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https://github.com/devanshutak25/blenderKey

Blender 5.0+ Addon to visualize and edit the hotkey bindings
https://github.com/devanshutak25/blenderKey

blender blender-addon claude-code python vibe-coding

Last synced: about 2 months ago
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Blender 5.0+ Addon to visualize and edit the hotkey bindings

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README 

          
# blenderKey — Keymap Visualizer for Blender



> [!WARNING]

> **Back up your Blender preferences before using this add-on.**

> Keymaps are sensitive user data and Blender provides limited safeguards around them. This add-on edits your keymaps in place — there is a real possibility of keymap loss or corruption, with no guaranteed way for users to restore them from within Blender. Before using this add-on, copy your `userpref.blend` (and any `keyconfig` files) from your Blender config folder so you can roll back if anything goes wrong.



Blender's shortcut system is powerful, but the built-in keymap editor makes you dig through nested menus to find anything. **blenderKey** shows you the whole keyboard on one screen: every shortcut on every key, color-coded, searchable, rebindable with a right-click.



Hover a key to see what it does. Click once to lock it. Right-click to change it. Press a shortcut to jump to the key that owns it. Save your setup as a preset and share it with your team.



> *Completely vibecoded using Claude Code.*



![Blender](https://img.shields.io/badge/Blender-5.1%2B-orange) ![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-GPL--3.0--or--later-blue)



![Keymap Visualizer](docs/cover.png)



---



## Why use it?



- **See every shortcut at a glance.** The whole keyboard is rendered on-screen with each key colored by what it does.

- **Rebind without hunting.** Right-click any key, pick a binding, press a new combo. Done.

- **Find keys by shortcut.** Press `?` then the combo — the key highlights and the panel shows its bindings.

- **Find shortcuts by name.** Press `/` and start typing. Matching keys stay bright, others dim.

- **See what you've changed.** Press `D` and Blender defaults appear in red/green/neutral.

- **Undo anything.** Up to 50 steps, `Ctrl+Z` like you'd expect.

- **Save your setup.** Presets as JSON, export as a Blender `.py` keyconfig, or paste from clipboard.



---



## The keyboard



A GPU-rendered keyboard with drop shadows and smooth hover animations. It's not a screenshot — it's interactive.



- **6 sizes**: 100% full, 96% compact, 80% TKL, 75%, 65%, 60%

- **2 physical layouts**: ANSI or ISO (proper ISO Enter shape)

- **7 logical layouts**: auto-detect your OS, or force QWERTY / AZERTY / QWERTZ / Dvorak / Colemak / Nordic

- **Resizable**: drag the handle, scale 0.5× to 3×

- **All the keys**: alphanumeric, navigation cluster, numpad, function row, mouse buttons (LMB/RMB/MMB)



### What key colors mean



Each key changes appearance based on what's happening:



- **Unbound** — plain surface

- **Bound** — highlighted

- **Category-colored** — tinted by what it does (Transform = amber, Navigation = teal, Mesh = purple, etc.)

- **Hovered** — soft animated transition

- **Selected** — accent color when clicked

- **Modifier-active** — Ctrl/Shift/Alt/OS keys pulse at 2Hz when you hold them physically

- **Dimmed** — during search, non-matches fade to 30%

- **Diff mode** — green for modified bindings, red for deactivated, dim for untouched

- **Rebind flash** — green pulse when you successfully reassign a key



### Badges on each key



- **Top-left** — the physical key name (`G`, `Tab`, `F5`)

- **Bottom** — the primary operator, abbreviated (`Move`, `Extrude`, `Loop Cut`) using 80 built-in shorthand labels

- **Bottom-right** — count of other modifier combos that also have bindings

- **Top-right "D"** — shown when the key has click-drag bindings



Text color adapts to background luminance (WCAG-aware) so labels stay readable on any theme.



