Viet+

Vietnamese Input Method for Linux
_{Zero underline • Native Wayland/X11 • Built in Rust}

Features • Quick Start • Input Methods • Configuration • Installation • Building

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Why Viet+?

Most Vietnamese input methods on Linux suffer from underline hell — pre-edit buffers that duplicate text, show ugly underlines, and break your flow. Viet+ takes a different approach:

Direct Input — keystrokes are instantly converted to Unicode. No pre-edit buffer. No underline. No text duplication. Just pure Vietnamese.

Inspired by Gõ Nhanh's brilliant UX, rebuilt native for Linux.

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Features

Feature	Description
Direct Input Engine	No pre-edit buffer, no underline, no text duplication
Telex & VNI	Both input methods fully supported
Auto-Restore English	Hit space/ESC to undo accidental Vietnamese conversion
ESC Undo	Strip all tones from the current word instantly
Smart App Memory	Remembers Vietnamese/English per application
Macro Expansion	Custom shortcuts (e.g., ko → không)
Triple Backend	uinput (universal), X11 XTEST, Wayland zwp_input_method_v2
Hot Reload	Config changes apply without restart
Settings UI	GTK4/Libadwaita GUI (optional)
System Tray	KStatusNotifierItem tray app
Zero Telemetry	No keylogging, no disk writes, fully FOSS

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Quick Start

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/vietplus/vietplus.git
cd vietplus
make build

# Test the engine interactively
make test-cli

# Run the daemon (requires root for evdev/uinput)
sudo make run

# Or install system-wide
sudo make install

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Input Methods

Telex (Default)

Key	Result	Example
aa	ă	dan → dăn
ee	ê	men → mên
oo	ô	to → tô
aw	â	an → ân
ow	ô	on → ôn
ew	ê	en → ên
uw	ư	un → ưn
s	á (sắc)	as → á
f	à (huyền)	af → à
r	ả (hỏi)	ar → ả
x	ã (ngã)	ax → ã
j	ạ (nặng)	aj → ạ
dd	đ	dd → đ

VNI

Key	Result
a1	á
a2	à
a3	ả
a4	ã
a5	ạ
a6	ă
a7	â
e8	ê
o9	ô
o0	ơ
u0	ư

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Configuration

Config file: ~/.config/vietc/config.toml or ./vietc.toml

input_method = "telex"
toggle_key = "space"
start_enabled = true

[auto_restore]
enabled = true

[app_state]
enabled = true
english_apps = ["code", "vim", "kitty", "foot"]
vietnamese_apps = ["telegram", "discord", "firefox"]

[macros]
ko = "không"
dc = "được"
vs = "với"
lm = "làm"

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Architecture

┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐     ┌────────────────┐
│  evdev       │────▶│  Viet+       │────▶│  uinput/X11    │
│  keyboard    │     │  Engine      │     │  injection     │
│  monitor     │     │  (Telex/VNI) │     │                │
└──────────────┘     └──────────────┘     └────────────────┘
                           │
                     ┌─────┴─────┐
                     │  App State │
                     │  Manager   │
                     └───────────┘

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Installation

System Dependencies

Component	Ubuntu/Debian	Fedora	Arch
Core daemon	(none)	(none)	(none)
Settings UI	libgtk-4-dev libadwaita-1-dev	gtk4-devel libadwaita-devel	gtk4 libadwaita
Tray icon	libdbus-1-dev pkg-config	dbus-devel pkgconf	dbus pkgconf

Debian/Ubuntu

make deb
sudo dpkg -i packaging/deb/vietc_0.1.0_amd64.deb
sudo apt-get install -f

AppImage

make appimage
# Requires appimagetool
appimagetool packaging/appimage/AppDir Viet+-0.1.0-x86_64.AppImage

Arch Linux (AUR)

cd packaging/aur
makepkg -si

Flatpak

flatpak-builder --user --install --force-clean build-dir \
  packaging/flatpak/io.github.vietc.VietPlus.json

Manual Install

sudo make install
sudo make install-ui    # optional
sudo make install-tray  # optional

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Building

# Build core (daemon + CLI)
make build

# Build with X11 support
make build-x11

# Build with Wayland IM protocol
make build-wayland

# Build with all backends
make build-all

# Build settings UI (requires GTK4)
make build-ui

# Build tray icon (requires libdbus-1-dev)
make build-tray

# Run tests
make test

# Run interactive test harness
make test-cli

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Make Targets

Target	Description
make build	Build core crates
make build-x11	Build with X11 support
make build-wayland	Build with Wayland IM protocol
make build-all	Build with all backends
make build-ui	Build settings UI
make build-tray	Build tray icon app
make test	Run all tests
make test-cli	Interactive test harness
make run	Run daemon (debug)
make install	Install to /usr/local/bin
make install-x11	Install with X11
make install-wayland	Install with Wayland IM
make install-ui	Install settings UI
make install-tray	Install tray icon
make install-all-ui	Install both UI + tray
make install-config	Install default config
make appimage	Build AppImage package
make deb	Build .deb package
make clean	Clean build artifacts
make fmt	Format code
make lint	Run clippy

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Project Structure

viet+/
├── engine/          # Core IME engine (Telex + VNI)
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── engine.rs      # Main engine orchestrator
│   │   ├── telex.rs       # Telex state machine
│   │   ├── vni.rs         # VNI engine
│   │   ├── english.rs     # English auto-restore dictionary
│   │   └── tests.rs       # 124 unit tests
│   └── Cargo.toml
├── protocol/        # Injection backends
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── inject.rs              # KeyInjector trait
│   │   ├── uinput_monitor.rs      # Universal uinput backend
│   │   ├── x11_inject.rs          # X11 XTEST backend
│   │   └── wayland_im.rs          # Wayland IM context
│   └── Cargo.toml
├── daemon/          # Background daemon
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── main.rs        # Evdev loop, hot-reload
│   │   ├── config.rs      # TOML config loader
│   │   ├── app_state.rs   # Per-app state manager
│   │   └── display.rs     # Display server detection
│   └── Cargo.toml
├── cli/             # Interactive test harness
├── ui/              # Settings UI + tray (GTK4/Libadwaita)
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── main.rs        # Settings app
│   │   ├── window.rs      # Settings window
│   │   ├── tray.rs        # System tray icon
│   │   └── config.rs      # UI config reader
│   └── Cargo.toml
├── packaging/       # Distribution packages
│   ├── aur/         # Arch Linux PKGBUILD
│   ├── flatpak/     # Flatpak manifest
│   ├── appimage/    # AppImage build scripts
│   └── deb/         # Debian package
├── vietc.toml       # Default configuration
├── vietc.service    # Systemd user service
├── Makefile         # Build targets
└── README.md

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License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

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_{Made with ❤️ for the Vietnamese Linux community}