Windows Toolkit

(Not affiliated with Microsoft)

This is a repository for Talon's user directory with tools like the following (mostly Windows-only):

• The insert() override provides better keyboard input simulation. Among other tricks, it waits for caret (text cursor) standstill before continuing instead of relying on a fixed waiting duration per character.
• The user.ui_framework scope contains the active window's UI framework. It can, e.g., be used to optimize the settings for the insert() override. You can check its current value in the "Scope" section of Talon's debug window (run menu.open_debug_window(), which community binds to the phrase talon open debug). For possible values, see the assigned strings in the UIFramework enum.
• In the win_events directory are tools for use in Python code as well as Talon actions that enable you to react on the occurrence or absence of win events like, e.g., a window being activated, a UI element acquiring keyboard focus, or the caret location changing.
• The pymod_termination Python module makes it possible to run code on Talon script reloads. It's actually OS-independent and could thus be transferred into an OS-independent repository if desired and Talon itself doesn't start to offer equivalent functionality.
• The classes MessageLoop and MessageLoopExecutor open the door the various Windows functionality.

The settings allow you to configure the tools. See the tools to see which settings are available.

Setup

App Settings for insert() Override

With keyboard input simulation, interacting with suggestion overlays (or respective ghost text) can be subject to race conditions. For both Talon's default insert() and Windows Toolkit's replacement, in every app that supports suggestions, it's advisable to turn off accepting suggestions with Enter (and possibly other means), so that insertions like "return\n" never do something unintended:

• VS Code: Settings (Ctrl+,) > search for setting
  • editor.acceptSuggestionOnEnter > value "off"
  • Possibly also relevant:
    • editor.quickSuggestions
    • editor.suggestOnTriggerCharacters (e.g., on .)
    • editor.acceptSuggestionOnCommitCharacter
• Notepad++: "Settings" > "Preferences" > "Auto-Completion" > "Insert Selection" > "ENTER"

Known Issues

• insert() override:

  • As of Feb. 2026, Rango tries to type the text of ineffective hints via actions.insert(). This can impair control of web apps like YouTube. To correct this, change the following in Rango's /src/response.py:

                case "typeTargetCharacters":
                    actions.insert(request_action["target"]["mark"]["value"])

    ...to this:

                case "typeTargetCharacters":
                    text = request_action["target"]["mark"]["value"]
    
                    # Ensure web apps remain controllable using letter or number keys when the user installed an `insert()` override that's not based on key events.
                    if text.isalnum() and text.isascii():
                        for ch in text:
                            actions.key(ch)
                    else:
                        actions.insert(text)

  • Some text-inserting voice commands from the community repository insert one small segment (like a character) at a time, be it using the key() action, which has its fixed waiting duration, or the overridden insert() action, which waits for caret standstill on every call, slowing insertion down. community should consolidate the segments more. As part of the solution, the author uses the following voice command (needs a user.concat() implementation; Talon may be slow after a certain number of consolidated characters, like with community's "uppercase..." voice command):

    <user.any_alphanumeric_key> <user.any_alphanumeric_key>+: insert(user.concat(any_alphanumeric_key_list))

  • In many GTK apps, Unicode supplementary characters (> U+FFFF, often emojis) are ignored. (Same for Talon's original insert(). Bug report filed.)

• Because of a bug in Talon v0.4 where .py files are reloaded in incorrect order, triggering certain reload chains brings the code into an inconsistent state. This can, e.g., happen when editing a file or using Git to update the repository. Talon's log may then show strange errors (e.g., because of interop of a new Python module instance with an old Python module instance). Restarting Talon (or triggering reloads of the files in the correct order) solves the issue.

Code

• The project uses Enyium's commenting system.
• A number of pywin32 functions are implemented incorrectly (specifically with regard to error handling by, e.g., missing a call to GetLastError()). Therefore, every newly used function must be verified on GitHub and in the Talon REPL first (there may be a disparity between pywin32's newest implementation and that locally installed by Talon). If a pywin32 function is flawed, CFFI must be used.