Learning a language shouldn't clutter your keyboard. Keyji keeps a rarely-needed layout one click away — and out of your way the rest of the time.

✅ v0.1.0 released — download the latest .exe · Windows x64, one file, no install.

English · Русский

---

The problem

Windows gives you two bad options for a keyboard layout you only need occasionally — a learner's Japanese, an emigrant's Cyrillic, an Arabic script you touch once a week:

• Keep it installed — and it sits forever in your Win+Space cycle, so you tab past it dozens of times a day to reach the two layouts you actually use.
• Remove it — and every time you do need it you dig back into Settings → Language → Add, wait for the pack, and remove it again after.

Neither fits a layout you need rarely but genuinely. That's the gap Keyji fills.

How it works

Keyji lives in the system tray. A click opens the Keyji panel — a compact list where you toggle a rare layout on or off, added when you need it and gone when you don't. Pin the one you reach for most and a single click flips it straight from the tray, never cluttering your everyday cycle.

• One click from the tray — enable or disable a layout instantly. No Settings, no cycling past it.
• Tray status at a glance — the icon shows what's currently active.
• Friendly onboarding — pick your languages on first run from a curated preset list or the full Windows catalog. Built for non-technical users.
• Native and instant — talks to Windows language profiles directly (WinAPI / TSF), no powershell.exe spawned per action. Toggles in well under 100 ms.
• Japanese starts in hiragana — flip Japanese on and Keyji drops the IME straight into hiragana instead of leaving you in romaji/alphanumeric mode. On by default; toggle it from the Japanese layout's menu.
• One file, nothing to install — download one self-contained .exe, double-click, done. No installer, no runtime to fetch.

Who it's for

• Language learners who need a script for study but not for daily typing.
• Multilingual users who switch scripts occasionally, not constantly.
• Anyone tired of a rarely-used layout crowding their Win+Space cycle.

What Keyji is not

It's not a replacement for Win+Space. Native switching cycles between your active layouts; Keyji decides which layouts are in that cycle at all — bringing a rare one in on demand and taking it back out. Different job.

Screenshot

How it compares

	Keyji	Win+Space	Windows Settings	PowerToys
Toggle a rare layout in/out on demand	✅	❌	🐢 manual	❌
One-click toggle	✅	✅	❌	—
Keeps rare layouts out of the daily cycle	✅	❌	❌	❌
Nothing to install (single .exe)	✅	—	—	❌ heavy
Purpose-built, no bloat	✅	—	—	❌

Status & roadmap

Keyji is built in C# / .NET (WPF).

• v0.1.0 (released) — tray toggle panel (the main UI), first-run onboarding with a curated preset list and the full Windows catalog, optional pinned layout for one-click toggling, UI in English / Russian / Japanese, light & dark themes that follow Windows, autostart, native read/write (WinAPI / TSF), single self-contained .exe.
• Next — global hotkey, signed installer + winget, auto-update, more curated presets, per-app rules on request.
• Never — cross-platform, cloud sync, replacing Win+Space, turning into a settings behemoth.

License

MIT — minimal friction for users and contributors.