v_keyboard — Native-feeling Virtual Keyboard for Flutter

flutter_v_keyboard

A fully customizable, native-feeling virtual keyboard and text-input system for Flutter — Android · iOS · Windows · macOS · Linux · Web.

It is not just a keyboard widget: VTextField is a drop-in replacement for TextField that integrates with Flutter's focus system and is driven by an on-screen keyboard instead of the OS keyboard.

Showcase


Standard
PIN / Number
Password (dark)
Multiline
Emoji panel

Desktop (Windows OSK style)

Desktop keyboard

Responsive — phone · landscape · tablet · desktop

Responsive layouts

Light & dark themes


Light
Dark

Features


Shift
Caps Lock
Symbols
Selection
Focus / Next

Showcase images are generated from the real package widgets by example/integration_test/showcase_test.dart — cd example && flutter test integration_test/showcase_test.dart -d windows.

Highlights

  • Appears on focus, hides on blur — follows FocusNode naturally.
  • Real cursor, selection, selection-replacement and multiline editing (built on a readOnly TextField, so it behaves natively).
  • Pushes the UI up like the system keyboard (injects viewInsets.bottom).
  • Long-press backspace + held-key repeat.
  • Temporary shift, caps-lock (double-tap), ABC / 123 / #+= pages.
  • Built-in layouts: standard, text (no emoji key), number, decimal, phone, pin, password, email, url, multiline, and fully custom.
  • Full TextInputAction support (next/previous/done/go/search/send/newline…) respecting FocusTraversalPolicy.
  • Responsive sizing for phone/tablet/desktop, portrait/landscape, resizable windows — heights are computed, never hard-coded; centred + width-limited on large desktop windows.
  • Hardware-keyboard fallback on desktop/web.
  • Per-key repaint (taps don't rebuild the whole keyboard), RepaintBoundarys, ValueNotifier-based pressed state.
  • Material theming via VKeyboardTheme, behaviour via VKeyboardConfig. Semantics for screen readers.

Install

dependencies:
  flutter_v_keyboard: ^0.1.2

Quick start

Wrap your app once:

MaterialApp(
  builder: (context, child) => VKeyboardScope(child: child!),
  home: MyPage(),
);

Use VTextField like a TextField:

VTextField(
  controller: controller,
  focusNode: focusNode,
  keyboardType: VKeyboardType.standard, // note: `default` is reserved
  textInputAction: TextInputAction.next,
  onSubmitted: (value) {},
)

Naming note: Dart reserves the word default, so the standard alphanumeric keyboard is VKeyboardType.standard.

Custom layouts

final layout = KeyboardLayout(
  id: 'greek',
  initialPage: 'main',
  pages: {
    'main': [
      'αβγδε'.split('').map(KeyData.char).toList(),
      [KeyData.shift(), KeyData.space(), KeyData.backspace(), KeyData.enter()],
    ],
  },
);

VTextField(
  keyboardType: VKeyboardType.custom,
  customLayout: layout,
);

Custom keys (emoji/clipboard/voice/etc.) via KeyData.custom(builder) — no need to fork the package.

Configuration

VKeyboardScope(
  config: VKeyboardConfig(
    hideOnDone: true,
    moveFocusOnNext: true,
    closeOnOutsideTap: true,
    enableLongPressDelete: true,
    enableKeyRepeat: true,
  ),
  theme: VKeyboardTheme.dark(),
  child: ...,
);

// Or use the built-in light preset / keep following your app ThemeData.
VKeyboardTheme.light(accentColor: Colors.blue);
VKeyboardTheme.fromTheme(Theme.of(context));

Architecture

Cleanly separated, single-responsibility units:

Concern Type
Orchestration VKeyboardController
Per-field session KeyboardSession
Pure text editing TextInputEngine
Layouts/keys KeyboardLayout, KeyData, BuiltinLayouts
Actions KeyboardActionHandler
Responsive sizing KeyboardMetrics
Rendering KeyboardView, KeyboardKey
Theme / config VKeyboardTheme, VKeyboardConfig
Host + insets VKeyboardScope

See example/ for a full demo of every layout, a custom layout, and the action callbacks.

Desktop keyboard (Windows OSK style)

VKeyboardType.desktop renders a full physical keyboard: function row, number row, full QWERTY, all modifiers (Ctrl/Alt/AltGr/Win/Menu, L+R Shift/Ctrl), Caps/Num/Scroll Lock, navigation cluster (arrows, Home/End, Page Up/Down, Insert/Delete), a numeric keypad and optional media keys. It is responsive by width — sections collapse as the window narrows (media → numpad → function row), typing keys always remain.

VTextField(
  keyboardType: VKeyboardType.desktop,
  maxLines: 5,
)

Supported behaviour: Shift/Caps casing, Ctrl/Alt/Meta modifier combos, Shift+Arrow (extend selection), Ctrl+Arrow (by word), Home/End/PageUp/PageDown, Ctrl+Backspace/Delete (word), built-in Ctrl+A/C/X/V clipboard, key repeat, and hover/pressed/locked visual feedback.

Register custom shortcuts and desktop callbacks with VKeyboardShortcuts:

VKeyboardShortcuts(
  shortcuts: {
    LogicalKeySet(LogicalKeyboardKey.control, LogicalKeyboardKey.keyS): save,
  },
  onMedia: (intent) => player.handle(intent),
  onMetaKey: () => openStartMenu(),
  clipboardCallbacks: ClipboardCallbacks(onPaste: () => myPaste()),
  child: ...,
)

Desktop architecture (separate from mobile, shared controller/engine/focus): KeyboardModifierController, KeyboardNavigation, KeyboardShortcutManager, ClipboardActions, DesktopLayouts. Replace the whole layout (compact / gaming / POS / kiosk) by passing a customLayout with VKeyboardType.desktop or .custom.

Status

Production-oriented foundation with unit + widget tests (flutter test). See CHANGELOG/issues for the remaining roadmap items (emoji page UI, floating/docked desktop polish, integration tests).

Libraries

flutter_v_keyboard
A fully customizable, native-feeling virtual keyboard and text input system for Flutter.