Files
oak-gpui/crates/gpui
joel 3d6722be9a Fix Right Alt key not working in keybindings on Windows (#40536)
### Problem
On Windows, the right Alt key was not working in keybindings (e.g.,
`Ctrl+Right Alt+B`), while the left Alt key worked correctly. This was
due to overly aggressive AltGr detection that treated any `right Alt +
left Ctrl` combination as AltGr, even on US keyboards where AltGr
doesn't exist.

### Root Cause
Windows internally represents AltGr (Alt Graph) as `right Alt + left
Ctrl` pressed simultaneously. The previous implementation always
excluded this combination from being treated as regular modifier keys to
support international keyboards. However, this broke keybindings using
right Alt on US/UK keyboards where users expect right Alt to behave
identically to left Alt.

### Solution
Implemented keyboard layout-aware AltGr detection:

1. Added `uses_altgr()` method to `WindowsKeyboardLayout` that checks if
the current keyboard layout is known to use AltGr (German, French,
Spanish, Polish, etc.)
2. Modified `current_modifiers()` to only apply AltGr special handling
when the keyboard layout actually uses it
3. Added explicit checking for both `VK_LMENU` and `VK_RMENU` instead of
relying solely on the generic `VK_MENU`

### Behavior
- **US/UK keyboards**: Right Alt now works identically to left Alt in
keybindings. `Ctrl+Right Alt+B` triggers the same action as `Ctrl+Left
Alt+B`
- **International keyboards** (German, French, Spanish, etc.): AltGr
continues to work correctly for typing special characters and doesn't
trigger keybindings
- **All keyboards**: Both Alt keys are detected symmetrically, matching
the behavior of left/right Windows keys

### Testing
Manually tested on Windows with US keyboard layout:
-  `Ctrl+Left Alt+B` triggers keybinding
-  `Ctrl+Right Alt+B` triggers keybinding  
-  Both Alt keys work independently in keybindings


Release Notes:
- Fixed Right Alt key not working in keybindings on Windows
2025-10-18 02:27:45 +02:00
..
2025-10-17 18:58:14 +00:00

Welcome to GPUI!

GPUI is a hybrid immediate and retained mode, GPU accelerated, UI framework for Rust, designed to support a wide variety of applications.

Getting Started

GPUI is still in active development as we work on the Zed code editor, and is still pre-1.0. There will often be breaking changes between versions. You'll also need to use the latest version of stable Rust and be on macOS or Linux. Add the following to your Cargo.toml:

gpui = { version = "*" }

Everything in GPUI starts with an Application. You can create one with Application::new(), and kick off your application by passing a callback to Application::run(). Inside this callback, you can create a new window with App::open_window(), and register your first root view. See gpui.rs for a complete example.

Dependencies

GPUI has various system dependencies that it needs in order to work.

macOS

On macOS, GPUI uses Metal for rendering. In order to use Metal, you need to do the following:

  • Install Xcode from the macOS App Store, or from the Apple Developer website. Note this requires a developer account.

Ensure you launch Xcode after installing, and install the macOS components, which is the default option.

  • Install Xcode command line tools

    xcode-select --install
    
  • Ensure that the Xcode command line tools are using your newly installed copy of Xcode:

    sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
    

The Big Picture

GPUI offers three different registers depending on your needs:

  • State management and communication with Entity's. Whenever you need to store application state that communicates between different parts of your application, you'll want to use GPUI's entities. Entities are owned by GPUI and are only accessible through an owned smart pointer similar to an Rc. See the app::context module for more information.

  • High level, declarative UI with views. All UI in GPUI starts with a view. A view is simply an Entity that can be rendered, by implementing the Render trait. At the start of each frame, GPUI will call this render method on the root view of a given window. Views build a tree of elements, lay them out and style them with a tailwind-style API, and then give them to GPUI to turn into pixels. See the div element for an all purpose swiss-army knife of rendering.

  • Low level, imperative UI with Elements. Elements are the building blocks of UI in GPUI, and they provide a nice wrapper around an imperative API that provides as much flexibility and control as you need. Elements have total control over how they and their child elements are rendered and can be used for making efficient views into large lists, implement custom layouting for a code editor, and anything else you can think of. See the element module for more information.

Each of these registers has one or more corresponding contexts that can be accessed from all GPUI services. This context is your main interface to GPUI, and is used extensively throughout the framework.

Other Resources

In addition to the systems above, GPUI provides a range of smaller services that are useful for building complex applications:

  • Actions are user-defined structs that are used for converting keystrokes into logical operations in your UI. Use this for implementing keyboard shortcuts, such as cmd-q. See the action module for more information.

  • Platform services, such as quit the app or open a URL are available as methods on the app::App.

  • An async executor that is integrated with the platform's event loop. See the executor module for more information.,

  • The [gpui::test] macro provides a convenient way to write tests for your GPUI applications. Tests also have their own kind of context, a TestAppContext which provides ways of simulating common platform input. See app::test_context and test modules for more details.

Currently, the best way to learn about these APIs is to read the Zed source code, ask us about it at a fireside hack, or drop a question in the Zed Discord. We're working on improving the documentation, creating more examples, and will be publishing more guides to GPUI on our blog.