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```
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The shell's enable flow persists the bar layout before it registers new
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third-party widgets (a shell-side ordering detail, not specific to this
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plugin); a rescan registers them.
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**One caveat**: the plugin reload pipeline is debounced and can leave a
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stale component in the running shell — especially after rapid uninstall +
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reinstall cycles or editing plugin files. If a change you deployed does not
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take effect (old behavior persists), run `omarchy restart shell` once; that
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unconditionally loads everything from disk. This applies to any third-party
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plugin, not just this one.
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## Behavior
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- **Typing** — shows just the character: `g`, `G`, `!`, `5`.
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- **Modifier combos** — shows every modifier plus the key: `Super Shift G`,
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`Ctrl C`, `Super Enter`.
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- **Combos are a unit** — a combination stays intact no matter the order you
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release it: press `Ctrl Shift N`, let go of `Ctrl` first, then `Shift`,
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then `N`, and the display keeps showing `Ctrl Shift N` the whole time
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(keyviz shrinks key-by-key; this plugin treats the chord as one unit).
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- **Typing** — shows the character: `g`, `G`, `!`, `5`.
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- **Combos** — modifiers plus the key, shown as a unit: `Super Shift G`.
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The combination stays intact no matter the order you release it.
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- **Non-printing keys** — labeled: `Esc`, `Tab`, `F1`, arrows, `Space`.
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- Modifiers that produce the shifted character (`Shift` with a letter) are
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folded into the character itself: `Shift + 1` shows `!`.
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- Key repeat is ignored; a held key shows once.
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- After the last key is released the combo lingers briefly (1s by default,
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keyviz-style "Duration") and then vanishes in one frame — no fade. The
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lingering combo is always the last full one, never a partial release state.
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`lingerMs: 0` means "always show": the last combo stays on screen until
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the next key replaces it.
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- **History** (`historyCount`, 1–5, default 1) — the last few combos stack
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on screen instead of vanishing. Each new combo pushes the previous one
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down the stack; the current combo is fully opaque and every older entry
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fades step by step, so a `Super + G` → `Super + Shift + G` sequence shows
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both, with the older one visibly dimmer. The stack direction follows the
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position: top positions grow downward (newest on top), bottom positions
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grow upward (newest at the bottom edge) — not configurable, by design.
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With `lingerMs: 0` entries never expire, so the stack keeps the last few
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combos on screen until newer ones push them out.
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- **Combo mode** (toggle in the panel, `comboMode` in config) — turns the
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display into a game-style counter. Chords that contain a modifier
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(`Super`, `Ctrl`, `Alt`, `Shift`, `Menu`, `AltGr`) are **combos**: they
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build a combo counter, apply a multiplier (`×2` at 5, `×3` at 10, … up to
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`×8` at 50) and escalate the effects. Plain characters (and shifted chars
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typed alone, which render as the character itself) are **hits**: +10
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score only, they never touch the combo counter. Scoring:
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`hit = +10`, `combo = (20 + 15×(mods−1) + 5×(keys−1)) × multiplier`.
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The banner (`COMBO 12 ×3 · 3,450`) sits below the history for bottom
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positions and above it for top positions, with a floating `+N` pop per
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press. Effects scale with modifiers and chain length: banner pulse,
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hue shift, screen shake (up to 5px) and, at 10+ combos, continuous hue
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cycling — at 20+, a constant subtle vibration while the combo is hot.
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The combo counter resets after `comboWindowMs` (2s) without a new combo,
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and when the linger window then passes (the display clears) the **score
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resets with it**, so every run starts from zero. A chord made only of
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modifiers (`Super` alone, `Super+Ctrl+Shift`) is not a valid combo —
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modifiers of nothing — and scores zero; a valid combo always ends on a
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non-modifier key. Counted once
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per physical chord (on release), so growing key presses never double-count.
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- In `mode: "bindings"` only combos with a modifier are shown; plain typing
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stays off screen.
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- **Shift** is folded into the character: `Shift + 1` shows `!`.
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- After release, the combo lingers briefly (1s by default) and vanishes;
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a Linger of `0` keeps it until the next key.
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- **History** — the last few combos stack instead of vanishing, with older
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ones fading out. Top positions stack downward, bottom positions upward.
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- **Combo mode** — a game counter. Combos with modifiers score points and
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build a streak (multiplier up to ×8); plain typing scores a little too.
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The banner shows `COMBO 12 ×3 · 3,450`. The longer the streak, the bigger
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the effects: pulsing, color shifts, screen shake — and at high streaks a
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constant vibration. Stop for a moment and the streak resets; when the
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display fades away, the score resets too.
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- **Bindings only** — shows only combos with a modifier; plain typing stays
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off screen.
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## Customize
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Options live in `~/.config/omarchy/key-visualizer.json` (created with the
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defaults below on first run). It sits **outside** the plugin folder on
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purpose: the shell reloads all plugin code whenever any file under
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`~/.config/omarchy/plugins/` changes, so a config file there would restart
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the plugin on every edit. Editing this file updates the display live:
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Options live in `~/.config/omarchy/key-visualizer.json` and apply live:
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```json
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{
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@@ -178,35 +88,18 @@ the plugin on every edit. Editing this file updates the display live:
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}
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```
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| Option | Values | Default |
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|----------------|----------------------------------------------------|-----------------|
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| `mode` | `all` or `bindings` (only combos with a modifier) | `all` |
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| `position` | six placements: `top-left` … `bottom-right` (middle positions were dropped; the stack anchors to the top or bottom edge) | `bottom-center` |
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| `margin` | px from the screen edge | `67` |
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| `lingerMs` | ms a released combo stays; `0` keeps it until the next key (keyviz defaults to `5000`) | `1000` |
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| `historyCount` | how many combos stack on screen (1–5); older entries fade | `1` |
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| `comboMode` | `true`/`false` — game-style combo counter, score and effects | `false` |
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Deeper tweaks still live in the QML/Lua sources:
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| Want to change... | Edit |
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|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
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| Chip font / padding | `chipFont`, `chipPadX/Y` in `KeyVisualizer.qml` |
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| Key labels or layout mapping | `KEYS` / `CHARS` / `SHIFTED` tables in `key-visualizer.lua` |
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The key tables use **US layout** keycode mapping. Letters and digits match
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most layouts; on other layouts, symbol keys (`;`, `[`, `ñ`, …) may show the
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US glyph or fall back to the key name. Dead keys and compose sequences are
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not expanded.
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## Status
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`omarchy-shell key-visualizer ping` — health check.
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`omarchy-shell key-visualizer state` — `open` while a combo is on screen.
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| Option | What it does | Default |
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|----------------|---------------------------------------------------|-----------------|
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| `mode` | `all` or `bindings` (only combos with a modifier) | `all` |
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| `position` | `top-left` … `bottom-right` | `bottom-center` |
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| `margin` | distance from the screen edge (px) | `67` |
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| `lingerMs` | how long a released combo stays; `0` = keep until the next key | `1000` |
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| `historyCount` | combos stacked on screen (1–5) | `1` |
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| `comboMode` | game counter, score and effects | `false` |
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## Roadmap
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- Layout-aware keysyms via `xkbcommon` instead of the static US table.
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- Layout-aware key symbols (`xkbcommon`) instead of the static US table.
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- Per-monitor placement.
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## License
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