Identity & hardware

The Identity panel holds everything about the board that is not its layout or bindings — name, USB identity, firmware targets, controller, matrix, lighting and firmware config. These fields turn a keymap into a flashable project. Sections appear/disappear based on the firmware targets you select.

The panel scrolls, top to bottom: Identity · USB identifiers · Firmware targets · Controller · Matrix · Capabilities · Lighting · Firmware config · Hardware pins · Timing & defaults · Behaviors · Conditional layers · Readiness. Every field below is labelled exactly as it appears in the panel, with the config key it writes.

Identity

Field	Writes	Notes
Keyboard name	meta.name	Display name; seeds the export project/shield name.
Author / maintainer	meta.author

USB identifiers

Field	Writes	Placeholder
Vendor ID	meta.vendorId	0xFEED
Product ID	meta.productId	0x0001

Required for the QMK family.

Firmware targets

One card per target; click to toggle, and several can be on at once. Selecting them fills keyboard.firmware[]:

Target	Card blurb
QMK	C firmware · info.json + keymap
VIA	Live remap · v3 definition
Vial	On-device · VIA + vial.json
ZMK	Wireless · devicetree keymap
Remappr	Wireless · Zephyr shield + config blob

An info line under the cards summarises the choice — "Keyboard type · Wired + wireless" (or wired / wireless only) and "Keycodes & behaviours follow ZMK + Remappr". VIA and Vial compile through QMK. See Firmware targets.

Controller

Writes keyboard.controller. Fields shown depend on the targets:

Field	Writes	Placeholder	For
Board	controller.board	nice_nano_v2	ZMK / QMK
Shield (opt.)	controller.shield	corne_left	ZMK
Processor (QMK)	controller.processor	atmega32u4	QMK
Bootloader (QMK)	controller.bootloader	atmel-dfu	QMK
Dev board (QMK)	controller.developmentBoard	promicro	QMK
Device version	controller.deviceVersion	1.0.0	QMK

"ZMK uses board + optional shield. QMK uses processor + bootloader (or a dev-board shortcut) + USB device version."

Matrix

The board-level matrix descriptor (keyboard.matrix) plus pin labels (keyboard.pins):

Control	Writes	Options
Diode direction	matrix.diodeDirection	COL2ROW / ROW2COL
Scan mode	matrix.mode	Matrix (row × col) / Direct (1 GPIO/key)
Pin mapping	pins.rows / pins.cols	row pins / col pins
Auto	per-key matrix	"Auto assigns each key's row/column from its position."

The display reads e.g. 4 × 6 · rows × columns per half · 42 keys (· wired when keys have matrix positions). Per-key wiring is in the inspector.

Capabilities

Toggle	Writes
Split / two-piece	keyboard.split

Lighting

Writes keyboard.lighting; "Configured for every firmware target — the exporter maps it to each platform."

Control	Writes
RGB underglow	lighting.underglow (on)
— Effect	underglow.effect — solid / breathe / rainbow / swirl / gradient
— Color	underglow.hue (or Rainbow)
— Brightness	underglow.brightness
Per-key backlight	lighting.backlight (on)
— Backlight brightness	backlight.brightness
— Breathing	backlight.breathing

See Lighting for the full picture (actions vs config).

Firmware config (.conf) — ZMK

Toggles that derive the ZMK .conf, writing keyboard.firmwareConfig. A live Generated .conf preview updates as you flip them. Extra Kconfig (e.g. CONFIG_ZMK_SLEEP=y) is appended verbatim.

Toggle	Derives
USB	CONFIG_ZMK_USB
Bluetooth (BLE)	CONFIG_ZMK_BLE
ZMK Studio	CONFIG_ZMK_STUDIO
Studio over USB (CDC)	Studio CDC block
Studio unlock required	CONFIG_ZMK_STUDIO_LOCKING
Soft-off	CONFIG_ZMK_PM_SOFT_OFF
External power	CONFIG_ZMK_EXT_POWER
Pointing (mouse)	CONFIG_ZMK_POINTING
USB logging	CONFIG_ZMK_USB_LOGGING

Each is tri-state — left alone it auto-derives from used behaviors/hardware; toggling sets an explicit override. See Firmware config.

Hardware pins — ZMK

Appears when a feature needs a pin — here, after turning RGB underglow on. Friendly nRF labels like P0.13 emit psels; "verify against your board wiring." Writes keyboard.hardware.

