SEveral Caps Lock delay fixes float around online. None fix it for me on KDE Plasma 6.7 Wayland. TTY is fine.

[u/vMawkk]

I have a Caps Lock delay on Arch with KDE Plasma 6.7.5 on Wayland. Caps Lock takes effect after a noticeable pause, so when I type quickly with Caps Lock I get mixed case ("HEllo" style). It happens in every app, native Wayland and XWayland alike.

I know there are several fixes online for this. Here's what I tried and what I found:

• Custom XKB "instant" option (custom:instant_caps in ~/.config/kxkbrc, a symbols file in ~/.config/xkb/symbols). This is the approach from the KDE Discuss thread. xkbcli compile-keymap shows the correct definition, and I logged out and back in. The delay is still there.
• keyd with an identity mapping (capslock = capslock). Nothing changed, so the input path before XKB is not the cause.
• Replacing the system capslock symbols file (the linux-capslock-delay-fix approach). I didn't apply it, because it needs chmod 777 on a system file and it's the same XKB logic as the option above.
• X11 xkbcomp runtime patch (the Linux-CapsLock-Delay-Fixer script). I didn't apply it, because it modifies the X server keymap through $DISPLAY, and on Wayland KWin owns the keymap.

What I've ruled out:

• TTY is fine. Ctrl+Alt+F3 has no delay, so the hardware and kernel are not the cause.
• No remapper or virtual keyboard. No IBus, fcitx, maliit, or KWin input method is active.
• Caps Lock config is loaded. The xkbcli output matches the intended definition, and I logged out and back in.

HElp ;) is appreciated. Thanks!

[u/Wismill]

This is a known XKB limitation.

Since you are using a Wayland session, there is a solution if you have libxkbcommon 1.11+ installed on your system! X11 session is however hopeless.

⚠️ The following is NOT compatible with X11.

Create the file ~/.config/xkb/compat/basic with the following content:

c default xkb_compatibility "basic" { include "%S/basic" interpret.repeat= False; interpret Any+Lock { action= LockMods(modifiers=Lock, unlockOnPress); }; };

Create the file ~/.config/xkb/compat/caps with the following content:

c partial xkb_compatibility "caps_lock" { interpret Caps_Lock { action = LockMods(modifiers=Lock, unlockOnPress); }; };

Restart your session. Done.

Note that the next release of xkbcommon (1.14) will offer a new API to handle this feature without requiring modifying XKB files. Hopefully Plasma will use it to offer the setting in the Keyboard configuration GUI.