hidproto 0.2.0

A Python DSL for HID device protocols on Linux

hidproto

A Python DSL for HID device protocols. Define commands and effects as pure data, the runtime handles transport, discovery, checksums, and state tracking. Works on Linux, Windows, and macOS.

Why

Every HID device project (OpenRGB, keyRGB, rivalcfg, openrazer) rewrites the same boilerplate: open device, build reports, send ioctl, manage state. hidproto lets you define a protocol in ~50 lines of pure data and get a working device driver.

Existing Python RGB libraries (PyRGBDev, pychroma, python-rgbkeyboards) all depend on vendor SDKs and only work on Windows. hidproto talks HID directly, no vendor SDK needed.

Install

pip install hidproto            # Linux (hidraw, zero deps)
pip install hidproto[hidapi]    # Windows / macOS (cross-platform)

Platform support

Platform	Transport	Dependencies
Linux	hidraw (native ioctl)	None
Windows	hidapi	pip install hidapi
macOS	hidapi	pip install hidapi

On Linux, hidraw is used by default for zero-dependency operation. On other platforms, the hidapi backend is auto-selected. You can also force hidapi on Linux with pip install hidproto[hidapi].

Supported devices

25 protocols across 19 vendors, all auto-discovered:

Vendor	Device	Effects
Alienware	AW510K	7 (static, breathing, spectrum, wave, rainbow, scanner, off)
ASUS	TUF/ROG keyboards	9 (static, breathing, wave, ripple, reactive, starry, rain, direct, off)
Cherry	MX Board	8 (wave, spectrum, breathing, static, radar, fire, stars, rain)
CoolerMaster	MasterKeys Pro	9 (direct, static, breathing, cycle, wave, ripple, snake, reactive, stars)
Corsair	K70/K95	7 (color shift, color pulse, rainbow wave, color wave, rain, spiral, visor)
Das	Q5	XOR checksum protocol
Ducky	One 2 RGB	Multi-packet direct mode
Fnatic	Streak	6 (pulse, wave, reactive, ripple, rain, fade)
HyperX	Alloy Elite	8 (wave variants, static, breathing) with 6 directions
ITE	8291 rev3	9 (breathing, wave, random, rainbow, ripple, marquee, raindrop, aurora, fireworks)
ITE	8297	Uniform color
ITE	8910	11 (full per-key + animations with 8 wave / 4 snake directions)
Keychron	K3 V2	7 (static, breathing, spectrum, sparkle, rain, random, off)
Logitech	G815 (HID++)	6 (off, static, spectrum, wave, breathing, ripple)
Mountain	Everest	6 (static, breathing, wave, reactive, tornado, off)
MSI	Vigor GK30	7 (off, static, breathing, rainbow, meteor, ripple, dimming)
NZXT	Lift mouse	Direct LED control
Obinslab	Anne Pro 2	Static mode
QMK	OpenRGB firmware	8 (direct, solid, breathing, rainbow, swirl, snake, knight, splash)
Razer	BlackWidow	5 (static, wave, breathing, spectrum, off) with XOR checksum
Redragon	M711 mouse	5 (wave, breathing, static, rainbow, flashing)
Roccat	Vulcan	3 (direct, static, wave) with 16-bit checksum
Sony	DualShock 4	Lightbar RGB control
SteelSeries	Apex Pro	Direct mode + profiles
Wooting	60HE	Magic byte protocol

Adding a new device is one Python file in protocols/<vendor>/. The registry auto-discovers it.

Quick start

from hidproto import HIDDevice, HIDProtocol, command, effect

class MyKeyboard(HIDProtocol):
    vendor_id    = 0x048D
    product_id   = 0x8910
    report_id    = 0xCC
    report_size  = 6
    rows         = 6
    cols         = 20
    preset_base  = 0x71
    custom_base  = 0xA1
    color_custom = 0xAA

    animation_mode   = command(0x00, args=1, doc="Animation mode")
    set_led          = command(0x01, args=4, doc="Per-key color")
    brightness_speed = command(0x09, args=4, doc="Brightness + speed")
    wave_slot        = command(0x15, args=4, doc="Wave slot")

    effects = {
        "off":  effect("off",  animation=0x0C, needs_clear=True),
        "wave": effect("wave", animation=0x04, slot_cmd="wave_slot",
                        directions=("up", "down", "left", "right")),
    }

Keyboard = HIDDevice.for_protocol(MyKeyboard)

with Keyboard() as kb:
    kb.brightness(8)
    kb.speed(5)
    kb.effect("wave", direction="right", color=(255, 0, 0))

No boilerplate, no subclassing, no transport code.

CLI

hidproto devices                                    # list connected HID devices
hidproto info ite8910                               # show commands, effects, matrix size
hidproto ite8910 wave -d right -b 8 -s 5            # wave rainbow, right, brightness 8
hidproto ite8910 wave -d left -c ff0000             # wave red, left
hidproto ite8910 breathing -c 00ff00 -b 8           # breathing green
hidproto ite8910 scan -c ff0000 --color2 0000ff     # scan red + blue
hidproto ite8910 off                                # turn off

All options are auto-generated from the protocol definition. Each device gets its own subcommands with --help.

Features

• DSL - command() and effect() descriptors generate everything from pure data
• Multi-step effects - step() chains multiple commands for complex protocols (Corsair, Cherry)
• Auto-discovery - protocols registered via entry points or filesystem scan
• Cross-platform - hidraw on Linux, hidapi on Windows/macOS
• Checksums - XOR (Razer, Das), SUM (Cherry), custom via _with_checksum()
• State caching - skip redundant sends, invalidate on resume
• CLI - Click-based with per-device subcommands

Architecture

hidproto/
  cli.py              Click CLI with auto-generated subcommands
  command.py           CommandSpec + @command descriptor
  effect.py            EffectSpec + step() for multi-step effects
  protocol.py          HIDProtocol base (report building, transport)
  device.py            HIDDevice wrapper (effects, caching, brightness/speed)
  transport.py         HidrawTransport (Linux native)
  transport_hidapi.py  HidapiTransport (cross-platform)
  discovery.py         sysfs device discovery
  registry.py          Auto-discovery + entry point plugin system
  checksum.py          xor/sum checksum helpers

protocols/
  alienware/    asus/       cherry/     coolermaster/
  corsair/      das/        ducky/      fnatic/
  hyperx/       ite/        keychron/   logitech/
  mountain/     msi/        nzxt/       obinslab/
  qmk/          razer/      redragon/   roccat/
  sony/         steelseries/ wooting/

License

MIT