gbin · alinelena · Aug 31, 2026 · Sep 1, 2026
diff --git a/doc/USER-GUIDE.md b/doc/USER-GUIDE.md
@@ -20,6 +20,15 @@ Applications → Projecteur**.
 
 Projecteur stores its settings in `~/.config/projecteurrc`.
 
+## Pointer modes: Spotlight & Laser Pointer
+
+Projecteur supports two primary on-screen pointer modes:
+
+1. **Spotlight Mode**: Dims the background display and highlights the area of interest using configurable shapes (circle, square, star, ngon), borders, center dot, and live KPipeWire magnification.
+2. **Laser Pointer Mode**: Projects a crisp, vibrant digital laser dot with an optical diode hotspot core and an optional glowing halo / aura. Does not dim the screen or hide background elements.
+
+Switch modes easily from the Plasma applet menu, **Preferences → Active Pointer Mode**, global shortcuts, presenter button actions, or CLI/D-Bus commands.
+
 ## Spotlight and presets
 
 Under **Preferences → Spotlight**, you can configure:
@@ -32,13 +41,22 @@ Under **Preferences → Spotlight**, you can configure:
 - multi-screen behavior.
 
 Save combinations as presets when different situations need different treatment:
-for example, a small dot for slides, a large text magnifier for a code demo, and
-a borderless highlight for video.
+for example, a small dot for slides, a large text magnifier for a code demo, a
+glowing red laser pointer for annotations, and a borderless highlight for video.
+Presets remember whether they are configured for Spotlight or Laser Pointer mode.
 
 Presets are ordered alphabetically when Projecteur starts. Prefix names with
 numbers if you want a fixed cycle order, such as `1 Slides`, `2 Demo`, and
 `3 Questions`.
 
+## Laser pointer customization
+
+Under **Preferences → Laser Pointer**, you can configure:
+
+- **Laser Dot**: Dot size (in pixels), color (any RGB/HTML color), and opacity.
+- **Laser Glow / Halo**: Enable or disable the outer soft glowing aura, glow size, glow color, and glow opacity.
+- **Laser Trail Mark**: Leave an optical fading persistence trace behind pointer movement for gesturing, circling, and underlining slides. Configure trail duration (100–2000 ms), stroke width (1–30 px), color, and opacity.
+
 ## Live zoom modes
 
 Zoom uses a low-latency stream from KWin through KPipeWire. Videos, animations,
@@ -61,16 +79,18 @@ only from the build directory cannot use the normal zoom path.
 
 Projecteur registers native KDE global actions for:
 
-- toggling the spotlight;
-- opening preferences;
-- starting or resetting the presentation timer;
-- selecting the next or previous preset.
+- toggling the spotlight (`toggle_spotlight`);
+- toggling the laser pointer (`toggle_laser`);
+- toggling between pointer modes (`toggle_pointer_mode`);
+- opening preferences (`show_preferences`);
+- starting or resetting the presentation timer (`start_restart_timer`, `reset_timer`);
+- selecting the next or previous preset (`next_preset`, `previous_preset`).
 
 No key combinations are assigned by default. Set them under **Preferences →
 Shortcuts** or **System Settings → Keyboard → Shortcuts → Projecteur**.
 
 This also makes Projecteur useful without presenter hardware: assign **Toggle
-Spotlight**, then use it while sharing your screen in a meeting or recording a
+Spotlight** or **Toggle Laser Pointer**, then use it while sharing your screen in a meeting or recording a
 demo.
 
 ## Presentation timer
@@ -87,7 +107,10 @@ can provide configurable haptic feedback.
 Projecteur can map device input to:
 
 - a keyboard sequence;
-- the next or previous spotlight preset;
+- toggling the spotlight overlay;
+- toggling the laser pointer;
+- toggling between pointer modes (Spotlight / Laser);
+- cycling or selecting presets;
 - vertical or horizontal scrolling;
 - volume control;
 - other built-in presentation actions.
@@ -119,6 +142,10 @@ Projecteur can control an already running instance from scripts. Common examples
 
 ```sh
 projecteur --command spot=toggle
+projecteur --command laser=toggle
+projecteur --command pointer=laser
+projecteur --command pointer=toggle
+projecteur --command laser.size.adjust=+5
 projecteur --command settings=show
 projecteur --command preset="2 Demo"
 ```

diff --git a/plasma/projecteurapplet.cc b/plasma/projecteurapplet.cc
@@ -47,6 +47,11 @@ void ProjecteurApplet::setSpotlightActive(bool active)
   if (m_interface) { m_interface->SetSpotlightActive(active); }
 }
 
