--- title: Show HN: A Truly Modular Keyboard | daily.dev description: Keybytes is a modular mechanical keyboard where every key is its own rearrangeable 1u PCB. Each key, called a Keybit, has a CH32V003 RISC-V microcontroller and... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/show-hn-a-truly-modular-keyboard-bxmib0aa5 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Show HN: A Truly Modular Keyboard | daily.dev og:description: Keybytes is a modular mechanical keyboard where every key is its own rearrangeable 1u PCB. Each key, called a Keybit, has a CH32V003 RISC-V microcontroller and... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/show-hn-a-truly-modular-keyboard-bxmib0aa5 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/BXMiB0aa5.png og:image:alt: Show HN: A Truly Modular Keyboard og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Show HN: A Truly Modular Keyboard **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Keybytes is a modular mechanical keyboard where every key is its own rearrangeable 1u PCB. Each key, called a Keybit, has a CH32V003 RISC-V microcontroller and a Cherry MX switch, connecting through pogo pins on all four sides for power and I2C. The main board, the Keyword, uses an STM32WB55RGV6 for Bluetooth and USB, a BQ25895 charger for a 1S LiPo battery, a TPS631000 buck-boost converter, and 2MB of QSPI flash to store key firmware. Magnetic cases, designed in Onshape, hold the modules together. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What microcontroller would work well for a per-key PCB in a custom modular keyboard? The CH32V003, a low-cost RISC-V microcontroller, can run on every individual key PCB in a modular keyboard design. Each key module uses pogo pins on all four sides for 3.3V power, ground and I2C communication, letting keys connect directly to each other or to a central board without a traditional matrix of wires. _Hardware tinkerers compare microcontroller and PCB design approaches like this one on daily.dev._ ### How can you add Bluetooth to a custom keyboard PCB design? An STM32WB55RGV6 microcontroller can serve as the main board for Bluetooth and USB connectivity in a custom keyboard, paired with a ceramic Bluetooth antenna. The board also includes a BQ25895 charger for a 1S LiPo battery, a TPS631000 buck-boost converter, and 2MB of QSPI flash (W25Q16JV) for firmware storage. _Developers designing wireless keyboard hardware track component choices like these on daily.dev._ ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 1 discussion and 51 comments across hackernews (as of 2026-10-26). **TL;DR:** Developers are impressed by the engineering and modular concept but note it's an early two-key prototype, with many pressing for real-world viability details like cost, rigidity, and layout flexibility. **Sentiment:** 55% positive · 35% mixed · 10% skeptical **The case for** - The PCB and schematic design look polished and well thought out for an early-stage project. - The concept of fully rearrangeable, arbitrary-shaped keyboards is seen as genuinely novel and exciting. - Several people say they'd want one or see strong potential for macro-pad/workstation use cases. **The pushback** - Only two keys exist so far, making it hard to judge how a full keyboard would feel or hold together structurally. - Concerns about per-key cost scaling to an unreasonable price for a full 104-key layout. - Doubts about durability/rigidity, risk of a dropped board scattering into separate pieces, and reliability of many pogo-pin connections. - I2C's 127-address limit and potential bus hangs with many slaves raised as a technical concern, with CAN suggested as an alternative. - Lack of support for staggered rows, non-ortholinear/ergonomic layouts, and larger keys like spacebar/enter seen as current limitations. **By community** - hackernews (mixed): Enthusiasm for the modular concept and clean engineering is tempered by many practical questions about cost, durability, scalability, and bus architecture. **Hottest debate:** Whether I2C is a sound choice for scaling to many keys versus alternatives like CAN. **Open questions** - What will the final per-key or full-keyboard price be at scale? - How rigid and durable is a full-size board, and can it survive being dropped? - Will the design support staggered rows, non-ortholinear layouts, and larger keys like spacebar or enter? - Is there redundancy or diagnostics for failed pogo-pin connections? **Highlights** > Non-viable product. I would NOT buy this. - How much does it cost? Sell price, not BoM price. I expect something like $10'000 for a full 104-key layout. - How heavy would it be? - Can you lift a 104-key layout from the table without it breaking in 2 (or more) pieces? Can you even lift or move a 40% layout with one hand? - How do you arrange it in a non-ortholinear layout? If you can't, then anyone can just buy an ordinary ortholinear for $100 and switch layouts in software. - How does the spacebar key look like? Enter key? Shift? I can't type if those big keys aren't big. - How do you make spaces between key groups? - There are a lot of pogo pin connections. It's statistically impossible for all of them to work. Is there any redundancy for those connections? Alternate signal paths with automatic rerouting? Any debugging tools/indicators to find where the bad connections are? - If you have a MCU in every key, and at that price, I would expect them to have a mini-display in the keycap plus lots of other fancy features. - How about automatic function assignment for each key based on it's location? Can it do that? If not, then any drop on the floor becomes a half-hour puzzle-solving problem. > — [M95D on hackernews · 2 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50240378) > The I2C has limit of 127 of different addresses. Also there can be I2C hang, especially when there is that many slaves on the bus. Maybe using CAN is better. > — [mrheosuper on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50240184) > I like the idea but I could only find an image of two keys. It would be great to see a demo of a full layout. With only two keys it's a very early POC and hardly a keyboard. Does communication work well and feel snappy with a full set of keys? How is the structural integrity of a full one? Can it be easily moved around? That type of questions could easily make this unusable at scale. > — [Agentlien on hackernews · 2 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50239539) > I looked over the PCB and schematic and it looks well polished. Not a first draft obviously. I sort of don’t get the 4x I2C busses. I’m probably missing something obvious but it isn’t immediately apparent how the units all have addressing worked out. > — [SV\_BubbleTime on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50239179) > This is cool, but wouldn't it cost more than $2k for a 104-key keyboard? I can't imagine these PCBs having a final price of less than $20 each. > — [stavros on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50240612) **Source threads** - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50228115) · 130 points · 51 comments ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [A Modular Macro Keypad](https://daily.dev/posts/a-modular-macro-keypad-seiv4ww1x) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Openterface KeyMod turns your smartphone into a USB keyboard, mouse, gamepad, or SSH client \(Crowdfunding\)](https://daily.dev/posts/openterface-keymod-turns-your-smartphone-into-a-usb-keyboard-mouse-gamepad-or-ssh-client-crowdfu-lgzfv0lpp) · CNX Software · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Cheap-O Keyboard](https://daily.dev/posts/keebin-with-kristina-the-one-with-the-cheap-o-keyboard-1nvpgguld) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [System76 Makes The Best Open-Source Keyboard Even Better Review](https://daily.dev/posts/system76-makes-the-best-open-source-keyboard-even-better-review-s6xiefpi2) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [This Tiny USB Device Turns Your Phone Into a Keyboard, Mouse, and SSH Terminal](https://daily.dev/posts/this-tiny-usb-device-turns-your-phone-into-a-keyboard-mouse-and-ssh-terminal-gcmljxb1j) · It's Foss · 5 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#hardware](https://daily.dev/tags/hardware), [#c](https://daily.dev/tags/c), [#stm32](https://daily.dev/tags/stm32) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/show-hn-a-truly-modular-keyboard-bxmib0aa5) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Show HN: A Truly Modular Keyboard","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/show-hn-a-truly-modular-keyboard-bxmib0aa5","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/show-hn-a-truly-modular-keyboard-bxmib0aa5"},"datePublished":"2026-10-26T04:56:54.944Z","dateModified":"2026-10-26T08:57:54.658Z","description":"Keybytes is a modular mechanical keyboard where every key is its own rearrangeable 1u PCB. 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