Fidel Input (ፊደል)

Fast, real-time Amharic Keyboard, Fidel phonetic typing (ፊደል), and Ethiopic / Geez transliteration engine for Visual Studio Code & Cursor.

Quick Start • Shortcuts • Feature Guide • Phonetic Reference • Configuration • Credits • License

Overview

Fidel Input is a native Visual Studio Code extension designed for inputting Amharic text using a standard QWERTY keyboard. Rather than performing static string conversions, Fidel operates as a live Input Method Editor (IME). It intercepts typing inside active editors, maintains an uncommitted composition buffer, and replaces characters dynamically as phonetic syllables are constructed.

Visual Demonstration & Media

Play Demonstration Video with Audio (MP4) • Direct Video Download

Quick Start

1. Install the Fidel Input extension in Visual Studio Code.
2. Press Ctrl + Alt + A (or Cmd + Alt + A on macOS) to enable Amharic input mode.
3. Type phonetic Amharic:

   selam yihun
   ->
   ሰላም ይሁን
   

4. Highlight any existing Latin text and press Ctrl + Alt + F (or Cmd + Alt + F on macOS) to convert the selection directly into Ethiopic script.

Keyboard Shortcuts & Commands

Feature Guide & How It Works

1. Live Composition Buffer Engine

Fidel intercepts keystrokes continuously, calculating phonetic syllable matches and modifying the document transactionally without forcing manual backspacing.

User types:   s   ->   e   ->   l   ->   a   ->   m   ->   SPACE
Buffer:      "s"      "se"     "sel"   "sela"   "selam"    ""
Rendered:    "ስ"      "ሰ"      "ሰል"    "ሰላ"     "ሰላም"     "ሰላም "

2. Automatic Word Boundary & Punctuation Commits

Composition buffers commit automatically upon hitting whitespace or punctuation delimiters (., ,, !, ?, ;, :). When fidel.convertPunctuation is enabled, Latin punctuation marks convert into Ethiopic punctuation equivalents:

• selam, -> ሰላም፤
• yihun. -> ይሁን።
• bet? -> ቤት፧

3. Ethiopic Numeral System (fidel.convertNumbers)

When "fidel.convertNumbers": true is enabled in settings, Arabic digits convert into traditional additive Ethiopic numerals:

• Single Digits: 1 -> ፩, 5 -> ፭, 9 -> ፱
• Tens: 10 -> ፲, 12 -> ፲፪, 25 -> ፳፭
• Hundreds & Thousands: 100 -> ፻, 200 -> ፪፻, 2026 -> ፳፻፳፮

4. Glottal Stop & Ejective Apostrophe Parsing

Amharic ejectives and glottalized roots are typed using a trailing apostrophe (') or SERA uppercase triggers:

• k'a -> ቃ
• t'a -> ጣ (or Ta -> ጣ)
• c'a -> ጫ (or CHa -> ጫ)
• p'e -> ጰ (or Pe -> ጰ)
• p'a -> ጳ (or Pa -> ጳ)

5. Smart Phonetic Correction (fidel.smartCorrection)

When "fidel.smartCorrection": true is enabled (default), Fidel automatically normalizes double-consonant typing variants and English digraph typos:

• Double trailing consonants: selamm -> ሰላም, yihunn -> ይሁን
• Double internal vowels/consonants: beett -> ቤት
• Digraph substitutions: amhariph -> አማሪፍ

6. Homophone Candidate Suggestions (fidel.suggestions)

Fidel offers two UI models for inspecting and choosing homophone candidates (e.g. haile -> ሀይለ, ኃይለ, ሐይለ):

• IntelliSense Suggestion Box Below Text Cursor: When "fidel.suggestions": true is enabled in settings, VS Code displays an IntelliSense candidate list directly beneath your active typing cursor as you type.
• Interactive QuickPick Command Palette: Select any word or place your cursor on a word and run command Fidel: Show Homophone Candidate Suggestions (fidel.showSuggestions) to inspect and select homophone variants.

7. Syllable Disambiguation & Capital Vowel Split

When typing sequences like t followed by e, there are two valid phonetic intents:

1. Merged into a single 1st-order syllable: te $\rightarrow$ ተ
2. Kept as two separate standalone letters (6th-order consonant + standalone vowel): t + e $\rightarrow$ ትእ

Fidel provides three complementary, non-breaking disambiguation mechanisms that work together seamlessly:

A. Capital Vowel Shorthand (Always Available, Mode-Independent)

Type capital E, I, U, or O to immediately force a 6th-order consonant + standalone vowel split without typing any boundary characters or changing any settings:

• tE $\rightarrow$ ትእ (e.g. tEgst $\rightarrow$ ትእግስት)
• gEz $\rightarrow$ ግእዝ
• tI $\rightarrow$ ትኢ
• tU $\rightarrow$ ትኡ
• tO $\rightarrow$ ትኦ

Note on Capital A (Ayn ዐ collision): A is explicitly reserved for the 4th-guttural Ayn (ዐ) consonant family (A $\rightarrow$ ዕ, Aa $\rightarrow$ ዐ, Aaa $\rightarrow$ ዓ). To split with Alef (አ), use the boundary character t-a $\rightarrow$ ትአ or standalone mode.

