ZMK Locale Generator

This Python module generates localized keyboard layout headers for ZMK using data from the Unicode CLDR or custom layouts in CLDR format.

Python 3.10 or newer is required.

Usage

Using a module

Add the ZMK Locales module to your build to make all the generated headers available. See the documentation in that repo for more details.

Using generated headers directly

If you do not want to use a module, or if you want to generate your own headers to use, then you can copy the header files directly into your config repo.

First, determine what keyboard layout your OS is set to, then download the matching header from the latest release or follow Generating Headers to build the header yourself. Place the header in your ZMK config repo's config/ directory alongside your .keymap file.

Next, edit your .keymap file and add an include statement near the top. For example, if the header is named keys_dvorak.h, you would add

#include "keys_dvorak.h"

You can now use the key codes defined in the header in your keymap bindings. For example:

#include <behaviors.dtsi>
#include <dt-bindings/zmk/keys.h>
#include "keys_dvorak.h"

/ {
  keymap {
    compatible = "zmk,keymap";

    default_layer {
      bindings = <
        &kp DV_GRAVE &kp DV_N1 &kp DV_N2      ...
        &kp TAB       &kp DV_SQT &kp DV_COMMA ...
        &kp CAPS       &kp DV_A &kp DV_O      ...
        &kp LSHIFT      &kp DV_SEMI &kp DV_Q  ...
        &kp LCTRL &kp LGUI &kp LALT           ...
      >;
    }
  };
};

Generating Headers

Setup

Install Pipx, then use it to install ZMK Locale Generator:

pipx install https://github.com/joelspadin/zmk-locale-generator.git

Usage

The following command will generate a header for every keyboard layout defined in keyboards/keyboards.yaml and write them to a directory named out:

zmk_locale_generator all

The following command will generate a header for a single locale:

zmk_locale_generator single <PREFIX> <CLDR_FILE>

Where:

• <PREFIX> is a prefix to attach to all key code names, e.g. DE for German.
• <CLDR_FILE> is the path to an XML file formatted similar to the ones from the Unicode CLDR.

For example:

zmk_locale_generator single DE de-t-k0-windows.xml

This will print the generated header to stdout. To write the header to a file instead, use --out. For example:

zmk_locale_generator single DE de-t-k0-windows.xml --out keys_de.h

For more usage information, run

zmk_locale_generator --help

Contributing

PRs are welcome, especially to add new keyboard layouts or improve key names.

Setup

Optional: create a venv to ensure this project doesn't conflict with global packages:

python3 -m venv .venv

After creating the venv, activate it as necessary for the shell you are using.

Install the package in editable mode:

pip install -e .[dev]

Optional: install a Git pre-commit hooks and additional code checkers. This will check your code as you commit it, so you don't have to wait for feedback from GitHub when you make a pull request.

Install Node.js, then run:

npm install

Add a Keyboard Layout

First, edit zmk_locale_generator/keyboards/keyboards.yaml and add a new item to the list:

1. Create a keyboard layout file in CLDR format and place it in the keyboards directory, or select an existing file from the cldr repo.
2. Add a new item to keyboards.yaml with a path key followed by the relative path from keyboards.yaml to the CLDR file.
3. If key names should be prefixed with something different than the first word of the file name, add a prefix key followed by the prefix.
4. If the generated header name should be different than the prefix or there is already another keyboard layout using the same prefix, add a filename key followed by a unique name. (The script will automatically add keys_ to the beginning and .h to the end, so you should not include those in the name.)
5. If the layout has its own license, add a license key followed by the relative path to a text file containing the license.
   • If a license is not specified, it uses the Unicode CLDR license.

For example:

- path: colemak.xml
  prefix: cm
  filename: colemak
  license: colemak-LICENSE.txt

Update Codepoints

Next, run zmk_locale_generator update_codepoints to make sure codepoints.yaml includes entries for all characters used in the keyboard layout:

zmk_locale_generator update_codepoints

Finally, edit codepoints.yaml and assign names to any codepoints that were added. (New codepoints will have '' for the name.)