/warpd

A modal keyboard-driven virtual pointer

Primary LanguageCMIT LicenseMIT

What

A modal keyboard driven interface for mouse manipulation.

Demo

Hint Mode Alt-Meta-x

Grid Mode Alt-Meta-g

Normal Mode Alt-Meta-c

Dependencies

X

The usual array of X libraries:

  • libxi
  • libxinerama
  • libxft
  • libxfixes
  • libxtst
  • libx11

Wayland (sway/wlroots only (no gnome support))

  • libwayland-client
  • cairo
  • xkbcommon

Note: The wayland port has several limitations due to the nature of Wayland's architecture.

See the LIMITATIONS section of the man page for more details.

MacOS:

  • The standard Xcode command line developer tools.

Installation

Make sure you have the appropriate dependencies for your system:

E.g

debian/ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install \
	libxi-dev \
	libxinerama-dev \
	libxft-dev \
	libxfixes-dev \
	libxtst-dev \
	libx11-dev \
	libcairo2-dev \
	libxkbcommon-dev \
	libwayland-dev &&
make && sudo make install

By default warpd will build a single binary for both X and wayland. An X or Wayland only binary can be generated by setting either DISABLE_WAYLAND or DISABLE_X at compile time.

macos:

curl -L https://github.com/rvaiya/warpd/releases/download/v1.3.5/warpd-1.3.5-osx.tar.gz |  sudo tar xzvfC - / && launchctl load /Library/LaunchAgents/com.warpd.warpd.plist

Uninstallation:

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/warpd /usr/local/share/man/man1/warpd.1.gz /Library/LaunchAgents/com.warpd.warpd.plist

or (from source)

# Install the xcode command line tools if you
# don't already have them.
xcode-select --install

make && sudo make install && launchctl load /Library/LaunchAgents/com.warpd.warpd.plist

Uninstallation:

sudo make uninstall

Note: On initialization you may be prompted to add the warpd binary to your accessibility settings. If you are upgrading it may also be necessary to run sudo tccutil reset Accessibility (this will remove all applications from your accessibility settings). The service is now also managed by a launchd service (see below) and should not be explicitly started by the user.

Note 2: Some programs (e.g iTerm) have a 'secure input mode' that may need to be disabled in order for warpd to work properly.

The service can be disabled with

launchctl unload /Library/LaunchAgents/com.warpd.warpd.plist

Quickstart

  1. Run warpd

Hint Mode

  1. Press A-M-x (alt+meta+x) to generate a list of hints
  2. Enter the key sequence associated with the desired target to warp the pointer to that location and enter normal mode.
  3. Use the normal mode movement keys to select the final desination (see Normal Mode).

Grid Mode

  1. Press A-M-g (meta is the command key) to activate the warping process.
  2. Use u,i,j,k to repeatedly navigate to different quadrants.
  3. Press m to left click, , to middle click or . to right click.
  4. See Normal Mode

Normal Mode

  1. Press A-M-c to activate normal mode.
  2. Use the normal movement keys (default hjkl) to adjust the cursor.
  3. Press m to left click, , to middle click or . to right click.
  4. Press escape to quit.

A drag movement can be simulated from any of the above modes by focusing on the source and then pressing the drag_key (default v) which will cause normal mode to be activated for selection of the drag target.

A more comprehensive description can be found in the man page (along with a list of options).

Wayland

Note: Wayland does not permit clients to globally bind hotkeys. These must be bound within the compositor using warpd's oneshot flags.

E.g

On sway:

bindsym Mod4+Mod1+x exec warpd --hint
bindsym Mod4+Mod1+c exec warpd --normal
bindsym Mod4+Mod1+g exec warpd --grid

Packages:

warpd is currently available on the following distributions:

Arch

Available as an AUR package (maintained by Matheus Fillipe).

If you are interesting in adding warpd to your distribution's repository please contact me.

Limitations/Bugs

  • Programs which use Xinput and or Xtest for keyboard may not work correctly (e.g synergy). If a specific program which you feel should be working does not please file an issue.

  • The hack used for pointer hiding on OSX doesn't work on some programs (e.g iTerm). The original cursor will consequently be visible in such cases, though functionality should be otherwise unaffected.

  • Wayland support has several limitations (see CAVEATS in the man page).

Contributions

A special thanks to

  • Pete Fein - For encouragement and early adoption.
  • Matheus Fillipe - For the original border radius patch as well as numerous bug reports and feature requests.
  • The Kaleidoscope/Vimperator projects - For inspiration.
  • Drew Devault - For making the Wayland ecosystem inhabitable.