Section	Fields	Writes
Ext-power control GPIO	pin (P0.14), Active low	hardware.extPowerCtrl
Backlight PWM	pin (P0.13), instance (pwm0), Inverted	hardware.backlightPwm
WS2812 underglow	data pin (P1.13), LEDs, color order (GRB…), SPI (spi3)	hardware.ws2812

Timing & defaults

Board-wide behavior timings, written to the config's top-level defaults. Every field is optional: "Blank = the firmware / devicetree default."

Group	Field	Writes	Meaning
Tap-hold & combo	Tapping term	tappingTermMs	Hold-vs-tap decision window.
	Quick tap	quickTapMs	Tap-then-hold within this window repeats the tap.
	Combo timeout	comboTimeoutMs	Max time between the keys of a combo.
Debounce	Release debounce	releaseDebounceMs	0 keeps the firmware / devicetree value.
	Press debounce	pressDebounceMs	″
	Matrix press debounce	matrixPressDebounceMs	″
	Matrix release debounce	matrixReleaseDebounceMs	″
Engine timing	Caps-word idle	capsWordIdleMs	Auto-exit caps-word after this idle time; 0 = never.
	Sticky release	stickyReleaseDefaultMs	Sticky-key lifetime; 0 = until the next key.
	Macro default wait	macroDefaultWaitMs	Default gap between macro steps.
	Macro default tap	macroDefaultTapMs	Default tap hold-time inside a macro.
	Matrix poll period	matrixPollPeriodMs	Matrix scan interval; 0 keeps the devicetree value.

The Engine timing fields apply on Remappr Firmware. The same fields are editable live on a connected board in the editor's Timing & Defaults dialog.

Behaviors (hold-taps & mod-morphs)

"Custom hold-tap and mod-morph defs the keymap can bind. Add one below, then tune its behaviors, timing and modifiers."

• + Add hold-tap — a new definition (ht_1, ht_2…) in holdTaps: the Hold and Tap behaviors (&kp, &mo, &lt, &mt, &sk, &sl, &kt, &trans), Flavor (balanced, hold-preferred, tap-preferred, tap-unless-interrupted), Tapping term, Quick tap, Require prior idle, and the Retro tap / Trigger hold on release switches. Remove deletes it.
• + Add mod-morph — a key that sends something else while a modifier is held, in modMorphs.

Once defined, a hold-tap or mod-morph shows up in the binding picker as an action you can put on any key.

Conditional layers (tri-layer)

"Auto-activate a layer while a combination of others is held." + Add tri-layer adds a rule to conditionalLayers: pick the layers that must all be active and the layer they turn on — the classic lower + raise → adjust.

Firmware config (config.h / rules.mk) — QMK

For the QMK family: Extra config.h (#define TAPPING_TERM 180) and Extra rules.mk (MOUSEKEY_ENABLE = yes), each with a live Generated preview. Writes firmwareConfig.configH / firmwareConfig.rulesMk.

Vial security

Shown when Vial is a target. Writes keyboard.vial:

Control	Writes
Keyboard UID (8 bytes) + Generate	vial.uid
Unlock combo (row,col …) + Add selected	vial.unlockKeys
Insecure (no unlock required)	vial.insecure

"Vial ties a flashed board to its definition by UID and locks the keymap until the unlock keys are held. Select keys on the board, then 'Add selected'."

Layout options

Shown for VIA/Vial. Writes keyboard.layoutOptions; keys tag in via the inspector's Layout variant.

• Option label + Choices, comma-separated (blank = toggle) → Add option. "A blank choices field is an on/off toggle; two or more choices make a dropdown."
• Per-option Tag → {choice} and Untag selected tag the current selection.

Readiness

The Readiness strip at the bottom of the panel shows a chip per target — ✓ when it can build, ⚠ when it builds with warnings, ⊗ when something blocking is missing; hover a chip for the list. This is the same check the export modal runs.

A filled-in example

"meta": { "name": "My Split", "vendorId": "0xFEED", "productId": "0x0001", "target": null },
"keyboard": {
  "id": "my_split",
  "name": "My Split",
  "firmware": ["zmk"],
  "controller": { "board": "nice_nano_v2", "shield": "my_split_left" },
  "matrix": { "rows": 4, "cols": 6, "diodeDirection": "col2row", "mode": "matrix" },
  "split": true,
  "firmwareConfig": { "ble": true, "studio": true }
}

Next

Lighting →