Using PolyKybdHost

Once PolyKybdHost is running, it lives in your system tray (Windows) or menu bar (macOS). A small PolyKybd icon indicates it is active and connected. The tray app is a client of the background daemon that owns the keyboard — see Architecture & Daemon Mode.

Right-click the tray icon to access:

Layout Editor — remap keys without reflashing firmware
Settings — configure brightness, unicode mode, daemon mode, and other options
Command menu — send one-off commands to the keyboard
Flash firmware — push a new firmware .bin to the keyboard over HID
Log viewer — view communication logs for debugging (includes a Daemon Log tab when the daemon is running)
Quit — close the tray app (the daemon keeps running)

Context-aware overlays

The core feature: PolyKybdHost watches which application is currently focused on your screen. When you switch from, say, your browser to your code editor, the keyboard automatically updates every key display to show the relevant shortcuts and labels for the new app. This happens automatically with no action required from you.

Adaptive brightness

If you have location access enabled, PolyKybdHost can calculate solar irradiance for your location and automatically adjust display brightness based on time of day — brighter during the day, dimmer in the evening. This is configured in Settings → Brightness.

Unicode and language mode

The unicode input mode (Mac / Linux / Windows / WinCompose) selected on the keyboard is synced to PolyKybdHost. You can also change it from the Settings dialog.

Firmware updates

You can flash new firmware directly from the tray — choose the Flash firmware .bin… action and select a firmware .bin. Flashing works over HID and is available even when the keyboard is on a protocol version the rest of PolyKybdHost doesn’t fully support, so a mismatched keyboard can always be updated. The same operation is available from the command line with polyctl fw flash — see Command Line and Flashing Firmware.

Debug logging

If something is not working as expected:

python -m polyhost --debug 1   # basic logging
python -m polyhost --debug 2   # verbose HID traffic logging

The Log Viewer (tray menu → Log Viewer) shows the same output in a GUI window. When running with the daemon, its activity appears under the Daemon Log tab.