⌨️ Kinput

Low-level Rust library for input injection and global key capture on Linux.

Creates virtual devices and captures global input events directly via the kernel subsystem, operating independently of any graphical environment or display server.

✨ Features

• 🐧 Kernel-Level: Native virtual device management.
• ⌨️ Full Input Support: Keyboard and mouse (relative/absolute) events injection.
• 🎧 Global Capture: Reads events from physical devices regardless of window focus.
• 🚫 Headless: No dependencies on X11, Wayland, or compositors.
• ⚡ Minimal API: Simple, idiomatic Rust interface.

🚀 Usage

Injection

use kinput::{InputDevice, Key::*};

fn main() {
    let device = InputDevice::new();

    device.keyboard.text([H, E, L, L, O, Space, W, O, R, L, D]);

    // Relative movement.
    device.mouse.rel.reset_axis();
    device.mouse.rel.move_xy(500, 350);
    device.mouse.rel.left_click();

    // Absolute positioning.
    device.mouse.abs.move_xy(300, 300);
    device.mouse.abs.left_click();
}

Capture

use kinput::{InputReader, Key::*};

fn main() {
    let mut reader = InputReader::new();
    reader.start().unwrap();

    while let Ok(key) = reader.receive() {
        if key == A {
            println!("A key pressed");
        }
    }
}

🔧 Non-Root Setup

Run this script to configure permissions and use the library without sudo.

#!/bin/bash

MODULE_GROUP=$(stat -c %G /dev/uinput 2>/dev/null || echo "root")
if [ "$MODULE_GROUP" = "input" ]; then
    sudo usermod -aG input "$USER"
else
    RULE_FILE="/etc/udev/rules.d/99-uinput.rules"
    RULE_CONTENT="KERNEL==\"uinput\", MODE=\"0660\", GROUP=\"input\""

    echo "$RULE_CONTENT" | sudo tee "$RULE_FILE" > /dev/null
    sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
    sudo udevadm trigger
    sudo usermod -aG input "$USER"
fi

Note: A system logout/login is required for changes to take effect.

🎯 Scope

• 🤖 Bots & Automation
• 🧪 Automated Testing
• ♿ Accessibility Tooling
• 🎮 Device Emulation