gnoblin.configure.input_sources

Set the active input sources with gnoblin.configure {input_sources = {...}}. On reload, this replaces the active source list in memory. Without this table, Gnoblin exposes no switchable input sources and leaves Mutter's current keymap in place. It does not load the saved GNOME input-source list.

• sources is required. It is an array of records with a type and a nonempty id.
• sources[].type accepts "xkb" for a keyboard layout or "ibus" for an input method.
• sources[].id is an installed XKB layout ID or IBus engine ID, depending on type.
• In the direct Gnoblin session, XKB-only sources do not need ibus-daemon. Gnoblin does not start the daemon. Start it in your session and install the selected engine before using an IBus source. Gnoblin reconnects when the IBus service becomes available or restarts.
• per_window is optional and defaults to false. Set it to true to remember a different source for each window. With the default false, all windows share the same active source; switching layouts in one window changes the source used in the others too.

After login, and after a reload that removes the current source, the first xkb source in the list becomes current.

Choose an ID

Use the exact source ID, not its display name. For example, "us+intl" selects the US International variant. Available layouts and variants depend on the XKB data installed on your system.

Find layouts and variants in Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources. Gnoblin reads the installed XKB rules through libxkbregistry. The XKB introduction explains how layouts and variants combine. For an overview of available layouts, see the XKB layout gallery.

When it needs a spare layout in an XKB group, Gnoblin chooses the base layout for the locale's country where one is available, then falls back to us.

To find installed IBus engine IDs, run:

ibus list-engine --name-only

See the ibus command reference for the engine-list command.

Configure the sources

This example lets you switch between the base US and UK layouts:

gnoblin.configure {
    input_sources = {
        sources = {
            {type = "xkb", id = "us"},
            {type = "xkb", id = "gb"},
        },
        per_window = false,
    },
}

Switch sources with the keyboard

Gnoblin leaves Super+Space and Shift+Super+Space available to the desktop shell. Bingux uses them to open its input-source selector and choose the next or previous configured source. This avoids two clients claiming the same global shortcut.

Without Bingux, select a source with gnoblinctl input select xkb us or bind a callback in your own config with keybindings.keyboard. The callback finds the source in gnoblin.input.sources() and calls its select() method. See the keyboard shortcut guide for callback syntax.

Share or keep sources per window

With per_window = false (or with per_window omitted), the selected layout is shared. If you switch from US to UK while typing in one window, a different window also uses UK when it gets focus.

Set per_window = true when you want each window to keep its own last selected source:

gnoblin.configure {
    input_sources = {
        sources = {
            {type = "xkb", id = "us"},
            {type = "xkb", id = "gb"},
        },
        per_window = true,
    },
}

Open a terminal and a document window. Select US and UK, respectively. With sloppy focus, moving the pointer between windows restores each window's last selected layout. The same happens with click-to-focus when you click between them.

A window without a saved selection starts with the layout that was active when it was first focused.

Gnoblin remembers the active source per window. It does not assign layouts by app ID or give each window a different source list.

Use Lua events when a rule should follow the pointer window or depend on its app ID. For example, the pointer-window event can change touchpad scroll speed for Chromium and restore the usual speed elsewhere. That is a separate rule from per_window, which remembers the layout selected in each focused window.

Use the layout-plus-variant ID for a variant. An IBus ID must name an engine installed on your system:

gnoblin.configure {
    input_sources = {
        sources = {
            {type = "xkb", id = "us+intl"},
            {type = "ibus", id = "anthy"},
        },
        per_window = false,
    },
}

This setting selects layouts or input methods; it does not set XKB options. Configure those separately with input.keyboard.xkb_options.

Type with an input method

Gnoblin includes an IBus input method. Apps that use Wayland text-input-v3, such as GTK4 and Qt on Wayland, get preedit and committed text from the IBus engine you select, with no toolkit module or GTK_IM_MODULE setting. Gnoblin does not start the IBus daemon. Without a running daemon, or without an active engine, every key goes to the app unchanged.

1. Install ibus and an engine. On Fedora, for the Russian transliteration engine used here:

   ShellCopy

   sudo dnf install ibus ibus-m17n

2. Start the daemon in your session. This autostart entry starts it at login and stops it when you remove the entry or log out. Leave out the -d flag, which makes the daemon detach from the process group that Gnoblin stops:

   LuaCopy

   gnoblin.configure {
       autostart = {
           ibus = {command = {"ibus-daemon", "-r", "-x"}},
       },
   }

3. Configure the source with the engine ID from ibus list-engine --name-only:

   LuaCopy

   gnoblin.configure {
       input_sources = {
           sources = {
               {type = "xkb", id = "us"},
               {type = "ibus", id = "m17n:ru:translit"},
           },
       },
   }

4. Select the IBus source and type privet into a GTK4 text field. The text becomes привет.

Builds made without the IBus development files (ibus-devel on Fedora) leave this input method out. In that case a GTK app can use the toolkit's own IBus module instead. Install ibus-gtk3 and ibus-gtk4, and start the app with GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus. Qt and X11 apps use their own IBus settings, which are not described here.

Type definition

The IDs are installation-dependent strings. ? marks an optional field.

gnoblin.configure {
    input_sources = {
        sources = {{type = "xkb" | "ibus", id = string}, ...},
        per_window = boolean?,
    },
}