---



## Info panel



Pick a key — the right-hand panel shows everything bound to it:



- Every binding with its modifier prefix, operator name, editor icon, and keymap

- Same operator in multiple keymaps? Grouped into one expandable row

- Expand a group to see operator descriptions

- Modal shortcut hints for chain combos (`G G → Edge Slide`, `S S → Shrink-Fatten`, `R R → Trackball`)

- Scrollable — wheel or middle-drag, with a real scrollbar and fade gradients



Nothing selected? The panel shows contextual help and tooltips instead.



---



## Filters



Two side panels to narrow down what you see:



- **Editors** — All, Global, 3D Viewport, Image/UV, Node Editor, Text Editor, Sequencer, Clip, Dopesheet, Graph, NLA, Properties, Outliner, Console, Spreadsheet

- **Modes** — All, Object, Edit Mesh, Sculpt, Pose, Weight Paint, Vertex Paint, Texture Paint, Grease Pencil, Curves



Multi-select. Mix and match. Icons for everything.



---



## Operator browser



A searchable accordion on the left lists every Blender operator, grouped into 13 categories:



Transform • Navigation • Mesh • Object • Edit • Sculpt • Paint • UV • Nodes • Animation • Playback • File • System



- Type in the search to filter by name or idname — categories auto-expand

- Blue dot marks operators that are actually bound somewhere

- Click any operator to:

  - **Assign Shortcut** — press a key combo to bind it

  - **View Bindings** — jump to the key it's already on

  - **Remove All Bindings** — unbind everywhere (undoable)

  - **Open in Preferences** — jump to Blender's built-in editor



---



## Editing shortcuts



### Right-click any key



Opens a menu listing up to 5 bindings on that key. Hover any binding for a sub-menu:



- **Rebind** — press a new combo

- **Unbind / Enable** — toggle it off or back on

- **Reset to Default** — restore Blender's original

- All undoable



### Capture mode



When you rebind, every other key dims and your target pulses with an animated border. The prompt says "Press new key combination… ESC to cancel". Press any combo — letters, digits, F-keys, Tab, Space, arrows, numpad, punctuation, with any mix of Ctrl/Shift/Alt/OS.



### Conflict resolution



If your new combo is already taken, a centered dialog appears with three options:



- **Swap** — move the conflicting binding to the old key

- **Override** — take the combo, deactivate the conflict

- **Cancel** — bail out



---



## Search



Two kinds, different keys:



- **By name** — `/` or `Ctrl+F`. Fuzzy token matching on operator names. Matching keys stay bright, others dim to 30%. Result count shown.

- **By shortcut** — `?` (Shift+/). Press a key combo — the visualizer jumps to that key and shows its bindings.



---



## Diff view



Press `D`. Compares your current keyconfig against Blender defaults:



- **Green** — you modified this binding

- **Red** — you deactivated this binding

- **Dim** — untouched



A "DIFF" badge appears in the toolbar while active.



---



## Undo, redo, presets, export, import



- **Undo** up to 50 levels. `Ctrl+Z` / `Ctrl+Shift+Z`. Every rebind, unbind, reset, toggle, preset-load and import pushes a snapshot.

- **Presets** — save your whole keyconfig as a JSON file. Load, delete, copy to clipboard, paste from clipboard. Location configurable in preferences.

- **Export** — write a Blender-importable `.py` keyconfig script. Export only what you changed (default) or the whole thing.

- **Import** — load a previously exported `.py` back. Parsing is safe (`ast.literal_eval`), no code execution.



---



## Keyboard navigation



Full keyboard-only workflow for accessibility:



