Known bugs

• deflocalkeys-wintercept does not work - it is currently incorrectly defined as deflocalkeys-winercept - missing a t
  • Fixed in latest main code, v1.2.1-prerelease-1
• Windows+Interception driver will randomly (timing based) press Esc without releasing it, when typing
  • Fixed in latest main code, v1.2.1-prerelease-1
• Layer changing in dynamic macro has some issues (#300)
  • Probably fixed in v1.2.1-prerelease-1

Changelog (since v1.1.0)

• Fix a bug in fake keys with incorrect layer assignment in the layout
• Fix sequence timeout
• Fix some keycodes, add new ones
• Fix support for multiline comment syntax in cfg file
• Fix memory leak in live reload
• Improve device discovery behaviour in Linux
• Add support for defsrc mouse buttons in Windows
• Add deflocalkeys to help with non-US layouts
• Add tap-dance-eager
• Add mouse movement actions
• Add sending an initial LayerChange message to newly connected TCP clients
• Add dynamic macro
• Add different sequence input modes
• Add sending arbitrary keycodes
• Add configuration cycling with lrld-next and lrld-prev
• Add mappings for higher numbered OS codes

Sample configuration file

The attached kanata.kbd file is tested to work with the current version. The one in the main branch of the repository may have extra features that are not supported in this release.

Windows

Download kanata.exe. Optionally, download kanata.kbd. With the two files in the same directory, you can double-click the exe to start kanata.

You need to run kanata.exe via cmd or powershell to use a different configuration file:

kanata.exe --cfg <cfg_file>

You can also set up a toolbar shortcut.

Linux

Download kanata.

Run it in a terminal and point it to a valid configuration file:

chmod +x kanata   # may be downloaded without executable permissions
sudo ./kanata --cfg <cfg_file>`

To avoid requiring sudo, follow the instructions here.

cmd_allowed variants

The binaries with the name cmd_allowed are conditionally compiled with the cmd action enabled.

Using the regular binaries, there is no way to get the cmd action to work. This action is restricted behind conditional compilation because I consider the action to be a security risk that should be explicitly opted into and completely forbidden by default.

wintercept variants

Warning: known issue

This issue in the Interception driver exists: https://github.com/oblitum/Interception/issues/25. This will affect you if you put your PC to sleep instead of shutting it down, or if you frequently plug/unplug USB devices.

Description

These variants use the Interception driver instead of Windows hooks. You will need to install the driver using the assets from the linked website or from the copy in this repo. The benefit of using this driver is that it is a lower-level mechanism than Windows hooks. This means kanata will work in more applications, including administrator-privileged apps.

Steps to install the driver

• extract the .zip
• run a shell with administrator privilege
• run the script "command line installer/install-interception.exe"
• reboot

Additional installation steps

The above steps are those recommended by the interception driver author. However, I have found that those steps work inconsistently and sometimes the dll stops being able to be loaded. I think it has something to do with being installed in the privileged location of system32\drivers.

To help with the dll issue, you can copy the following file in the zip archive to the directory that kanata starts from: Interception\library\x64\interception.dll.

E.g. if you start kanata from your Documents folder, put the file there:

C:\Users\my_user\Documents\
    kanata_wintercept.exe
    kanata.kbd
    interception.dll

sha256 checksums

95c2e1e3d3a6de80172940e9026942a9e0ec4c842d02f6d15e91da9f80d31976  kanata
ab0627deb333970eed187d4531dc509163eb307dfc200edc39326768c1bc7b84  kanata.exe
c63c995ad8d6231245fb1102f614b96ee2ae96421af72309ae8bc98b96d51f89  kanata.kbd
c201f304fb02c8f4a59849c0a87ebbe75fc071bb3cc1091ead4423da285f0365  kanata_cmd_allowed
75c977570d80d1d0c9349fb7a741d4fdd161f894350c3973f705b5455a9c534c  kanata_cmd_allowed.exe
cdbf928ba4608c6093822fa20d6f91504dc4ded2c09932251944a6a299b7b78f  kanata_wintercept.exe
7a71244511bf02c80532284f6df17149d6e2da39f3e702c55a1582cf27dfacca  kanata_wintercept_cmd_allowed.exe