From d64dffe14ff5fe809667f745de52c3fdc3ebddc0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Henrik Lemke <htlemke@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2026 08:38:57 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] keypress: keep GUI event loops running while waiting for a
 key

The terminal tweaks wait for keys in a blocking select/sleep loop on the
main thread, which starved the Qt event loop for the whole tweak: live
plots and camera viewers froze until q. wait_input() now waits the way
the IPython prompt does, by running the active GUI input hook until stdin
is readable, or pumping an existing QApplication every 20 ms when there
is no hook. Key handling is unchanged.
---
 eco/utilities/keypress.py | 73 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 71 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/eco/utilities/keypress.py b/eco/utilities/keypress.py
index ca3433a..51c0665 100644
--- a/eco/utilities/keypress.py
+++ b/eco/utilities/keypress.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import select
 import tty
 import termios
 import time
+import threading
 
 arrow_up = "\x1b[A"
 arrow_UP = "\x1b[2A"
@@ -36,14 +37,82 @@ def getc():
     return c
 
 
+class _InputHookContext:
+    """Minimal stand-in for prompt_toolkit's InputHookContext, which is all
+    IPython's GUI input hooks (qt, tk, gtk, ...) look at."""
+
+    def __init__(self, fd):
+        self._fd = fd
+
+    def fileno(self):
+        return self._fd
+
+    def input_is_ready(self):
+        return select.select([self._fd], [], [], 0)[0] != []
+
+
+def _gui_input_hook():
+    """The input hook IPython runs while it waits at the prompt (set by
+    ``%gui qt`` / ``%matplotlib qt`` / eco's startup), or None.
+
+    Only usable from the main thread of a terminal IPython session."""
+    if threading.current_thread() is not threading.main_thread():
+        return None
+    try:
+        from IPython import get_ipython
+
+        shell = get_ipython()
+    except Exception:
+        return None
+    if shell is None or getattr(shell, "_inputhook", None) is None:
+        return None
+    hook = getattr(shell, "inputhook", None)
+    return hook if callable(hook) else None
+
+
+def _qt_app():
+    if threading.current_thread() is not threading.main_thread():
+        return None
+    qtw = sys.modules.get("qtpy.QtWidgets") or sys.modules.get("PyQt5.QtWidgets")
+    if qtw is None:
+        return None
+    try:
+        return qtw.QApplication.instance()
+    except Exception:
+        return None
+
+
+def _wait_for_stdin():
+    """Block until stdin is readable, but keep GUI event loops running.
+
+    A plain select/sleep loop here starves the Qt event loop for as long as a
+    tweak runs, freezing every live plot / camera viewer. Instead we do what
+    IPython itself does at the prompt: run the active GUI input hook, which
+    spins the GUI event loop until a key arrives (zero CPU for qt). Without a
+    hook but with a QApplication around, pump it every 20 ms."""
+    fd = sys.stdin.fileno()
+    hook = _gui_input_hook()
+    if hook is not None:
+        ctx = _InputHookContext(fd)
+        try:
+            while not ctx.input_is_ready():
+                hook(ctx)
+            return
+        except Exception:
+            pass  # fall through to the plain wait below
+    app = _qt_app()
+    while not select.select([fd], [], [], 0.02 if app is not None else 1)[0]:
+        if app is not None:
+            app.processEvents()
+
+
 def wait_input():
     """wait for a character and returns it"""
     old_settings = termios.tcgetattr(sys.stdin)
     c = None
     try:
         tty.setcbreak(sys.stdin.fileno())
-        while not isData():
-            time.sleep(0.001)
+        _wait_for_stdin()
         c = sys.stdin.read(1)
         if c == "\x1b":
             cc = sys.stdin.read(2)