Keyboard shortcuts

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First Run and Keybinds

Wayscriber has two run modes: daemon mode (recommended) and one-shot mode.

Wayscriber stays running in the background. You toggle the overlay on and off with a keyboard shortcut — instant, no startup delay. This is the best way to use wayscriber day-to-day.

Start the daemon:

systemctl --user enable --now wayscriber.service

Or run it directly:

wayscriber --daemon

Then add a keybind that runs wayscriber --daemon-toggle. For example in Hyprland:

bind = SUPER, D, exec, wayscriber --daemon-toggle

On GNOME, add a Custom Shortcut in Settings → Keyboard with the command wayscriber --daemon-toggle.

Use only one toggle binding. Duplicate compositor bindings can fire twice and immediately undo the toggle. If your shortcut environment does not resolve wayscriber from PATH, use the absolute path from command -v wayscriber.

Press the shortcut to draw, press it again to hide.

Light passthrough shortcuts

Light passthrough mode makes the overlay click-through until drawing is explicitly enabled. The default Ctrl+Shift+L keybinding is a Wayscriber in-overlay shortcut: it works while the overlay has focus.

Once passthrough is active, normal keyboard and pointer input goes to the app underneath. For reliable control, add compositor/global shortcuts that run:

wayscriber --light-toggle
wayscriber --light-draw-toggle
wayscriber --light-draw-on
wayscriber --light-draw-off

Use --light-toggle for passthrough on/off, --light-draw-toggle for sticky drawing, and --light-draw-on / --light-draw-off for draw-while-held. Light passthrough requires layer-shell support; it is disabled on the xdg-shell fallback.

One-shot mode

Opens the overlay once and exits when you close it. Good for quick tests or occasional use — no service needed.

wayscriber --active

Default keys you should know

  • F1 opens help (F10 is the alternative)
  • Shift+F1 opens the quick reference
  • F2 or F9 toggles the toolbars
  • F11 opens the configurator (if installed)
  • F4 toggles the status bar (F12 is the alternative)
  • Ctrl+Shift+F freezes/unfreezes the screen
  • Ctrl+Shift+M toggles presenter mode
  • Ctrl+Shift+L toggles light passthrough while the overlay has focus
  • Ctrl+Shift+H toggles click highlights
  • Ctrl+K opens the command palette
  • Ctrl+Shift+B opens the board picker
  • Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Left/Right moves overlay focus to previous/next output
  • V toggles the selection tool
  • Hold Alt and drag to select/move shapes
  • Ctrl+D duplicates selected shapes
  • Delete removes selected shapes
  • Escape or Ctrl+Q exits the overlay

Guided tour and quick help

  • First launch shows a short guided tour. Space/Enter advances, Backspace goes back, Escape skips.
  • The tour covers drawing basics, including the middle-click radial menu for quick tool/color changes.
  • Replay it from the command palette: Ctrl+K, then search for “Replay Tour”.
  • For output actions, open the command palette and search for “monitor” or “display”.
  • The full help overlay supports search; just start typing to filter shortcuts.