cthulhu/README-REMOTE-CONTROLLER.md

Cthulhu Remote Controller (D-Bus Interface)

⚠️⚠️ WORK IN PROGRESS: This D-Bus interface is brand new and not yet feature complete. Low-risk feature additions will continue to be made. The API may be modified beyond bug fixes in future versions based on feedback from consumers of this support. Such changes will be documented here.

💡 Desktop-Agnostic Design: Cthulhu's D-Bus Remote Controller is built on standard D-Bus session bus infrastructure and works across all desktop environments (GNOME, KDE Plasma, XFCE, i3, Sway, etc.). The D-Bus service uses no desktop-specific dependencies and follows universal D-Bus conventions, making it suitable for integration with any application or automation tool on any Linux desktop environment or window manager.

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Overview

Cthulhu exposes a D-Bus service at:

• Service Name: org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service
• Main Object Path: /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service
• Module Object Paths: /org/stormux.Cthulhu/Service/ModuleName (e.g., /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service/SpeechAndVerbosityManager)

See REMOTE-CONTROLLER-COMMANDS.md for a complete list of available commands.

Dependencies

The D-Bus interface requires:

• dasbus - Python D-Bus library used by Cthulhu for the remote controller implementation. (Installation instructions)

Alternative Tools for D-Bus Interaction

While this documentation primarily uses gdbus for examples, you can use any D-Bus tool or library:

Using busctl (systemd D-Bus tool)

busctl --user call org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service \
    org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service GetVersion

Using Python with dasbus

from dasbus.connection import SessionMessageBus
bus = SessionMessageBus()
proxy = bus.get_proxy("org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service", "/org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service")
version = proxy.GetVersion()

Using qdbus (Qt D-Bus tool - available on KDE)

qdbus org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service \
    org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service.GetVersion

Service-Level Commands

Commands available directly on the main service (/org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service):

Get Cthulhu's Version

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service.GetVersion

Returns: String containing the version (and revision if available)

Present a Custom Message in Speech and/or Braille

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service.PresentMessage "Your message here"

Parameters:

• message (string): The message to present to the user

Returns: Boolean indicating success

Show Cthulhu's Preferences GUI

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service.ShowPreferences

Returns: Boolean indicating success

Quit Cthulhu

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service.Quit

Returns: Boolean indicating if the quit request was accepted

List Available Service Commands

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service.ListCommands

Returns: List of (command_name, description) tuples

List Registered Modules

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service.ListModules

Returns: List of module names

Interacting with Modules

Each registered module exposes its own set of operations. Based on the underlying Cthulhu code, these are categorized as Commands, Runtime Getters, and Runtime Setters:

• Commands: Actions that perform a task. These typically correspond to Cthulhu commands bound to a keystroke (e.g., IncreaseRate).
• Runtime Getters: Operations that retrieve the current value of an item, often a setting (e.g., GetRate).
• Runtime Setters: Operations that set the current value of an item, often a setting (e.g., SetRate). Note that setting a value does NOT cause it to become permanently saved.

You can discover and execute these for each module.

Discovering Module Capabilities

List Commands for a Module

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service/ModuleName \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Module.ListCommands

Replace ModuleName with an actual module name from ListModules.

Returns: List of (command_name, description) tuples.

List Parameterized Commands for a Module

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service/ModuleName \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Module.ListParameterizedCommands

Replace ModuleName with an actual module name from ListModules.

Returns: List of (command_name, description, parameters) tuples, where parameters is a list of (parameter_name, parameter_type) tuples.

Example output:

([('GetVoicesForLanguage',
   'Returns a list of available voices for the specified language.',
   [('language', 'str'), ('variant', 'str'), ('notify_user', 'bool')])],)

List Runtime Getters for a Module

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service/ModuleName \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Module.ListRuntimeGetters

Replace ModuleName with an actual module name from ListModules.

Returns: List of (getter_name, description) tuples.

List Runtime Setters for a Module

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service/ModuleName \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Module.ListRuntimeSetters

Replace ModuleName with an actual module name from ListModules.

Returns: List of (setter_name, description) tuples.

Executing Module Operations

Execute a Runtime Getter

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service/ModuleName \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Module.ExecuteRuntimeGetter 'PropertyName'

Parameters:

• PropertyName (string): The name of the runtime getter to execute.

Returns: The value returned by the getter as a GLib variant (type depends on the getter).

Example: Get the current speech rate

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service/SpeechAndVerbosityManager \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Module.ExecuteRuntimeGetter 'Rate'

This will return the rate as a GLib Variant.

Execute a Runtime Setter

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service/ModuleName \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Module.ExecuteRuntimeSetter 'PropertyName' <value>

Parameters:

• PropertyName (string): The name of the runtime setter to execute.
• <value>: The value to set, as a GLib variant (type depends on the setter).

Returns: Boolean indicating success.

