PolterType brings auto-layout correction to Wayland despite major platform barriers
PolterType is a typing-correction utility that detects when users type in the wrong keyboard layout and automatically fixes the mistake, a feature long available on Windows but technically difficult to implement on Wayland. Unlike X11, Wayland restricts global keystroke monitoring and window positioning, forcing the developers to read input directly from Linux kernel device files via evdev and inject corrections through a uinput virtual keyboard. To display correction suggestions near the text cursor, the app combines the layer-shell Wayland protocol with accessibility APIs to estimate caret position. The tool supports multiple layout-switching backends including Hyprland, KDE, GNOME, IBus, and Fcitx5, and handles edge cases like input remappers that intercept its own virtual keyboard. The app is privacy-focused, storing keystrokes only in RAM, never logging typed text, and making only a single anonymous daily update-check network request.
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