Sometimes Niri skips keyboard input

[axelkar]

• Under low CPU utilization (~15% on a 6-core processor), although I was downloading Nix packages
• Happens both in kitty and Firefox
• e.g. typing something either doesn't work or skips some characters
• Enter, backspace and numpad keys are affected as well
• Mouse is fully functional
• Nothing is printed into the system journal

This has never happened to me before switching to Niri, but I'm not exactly sure that it's Niri. Could you check the source code for any obvious fails?

System Information

• niri version: niri stable v25.02 (commit b94a5db8790339cf9134873d8b490be69e02ac71)

• Distro: NixOS unstable

• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core Processor

[YaLTeR]

This doesn't sound like niri. Check the full journal, sometimes libinput prints complaints that the system is under load or something.

[axelkar]

The only things printing anything with "input" in the journal are the kernel, niri, systemd-logind and waybar. May be a hardware issue though.

[PandorasFox]

If your keyboard is able to, you might just want to adjust the firmware debounce delay

[sommerper]

I have experienced something in a similar vein but I can’t confirm if it’s Niri or just a problem with Wayland in general.

Sometimes when I paste something into VSCode or Cursor it won’t show up until I switch to another program and back.

At first I thought it was related to Electron but it has also happened in the terminal a few times.

I think it happens once every day or every other day. Is there a good way to debug that when it happens? Does libinput say anything specifically?

[axelkar]

Most likely a hardware issue on my part.

[YaLTeR]

Mhm alright

[shreyasminocha]

I'm running into something similar, where every few minutes some of my keys (including backspace and enter) stop working. Repeatedly entering the key or holding it seems to make it briefly start working again.

This only happens on my laptop (Framework Laptop 13") keyboard and not on my external keyboard.

I've been using niri for just a few days (I was previously on Hyprland) and I think I've only had this issue on niri.

input {
    keyboard {
        xkb {
            layout "us"
            model ""
            rules ""
            variant "qwerty"
            options "lv3:ralt_switch,caps:escape_shifted_capslock,rupeesign:4"
        }
        repeat-delay 600
        repeat-rate 25
        track-layout "global"
    }
    touchpad {
        tap
        natural-scroll
    }
}

$ niri --version
niri unstable 2025-09-18 (commit d9648e6bde1d2fc4a568dec93ba65c11073192a3)
$ fcitx5 --version
5.1.12

[shreyasminocha]

I've been using niri for just a few days (I was previously on Hyprland) and I think I've only had this issue on niri.

Sorry, looks like it happens on Hyprland and in the boot menu too. Looks like a hardware issue. Funny timing.