diff --git a/src/she/x11/keys.cpp b/src/she/x11/keys.cpp
index b6cf047fa..9c6162bb9 100644
--- a/src/she/x11/keys.cpp
+++ b/src/she/x11/keys.cpp
@@ -10,12 +10,14 @@
 
 #include "base/ints.h"
 #include "she/x11/keys.h"
+#include "she/x11/x11.h"
 
+#include <X11/Xlib.h>
 #include <X11/keysym.h>
 
 namespace she {
 
-KeyScancode x11_keysym_to_scancode(KeySym keysym)
+KeyScancode x11_keysym_to_scancode(const KeySym keysym)
 {
   switch (keysym) {
     case XK_BackSpace: return kKeyBackspace;
@@ -162,9 +164,134 @@ KeyScancode x11_keysym_to_scancode(KeySym keysym)
   return kKeyNil;
 }
 
+KeySym x11_keysym_to_scancode(const KeyScancode scancode)
+{
+  switch (scancode) {
+    case kKeyBackspace: return XK_BackSpace;
+    case kKeyTab: return XK_Tab;
+    case kKeyEnter: return XK_Return;
+    case kKeyPause: return XK_Pause;
+    case kKeyScrLock: return XK_Scroll_Lock;
+    case kKeyEsc: return XK_Escape;
+    case kKeyDel: return XK_Delete;
+    case kKeyHome: return XK_Home;
+    case kKeyLeft: return XK_Left;
+    case kKeyUp: return XK_Up;
+    case kKeyRight: return XK_Right;
+    case kKeyDown: return XK_Down;
+    case kKeyPageUp: return XK_Page_Up;
+    case kKeyPageDown: return XK_Page_Down;
+    case kKeyEnd: return XK_End;
+    case kKeyPrtscr: return XK_Print;
+    case kKeyInsert: return XK_Insert;
+    case kKeyMenu: return XK_Menu;
+    case kKeyNumLock: return XK_Num_Lock;
+    case kKeyEnterPad: return XK_KP_Enter;
+    case kKey0Pad: return XK_KP_0;
+    case kKey1Pad: return XK_KP_1;
+    case kKey2Pad: return XK_KP_2;
+    case kKey3Pad: return XK_KP_3;
+    case kKey4Pad: return XK_KP_4;
+    case kKey5Pad: return XK_KP_5;
+    case kKey6Pad: return XK_KP_6;
+    case kKey7Pad: return XK_KP_7;
+    case kKey8Pad: return XK_KP_8;
+    case kKey9Pad: return XK_KP_9;
+    case kKeyDelPad: return XK_KP_Delete;
+    case kKeyEqualsPad: return XK_KP_Equal;
+    case kKeyAsterisk: return XK_KP_Multiply;
+    case kKeyPlusPad: return XK_KP_Add;
+    case kKeyMinusPad: return XK_KP_Subtract;
+    case kKeySlashPad: return XK_KP_Divide;
+    case kKeyF1: return XK_F1;
+    case kKeyF2: return XK_F2;
+    case kKeyF3: return XK_F3;
+    case kKeyF4: return XK_F4;
+    case kKeyF5: return XK_F5;
+    case kKeyF6: return XK_F6;
+    case kKeyF7: return XK_F7;
+    case kKeyF8: return XK_F8;
+    case kKeyF9: return XK_F9;
+    case kKeyF10: return XK_F10;
+    case kKeyF11: return XK_F11;
+    case kKeyF12: return XK_F12;
+    case kKeyLShift: return XK_Shift_L;
+    case kKeyRShift: return XK_Shift_R;
+    case kKeyLControl: return XK_Control_L;
+    case kKeyRControl: return XK_Control_R;
+    case kKeyCapsLock: return XK_Caps_Lock;
+    case kKeyAlt: return XK_Alt_L;
+    case kKeyAltGr: return XK_Alt_R;
+    case kKeyLWin: return XK_Super_L;
+    case kKeyRWin: return XK_Super_R;
+    case kKeySpace: return XK_space;
+    case kKeyQuote: return XK_apostrophe;
+    case kKeyComma: return XK_comma;
+    case kKeyMinus: return XK_minus;
+    case kKeyStop: return XK_period;
+    case kKeySlash: return XK_slash;
+    case kKey0: return XK_0;
+    case kKey1: return XK_1;
+    case kKey2: return XK_2;
+    case kKey3: return XK_3;
+    case kKey4: return XK_4;
+    case kKey5: return XK_5;
+    case kKey6: return XK_6;
+    case kKey7: return XK_7;
+    case kKey8: return XK_8;
+    case kKey9: return XK_9;
+    case kKeyColon: return XK_semicolon;
+    case kKeyBackslash2: return XK_less;
+    case kKeyOpenbrace: return XK_bracketleft;
+    case kKeyBackslash: return XK_backslash;
+    case kKeyClosebrace: return XK_bracketright;
+    case kKeyTilde: return XK_grave;
+    case kKeyA: return XK_a;
+    case kKeyB: return XK_b;
+    case kKeyC: return XK_c;
+    case kKeyD: return XK_d;
+    case kKeyE: return XK_e;
+    case kKeyF: return XK_f;
+    case kKeyG: return XK_g;
+    case kKeyH: return XK_h;
+    case kKeyI: return XK_i;
+    case kKeyJ: return XK_j;
+    case kKeyK: return XK_k;
+    case kKeyL: return XK_l;
+    case kKeyM: return XK_m;
+    case kKeyN: return XK_n;
+    case kKeyO: return XK_o;
+    case kKeyP: return XK_p;
+    case kKeyQ: return XK_q;
+    case kKeyR: return XK_r;
+    case kKeyS: return XK_s;
+    case kKeyT: return XK_t;
+    case kKeyU: return XK_u;
+    case kKeyV: return XK_v;
+    case kKeyW: return XK_w;
+    case kKeyX: return XK_x;
+    case kKeyY: return XK_y;
+    case kKeyZ: return XK_z;
+  }
+  return 0;
+}
+
 bool x11_is_key_pressed(KeyScancode scancode)
 {
-  return false;                 // TODO
+  ::Display* display = X11::instance()->display();
+  KeySym keysym = x11_keysym_to_scancode(scancode);
+  KeyCode keycode = XKeysymToKeycode(display, keysym);
+  if (!keycode)
+    return false;
+
+  // TODO several platforms have this kind of API to get the whole
+  //      keyboard state, it would be a lot better if we expose this
+  //      API to the user (so we don't have to call XQueryKeymap for
+  //      each key).
+  char keys[32];
+  XQueryKeymap(display, keys);
+
+  return (keys[keycode/8] & (1 << (keycode%8)) ? true: false);
 }
 
 int x11_get_unicode_from_scancode(KeyScancode scancode)
diff --git a/src/she/x11/keys.h b/src/she/x11/keys.h
index 476c53612..5a8a6ac6d 100644
--- a/src/she/x11/keys.h
+++ b/src/she/x11/keys.h
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
 
 namespace she {
 
-  KeyScancode x11_keysym_to_scancode(KeySym keysym);
+  KeyScancode x11_keysym_to_scancode(const KeySym keysym);
+  KeySym x11_keysym_to_scancode(const KeyScancode scancode);
   bool x11_is_key_pressed(KeyScancode scancode);
   int x11_get_unicode_from_scancode(KeyScancode scancode);