How to install Espanso on Debian 13 trixie

Espanso is a cross-platform text expander written in Rust. It “detects when you type a keyword and replaces it while you’re typing“.

Follow these instructions to install Espanso 2.3.0 for Wayland on your Debian system.

Step 1

Download Espanso v2.3.0.

$ wget -P ~/Downloads/ --show-progress https://github.com/espanso/espanso/releases/download/v2.3.0/espanso-debian-wayland-amd64.deb

Step 2

Install the required dependencies from the Debian repository.

$ sudo apt-get install --yes libwxgtk3.2-1t64 wl-clipboard

Step 3

Install espanso from the package you downloaded in Step 1.

$ sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/espanso-debian-wayland-amd64.deb

Step 4

Give espanso the permissions required for its operation.

$ sudo setcap "cap_dac_override+p" $(which espanso)

Check to see if the espanso binary was installed successfuly.

$ espanso --version

Step 5

Register espanso as a systemd service.

$ espanso service register

Launch espanso.

$ espanso start && espanso status

Step 6

GNOME desktop only: remove the conflicting default shortcut for activating the window menu.

Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > View and Customize Shortcuts > Windows > Activate the window menu > [Backspace]

Use [Alt + Space] to open Espanso’s Search bar.

All Done!

Experimental support for Wayland

Espanso has some known limitations under Wayland. Most notably, “there is currently no support for App-specific configurations”.