diff --git a/piker/ui/_event.py b/piker/ui/_event.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..889f4e34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/piker/ui/_event.py
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+# piker: trading gear for hackers
+# Copyright (C) Tyler Goodlet (in stewardship for piker0)
+
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+"""
+Qt event proxying and processing using ``trio`` mem chans.
+
+"""
+from contextlib import asynccontextmanager
+
+from PyQt5 import QtCore, QtGui
+from PyQt5.QtCore import QEvent
+import trio
+
+
+class KeyCloner(QtCore.QObject):
+    """Clone and forward keyboard events over a trio memory channel
+    for later async processing.
+
+    """
+
+    _send_chan: trio.abc.SendChannel = None
+
+    def eventFilter(
+        self,
+        source: QtGui.QWidget,
+        ev: QEvent,
+    ) -> None:
+
+        if ev.type() == QEvent.KeyPress:
+
+            # XXX: we unpack here because apparently doing it
+            # after pop from the mem chan isn't showing the same
+            # event object? no clue wtf is going on there, likely
+            # something to do with Qt internals and calling the
+            # parent handler?
+            key = ev.key()
+            mods = ev.modifiers()
+            txt = ev.text()
+
+            # run async processing
+            self._send_chan.send_nowait((key, mods, txt))
+
+        # never intercept the event
+        return False
+
+
+@asynccontextmanager
+async def open_key_stream(
+
+    source_widget: QtGui.QWidget,
+
+) -> trio.abc.ReceiveChannel:
+
+    send, recv = trio.open_memory_channel(1)
+
+    kc = KeyCloner()
+    kc._send_chan = send
+    source_widget.installEventFilter(kc)
+
+    try:
+        yield recv
+    finally:
+        await send.aclose()
+        source_widget.removeEventFilter(kc)