IBus Input Methods Not Working with i3wm

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1

(Note: I’m currently migrating from Debian to NixOS. On Debian, I was able to configure all of this without any issues, but I’m struggling to replicate the setup on NixOS.)
Hello NixOS community,

I’ve been trying to set up multiple input methods:

  • English (US, alt. intl.)
  • Intelligent Pinyin
  • Hanyu Pinyin (m17n))

Using IBus on NixOS with the i3wm window manager. Despite several attempts and following guides, I haven’t been able to get it working properly. Below, I’ll detail my configuration, the steps I’ve taken, and the issues I’ve encountered. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

My Configuration

Here is my current configuration.nix file:

{ config, pkgs, ... }:

{
  imports =
    [ # Include the results of the hardware scan.
      ./hardware-configuration.nix
    ];

  # Bootloader.
  boot.loader.grub.enable = true;
  boot.loader.grub.device = "/dev/vda";
  boot.loader.grub.useOSProber = true;

  boot.initrd.luks.devices."luks-88b58d23-5c3d-498e-b81c-ec9e6ed7df91".device = "/dev/disk/by-uuid/88b58d23-5c3d-498e-b81c-ec9e6ed7df91";
  # Setup keyfile
  boot.initrd.secrets = {
    "/boot/crypto_keyfile.bin" = null;
  };

  boot.loader.grub.enableCryptodisk = true;

  boot.initrd.luks.devices."luks-7b609c9a-b9bf-40ff-b01a-11cd7894f138".keyFile = "/boot/crypto_keyfile.bin";
  boot.initrd.luks.devices."luks-88b58d23-5c3d-498e-b81c-ec9e6ed7df91".keyFile = "/boot/crypto_keyfile.bin";
  networking.hostName = "nixos"; # Define your hostname.
  # networking.wireless.enable = true;  # Enables wireless support via wpa_supplicant.

  # Configure network proxy if necessary
  # networking.proxy.default = "http://user:password@proxy:port/";
  # networking.proxy.noProxy = "127.0.0.1,localhost,internal.domain";

  # Enable networking
  networking.networkmanager.enable = true;

  # Set your time zone.
  time.timeZone = "America/Sao_Paulo";

  # Select internationalisation properties.
  i18n = {
    defaultLocale = "en_US.UTF-8";
    supportedLocales = [
      "en_US.UTF-8/UTF-8"
      "zh_CN.UTF-8/UTF-8"  # Se você precisar de suporte ao chinês
    ];
  };

  i18n.inputMethod = {
    enable = true;
    type = "ibus";
    ibus.engines = with pkgs.ibus-engines; [
      libpinyin
      m17n
    ];
  };


environment.variables = {
    GTK_IM_MODULE = "ibus";
    QT_IM_MODULE = "ibus";
    XMODIFIERS = "@im=ibus";
    LANG = "en_US.UTF-8";
    LC_ALL = "en_US.UTF-8";
  };

  i18n.extraLocaleSettings = {
    LC_ADDRESS = "pt_BR.UTF-8";
    LC_IDENTIFICATION = "pt_BR.UTF-8";
    LC_MEASUREMENT = "pt_BR.UTF-8";
    LC_MONETARY = "pt_BR.UTF-8";
    LC_NAME = "pt_BR.UTF-8";
    LC_NUMERIC = "pt_BR.UTF-8";
    LC_PAPER = "pt_BR.UTF-8";
    LC_TELEPHONE = "pt_BR.UTF-8";
    LC_TIME = "pt_BR.UTF-8";
  };

  # Enable the X11 windowing system.
  #services.xserver.enable = true;
  services.xserver = {
    enable = true;
    desktopManager = {xterm.enable=false;};
    windowManager.i3 = {
      enable = true;
      extraPackages = with pkgs; [
        dmenu
        i3status
	i3lock
	i3blocks
      ];
    };
  };

  services.displayManager = {
      defaultSession = "none+i3";
    };
  #services.xserver.enable = true;
  services.xserver.windowManager.i3.package = pkgs.i3-gaps;
  programs.dconf.enable = true;

  # Enable the XFCE Desktop Environment.
services.xserver.displayManager.lightdm = {
  enable = true;

};

