Screenkey.nvim

Screenkey is a Neovim plugin that displays the keys you are typing in a floating window, just like screenkey does. It is useful for screencasts, presentations, and live coding sessions.

📺 Showcase

2024-04-16.22-42-26.mp4

⚡️ Requirements

Neovim version >= 0.10.0
a Nerd Font (optional, but recommended)

📋 Installation

lazy:

{
    "NStefan002/screenkey.nvim",
    lazy = false,
    version = "*", -- or branch = "dev", to use the latest commit
}

packer:

use({ "NStefan002/screenkey.nvim", tag = "*" })

rocks.nvim

:Rocks install screenkey.nvim

Note

There is no need to call the setup function, only call it if you need to change some options
There is no need to lazy load Screenkey, it lazy loads by default.

⚙️ Configuration

Default settings

{
    win_opts = {
        row = vim.o.lines - vim.o.cmdheight - 1,
        col = vim.o.columns - 1,
        relative = "editor",
        anchor = "SE",
        width = 40,
        height = 3,
        border = "single",
    },
    compress_after = 3,
    clear_after = 3,
    disable = {
        filetypes = {},
        buftypes = {},
    },
    show_leader = true,
    group_mappings = false,
    display_infront = {},
    display_behind = {},
    keys = {
        ["<TAB>"] = "󰌒",
        ["<CR>"] = "󰌑",
        ["<ESC>"] = "Esc",
        ["<SPACE>"] = "␣",
        ["<BS>"] = "󰌥",
        ["<DEL>"] = "Del",
        ["<LEFT>"] = "",
        ["<RIGHT>"] = "",
        ["<UP>"] = "",
        ["<DOWN>"] = "",
        ["<HOME>"] = "Home",
        ["<END>"] = "End",
        ["<PAGEUP>"] = "PgUp",
        ["<PAGEDOWN>"] = "PgDn",
        ["<INSERT>"] = "Ins",
        ["<F1>"] = "󱊫",
        ["<F2>"] = "󱊬",
        ["<F3>"] = "󱊭",
        ["<F4>"] = "󱊮",
        ["<F5>"] = "󱊯",
        ["<F6>"] = "󱊰",
        ["<F7>"] = "󱊱",
        ["<F8>"] = "󱊲",
        ["<F9>"] = "󱊳",
        ["<F10>"] = "󱊴",
        ["<F11>"] = "󱊵",
        ["<F12>"] = "󱊶",
        ["CTRL"] = "Ctrl",
        ["ALT"] = "Alt",
        ["SUPER"] = "󰘳",
        ["<leader>"] = "<leader>",
    },
}

option	explanation
`win_opts`	see `:h nvim_open_win`, note1: other options from `nvim_open_win` help can be provided (such as `win`, `bufpos`, `zindex` etc.), the ones listed above are just defaults, note2: currently, the only options that cannot be changed and will be ignored if you specify them are: `title`, `title_pos`, `style`, `focusable` and `noatocmd`)
`compress after`	compress input when repeated <compress_after> times (for example `jjjj` will be compressed to `j..x4`)
`clear_after`	clear the input after `<clear_after>` seconds of inactivity
`disable`	temporarily disable screenkey (for example when inside of the terminal)
`disable.filetypes`	for example: `toggleterm` or `toml`
`disable.buftypes`	see `:h 'buftype'`, for example: `terminal`
`group_mappings`	for example: `<leader>sf` opens up a fuzzy finder, if the `group_mappings` option is set to `true`, every time you open up a fuzzy finder with `<leader>sf`, Screenkey will show `␣sf` instead of `␣ s f` to indicate that the used key combination was a defined mapping.
`show_leader`	if this option is set to `true`, in the last example instead of `␣ s f` Screenkey will display `<leader> s f` (of course, if the `<space>` is `<leader>`), if the current key is not a defined mapping, Screenkey will display `<space>` as `␣`
`display_infront`¹	if the floating window containing the buffer of the same `filetype` as in `display_infront` is opened, screenkey window will be reopened in front of that window (if necessary), Note: you can define filetypes as lua regex, for example `"Telescope*"` to match every filetype that starts with `Telescope`
`display_behind`²	if the floating window containing the buffer of the same `filetype` as in `display_behind` is opened, screenkey window will be reopened behind of that window (if necessary), Note: you can define filetypes as lua regex, for example `"Telescope*"` to match every filetype that starts with `Telescope`
`keys`	how to display the special keys

❓ How to use

:Screenkey toggle (or just Screenkey) to toggle the screenkey
Don't worry about leaking your passwords when using sudo while streaming/recording because you forgot to turn off your display-key application, Screenkey will only show pieces of information about your input in Neovim.
This plugin exposes get_keys function that you can use in a statusline component. You can use :Screenkey toggle_statusline_component or change vim.g.screenkey_statusline_component to toggle this feature on/off. For lualine it would look something like this:

vim.g.screenkey_statusline_component = true

vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>ssc", function()
    vim.g.screenkey_statusline_component = not vim.g.screenkey_statusline_component
end, { desc = "Toggle screenkey statusline component" })

require("lualine").setup({
    -- other options ...
    sections = {
        -- other sections ...
        lualine_c = {
            -- other components ...
            function()
                return require("screenkey").get_keys()
            end,
        },
    },
})

Run :checkhealth screenkey to diagnose possible configuration problems
Screenkey exposes redraw function that redraws the Screenkey window, could be used like this:

require("screenkey").redraw()

:Screenkey redraw

Note

If you're using a terminal inside of the Neovim, and you want screenkey to automatically stop displaying your keys when you're inside of the terminal, see disable option in the plugin configuration.

🙏 I took inspiration (and some code) from

👀 Similar projects

keys.nvim:

This is currently an experimental feature. Please report any issues you encounter. Use it responsibly, do not set too many conditions, as it can slow down the plugin. Also, if the conflict occurs (e.g. two floating windows are present at the same time - one with the filetype that matches the display_infront condition and the other with the filetype that matches the display_behind condition), nothing will happen (this is subject to change) ↩
Same as above ↩

NStefan002/screenkey.nvim