Simulating macOS Keyboard Habits on Arch Linux: keyd + Sway + WezTerm

1. Goal

On a ThinkPad E490 (Arch Linux + Sway 1.12), achieve macOS-style keyboard operation:

2. Tech Stack

3. Pitfalls

Pitfall 1: keyd Physical Key Names Don’t Match Keycap Labels

On ThinkPad keyboards, the physical Win keycap is called leftalt internally, and the Alt keycap is leftmeta. Use sudo keyd monitor to verify.

Pitfall 2: :M Suffix Conflicts with Editing Keys

The :M suffix makes a layer simulate Super, which combined with C- prefix creates Super+Ctrl+c. Use overload instead:

leftmeta = overload(control, leftmeta)

Pitfall 3: Sway $mod Only Accepts Mod4/Mod1

Sway’s $mod only accepts Mod4 (Super) or Mod1 (Alt). Map the Win key to leftmeta (Super) and set $mod Mod4.

Pitfall 4: WezTerm’s send_composed_key_when_alt_is_pressed Doesn’t Affect Ctrl

Bind Ctrl+Shift+C/V explicitly in WezTerm’s key bindings.

4. Final Configuration

keyd /etc/keyd/default.conf

[ids]
*

[main]
leftalt = leftmeta
leftmeta = overload(control, leftmeta)
leftcontrol = leftcontrol

[control]
c = C-c
v = C-v

Sway ~/.config/sway/config

set $mod Mod4
bindsym $mod+Return exec wezterm
bindsym $mod+d exec wofi

WezTerm ~/.config/wezterm/wezterm.lua

local wezterm = require 'wezterm'
local keys = {
    { key = 'C', mods = 'CTRL|SHIFT', action = wezterm.action.CopyTo 'Clipboard' },
    { key = 'V', mods = 'CTRL|SHIFT', action = wezterm.action.PasteFrom 'Clipboard' },
}
return { keys = keys }