KeySound

Keyboard sound effects app. Plays sounds on every keypress, even when the app is not focused.

Built with Tauri v2 + Rust + SvelteKit + TypeScript.

Features

• Global keyboard capture (works system-wide)
• Low-latency audio playback via Kira
• Sound pack system (JSON manifest, per-key or per-category sounds)
• System tray with toggle/settings/quit
• Close window = minimize to tray
• Single instance (second launch focuses existing window)
• Auto-start on boot support

Prerequisites

1. Rust (GNU toolchain)

# Install Rust
winget install Rustlang.Rustup

# Set GNU toolchain (no Visual Studio needed)
rustup toolchain install stable-x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
rustup default stable-x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
rustup target add x86_64-pc-windows-gnu

2. MinGW (GCC for Windows)

winget install BrechtSanders.WinLibs.POSIX.UCRT

3. Node.js

# Any version manager works (fnm, nvm, volta)
node -v   # v18+ required
npm -v

4. Install frontend dependencies

npm install

PATH Setup

Every terminal session needs MinGW and Cargo in PATH. Run this before any build command:

export PATH="/c/Users/user2/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WinGet/Packages/BrechtSanders.WinLibs.POSIX.UCRT_Microsoft.Winget.Source_8wekyb3d8bbwe/mingw64/bin:$PATH:/c/Users/user2/.cargo/bin"

Or add these directories to your system PATH permanently via Windows Settings > Environment Variables.

Development

npx tauri dev

• Svelte frontend: hot reloads on save
• Rust backend: recompiles on save
• Opens the app window automatically

Production Build

rm -rf build .svelte-kit                          # clean (avoids ENOTEMPTY errors)
npx tauri build --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu    # build + bundle

Output:

File	Location
Portable exe	src-tauri/target/x86_64-pc-windows-gnu/release/keysound.exe
NSIS installer	src-tauri/target/x86_64-pc-windows-gnu/release/bundle/nsis/KeySound_*-setup.exe
MSI installer	src-tauri/target/x86_64-pc-windows-gnu/release/bundle/msi/KeySound_*.msi

Useful Commands

Command	What it does
npx tauri dev	Dev mode with hot reload
npx tauri build --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu	Production build
cargo check --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu	Type-check Rust only (fast)
cargo build --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu --release	Compile Rust only (no bundling)
cargo clean	Delete all build artifacts
rustc --version	Check Rust compiler version
rustup show	Show active toolchain

First build is slow (~2-5 min) because it compiles all dependencies. After that, incremental builds take ~5-15 seconds.

Project Structure

keysound/
├── src/                          # Svelte frontend
│   ├── app.html
│   └── routes/
│       └── +page.svelte          # Settings UI
├── src-tauri/                    # Rust backend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── main.rs               # Entry point
│   │   ├── lib.rs                # Tauri app setup, tray, commands
│   │   ├── keyboard.rs           # Global keyboard listener (rdev)
│   │   ├── sound_engine.rs       # Audio playback (Kira)
│   │   └── sound_pack.rs         # Sound pack loading & key resolution
│   ├── resources/
│   │   └── soundpacks/default/   # Bundled sound pack
│   ├── Cargo.toml                # Rust dependencies
│   └── tauri.conf.json           # Tauri config
├── package.json                  # Node dependencies
└── README.md

Sound Pack Format

Sound packs live in soundpacks/ directories with this structure:

my-sound-pack/
├── pack.json          # Manifest
└── sounds/
    ├── keydown.wav    # Default key sound
    ├── keydown-space.wav
    └── keydown-enter.wav

pack.json example:

{
  "id": "my-pack",
  "name": "My Sound Pack",
  "author": "You",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "Custom keyboard sounds",
  "defaults": {
    "keydown": "sounds/keydown.wav",
    "volume": 0.8
  },
  "key_overrides": {
    "Space": { "keydown": "sounds/keydown-space.wav" },
    "Return": { "keydown": "sounds/keydown-enter.wav" }
  },
  "category_overrides": {}
}

Key names use rdev format: KeyA, Space, Return, ShiftLeft, F1, etc.

Rust vs Node Cheat Sheet

Node/TS	Rust
node	No runtime — compiles to native .exe
npm	cargo
package.json	Cargo.toml
node_modules/	~/.cargo/registry/ (global cache)
npm install	Automatic on cargo build
tsc --noEmit	cargo check
npm run build	cargo build --release

IDE Setup

VS Code with these extensions:

• Svelte
• Tauri
• rust-analyzer