Most modular keyboards are modular at the level of the case, the switch or the keycap. Keybytes splits things further. Each key is its own circuit board with its own microcontroller, and the keyboard is just however many of those boards you snap together. The project comes from Nathan Alspaugh, who publishes as notaroomba on GitHub. The Register covered it on 26 October 2026 and Tom's Hardware followed on 27 October. The design files are released under the MIT license.
The repository calls it "a truly modular keyboard". That's a fair description. It's also an expensive one, as the costs further down show.
Two boards, one footprint
The system has two module types, and both are 1u, which the repository gives as 19.05 mm x 19.05 mm.
- Keybit is the key module: a single PCB carrying a Cherry MX switch and a WCH CH32V003 RISC-V microcontroller.
- Keyword is the hub, built from two stacked PCBs. The repository specifies an STM32WB55RGV6 main controller with Bluetooth and USB.
According to The Register, the Keyword is the only part you need besides the keys, and it takes up the same space as a single-key module. So the hub drops into the grid like any other key instead of needing a separate controller bay. Per Tom's Hardware, the top Keyword board holds the Arm Cortex-M4 MCU (the STM32WB55RGV6 named in the repository), the Bluetooth antenna and the flash. The lower board holds USB-C, battery charging and the buck-boost converter.
How the keys talk to each other
The interconnect is what makes the design work. The repository says every key has pogo pins on all four sides, and those pins carry both power and I2C. It lists magnetic cases to hold the modules together, and says each Keybit can connect to the Keyword or to other Keybits. In practice that means the magnets keep the modules in place while the spring pins carry power and the bus between neighbours.
The repository also describes key programming done from the main board over pogo pins. It says the Keyword stores the key firmware in 2 MB of QSPI flash, specified as a W25Q16JV, and that three pogo pins on the top of the Keyword are for programming the Keybits. With dozens of microcontrollers in one keyboard, central programming is the feature that would make the design practical. If every key needed its own programming cable, few people would bother updating firmware.
The sources don't give the I2C bus speed, an addressing scheme, how many Keybits one Keyword can drive, or scan latency figures. Anyone judging the design for low-latency typing will have to read the firmware and the creator's JOURNAL.md.
Power and the rest of the hub
The repository lists the Keyword's power and support parts:
- BQ25895 battery charger, with solder pads for a 1S LiPo cell
- TPS631000 buck-boost converter
- USB-C with ESD protection
- Ceramic Bluetooth antenna
- RGB status LED
Lighting is limited. Tom's Hardware notes that the Keybits lack any kind of lighting, and the Keyword's status light is the only illumination mentioned. Anyone hoping for per-key RGB to go with the per-key microcontroller won't find it in the current revision.
The boards were designed in KiCad. The cases were modelled in Onshape, and STEP files are in the repository's cad folder. The repository also includes a BOM.csv and the build journal. It showed 341 stars when we read it.
Where the project stands
The Register reports that Alspaugh is an MIT freshman studying aerospace engineering. He has kept a journal since March 2026 and told The Register he has spent around 100 hours on the project so far. Tom's Hardware says that only over the past weekend did he post "it finally works".
That is early. Tom's Hardware notes that the GitHub page shows no more than two Keybits together with a Keyword. Nothing published so far shows a full-size board in use. The pogo-pin array, the I2C bus and the over-the-pins firmware loading are all described in the design, but they have only been shown at a scale of a few keys.
Building one is within reach. According to The Register, Alspaugh says anyone with the components could probably build one in a few days, not counting the wait for PCBs to arrive.
The cost problem
Putting a microcontroller under every key adds up, and the journal's figures show it. As reported by The Register, Alspaugh opted to have the manufacturer fully assemble the boards: Keybit assembly cost him $69, while Keyword assembly cost him $203. The Register also reports that, per a shopping cart in his journal, Keywords cost $30 each and Keybits only a couple of dollars apiece, so the figures depend heavily on quantity and on whether the manufacturer does the assembly.
For a complete keyboard, Tom's Hardware cites the journal's estimate of around $900 assembled for a full-size layout. That layout uses two Keywords and about 110 Keybits. The Register gives the same figure, about $900, and notes that Alspaugh would solder the boards himself if he built a full one.
What It Means for Makers
Who it's for. Keybytes mainly suits keyboard tinkerers and embedded developers who are curious about distributed input hardware. It's not yet a typing tool. If you've wanted a keyboard whose layout you can change the way you rearrange Lego, with a split, a macro pad or an extra column added by snapping on modules, this is the most literal attempt at that we've seen. The magnetic pogo-pin interconnect and the over-the-pins programming are useful to study even if you never build a keyboard.
What it replaces or enables. A conventional hand-wired or PCB keyboard scans a switch matrix from one controller. Keybytes swaps the matrix for a network of nodes, each with its own microcontroller. That makes a key with something besides a switch on it possible in principle. Alspaugh told The Register he might make more key varieties, such as ones with a fingerprint sensor. The downside is cost and complexity, roughly a hundred microcontrollers where most keyboards have one.
Price and availability. Keybytes is not for sale. It's an open-source design published on GitHub under the MIT license, and you'd have to order PCBs and parts yourself. The creator's 2026 journal puts a full-size board at about $900 assembled, with assembly costs of $69 for a Keybit and $203 for a Keyword per his order. According to The Register, Alspaugh is thinking about selling them in the future once the designs are improved and finalised. There's no announced price, pre-order or crowdfunding campaign, and no ship date.
For now, Keybytes is a working proof of concept, with two keys and a hub shown running together. Whether it becomes a product depends on the designs being finalised and on getting the price of a full board well below $900.