- `Tab` / `Shift+Tab` — cycle focus: Keys → Editors → Modes → Operators → Info

- Arrow keys — move around the keyboard layout, or scroll lists

- `Enter` — select / toggle

- Focus ring shows where you are



---



## Shortcuts reference



| Key | What it does |

|-----|--------------|

| `ESC` | Close visualizer / cancel |

| `/` or `Ctrl+F` | Search operators |

| `?` | Reverse-lookup (find key by shortcut) |

| `D` | Toggle diff view |

| `Ctrl+Z` / `Ctrl+Shift+Z` | Undo / Redo |

| `Tab` / `Shift+Tab` | Cycle focus |

| Arrow keys | Navigate keyboard / scroll |

| `Enter` | Select key / toggle filter |



### Mouse



| What you do | What happens |

|-------------|--------------|

| Left-click a key | Select it, see its bindings |

| Left-click a modifier | Toggle that modifier |

| Right-click a key | Open context menu |

| Left-click Export / Import / Presets | Open that tool |

| Drag resize handle | Scale the keyboard |

| Mouse wheel | Scroll the panel under the cursor |

| Middle-drag | Drag-scroll a panel |



---



## Install



**From the Blender Extensions platform** *(easiest, once listed)*

Edit → Preferences → Get Extensions → search "Keymap Visualizer" → Install.



**From the zip**

1. Download `keymap_visualizer-1.0.0.zip` from the [Releases page](https://github.com/devanshutak25/blenderKey/releases)

2. Edit → Preferences → Get Extensions → dropdown → **Install from Disk…**

3. Pick the zip

4. Restart Blender (required — the addon registers a topbar button at startup)



**From source** *(for development)*

Clone the repo, then copy the `keymap_visualizer/` folder into:



```

# Windows

%APPDATA%\Blender Foundation\Blender\\extensions\user_default\



# macOS

~/Library/Application Support/Blender//extensions/user_default/



# Linux

~/.config/blender//extensions/user_default/

```



---



## How to use it



Open from **Edit → Keymap Viz** in the top menu bar. A new window opens with the keyboard.



- **Hover** — preview bindings

- **Left-click** — lock the info panel to that key

- **Right-click** — rebind, unbind, or reset

- **Ctrl / Shift / Alt / OS buttons** — filter by modifier combo

- `/` — search by operator name

- `?` — find a key by pressing its shortcut

- `D` — see what you've changed from defaults

- `Ctrl+Z` / `Ctrl+Shift+Z` — undo / redo



---



## Preferences



**Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → Keymap Visualizer:**



- **Keyboard Layout** — pick your layout, form factor (ANSI/ISO), and size (100%–60%)

- **Export / Import** — output path, scope (modified-only or all), import path

- **Presets** — folder to store preset JSON files

- **Fonts** — custom TTF paths for key labels and command labels (optional)

- **Theme** — 8 base color tokens. All other colors derive from these.

- **Category Colors** — turn on/off, customize all 13 category colors

- **Advanced Color Overrides** — 29 fine-grained per-element color pickers (collapsed by default — open only if the base tokens aren't enough)



---



## Category colors



blender_nMHIr6LGG6



Keys are tinted by what they do. 13 categories — Transform, Navigation, Mesh, Object, Edit, Sculpt, Paint, UV, Nodes, Animation, Playback, File, System. Each color is individually configurable. Legend shown above the keyboard. Turn the whole system off if you prefer plain keys.



---



## Project layout



```

keymap_visualizer/

  __init__.py       # Addon registration

  blender_manifest.toml  # Extension metadata

  constants.py      # Enums, color tokens, layout constants

  drawing.py        # GPU rendering (keys, panels, overlays)

  export.py         # Python keymap script export/import

  handlers.py       # Event handling and input dispatch

  hit_testing.py    # Mouse-to-key hit detection

  icons.py          # Icon loading and texture atlas

  keyboards.py      # Physical/logical keyboard definitions

  keymap_data.py    # Keymap introspection and diffing

  layout.py         # Key position/size calculations

  operators.py      # Blender operators (modal, launch)

  preferences.py    # Addon preferences and theme settings

  presets.py        # Preset save/load/delete

  state.py          # Runtime state, undo/redo, selections

```



---



## Contributing



1. Fork, branch, change, PR

2. One feature or fix per PR

3. Test in Blender 5.1+

4. Clear description of what changed and why



---



## License



GPL-3.0-or-later — see [LICENSE](LICENSE). Required by the Blender Extensions platform since Blender itself is GPL.



Bundles **Roboto Condensed** font (Apache-2.0, © 2011 Google Inc.) — see [keymap_visualizer/fonts/LICENSE.txt](keymap_visualizer/fonts/LICENSE.txt).