---
title: Install Show Me The Key on Debian using the Snap Store | Snapcraft
description: Get the latest version of Show Me The Key for on Debian - Show the keys
  you type on screen (Wayland and X11)
url: https://snapcraft.io/install/showmethekey/debian
---

[Canonical Snapcraft](https://snapcraft.io/)

# Install Show Me The Key on **Debian**

# Show Me The Key (showmethekey)

[Alex Murray (alexmurray)](https://snapcraft.io/publisher/alexmurray "View all snaps from Alex Murray (alexmurray)")

* [Alex Murray (alexmurray)](https://snapcraft.io/publisher/alexmurray "View all snaps from Alex Murray (alexmurray)")

[Install](https://snapcraft.io/install/showmethekey/debian#install)

#### Show the keys you type on screen (Wayland and X11)

Show Me The Key displays your keystrokes on screen for screencasts,
presentations and tutorials. It reads events through libinput, so it
works on both Wayland and X11 (unlike screenkey, which is X11-only).

Because reading /dev/input requires privilege, this snap uses polkit for
authorisation. Users already in the "input" group are granted immediately;
others are shown a password prompt on first use, matching the behaviour of
the non-snap version. Two interfaces must be connected after install:

```
 sudo snap connect showmethekey:raw-input
 sudo snap connect showmethekey:hardware-observe
```

If the user is not already in the "input" group, also connect the polkit
interface to enable the password-prompt authorisation flow:

```
 sudo snap connect showmethekey:polkit
```

On a Wayland session the floating key window can't place itself, so
right-click its title bar and enable "Always on Top" and "Always on
Visible Workspace".

### Package name

* showmethekey

---

### License

* Apache-2.0

---

### Last updated

* 21 August 2026 - latest/stable
* 21 August 2026 - latest/edge

---

### Websites

* [showmethekey.alynx.one](https://showmethekey.alynx.one/ "https://showmethekey.alynx.one/")

---

### Contact

* [github.com/alexmurray/showmethekey-snap/issues](https://github.com/alexmurray/showmethekey-snap/issues "https://github.com/alexmurray/showmethekey-snap/issues")

---

### Source code

* [github.com/alexmurray/showmethekey-snap](https://github.com/alexmurray/showmethekey-snap "https://github.com/alexmurray/showmethekey-snap")
* [github.com/AlynxZhou/showmethekey](https://github.com/AlynxZhou/showmethekey "https://github.com/AlynxZhou/showmethekey")

---

### Report a bug

* [github.com/alexmurray/showmethekey-snap/issues](https://github.com/alexmurray/showmethekey-snap/issues "https://github.com/alexmurray/showmethekey-snap/issues")

---

##### Report a Snap Store violation

* [Report this Snap](https://snapcraft.io/install/showmethekey/debian#report-snap-modal)

---

## Enable snaps on Debian and install Show Me The Key

Snaps are applications packaged with all their dependencies to run on all popular Linux distributions from a single build. They update automatically and roll back gracefully.

Snaps are discoverable and installable from the [Snap Store](https://snapcraft.io/store), an app store with an audience of millions.

### Enable snapd

On Debian 9 (Stretch) and newer, snap can be installed directly from the command line:

```
sudo apt update
sudo apt install snapd
```

After this, install the snapd snap in order to get the latest snapd:

```
sudo snap install snapd
```

### Install Show Me The Key

To install Show Me The Key, simply use the following command:

```
sudo snap install showmethekey
```

### Other popular snaps…

[See more...](https://snapcraft.io/search?categories=featured)

[See more in Featured](https://snapcraft.io/search?categories=featured)

### More things to do…

#### [Get the snap store](https://snapcraft.io/snap-store)

Browse and find snaps from the convenience of your desktop using the snap store snap.

#### [Learn more about snaps](https://snapcraft.io/docs)

Interested to find out more about snaps? Want to publish your own application? Visit [snapcraft.io](https://snapcraft.io/) now.

[Back to top](https://snapcraft.io/install/showmethekey/debian)

© 2026 Canonical Ltd.
Ubuntu and Canonical are registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd.

Powered by [Charmed Kubernetes](https://www.ubuntu.com/kubernetes)

[Join the forum](https://forum.snapcraft.io/), contribute to or report problems with,
[snapd](https://bugs.launchpad.net/snapd),
[Snapcraft](https://bugs.launchpad.net/snapcraft),
or [this site](https://github.com/canonical/snapcraft.io/issues/new).

* [Share on Twitter](https://twitter.com/snapcraftio)
* [Share on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/snapcraftio)
* [Share on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/snapcraftio)

* [Terms of Service](https://ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/snap-store-terms)
* [Data privacy](https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/data-privacy)
* [Manage your tracker settings](https://snapcraft.io/install/showmethekey/debian)
* [Service status](https://status.snapcraft.io/)
* [Other functions](https://dashboard.snapcraft.io/)
* [Contact us](https://snapcraft.io/about/contact-us)