nix-config/home/linux/gui/base/vinput/README.md

Fcitx5 Vinput

Voice input on ai and shoukei, backed by a Sherpa-ONNX model. Open Vinput from the application launcher for settings.

Key bindings

• Right Alt: record. Hold and release to dictate.
• Right Ctrl: open the command palette (/model /asr /scene /proc).

Vinput resolves TriggerKey > CommandKeys > MenuKey. TriggerKey is right Alt by default; the config sets MenuKey to right Ctrl and clears CommandKeys, which otherwise defaults to right Ctrl and would shadow MenuKey. The addon reads list options as [Option] plus 0=, not the [Trigger] shorthand in upstream's vinput-config(5) man page.

One-time setup (CLI)

The GUI path is Resources → Models (download and activate), then Control → ASR Providers. The equivalent non-interactive commands are:

vinput model add onnx-xasr-zh-en-960ms-punct-stream   # download (~130 MB, sha256-verified)
vinput model use onnx-xasr-zh-en-960ms-punct-stream   # set as active model
systemctl --user restart vinput-daemon

vinput model list -a lists the available registry models.

API keys

Scene providers reference the DeepSeek key as {{env.DEEPSEEK_API_KEY}} (see vinput scene list), and the daemon resolves that from its own environment. A systemd user service inherits neither the interactive shell's environment nor any app's env file, so the unit reads EnvironmentFile=%h/.secrets/nushell-secrets.env. A missing file fails the unit; a file without the variable still starts, but every correction fails with vinput-daemon: environment variable in api_key (...) for provider 'deepseek' is unset or empty.

systemctl --user show -p EnvironmentFiles vinput-daemon   # which file the unit reads
systemctl --user restart vinput-daemon                    # after the file changes

~/.secrets is bind-mounted from /persistent on the tmpfs-root host (see hosts/idols-ai/preservation.nix), so the file survives a reboot once it exists there.

Where the config lives

~/.config/vinput/config.json is an out-of-store symlink to config.json in this repository, so the edits vinput makes itself — the settings GUI, vinput scene edit, vinput config set — land in the checkout and show up in git status. That works because the daemon writes through a temporary file plus rename after resolving symlinks, so the link survives the write; a write that ever did replace it leaves a real file, and force in the module retakes the path on the next switch. Editing the file by hand needs just niri; editing it through vinput does not.

Models are stored in ~/.local/share/vinput/models/sherpa-onnx/, and that directory is bind-mounted from /persistent on the tmpfs-root hosts (see hosts/idols-ai/preservation.nix); without it the models are wiped on every reboot and the daemon logs Local ASR provider model is not configured. Review model source and license before installing.

Diagnostics

journalctl --user -b -u vinput-daemon

Check the daemon logs for the selected provider, model load, and transcription errors.