Double ! (exclamation mark) when typing only one in neovim + ghostty + bépo

[Yinameah]

Hello,

Noticed a problem recently. In neovim, when I type ! (the exclamation mark char) I get it twice !!.
(actually it's printed on screen once when hitting the key down, and a second time when releasing)

Occurs in insert mode and in command mode as well. But only in ghostty (or at least not in kitty/alacritty/gnome-terminal)

I'm not sure how to narrow down the cause of the problem further.
Note that I'm using a bépo (french dworak-like) layout, which uses a lot of dead keys. ! is located key Y on US keyboard. Normal press there should produce a ^ as dead key. If followed by <space> the ^ char is printed or depending the next letter â, ê etc ...
Combination of <shift>+<key> is suppose to produce the ! without dead key.

Feels like the dead key behavior somehow leaks into the exclamation mark behavior, but as stated above, not sure how to debug further.

Never had this issue before, it started recently after a system update, but didn't notice straight away. Might be a ghostty update, but could as well be any other component in the system, including nvim (note that I don't have this issue in the ghostty terminal otherwise)

Any tips ?

ghostty +version

Ghostty 1.3.1-arch2

Version

• version: 1.3.1-arch2
• channel: tip
  Build Config
• Zig version : 0.15.2
• build mode : .ReleaseFast
• app runtime : .gtk
• font engine : .fontconfig_freetype
• renderer : renderer.generic.Renderer(renderer.OpenGL)
• libxev : io_uring
• kernel version: 6.19.10-arch1-1
• desktop env : other
• GTK version :
  build : 4.22.2
  runtime : 4.22.2
• libadwaita : enabled
  build : 1.9.0
  runtime : 1.9.0
• libX11 : enabled
• libwayland : enabled

[00-kat]

Would you mind opening the terminal inspector (ctrl+shift+i), switching to the “Keyboard” tab, pressing ! in Neovim, then sending a screenshot of what appears? This is what I see on an ANSI US keyboard, for comparison:

[Yinameah]

Of course I don't mind, thanks for answering.

Don't know if it helps, at least confirm something going on with the release of the key.
Note that the last release | shift_left occurs when I loose focus of the main terminal to take the print screen. Not idea why it does so, but probably un-related.

[00-kat]

something going on with the release of the key

Yeah that looks very odd, it shouldn't be sending an ! on release 👀.

Note that the last release | shift_left occurs when I loose focus of the main terminal to take the print screen. Not idea why it does so, but probably un-related.

That happened for me too, I went to a bit of effort to capture the screenshot before it got logged lol. No idea why it happens, but only for some keys.

[Yinameah]

Mmmh, actually ....
This is what happens if I manage to release the shift before the key_y. In that case I get a single ! on screen in nvim. The second release occurs, again, when I loose the focus of the terminal window. Don't know if it's relevant.

Note that if I type the ! outside of neovim, just in the shell, I get this :

This left me exactly as puzzled as before, hopefully it won't be the case for you ;-)

[00-kat]

just in the shell

What shell? Neovim supports the Kitty keyboard protocol, which considerably changes how input is encoded, but most shells don't (apart from Fish 4 and Nushell).

[Yinameah]

This is on Bash (5.3.9)

Don't use Fish, but happen to have 4.6.0 installed, gave a quick try.
Only a single ! displayed, and ghostty inspector shows :

So it really is the ghostty+nvim combo that present this behavior. I don't have the issue with vim. Note that it's not plugin dependent, the annoying behavior is there even with nvim --clean

[NullCheck42]

I have the same double characters issue but only with {, [ and ]. I have narrowed down the issue to:

• It only happens with neovim 0.12
• I am using a French Canadian keyboard layout (fr_CA)

It seems neovim 0.12 is now using the kitty keyboard protocol for key release events. Here is a screenshot of the inspector.

Notice that for {, [ and ] the release event is the character itself instead of an escape sequence like the other keys I pressed. That is why I see {{ inserted when I press { only once. (Also note that, for example, to get { I am pressing alt_right + quote on the keyboard because of my fr_CA layout)

I asked Claude about the issue and it said something about dead keys like alt_right not being handled properly with some keyboard layouts (if that helps). It also proposed this quick one liner fix in src/input/key_encode.zig which actually fixed the issue:

const entry = entry_ orelse {
    if (event.utf8.len > 0) {
        if (event.action == .release) return; // <-------- don't send raw char on release
        return try writer.writeAll(event.utf8);
    }
    return;
};

With the quick fix the inspector looks like this:

So now nothing is emitted on the release event for [, ], and { thus fixing the issue. But this obviously does not seem like a proper fix.

Note that I am using empty configs for both neovim and ghostty for these tests.

[Yinameah]

Nice to see it's not only my keyboard layout but slighlty more generic.

I guess the next step is to understand whether it's nvim or ghostty that is "doing the wrong thing"

Did you tried other terminal emulators as well ?
I suppose if it's purely kitty protocol related I should have the same behaviour in Kitty but it doesn't seem to be the case.

[NullCheck42]

I tried with Alacritty and Kitty but I don't see the issue. It really only happens with neovim 0.12 in ghostty with a fr_CA keyboard for me. I believe the issue is ghostty not implementing the kitty keyboard protocol correctly for dead keys with non en_US keyboards, or something like that.

[00-kat]

I suppose if it's purely kitty protocol related I should have the same behaviour in Kitty but it doesn't seem to be the case.

I believe the issue is ghostty not implementing the kitty keyboard protocol correctly for dead keys with non en_US keyboards, or something like that.

Sounds vaguely similar to #2981. It's a different symptom (different key vs double key), but linking anyway in case it's even slightly relevant.

[anteloalejandro]

I have the same Issue using the Spanish keyboard layout. It happens in all layout variants except nodeadkeys, so the issue probably does have to do with dead keys.

Note that, similar to the fr_CA layout previously mentioned, in the Spanish layout we use alt_gr + accent_mark to write {.

[alosarjos]

Just found this and confirmed also with Spanish Keyboard. Though only on Neovim with Ghostty. Using Ghostty with other apps or Neovim with other terminal (Like Gnome Console) works fine.

[MeisterP]

I'm having the same issue.

As a workaround, I've added

-- Disable Kitty Keyboard Protocol in Neovim
io.write("\x1b[<u")

to my neovim config.

[MeisterP]

same issue and same woraround in pi

import type { ExtensionAPI } from "@earendil-works/pi-coding-agent";

const KITTY_DISABLE_SEQ = "\x1b[<u";

function sendDisableSeq(): void {
  try { process.stdout.write(KITTY_DISABLE_SEQ); } catch { /* ignore */ }
  try { process.stderr.write(KITTY_DISABLE_SEQ); } catch { /* ignore */ }
}

export default function (pi: ExtensionAPI) {
  sendDisableSeq();

  pi.on("session_start", () => {
    sendDisableSeq();
  });
}

[MeisterP]

there is also
#12084 and #12192

could this discussion be elevated to an actual issue so that it gets eventually fixed?

[jcollie]

#13861