+void ProjecteurApplet::setPointerMode(const QString& mode)
+{
+  if (m_interface) { m_interface->SetPointerMode(mode); }
+}
+
 void ProjecteurApplet::loadPreset(const QString& preset)
 {
   if (m_interface) { m_interface->LoadPreset(preset); }
@@ -129,6 +134,13 @@ void ProjecteurApplet::remoteSpotlightActiveChanged(bool active)
   emit spotlightActiveChanged();
 }
 
+void ProjecteurApplet::remotePointerModeChanged(const QString& mode)
+{
+  if (m_pointerMode == mode) { return; }
+  m_pointerMode = mode;
+  emit pointerModeChanged();
+}
+
 void ProjecteurApplet::remoteConnectedDevicesChanged(const QStringList& devices)
 {
   if (m_connectedDevices == devices) { return; }
@@ -203,6 +215,8 @@ void ProjecteurApplet::createInterface()
           this, &ProjecteurApplet::remoteOverlayEnabledChanged);
   connect(m_interface, &OrgProjecteurProjecteurInterface::spotlightActiveChanged,
           this, &ProjecteurApplet::remoteSpotlightActiveChanged);
+  connect(m_interface, &OrgProjecteurProjecteurInterface::pointerModeChanged,
+          this, &ProjecteurApplet::remotePointerModeChanged);
   connect(m_interface, &OrgProjecteurProjecteurInterface::connectedDevicesChanged,
           this, &ProjecteurApplet::remoteConnectedDevicesChanged);
   connect(m_interface,
@@ -236,6 +250,7 @@ void ProjecteurApplet::refresh()
   }
   remoteOverlayEnabledChanged(m_interface->overlayEnabled());
   remoteSpotlightActiveChanged(m_interface->spotlightActive());
+  remotePointerModeChanged(m_interface->pointerMode());
   remoteConnectedDevicesChanged(m_interface->connectedDevices());
   remoteConnectedDeviceBatteryLevelsChanged(m_interface->connectedDeviceBatteryLevels());
   remoteConnectedDeviceBatteryStatusesChanged(m_interface->connectedDeviceBatteryStatuses());
@@ -259,6 +274,7 @@ void ProjecteurApplet::resetState()
   }
   remoteOverlayEnabledChanged(true);
   remoteSpotlightActiveChanged(false);
+  remotePointerModeChanged(QStringLiteral("spotlight"));
   remoteConnectedDevicesChanged({});
   remoteConnectedDeviceBatteryLevelsChanged({});
   remoteConnectedDeviceBatteryStatusesChanged({});

diff --git a/plasma/projecteurapplet.h b/plasma/projecteurapplet.h
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ class ProjecteurApplet : public Plasma::Applet
   Q_PROPERTY(bool trayVisible READ trayVisible NOTIFY trayVisibleChanged)
   Q_PROPERTY(bool overlayEnabled READ overlayEnabled NOTIFY overlayEnabledChanged)
   Q_PROPERTY(bool spotlightActive READ spotlightActive NOTIFY spotlightActiveChanged)
+  Q_PROPERTY(QString pointerMode READ pointerMode NOTIFY pointerModeChanged)
   Q_PROPERTY(QStringList connectedDevices READ connectedDevices NOTIFY connectedDevicesChanged)
   Q_PROPERTY(QList<int> connectedDeviceBatteryLevels READ connectedDeviceBatteryLevels
              NOTIFY connectedDeviceBatteryLevelsChanged)
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@ class ProjecteurApplet : public Plasma::Applet
   bool trayVisible() const { return m_trayVisible; }
   bool overlayEnabled() const { return m_overlayEnabled; }
   bool spotlightActive() const { return m_spotlightActive; }
+  QString pointerMode() const { return m_pointerMode; }
   QStringList connectedDevices() const { return m_connectedDevices; }
   QList<int> connectedDeviceBatteryLevels() const { return m_connectedDeviceBatteryLevels; }
   QStringList connectedDeviceBatteryStatuses() const { return m_connectedDeviceBatteryStatuses; }
@@ -50,6 +52,7 @@ class ProjecteurApplet : public Plasma::Applet
 
