8BitDo Control Center

A desktop configuration utility for 8BitDo Ultimate controllers on Linux. It reads the physical controller through evdev, runs input through a configurable transform pipeline (calibration, deadzones, response curves, remapping), and outputs a remapped virtual controller through uinput — without depending on any proprietary 8BitDo software or undocumented USB/firmware protocols.

Built with Tauri 2, React + TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, and Rust.

Status: Device discovery and read-only evdev input observation are implemented. The virtual-controller output pipeline remains opt-in work in progress; until it is enabled, the app never changes physical controller output.

Features (current)

• Dark, light, and high-contrast themes
• Profile management: create, rename, duplicate, delete, reset, import, export — persisted as versioned JSON under ~/.config/8bitdo-control-center/profiles/
• Five built-in profiles (Default, FPS, Racing, Platformer, Custom)
• Reusable, generic SVG controller diagram (front + rear views, clickable hotspots)
• Button remapping (button/key/mouse/disabled, with turbo/toggle/hold/long-press/ double-tap modes)
• Analog stick tuning: inner/outer/anti-deadzone, radial/axial mode, sensitivity, inversion, circularity correction, smoothing, response curve presets, with a live raw-vs-processed preview and a draggable pad to simulate input
• Trigger tuning: deadzone, max activation, sensitivity, hair-trigger, digital mode, inversion, response curve, with a live preview
• Motion page (gyro + vibration controls, hidden when unsupported)
• Input tester: live button/stick/trigger/gyro readout, poll rate estimate, and a scrollable raw event log, drivable via a simulated controller
• Device information page
• Linux evdev discovery/capability probing and live raw input event streaming for detected physical gamepads, with a simulated fallback for development
• Explicit Apply / Revert / Save Profile controls with unsaved-changes warnings

Getting started (Linux Mint / Ubuntu-based)

Prerequisites

# Rust toolchain
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# Tauri Linux system dependencies
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1-dev \
  libsoup-3.0-dev libgtk-3-dev librsvg2-dev libudev-dev \
  libayatana-appindicator3-dev libssl-dev build-essential curl wget file pkg-config

Node.js 20+ and npm are also required.

Run in development

npm install
npm run tauri dev

Build a release bundle

npm run tauri build

Project structure

src/                        React + TypeScript frontend
├── components/
│   ├── layout/              Sidebar, TopBar, AppLayout, PageShell
│   ├── controller/           Generic SVG controller diagram + hotspots
│   ├── inputs/                Slider, Toggle, Select, TextField, SimulatedStickPad
│   ├── feedback/               Toasts, confirm dialog, unsaved-changes bar
│   ├── visualizations/          Stick/trigger preview, event log
│   └── common/                   Panel, Button, Badge, StatusDot
├── pages/                     One component per sidebar destination
├── hooks/                      useTheme, useController, useProfileInit, ...
├── services/                    Tauri command wrappers + the mock controller backend
├── stores/                       Zustand stores (controller, profile, settings, ui)
├── types/                         Mirrors of the Rust profile/controller structs
├── utils/                         Deadzone/curve math shared by every preview
└── constants/                     Canonical control IDs, nav items

src-tauri/                  Rust backend (Tauri 2)
├── src/
│   ├── commands/            Tauri command handlers (profiles, system)
│   ├── profile_schema.rs     Versioned profile data model + migration
│   ├── profile_manager.rs     Disk-backed profile CRUD
│   └── default_profiles.rs     Built-in profile templates

Roadmap

1. Phase 1 — Shell & scaffolding (current) — app shell, theming, profile management, controller visualization, and a simulated controller backend so every page is usable before real hardware is wired up.
2. Phase 2 — Real device visibility — device_detection/evdev_reader, capability probing, live Device Information + Input Tester pages.
3. Phase 3 — Core remap pipeline — uinput_writer, the real input_transform deadzone/sensitivity pipeline, and Apply/Revert/Save wired to the live pipeline.
4. Phase 4 — Profiles in depth — shortcut-combo/process-based profile switching, the calibration wizard, and the custom curve point editor.
5. Phase 5 — Advanced mapping & polish — macros, shift layers, motion/vibration against real hardware, diagnostics/support bundle, udev rules + setup script, packaging, and the full Rust test suite.

Permissions

The app never needs to run as root. A later phase adds a udev rule and setup script that grant a dedicated group access to the controller's evdev nodes and /dev/uinput.

See Troubleshooting and the detailed development roadmap for permissions and hardware-mode guidance.