  # Configure keymap in X11
  services.xserver.xkb = {
    layout = "us";
    variant = "alt-intl";
  };

  # Configure console keymap
  console.keyMap = "dvorak";

  # Enable CUPS to print documents.
  services.printing.enable = true;

  # Enable sound with pipewire.
  hardware.pulseaudio.enable = false;
  security.rtkit.enable = true;
  services.pipewire = {
    enable = true;
    alsa.enable = true;
    alsa.support32Bit = true;
    pulse.enable = true;
    # If you want to use JACK applications, uncomment this
    #jack.enable = true;

    # use the example session manager (no others are packaged yet so this is enabled by default,
    # no need to redefine it in your config for now)
    #media-session.enable = true;
  };

  # Enable touchpad support (enabled default in most desktopManager).
  # services.xserver.libinput.enable = true;

  # Define a user account. Don't forget to set a password with ‘passwd’.
  users.users.alexandre = {
    isNormalUser = true;
    description = "Alexandre";
    extraGroups = [ "networkmanager" "wheel" "docker"];
    packages = with pkgs; [
    #  thunderbird
    ];
  };

    users.defaultUserShell=pkgs.zsh;


  # Install firefox.
  programs.firefox.enable = true;

# enable zsh and oh my zsh
programs = {
   zsh = {
      enable = true;
      autosuggestions.enable = true;
      zsh-autoenv.enable = true;
      syntaxHighlighting.enable = true;
      ohMyZsh = {
         enable = true;
         plugins = [
           "git"
           "history"
         ];
      };
   };
};

 # Install Steam
  programs.steam.enable = true;

  # Allow unfree packages
  nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree = true;

  # List packages installed in system profile. To search, run:
  # $ nix search wget
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
 	vim
	gnupg
	git
    	wget
    	brave
	alacritty
	nitrogen
	arandr
	discord
	jetbrains.idea-ultimate
	rofi
	xfce.thunar
	xfce.thunar-volman
	xfce.thunar-archive-plugin
	lxappearance
	zsh
	papirus-icon-theme
	localsend
	bitwarden-desktop
	flatpak
	dunst
	maven
	docker-client
	docker-compose
	pgadmin4
	neovim
	asdf-vm
	thefuck
	fzf
	fzf-git-sh
	lazydocker
	lazygit
	gearlever
	krita
	ibus
	ibus-engines.libpinyin
	ibus-engines.m17n
	libpinyin
	xournalpp
	#protonvpn-gui
	awscli2
	flameshot
  ];


  # List services that you want to enable:
	virtualisation.docker.enable = true;

  # Enable the OpenSSH daemon.
  	services.openssh.enable = true;
  system.stateVersion = "24.11"; # Did you read the comment?

}

Steps Taken

1. Configured Locales

I ensured that both en_US.UTF-8 and zh_CN.UTF-8 are included in i18n.supportedLocales. After rebuilding the system, I verified that the locales are installed:

Input:

locale -a

Output:

C
en_US.utf8
zh_CN.utf8
POSIX

2. Enabled IBus and Added Engines

I enabled IBus as the input method and added the required engines (libpinyin and m17n) in i18n.inputMethod.ibus.engines.

3. Set Environment Variables

I exported the necessary environment variables (GTK_IM_MODULE, QT_IM_MODULE, XMODIFIERS, etc.) both globally in environment.variables and locally in ~/.xprofile:

export GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus
export QT_IM_MODULE=ibus
export XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

ibus-daemon -drx &

4. Restarted i3wm

After applying the changes, I restarted i3wm and tried to start IBus manually:

ibus-daemon -drx

However, IBus does not seem to connect properly, and I only have the English (US, alt. intl.) input method available.

Current Issues

Missing Input Methods : Only the English (US, alt. intl.) input method is available. Intelligent Pinyin and Hanyu Pinyin (m17n) do not appear in the IBus settings.

Questions

  1. How can I ensure that IBus starts correctly with i3wm?
  2. Why are the additional input methods (Intelligent Pinyin and Hanyu Pinyin) not appearing in IBus?

Additional Information

  • NixOS version: 24.11
  • Window manager: i3-gaps
  • Display manager: LightDM
  • Installed packages: ibus, ibus-engines.libpinyin, ibus-engines.m17n

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.