Example: Set the current speech rate

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service/SpeechAndVerbosityManager \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Module.ExecuteRuntimeSetter 'Rate' '<90>'

Execute a Module Command

# With user notification
gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service/ModuleName \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Module.ExecuteCommand 'CommandName' true

# Without user notification (silent)
gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service/ModuleName \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Module.ExecuteCommand 'CommandName' false

Parameters (both required):

• CommandName (string): The name of the command to execute
• notify_user (boolean): Whether to notify the user of the action (see section below)

Returns: Boolean indicating success

Execute a Parameterized Command

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service/ModuleName \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Module.ExecuteParameterizedCommand 'CommandName' \
    '{"param1": <"value1">, "param2": <"value2">}' false

Parameters:

• CommandName (string): The name of the parameterized command to execute
• parameters (dict): Dictionary of parameter names and values as GLib variants
• notify_user (boolean): Whether to notify the user of the action

Returns: The result returned by the command as a GLib variant (type depends on the command)

Example: Get voices for a specific language

gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service/SpeechAndVerbosityManager \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Module.ExecuteParameterizedCommand 'GetVoicesForLanguage' \
    '{"language": <"en-us">, "variant": <"">}' false

This will return a list of available voices for US English.

User Notification Applicability

Setting notify_user=true is not a guarantee that feedback will be presented.

Some commands inherently don't make sense to announce. For example:

# This command should simply stop speech, not announce that it is stopping speech.
gdbus call --session --dest org.stormux.Cthulhu.Service \
    --object-path /org/stormux/Cthulhu/Service/SpeechAndVerbosityManager \
    --method org.stormux.Cthulhu.Module.ExecuteCommand 'InterruptSpeech' true

In those cases Cthulhu will ignore the value of notify_user.

Setting notify_user=false is not a guarantee that Cthulhu will remain silent, though for the most part Cthulhu will try to respect this value. The exceptions are:

1. If executing the command has resulted in UI being shown, such as a dialog or menu, the newly-shown UI will be presented in speech and/or braille based on the user's settings. Failure to announce that the user has been removed from one window and placed in another could be extremely confusing.
2. If the sole purpose of the command is to announce something without making any other changes, e.g. PresentTime, executing it with notify_user=false makes no sense. Adding checks and early returns to handle this possibility does not seem worth doing. If you don't want Cthulhu to present the time, don't ask Cthulhu to present the time. 😃

Navigator Module "Enabled" State Applicability

In the Remote Controller, Navigator commands are expected to work even when not "enabled."

Some of Cthulhu's Navigator modules, namely Table Navigator, Caret Navigator, and Structural Navigator, have an "enabled" state. The reason for this is very much tied to the keyboard-centric nature of Cthulhu's commands. For instance, if Cthulhu always grabbed "H" (for heading navigation) and the arrow keys (for caret navigation), normal interaction with applications would be completely broken. For this reason, Navigator modules whose commands will prevent normal, native interaction with applications are typically not enabled by default and can be easily disabled.

In contrast, performing Navigator commands via D-Bus does not prevent native interaction with applications. For instance, one could use the Remote Controller to move to the next heading without causing H to stop functioning in editable fields. For this reason, and to avoid a performance hit, the decision was made to not check if (keyboard-centric) navigation commands were enabled. As a result, it should be possible to use Remote Controller navigation even in "focus mode" or other cases where Cthulhu is not controlling the caret. This is by design.

Given the keyboard-centric nature of Cthulhu's commands, there may be instances in which one uses the Remote Controller for navigation and Cthulhu fails to correctly update its location in response. If Cthulhu correctly updates its location when the same navigation command is executed via keyboard, please report the Remote Controller failure as a new bug in Cthulhu's issue tracker.

The "Stickiness" (or Lack Thereof) of On-The-Fly Settings Changes

Cthulhu has a number of keyboard commands to temporarily change settings such as speech rate, pitch, volume; capitalization style; punctuation level; etc., etc. The question is: how long should on-the-fly modifications to settings persist?

Early on in Cthulhu's development, the conclusion was that on-the-fly settings changes should be seen as quite temporary, presumed to be used to address a specific one-time need. For instance, if reading some difficult-to-understand text, one might want to reduce the speed just for that text. If one were doing a final proofread of some content, one might want to briefly set the punctuation level to all. If one needs slow speed and/or verbose punctuation all the time, those should be set in Cthulhu's Preferences dialogs -- either globally or on a per-app basis. Cthulhu also has a profile feature through which the user can save settings and quickly load/unload them by switching profiles*.

Whether or not that historical decision was the right decision goes beyond the scope of the Remote Controller. The primary purpose of the Remote Controller is to provide D-Bus access to commands and runtime settings as if they were performed by the user via keyboard command. Thus if a setting changed via Remote Controller persists (or fails to persist) in the same way as when changed via keyboard command, it is not a Remote Controller bug. (It may be a general Cthulhu bug or feature request, and you are encouraged to file it as such.) On the other hand, if the behavior of the Remote Controller differs from that of the corresponding or related keyboard command, please report that Remote Controller failure as a new bug in Cthulhu's issue tracker.

* Note: Remote Controller support for profile management is still pending.