Prevent WezTerm from capturing specific key combinations

[speri203]

What Operating System(s) are you running on?

macOS

Which Wayland compositor or X11 Window manager(s) are you using?

No response

WezTerm version

wezterm 20240108-182319-1c090195

Ask your question!

I have recently purchased a split keyboard that runs on the QMK firmware. Within this firmware, there is a key called the "Hyper" which simulates pressing LCTL+LSFT+LALT+CMD and is extremely handy when creating bindings to avoid conflicts.

I came across a useful video recently which outlines how to utilize the automation application build into macOS to launch/switch between different applications. I use the Hyper key to create my shortcuts for this automation functionality. When pressing Hyper+A macOS will either launch my Arc browser if it is not open or switch to the already open instance if I am in another application. Basically it is a substitute for CMD+Tab for application switching. This functionality works fine in other Terminal emulators I have tried like iTerm and the default Terminal application when they are in focus. I can use Hyper+A in iTerm and it will switch to my browser instance, but not in WezTerm. I have a feeling the terminal is actually capturing the keypresses and the OS is not receiving them. I have tried disabling this combination within my config but this doesn't seem to be working. I was hoping someone could help me out/point me in the right direction on how to solve this. I have attached my config below so you can get a complete idea:

local wezterm = require 'wezterm'

-- This is the module table that we will export
local module = {}

-- This function is private to this module and is not visible
-- outside.
local function private_helper()
  wezterm.log_error 'hello!'
end

-- Defining font with symbol fallback option incase there are specifics
-- missing from the manual patch
local function font_with_fallback(name, params)
  local names = { name, "Symbols Nerd Font Mono" }
  return wezterm.font_with_fallback(names, params)
end
local function font_config(font_name)
  return font_with_fallback({
    family = font_name,
    -- family = "Monaspace Argon",
    weight = "Regular",
    style = "Normal",
    -- harfbuzz_features = { "zero" },
    harfbuzz_features = { 'calt=1', 'clig=1', 'liga=0', 'ss01', 'ss02', 'ss03', 'ss04', 'ss05', 'ss06', 'ss07', 'ss08' }
  })
end

-- Defining window decorations the terminal should follow, need to experiment
-- with the padding values
local function window_decoration(config)
  config.hide_tab_bar_if_only_one_tab = true
  config.use_fancy_tab_bar = true
  config.window_padding = {
    left = 3,
    right = 3,
    top = 3,
    bottom = 3,
  }
  config.window_background_opacity = 0.90
  config.macos_window_background_blur = 20
end

-- Actions related to mouse movement and clicks
local function mouse_config()
  local act = wezterm.action
  return {
    -- Paste with right click
    {
      event = {
        Up = {
          streak = 1,
          button = "Right",
        },
      },
      mods = "NONE",
      action = act.PasteFrom("PrimarySelection"),
    },
  }
end

-- Regex rules to determine detect URLs and make them interactive
local function hyperlink_decorations()
  return {

    -- Linkify things that look like URLs and the host has a TLD name.
    -- Compiled-in default. Used if you don't specify any hyperlink_rules.
    {
      regex = "\\b\\w+://[\\w.-]+\\.[a-z]{2,15}\\S*\\b",
      format = "$0",
    },

    -- linkify email addresses
    -- Compiled-in default. Used if you don't specify any hyperlink_rules.
    {
      regex = [[\b\w+@[\w-]+(\.[\w-]+)+\b]],
      format = "mailto:$0",
    },

    -- file:// URI
    -- Compiled-in default. Used if you don't specify any hyperlink_rules.
    {
      regex = [[\bfile://\S*\b]],
      format = "$0",
    },

    -- Linkify things that look like URLs with numeric addresses as hosts.
    -- E.g. http://127.0.0.1:8000 for a local development server,
    -- or http://192.168.1.1 for the web interface of many routers.
    {
      regex = [[\b\w+://(?:[\d]{1,3}\.){3}[\d]{1,3}\S*\b]],
      format = "$0",
    },
  }
end

-- Custom keybinding definitions, need more optimization and review
local function keybindings()
  local act = wezterm.action
  return {
    -- Split vertically
    {
      key = "v",
      mods = "CTRL|SHIFT",
      action = act.SplitHorizontal({ domain = "CurrentPaneDomain" }),
    },

    -- Split horizontal
    {
      key = "s",
      mods = "CTRL|SHIFT",
      action = act.SplitVertical({ domain = "CurrentPaneDomain" }),
    },

