imekit

A cross-platform Rust library for implementing Input Method Engines (IME) using native protocols.

Overview

imekit provides native protocol implementations for creating input methods:

• Linux/Wayland: zwp_input_method_v2 and zwp_text_input_v3 protocols
• Linux/X11: XIM (X Input Method) protocol
• Linux/IBus: IBus D-Bus interface (fallback when Wayland protocol unavailable)
• Windows: Text Services Framework (TSF)
• macOS: Input Method Kit (IMK)

This is not a text insertion library. It implements the actual IME protocols that allow you to:

• Register as an input method with the system
• Receive text input context (surrounding text, content type)
• Commit text and preedit strings
• Create popup surfaces for candidate windows

Features

Feature	Description
log	Enable logging via the log crate
tracing	Enable logging via the tracing crate
ibus	Enable IBus support for Linux (via zbus D-Bus interface)

Platform Support

Platform	Protocol	Status
Linux/Wayland	zwp_input_method_v2	✅ Full support
Linux/Wayland	zwp_text_input_v3	✅ Full support
Linux/X11	XIM	✅ Full support
Linux/IBus	D-Bus	✅ Full support (with ibus feature)
Windows	TSF (Text Services Framework)	✅ Full support
macOS	CGEvent/NSTextInputClient	✅ Full support

Wayland Compositor Support

Compositor	Support
sway	✅ Full support
Hyprland	✅ Full support
KDE Plasma	✅ Good support
GNOME/Mutter	⚠️ Uses IBus (enable ibus feature)
wlroots-based	✅ Generally supported

Usage

Add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
imekit = "0.1"

# Optional: Enable logging
imekit = { version = "0.1", features = ["log"] }

# Optional: Enable IBus fallback for GNOME/Mutter
imekit = { version = "0.1", features = ["ibus"] }

Basic Input Method

use imekit::{InputMethod, InputMethodEvent};

fn main() -> Result<(), imekit::Error> {
    // Auto-detects Wayland vs X11 on Linux
    // Falls back to IBus if Wayland protocol unavailable (with `ibus` feature)
    let mut im = InputMethod::new()?;

    loop {
        while let Some(event) = im.next_event() {
            match event {
                InputMethodEvent::Activate { serial } => {
                    println!("IME activated");
                    // Commit text when activated
                    im.commit_string("Hello! 👋")?;
                    im.commit(serial)?;
                }
                InputMethodEvent::SurroundingText { text, cursor, anchor } => {
                    println!("Context: {} (cursor: {})", text, cursor);
                }
                InputMethodEvent::Deactivate => {
                    println!("IME deactivated");
                }
                _ => {}
            }
        }
        std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(10));
    }
}

Text Input Client (receiving IME input)

use imekit::wayland_impl::{TextInput, TextInputEvent};

fn main() -> Result<(), imekit::Error> {
    let mut ti = TextInput::new()?;
    ti.enable();
    ti.commit();

    loop {
        while let Some(event) = ti.next_event() {
            match event {
                TextInputEvent::CommitString { text } => {
                    if let Some(text) = text {
                        println!("Received: {}", text);
                    }
                }
                TextInputEvent::PreeditString { text, .. } => {
                    if let Some(text) = text {
                        println!("Composing: {}", text);
                    }
                }
                _ => {}
            }
        }
        std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(10));
    }
}

Using IBus Directly

#[cfg(feature = "ibus")]
use imekit::ibus_impl::IBusInputMethod;

fn main() -> Result<(), imekit::Error> {
    #[cfg(feature = "ibus")]
    {
        // Create IBus input method directly
        let im = IBusInputMethod::new()?;
        // Use im...
    }
    Ok(())
}

Requirements

Linux/Wayland

• Compositor with zwp_input_method_v2 support
• libwayland-dev for Wayland client libraries

Linux/X11

• X11 display server with XTest extension
• libx11-dev and libxtst-dev for X11 libraries

Linux/IBus (with ibus feature)

• IBus daemon running
• D-Bus session bus available

Windows

• Windows 8+ with TSF support

macOS

• macOS 10.5+ with Accessibility permissions

License

Licensed under either of:

• Apache License, Version 2.0
• MIT license