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vibe coding keyboard

vibe coding keyboard

image

Quick intro video: youtube

Vibe coding, as we dislike or like, has been unavoidable. Fully automatic agents burning electricity and money, working day and night, creating code beyond human understanding, or even sometimes, beyond AI themselves(as of summer 2026). Manual coding has since become a past, a luxury, and sometimes people call it “old school coding”. Mixed feelings are constantly in conflict, as it enables us to create something beyond, but also destroys our own understanding, our control, our own creativity, and our struggles.

To find the balance, we shall use AI as a progressive tool, and provide tools for humans to better control this probablistic calculation machine. The Ecofunctor VK1 aims to achieve that. It is a small keyboard with a few keys,knobs, and a small capacitive touch display. Users setup their favorite prompts, and the keyboard helps them to quickly execute the prompts.

The keyboard consists of:

  • 5 low profile mechanical keys
  • 2 rotary encoders(knobs) with clicks, suitable for forth and back navigation like previous/next, etc.
  • 6 buttons on the touch display for sending predefined prompts or commands
  • A small capacitive touch display for showing information like key mapping, system status, etc.
  • Web UI to configure the key mapping, knob functions, sleep timer, etc.

Although primarily designed for vibe coding, it is a standard HID keyboard, so it can also be used for other purposes like for 3D modeling, video editing, etc.

Usage

As a standard HID keyboard, each mechanical key and knob is mapped to function keys F13 to F24(to avoid conflict with standard keyboard keys). Specifically, the mapping is as follows:

  • Key 1 to Key 5 are mapped to F13 to F17 respectively.
  • The knob is mapped to F21 and F22 for clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation respectively.

In addition, the knob is also in charge of selecting the predefined prompts shown on the touch display. Once a prompt is selected, clicking the knob will send the prompt, just like manually typing the text.

There are also extra buttons on the touch display for sending some common prompts as defined by the user.

Configuration

The keyboard is independent of software or IDE, so it shall work with VSCode, Codex, or any software that can configure the key mapping/shortcuts, as it’s a generic Bluetooth keyboard.

The keyboard can be configured through web UI. The user can define the key mapping, knob functions, sleep timer, and other settings. The web UI can be accessed by connecting the keyboard to a computer and opening the IP address of the keyboard in a web browser.

To see the IP address of the keyboard(usually 192.168.1.1), switch to Config tab. It will start a Wi-Fi hotspot. Connect to the hotspot and open the IP address shown on the touch display in a web browser. Now you can configure the keyboard through the web UI. We recommend some key mapping for different usage scenarios:

scenario: vibe coding with VSCode and Copilot

The recommended key mapping for vibe coding in VSCode could be:

  • 2 keys for keep or discard the current edit
  • A key to open the chat dialog

knob functions:

  • A knob for back and forth navigation for all agent/chat edits
  • A knob for selecting the predefined prompts and clicking to send the prompt

buttons on the touch display:

  • A button to extract the current selection into a new function
  • A button to improve and optimize the codebase.

scenario: vibe coding with claude

The guide for claude desktop app is here: https://fastshortcuts.com/shortcuts/claude/ . The configuration is similar to the VSCode.

scenario: vibe coding with chatgpt/codex

scenario: app shortcuts

Launch specific apps, like browsers, IDEs, or other software, can be done by installing some software in the computer, and then mapping the keys like F13 to F24 for the specific applications.

scenario: video editing

scenario: 3D modeling

Internal Design

The keyboard is consists of:

  • A microcontroller esp32-c3 with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
  • A small capacitive touch display ST7789
  • An IO expander PCF8574
  • 5 kailh low profile mechanical switches
  • 2 rotary encoders
  • 2x 18650 batteries to provide 3.7V power supply.
  • A 3D printed back case to hold all the components together.
  • Aluminum front case.

Hardware and PCB design

The design of the PCB aims to be general propose, so it is reusable for other projects or as a development board. All ios are exposed via 2.54 headers, and the touch display has a header for easy connection as well. The PCB is information transparent, as the values of the components are printed directly.

Design files like PCB schematics are available:

Software/Firmware

The software/firmware is written in C++ and based on mixed Arduino and ESP-IDF framework, with platformio as the build system. Firmware source code is available on GitHub:

changelog

Currently, the project is in v0.4, which finalizes the PCB design and the case design.

The project started in April 2026.

Here are multiple iterations of the keyboard when we are developing and testing: image

v0.0: initial testing, prototype is built with jumpers, capative touch display, pcf8574 expander, and knobs:

  • testing module: esp32-c3 supermini
  • focus on lvgl and touch display
  • optimize the knob algorithm

v0.1: initial release, PCB is designed and manufactured, but LCD connection is wrong and flipped, so it’s not testable at all.

v0.2: fixed the LCD connection, and everything works except wifi. io expander is upgraded to tca9535 with 16 GPIOs, as a test spot, so more native io can be used for battery level detection, and brightness control

v0.3: dump esp32-c3 supermini module for esp32-c3-wroom, and wifi issue is fixed:

  • replaced esp32-c3 supermini with esp32-c3-wroom module for better wifi performance image
image

we identified some issues:

  • 4.7k pull-up resistors are needed for the i2c bus
  • pull-up resistor needed for touch display wakeup.
  • pcb size needs to be changed

v0.4: middle changes:

  • make pcb size smaller
  • change the touch display with bigger glass cover, so it looks much better.
  • use aluminum front case.
  • change the pull-up resistor for the i2c bus to 4.7k, add pull-up resistor for touch interrupt and expander interrupt.
  • redesign the power management circuit to ditch buck-boost converter, and use a simple ldo to reduce complexity, since li-ion battery is almost exhausted below 3.3v, so it can directly power the ldo to provide 3.3v most of the time.
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