Bluetooth Keyboard Layout Autoswitch

A robust, user-level script to automatically switch your GNOME keyboard layout when specific Bluetooth keyboards connect or disconnect.

Features

• Multi-Device Support: Configure multiple devices with different layouts (e.g., Mac layout for MX Keys, generic for others).
• Priority System: If multiple devices are configured, the first one found connected takes priority.
• Config Separation: User configuration is stored in ~/.config/layout-autoswitch/config – safe from script updates.
• User-Level Service: Runs entirely as your user—no root/sudo required.
• Desktop Notifications: Get a notification whenever the layout changes.

Prerequisites

• GNOME Desktop Environment (uses gsettings).
• BlueZ (provides bluetoothctl).
• libnotify-bin (provides notify-send for strong descriptors).

Installation

1. Automatic Install (Recommended)

Run the provided installer to set up the directories and systemd service automatically:

chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

2. Configuration

1. Edit the configuration file created at ~/.config/layout-autoswitch/config.
2. Find your device MAC address using bluetoothctl devices.
3. Add your devices to the DEVICES array.

Example ~/.config/layout-autoswitch/config:

# Format: "MAC_ADDRESS:DEVICE_NAME:LAYOUT_ID"
DEVICES=(
    "D2:5E:40:00:B8:28:MX Keys Mini:fr+mac"
    "AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF:Generic Keyboard:us"
)

# Fallback layout when no known devices are connected
DEFAULT_LAYOUT="fr"

3. Verification

Check the service status:

systemctl --user status layout-autoswitch.service

Read real-time logs:

journalctl --user -u layout-autoswitch -f

How It Works

The script runs in the background and checks (polls) for connected devices every 5 seconds.

1. It loops through your DEVICES list in order.
2. If it finds a connected device, it switches to that device's specified layout.
3. If no listed devices are connected, it switches to DEFAULT_LAYOUT.
4. It only applies changes (and notifies you) if the state actually changes.

Uninstall

systemctl --user disable --now layout-autoswitch.service
rm ~/.config/systemd/user/layout-autoswitch.service
rm -rf ~/.config/layout-autoswitch