diff --git a/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Package.swift b/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Package.swift
index ea0b7fd50..535fa1e67 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Package.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Package.swift
@@ -75,3 +75,6 @@ extension Ghostty.Notification {
     static let ghosttyFocusSplit = Notification.Name("com.mitchellh.ghostty.focusSplit")
     static let SplitDirectionKey = ghosttyFocusSplit.rawValue
 }
+
+// Make the input enum hashable.
+extension ghostty_input_key_e : Hashable {}
diff --git a/macos/Sources/Ghostty/SurfaceView.swift b/macos/Sources/Ghostty/SurfaceView.swift
index 7afc826b6..daacc8028 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Ghostty/SurfaceView.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/Ghostty/SurfaceView.swift
@@ -303,9 +303,26 @@ extension Ghostty {
 
         override func keyDown(with event: NSEvent) {
             guard let surface = self.surface else { return }
-            let key = Self.keycodes[event.keyCode] ?? GHOSTTY_KEY_INVALID
             let mods = Self.translateFlags(event.modifierFlags)
             let action = event.isARepeat ? GHOSTTY_ACTION_REPEAT : GHOSTTY_ACTION_PRESS
+
+            // We translate the key to the localized keyboard layout. However, we only support
+            // ASCII characters to make our translation easier across platforms. This is something
+            // we want to make a lot more robust in the future, so this will hopefully change.
+            // For now, this makes most keyboard layouts work, and for those that don't, they can
+            // use physical keycode mappings.
+            let key = {
+                if let str = event.characters(byApplyingModifiers: .init(rawValue: 0)) {
+                    if str.utf8.count == 1, let firstByte = str.utf8.first {
+                        if let translatedKey = Self.ascii[firstByte] {
+                            return translatedKey
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+                
+                return Self.keycodes[event.keyCode] ?? GHOSTTY_KEY_INVALID
+            }()
+            
             ghostty_surface_key(surface, action, key, mods)
             
             self.interpretKeyEvents([event])
@@ -536,6 +553,89 @@ extension Ghostty {
             0x43: GHOSTTY_KEY_KP_MULTIPLY,
             0x4E: GHOSTTY_KEY_KP_SUBTRACT,
         ];
+        
+        static let ascii: [UInt8 : ghostty_input_key_e] = [
+            // 0-9
+            0x30: GHOSTTY_KEY_ZERO,
+            0x31: GHOSTTY_KEY_ONE,
+            0x32: GHOSTTY_KEY_TWO,
+            0x33: GHOSTTY_KEY_THREE,
+            0x34: GHOSTTY_KEY_FOUR,
+            0x35: GHOSTTY_KEY_FIVE,
+            0x36: GHOSTTY_KEY_SIX,
+            0x37: GHOSTTY_KEY_SEVEN,
+            0x38: GHOSTTY_KEY_EIGHT,
+            0x39: GHOSTTY_KEY_NINE,
+            
+            // A-Z
+            0x41: GHOSTTY_KEY_A,
+            0x42: GHOSTTY_KEY_B,
+            0x43: GHOSTTY_KEY_C,
+            0x44: GHOSTTY_KEY_D,
+            0x45: GHOSTTY_KEY_E,
+            0x46: GHOSTTY_KEY_F,
+            0x47: GHOSTTY_KEY_G,
+            0x48: GHOSTTY_KEY_H,
+            0x49: GHOSTTY_KEY_I,
+            0x4A: GHOSTTY_KEY_J,
+            0x4B: GHOSTTY_KEY_K,
+            0x4C: GHOSTTY_KEY_L,
+            0x4D: GHOSTTY_KEY_M,
+            0x4E: GHOSTTY_KEY_N,
+            0x4F: GHOSTTY_KEY_O,
+            0x50: GHOSTTY_KEY_P,
+            0x51: GHOSTTY_KEY_Q,
+            0x52: GHOSTTY_KEY_R,
+            0x53: GHOSTTY_KEY_S,
+            0x54: GHOSTTY_KEY_T,
+            0x55: GHOSTTY_KEY_U,
+            0x56: GHOSTTY_KEY_V,
+            0x57: GHOSTTY_KEY_W,
+            0x58: GHOSTTY_KEY_X,
+            0x59: GHOSTTY_KEY_Y,
+            0x5A: GHOSTTY_KEY_Z,
+            
+            // a-z
+            0x61: GHOSTTY_KEY_A,
+            0x62: GHOSTTY_KEY_B,
+            0x63: GHOSTTY_KEY_C,
+            0x64: GHOSTTY_KEY_D,
+            0x65: GHOSTTY_KEY_E,
+            0x66: GHOSTTY_KEY_F,
+            0x67: GHOSTTY_KEY_G,
+            0x68: GHOSTTY_KEY_H,
+            0x69: GHOSTTY_KEY_I,
+            0x6A: GHOSTTY_KEY_J,
+            0x6B: GHOSTTY_KEY_K,
+            0x6C: GHOSTTY_KEY_L,
+            0x6D: GHOSTTY_KEY_M,
+            0x6E: GHOSTTY_KEY_N,
+            0x6F: GHOSTTY_KEY_O,
+            0x70: GHOSTTY_KEY_P,
+            0x71: GHOSTTY_KEY_Q,
+            0x72: GHOSTTY_KEY_R,
+            0x73: GHOSTTY_KEY_S,
+            0x74: GHOSTTY_KEY_T,
+            0x75: GHOSTTY_KEY_U,
+            0x76: GHOSTTY_KEY_V,
+            0x77: GHOSTTY_KEY_W,
+            0x78: GHOSTTY_KEY_X,
+            0x79: GHOSTTY_KEY_Y,
+            0x7A: GHOSTTY_KEY_Z,
+            
+            // Symbols
+            0x27: GHOSTTY_KEY_APOSTROPHE,
+            0x5C: GHOSTTY_KEY_BACKSLASH,
+            0x2C: GHOSTTY_KEY_COMMA,
+            0x3D: GHOSTTY_KEY_EQUAL,
+            0x60: GHOSTTY_KEY_GRAVE_ACCENT,
+            0x5B: GHOSTTY_KEY_LEFT_BRACKET,
+            0x2D: GHOSTTY_KEY_MINUS,
+            0x2E: GHOSTTY_KEY_PERIOD,
+            0x5D: GHOSTTY_KEY_RIGHT_BRACKET,
+            0x3B: GHOSTTY_KEY_SEMICOLON,
+            0x2F: GHOSTTY_KEY_SLASH,
+        ]
     }
 }