zmkfirmware/zmk

Health v2 · maintenance only

Adoption not part of the score

4239 stars · 4116 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded

ZMK Firmware is an open source (MIT) keyboard firmware built on the Zephyr RTOS, designed for modern wireless (BLE) and wired mechanical keyboards. It is a clean-room implementation offering keymaps, layers, hold-taps, combos, macros, and broad 32-bit microcontroller support.

Use cases

• flash custom firmware for a wireless split mechanical keyboard
• configure keymaps with layers, combos, and mod-taps
• build low-power BLE keyboard firmware for a 32-bit MCU
• find an MIT-licensed alternative to QMK
• set up multi-device Bluetooth keyboard connectivity
• add rotary encoders or displays to a custom keyboard

When to choose

• you need wireless/BLE keyboard support with low power usage
• you want permissive MIT licensing instead of GPL
• you use modern 32-bit ARM/RISC-V microcontrollers
• you want advanced keymap features like hold-taps, combos, and macros

When to avoid

• your keyboard uses AVR/8-bit chips like ATmega32U4
• you rely on QMK's ecosystem or existing QMK keymaps without porting
• you need wired split keyboard support, which is still under development

Facets

application · maturity active

embedded configuration-management embedded-systems hardware cross-platform embedded iot c keyboard-firmware zephyr-rtos mechanical-keyboard wireless ble split-keyboards qmk-alternative bluetooth

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For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="zmkfirmware/zmk")