Introduction to Autokey for Wayland

AutoKey is a keyboard automation utility for the Linux desktop. It can be used to automate repetitive keyboard and mouse tasks. When hotkeys are pressed or short abbreviations are typed, AutoKey assists the user by performing predefined actions with the keyboard or mouse. When more complex action sequences are required, a Python script can be executed from a hotkey or abbreviation to perform a series of actions.

A version of AutoKey that runs on X11 has been available as a supported package for most Linux distributions for a number of years. The goal of the AutoKey for Wayland project is to provide a version of AutoKey that will function on systems that use the Wayland protocol as well as on those that use X11.

The AutoKey for Wayland project is a fork of the AutoKey project. It builds on work done in the “develop” branch of that project to create the facilities that AutoKey needs to operate in a Wayland environment. An “official” version of AutoKey based on that work has not yet been released.

This project is still in development, and the code is unstable. Use it at your own risk.

AutoKey, X11 and Wayland

Wayland is a new desktop protocol that has been slowly replacing X11 in many distributions. It offers additional security in desktop environments by severely restricting the degree to which applications can interact with desktop windows that are not their own. This new level of security has required a number of changes to adapt to the new environment. Also, there are a few functions that AutoKey can no longer perform in the Wayland environment. See the What Works & What Does Not section for more specific details on the differences in capability across the two environments.

AutoKey uses completely different techniques under Wayland to communicate with the keyboard/mouse, the clipboard, and the desktop. This is largely transparent to the general AutoKey user, but power users may encounter some of these differences. See the Technical Details page for a brief discussion of these changes.