    -- Jump to bottom pane
    {
      key = "k",
      mods = "CTRL",
      action = act.ActivatePaneDirection("Up"),
    },
    {
      key = "j",
      mods = "CTRL",
      action = act.ActivatePaneDirection("Down"),
    },
    { key = "UpArrow",   mods = "SHIFT",     action = act.ScrollByLine(-1) },

    -- Scroll down 1 line
    { key = "DownArrow", mods = "SHIFT",     action = act.ScrollByLine(1) },
    { key = "Tab",       mods = "ALT|SHIFT", action = act.ActivateTabRelative(-1) },
    { key = "Tab",       mods = "ALT",       action = act.ActivateTabRelative(1) },

    -- Experimenting with disabling hyper key for app switcher automation to work
    {
      key = "A",
      mods = "CTRL|SHIFT|ALT|CMD",
      action = act.DisableDefaultAssignment,
    },

  }
end

-- define a function in the module table.
-- Only functions defined in `module` will be exported to
-- code that imports this module.
-- The suggested convention for making modules that update
-- the config is for them to export an `apply_to_config`
-- function that accepts the config object, like this:
function module.apply_to_config(config)
  private_helper()

  config.color_scheme = 'Catppuccin Mocha'
  config.font = font_config("MonoLisaNerdFontNerdFont Nerd Font")
  config.font_size = 14
  config.scrollback_lines = 5000
  config.term = "xterm-256color"
  window_decoration(config)
  config.mouse_bindings = mouse_config()
  config.hyperlink_rules = hyperlink_decorations()
  config.keys = keybindings()
end

-- return our module table
return module

The last mapping within the keybinding() function is where I try to address the issue. The keyboard layout I use is also attached if you are curious:

[cynicaljoy]

please try:

    {
      key = "A",
      mods = "SHIFT|ALT|CTRL|SUPER",
      action = act.DisableDefaultAssignment,
    },

[speri203]

Unfortunately, the change has no effect. I ended up getting BetterTouchTool in order to do this type of application switching and works when WezTerm is focused. I won't give up however, I will reference wez's comment and see if I can find a solution because I am sure it will help others.

[wez]

I'd suggest running through https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/troubleshooting.html#debugging-keyboard-related-issues so you can see what inputs are being sent to wezterm, and what key assignments exist in wezterm

[speri203]

Awesome, thanks for the reference, I will see if I can find a native solution.

[daara-s]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has found a solution within Wezterm yet?

I have a similar situation on wezterm 20240203-110809-5046fc22 with trying to run Mac app shortcuts with the hyper key. I'm using Karabiner-Elements to define my hyper key as:

{
  "key_code": "left_shift",
  "modifiers": [
    "left_command",
    "left_control",
    "left_option"
  ]
}

I've got a shortcut to launch my browser that's triggered by Hyper+b. It works in most apps except Wezterm.
The output with debug keys is:

11:07:07.029  INFO   wezterm_gui::termwindow::keyevent > key_event RawKeyEvent { key: Char('B'), modifiers: SHIFT | ALT | CTRL | SUPER | LEFT_ALT, leds: (empty), phys_code: Some(B), raw_code: 11, repeat_count: 1, key_is_down: true, handled: Handled(false) } 
11:07:07.029  INFO   wezterm_gui::termwindow           > DeadKeyStatus now: None

and my keys configured in config are:

config.keys = {
	{ action = act.ActivateCommandPalette, mods = "CTRL|SHIFT", key = "P" },
	{ action = act.CopyTo("Clipboard"), mods = "CTRL|SHIFT", key = "C" },
	{ action = act.DecreaseFontSize, mods = "CTRL", key = "-" },
	{ action = act.IncreaseFontSize, mods = "CTRL", key = "=" },
	{ action = act.Nop, mods = "ALT", key = "Enter" },
	{ action = act.PasteFrom("Clipboard"), mods = "CTRL|SHIFT", key = "V" },
	{ action = act.ResetFontSize, mods = "CTRL", key = "0" },
    {
        key = "b",
        mods = "SHIFT|ALT|CTRL|SUPER",
        action = act.DisableDefaultAssignment,
    },

}

config.send_composed_key_when_left_alt_is_pressed = true
config.send_composed_key_when_right_alt_is_pressed = false
config.use_dead_keys = false
config.debug_key_events = true

I've tried variations with use_ime without any effect. Similar to @speri203 I've been able to get it working with BetterTouchTool, but ideally would like to avoid adding another program into the mix to solve this.

[lethanix]

Hi there!

I was able to make it work with Hyper key with the following config:

config.use_ime=false
config.keys = {
	{
	      key = "A",
	      mods = "SHIFT|ALT|CTRL|CMD",
	      action = wezterm.action.DisableDefaultAssignment,
	},
}

Hope it helps!