Writerdeck-keywriter

This is the tablet text editor inside Writerdeck for reMarkable: a Markdown typewriter on a first-gen reMarkable for USB and Bluetooth keyboards. The reMarkable 1 natively supports the "draw", "write by hand" and "read" use cases. With this app, "use as typewriter" is also supported.

The reMarkable 1 doesn't have native support for either type of keyboard, so the USB keyboard is connected with an OTG cable, while USB keyboards are bridged from the user's phone via Wi-Fi.

The repository is a fork of Singleton’s remarkable-keywriter. Writerdeck-server drives it over a unix socket. Do not install this repo alone — deploy through Writerdeck.

Last known-good editor build for automated typing tests: commit 0bb3b70 (all 110 checks passed, including the 38 “basic editing” ones). Everyday builds follow the master branch; use that commit hash only if you need to roll back to a proven binary.

Terms: Writerdeck docs/terms.md.

Testing

The Writerdeck project runs automated typing tests against this editor on the real tablet. Scripted keystrokes travel the same local socket a phone uses; the tests then check the caret, selection, and text. There are about 110 checks; 38 of them are the “basic editing works” set. A separate edit-session check only asks whether opening a note keeps the app alive.

Those tests live in Writerdeck (scripts/test-keyboard-harness.sh, docs/editor-testing/). This repo does not run them alone.

What’s different from the original

Singleton’s original is a Qt Markdown notepad for reMarkable: USB keyboard, Esc for preview, a note switcher, sundown rendering.

This fork keeps that core and adds what Writerdeck needs:

Socket input. Keystrokes arrive from Writerdeck-server as QKeyEvent (synthetic / fake key events). The stock tablet software cannot load uinput (a fake keyboard device) the usual Linux way.

Mac and Linux shortcuts. Word and line motion, shift-selection, wrap-aware Up/Down, and undo that covers both socket typing and shortcut edits.

EditHelper in C++. Caret math, shortcut handling, wrapped-line motion, and undo live in edit_helper.*. QML still owns the on-screen text box, sticky column, timers, and applying results (edit_mac_helpers.qml.inc).

Lobby. Files, About, Settings, and sleep on the tablet; file and vault ops over the same socket (lobby/, lobby_bridge). Product version is stamped at CI build into product_version.h (same date as Writerdeck-server).

Plain Markdown on disk. Editing stays plain text. Fancy rendering is for preview only.

Building QML (the screen file). Edit helpers and Lobby pieces are modular. After changing them, run ./assemble-qml.sh and commit the regenerated main.qml. Writerdeck’s CI only clones, checks, and compiles — it does not stitch QML together. New editor behavior belongs here, not in Writerdeck’s build script.

Pulling in Singleton’s updates

History is linked to dps/remarkable-keywriter (merge 5946cae; tree unchanged). Pull from the original on purpose, not every session. In git the remote is often named upstream — that just means Singleton’s repo:

git remote add upstream https://github.com/dps/remarkable-keywriter.git   # once
git fetch upstream
git merge upstream/master
# resolve conflicts in favor of Writerdeck where edit/Lobby/socket diverged
git push origin master

Prefer a merge commit. Then rebuild Writerdeck via CI, deploy, and run that project’s edit-session and typing tests.

Credit

Original keywriter: Singleton. Writerdeck-specific work is LLM-assisted; behavior is checked on-device by Writerdeck’s typing tests (see Testing above). How to install Singleton’s original on its own stays in his repo.