dotool – Installation & Configuration (Manjaro / Arch-based)¶

Overview¶

dotool is a low-level input simulation utility. Unlike xdotool, it interacts directly with the Linux kernel via uinput, making it compatible with both X11 and Wayland.

Installation (Manjaro / Arch)¶

1. Install the Package¶

pamac build dotool
# or via yay: yay -S dotool

2. Permissions & udev Rules¶

To allow dotool to simulate input without root privileges, your user must be part of the input group, and a udev rule must be active:

Add user to group: sudo gpasswd -a $USER input

Create udev rule:

echo 'KERNEL=="uinput", GROUP="input", MODE="0660", OPTIONS+="static_node=uinput"' \
  | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/80-dotool.rules

Reload udev rules:

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger

Important: You must log out and log back in for the group changes to take effect.

Project Configuration (`config/settings.py`)¶

# Override X11 default to use dotool (recommended for better layout stability)
x11_input_method_OVERRIDE = "dotool"

# Delay between keystrokes in milliseconds
# 2ms = Default, reliable for special characters and Umlauts
# 0ms = Maximum speed (Instant mode)
dotool_typedelay = 2

Script Implementation¶

Performance Optimization (FIFO)¶

Starting a new dotool instance for every word is slow (~100ms latency). To achieve “instant” typing, the script uses a persistent background process reading from a FIFO pipe.

# Setup in the main script
mkfifo /tmp/dotool_fifo 2>/dev/null
dotool < /tmp/dotool_fifo &
DOTOOL_PID=$!

The Typing Function¶

do_type() {
    local text="$1"
    if [[ "$INPUT_METHOD" == "dotool" ]]; then
        # Pipe commands directly into the running background process
        printf 'typedelay %s\ntype %s\n' "$DOTOOL_TYPEDELAY" "$text" > /tmp/dotool_fifo
    else
        LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 xdotool type --clearmodifiers --delay 12 "$text"
    fi
}

Troubleshooting & Notes¶

Missing Characters: If special characters (like Umlauts) are skipped, increase dotool_typedelay to 5 or 10.
Application Compatibility: Some apps (Electron, Browsers) may require a higher delay to register fast input correctly.
Wayland Support: dotool is the required backend for Wayland, as xdotool does not support it.
Automatic Fallback: The script automatically falls back to xdotool if dotool is not installed or configured correctly.