   Q_INVOKABLE void setOverlayEnabled(bool enabled);
   Q_INVOKABLE void setSpotlightActive(bool active);
+  Q_INVOKABLE void setPointerMode(const QString& mode);
   Q_INVOKABLE void loadPreset(const QString& preset);
   Q_INVOKABLE void setTimerEnabled(bool enabled);
   Q_INVOKABLE void startTimer();
@@ -66,6 +69,7 @@ class ProjecteurApplet : public Plasma::Applet
   void trayVisibleChanged();
   void overlayEnabledChanged();
   void spotlightActiveChanged();
+  void pointerModeChanged();
   void connectedDevicesChanged();
   void connectedDeviceBatteryLevelsChanged();
   void connectedDeviceBatteryStatusesChanged();
@@ -81,6 +85,7 @@ private slots:
   void serviceUnregistered(const QString& service);
   void remoteOverlayEnabledChanged(bool enabled);
   void remoteSpotlightActiveChanged(bool active);
+  void remotePointerModeChanged(const QString& mode);
   void remoteConnectedDevicesChanged(const QStringList& devices);
   void remoteConnectedDeviceBatteryLevelsChanged(const QList<int>& levels);
   void remoteConnectedDeviceBatteryStatusesChanged(const QStringList& statuses);
@@ -103,6 +108,7 @@ private slots:
   bool m_trayVisible = true;
   bool m_overlayEnabled = true;
   bool m_spotlightActive = false;
+  QString m_pointerMode = QStringLiteral("spotlight");
   QStringList m_connectedDevices;
   QList<int> m_connectedDeviceBatteryLevels;
   QStringList m_connectedDeviceBatteryStatuses;

diff --git a/plasma/qml/FullRepresentation.qml b/plasma/qml/FullRepresentation.qml
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ PlasmaExtras.Representation {
                 spacing: Kirigami.Units.smallSpacing
 
                 PlasmaComponents3.Label {
-                    text: i18n("Spotlight")
+                    text: i18n("Pointer Controls")
                     font.bold: true
                 }
 
@@ -320,6 +320,29 @@ PlasmaExtras.Representation {
                 Layout.fillWidth: true
                 spacing: Kirigami.Units.smallSpacing
 
+                RowLayout {
+                    Layout.fillWidth: true
+                    spacing: Kirigami.Units.smallSpacing
+
+                    PlasmaComponents3.Label {
+                        text: i18n("Mode:")
+                    }
+
+                    PlasmaComponents3.ComboBox {
+                        id: modeCombo
+
+                        Layout.fillWidth: true
+                        enabled: root.backend && root.backend.serviceAvailable
+                        model: [i18n("Spotlight"), i18n("Laser Pointer")]
+                        currentIndex: (root.backend && root.backend.pointerMode === "laser") ? 1 : 0
+                        onActivated: (index) => {
+                            if (root.backend) {
+                                root.backend.setPointerMode(index === 1 ? "laser" : "spotlight");
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+
                 RowLayout {
                     Layout.fillWidth: true
                     spacing: Kirigami.Units.smallSpacing
@@ -355,7 +378,13 @@ PlasmaExtras.Representation {
                     PlasmaComponents3.Button {
                         Layout.fillWidth: true
                         enabled: root.backend && root.backend.serviceAvailable
-                        text: root.backend && root.backend.spotlightActive ? i18n("Hide Spotlight") : i18n("Test Spotlight")
+                        text: {
+                            const isLaser = root.backend && root.backend.pointerMode === "laser";
+                            if (root.backend && root.backend.spotlightActive) {
+                                return isLaser ? i18n("Hide Laser") : i18n("Hide Spotlight");
+                            }
+                            return isLaser ? i18n("Test Laser") : i18n("Test Spotlight");
+                        }
                         icon.name: root.backend && root.backend.spotlightActive ? "visibility-hidden-symbolic" : "visibility-symbolic"
                         onClicked: root.backend.setSpotlightActive(!root.backend.spotlightActive)
                     }