rime-winime

Use commercial Chinese IMEs (Sogou Pinyin, QQPinyin) as backends for the Rime input method framework — across Linux, macOS (Squirrel), and Windows (Weasel).

How It Works

┌─────────────────────┐    gRPC     ┌─────────────────────┐
│  Rime frontend      │◄──────────► │  ime-grpc-host-v2   │
│  + rime-remote      │  (proto3)   │  (Rust, under Wine) │
│  plugin (v3)        │             │                     │
│                     │             │  Loads Win32 .ime   │
│  fcitx5 / ibus /    │             │  via Win32 IMM API  │
│  Squirrel / Weasel  │             └─────────────────────┘
└─────────────────────┘

A Rime plugin (rime-remote) forwards keystrokes over gRPC to a Rust server (ime-grpc-host-v2) that loads a Windows .ime DLL through the Win32 IMM API. The server runs under Wine on Linux/macOS or natively on Windows. Candidates flow back to Rime for display.

Components

Component	Language	Description
rime-remote	C++	librime plugin (v3). Standard Processor/Segmentor/Translator pipeline.
ime-grpc-host-v2	Rust	gRPC server. Loads .ime DLLs via Win32 IMM DDI. 32-bit and 64-bit targets.
grpc-contract-v2	Protobuf	Service definition (rime.service.v2): ProcessKey, GetContext, GetCommit, etc.
rime-grpc-proxy-v2	C++	Predecessor plugin (v2). Monolithic Rime C API hooking. Superseded by rime-remote.

Supported IME DLLs

IME	Version	Architecture
QQPinyin	6.6.6304	32-bit
Sogou Pinyin (10.5b)	10.5.0.4737	32-bit
Sogou Pinyin (16.3)	16.3.0.3318	64-bit

Supported Rime Frontends

• fcitx5-rime / ibus-rime (Linux)
• Squirrel (macOS)
• Weasel (Windows)

Project Structure

rime-winime/
├── src/
│   ├── rime-remote/          # v3 librime plugin (production)
│   ├── rime-grpc-proxy-v2/   # v2 librime plugin (superseded)
│   ├── ime-grpc-host-v2/     # Rust gRPC server
│   ├── grpc-contract-v2/     # Protobuf service definition
│   ├── reverse/              # Reverse engineering notes and POC scripts
│   └── memories/             # Working notes from development
├── docs/                     # Technical documentation
│   ├── LLM_CONTEXT.md        # AI assistant context manual
│   ├── ARCHITECTURE.md       # System architecture
│   ├── SETUP_AND_USAGE.md    # Build, deploy, and run guide
│   ├── DEVELOPMENT_HISTORY.md# Timeline and decisions
│   ├── GRPC_PROTOCOL.md      # gRPC protocol reference
│   ├── REVERSE_ENGINEERING.md # Sogou DLL reverse engineering
│   └── WIN32_IMM_INTERNALS.md# Win32 IMM API internals
└── ...

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Rust stable (≥ 1.78) with i686-pc-windows-gnu and/or x86_64-pc-windows-gnu targets
• CMake ≥ 3.16, C++17 compiler
• gRPC C++ and Protobuf
• librime (≥ 1.9)
• Wine (≥ 9.0)
• A Windows .ime DLL (see table above)

Build

# Rust host (32-bit, for QQPinyin / Sogou 10.5b)
cd src/ime-grpc-host-v2
cargo build --release --target i686-pc-windows-gnu

# Rust host (64-bit, for Sogou 16.3)
cargo build --release --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu

# Rime plugin
cd src/rime-remote
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/path/to/librime
cmake --build build

Run

# Terminal 1: Start the IME host under Wine
WINEPREFIX=~/.wine64 WINEDEBUG=-all \
  wine target/x86_64-pc-windows-gnu/release/ime-grpc-host-v2.exe \
  --bind 127.0.0.1:50056 --ime-path "C:\\windows\\system32\\SogouPY.ime"

# Terminal 2: Deploy Rime schema and restart your frontend
rime_deployer --build

Type nihao in any editor — you should see Chinese candidates from Sogou.

See docs/SETUP_AND_USAGE.md for full setup instructions including Wine prefix creation, IME installation, production systemd deployment, and troubleshooting.

Documentation

Document	Audience	Description
LLM_CONTEXT.md	AI assistants	Compact context manual for code generation
ARCHITECTURE.md	Developers	Component design, data flow, thread model
SETUP_AND_USAGE.md	Operators	Build, configure, deploy, troubleshoot
DEVELOPMENT_HISTORY.md	Anyone	10-day timeline, decisions, evolution
GRPC_PROTOCOL.md	Developers	Protobuf message reference, RPC semantics
REVERSE_ENGINEERING.md	Researchers	Win32 IME DLL internals, byte_3554, IDA analysis
WIN32_IMM_INTERNALS.md	Developers	IMM DDI lifecycle, COMPOSITIONSTRING, Wine quirks

Version History

Version	Component	Architecture	Status
v1	rime-grpc-proxy + ime-grpc-host	Direct Rime C API loading	Abandoned
v2	rime-grpc-proxy-v2 + ime-grpc-host-v2	Monolithic API hooking	Superseded
v3	rime-remote + ime-grpc-host-v2	Standard Rime pipeline	Production

License

MIT