B. Explicit Boundary (-) and Merge (+) Keys

• Boundary Character ("-"): Typing a hyphen between letters immediately commits the prior consonant as 6th-order without inserting the hyphen (e.g. t-e $\rightarrow$ ትእ, t-a $\rightarrow$ ትአ).
• Merge Character ("+"): When standalone mode is active, typing a plus forces the next vowel to merge (e.g. t+e $\rightarrow$ ተ).

C. Configurable Default Mode (fidel.defaultSyllableMerging)

Choose your preferred global default in settings:

• "merge" (default): te produces ተ; use tE or t-e for ትእ.
• "standalone": te produces ትእ; use t+e for ተ.

Combined Example:

Default "merge" mode:
  "teza"        -> ተዛ       (standard merge)
  "tEgst"       -> ትእግስት   (capital vowel shortcut)
  "t-azaz"      -> ትአዛዝ    (boundary character override for Alef)

"standalone" mode:
  "teza"        -> ትእዛ      (default standalone)
  "t+eza"       -> ተዛ       (plus merge override)

8. Post-Commit Hover Disambiguation & IntelliSense Alternative

• IntelliSense Live Suggestion: When typing an ambiguous syllable like te, Fidel automatically adds a completion item showing ትእ along with a shortcut tip ("Type capital E for ትእ instead of ተ").
• Hover Disambiguation: Hover your mouse over any recently typed ambiguous word in your editor to see a one-click action: [Use "ትእ" instead].

9. On-Demand Selection Conversion (Ctrl + Alt + F)

Highlight any Latin block of text in your editor and press Ctrl + Alt + F (or Cmd + Alt + F on macOS) to instantly convert it to Ethiopic script without enabling full live input mode.

10. Temporary Transliteration Skip (Latin Bypass Mode)

Fidel provides two seamless ways to type raw English/Latin text without disabling Amharic input mode completely:

• Bypass Mode Shortcut (Alt + X / Ctrl + Alt + B): Press Alt + X (or Ctrl + Alt + B) to toggle Latin Bypass Mode. The status bar updates to ፊደል: SKIPPED (Latin), allowing you to type code or English text. Press Alt + X again to immediately resume Amharic transliteration.
• Escape Prefix (Backtick `): Type a backtick ` before a letter or word to skip transliteration for that word and output literal Latin text.

Phonetic Mapping Reference

1. Order Summary Matrix

2. Complete Ethiopic Syllabary Table (33 Families & Compounds)

Below is the complete reference table of all 33 Ethiopic consonant families, standalone vowels, and labialized compound forms (ዲቃላ) with their English phonetic inputs and alternative trigger variants:

3. Homophone & Similar-Phonetic Symbol Triggers

Fidel provides intuitive root triggers and uppercase/apostrophe alternates so you can easily type distinguishing homophones without manual menu lookups:

4. Complete Ethiopic Punctuation Reference

When "fidel.convertPunctuation": true is enabled (default), Latin punctuation and shorthand marks convert directly into their authentic Ethiopic typography equivalents:

Configuration

Extension settings can be configured in VS Code settings.json:

{
  "fidel.enableByDefault": false,
  "fidel.defaultSyllableMerging": "merge",
  "fidel.compositionBoundaryChar": "-",
  "fidel.compositionMergeChar": "+",
  "fidel.enableHoverDisambiguation": true,
  "fidel.convertPunctuation": true,
  "fidel.convertNumbers": true,
  "fidel.smartCorrection": true,
  "fidel.suggestions": true,
  "fidel.autoDisableOnEnter": false,
  "fidel.dictionary": {
    "myword": "ማይዎርድ"
  }
}

Development & Testing

Built with Bun, TypeScript, and esbuild.

# Type check TypeScript files
bun run check

# Bundle extension code
bun run build

# Run unit and integration tests
bun test

Author & Credits

Fidel Input is created, owned, and maintained by Yihun Shekuri.

• Author: Yihun Shekuri
• GitHub Profile: @Hailemichael121
• Repository: Hailemichael121/fidel-input

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Copyright (c) 2026 Yihun Shekuri.