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QMK HID Host

Host component for communicating with QMK keyboards using Raw HID feature.

Requires support on keyboard side, currently is supported by stront.

Architecture

Application is written in Rust which gives easy access to HID libraries, low-level Windows/Linux APIs and cross-platform compatibility.

Supported platforms/providers

Windows Linux MacOS
Time ✔️ ✔️ ✔️
Volume ✔️ ✔️ (PulseAudio) ✔️
Input layout ✔️ ✔️ (X11) ✔️
Media info ✔️ ✔️ (D-Bus)

MacOS is partially supported, as I don't own any Apple devices, feel free to raise PRs.

How to run it

All files are available in latest release.

Configuration

Default configuration is set to stront. For other keyboards you need to modify the configuration file (qmk-hid-host.json).

  • devices section contains a list of keyboards
    • productId - pid from your keyboard's info.json
    • name - keyboard's name (optional, visible only in logs)
    • usage and usagePage - optional, override only if RAW_USAGE_ID and RAW_USAGE_PAGE were redefined in firmware
  • layouts - list of supported keyboard layouts in two-letter format (app sends layout's index, not name)
  • reconnectDelay - delay between reconnecting attempts in milliseconds (optional, default is 5000)

Minimal config

{
  "devices": [
    {
      "productId": "0x0844"
    }
  ],
  "layouts": ["en"]
}

Configuration is read from file qmk-hid-host.json in the current working directory. If it is not found, then the default configuration is written to this file. You can specify a different location for the configuration file by using --config (-c) command line option. For example:

qmk-hid-host -c $HOME/.config/qmk-hid-host/config.json

Windows

Manual/Debug mode

  1. Start qmk-hid-host.exe
  2. If needed, edit config and restart the app

Silent mode

When you verified that the application works with your keyboard, you can use qmk-hid-host.silent.exe instead (like add it to Startup). It does not have a console or logs, and can be killed only from Task Manager.

Linux

  1. Update udev rules by running script (remember to update idVendor and idProduct to your values first):

    sudo sh -c 'echo "KERNEL==\"hidraw*\", SUBSYSTEM==\"hidraw\", ATTRS{idVendor}==\"feed\", ATTRS{idProduct}==\"0844\", MODE=\"0666\"" > /etc/udev/rules.d/99-qmkhidhost.rules'

    More info

  2. Reconnect keyboard

  3. Start qmk-hid-host, add it to autorun if needed

MacOS

  1. Download qmk-hid-host

  2. Modify qmk-hid-host.json

  3. Add your layouts, for example:

    "layouts": ["ABC", "Russian"],

    if you don't know what layout are installed in you system, run qmk-hid-host with the layouts listed above, change lang and look at terminal output:

    INFO qmk_hid_host::providers::layout::macos: new layout: 'ABC', layout list: ["ABC", "Russian"]
INFO qmk_hid_host::providers::layout::macos: new layout: 'Russian', layout list: ["ABC", "Russian"]

    "new layout:" is what you need

  4. start qmk-hid-host from directory where your qmk-hid-host.json is located

  5. If you qmk-hid-host stuck at Waiting for keyboard... there are two common mistakes:

    1. You're wrong with productId in your config
    2. Close Vial app and try again

Development

  1. Install Rust
  2. Run cargo run
  3. If needed, edit qmk-hid-host.json in root folder and run again

Changelog

  • 2024-10-03 - add support for multiple devices, restructure config
  • 2024-09-15 - add MacOS support
  • 2024-02-06 - add Linux support
  • 2024-01-21 - remove run as windows service, add silent version instead
  • 2024-01-02 - support RUST_LOG, run as windows service
  • 2023-07-30 - rewritten to Rust