firmwareintermediate
ZMK Firmware — Wireless Keyboard Firmware Built on Zephyr
Modern, open-source wireless keyboard firmware built on Zephyr RTOS with BLE-first architecture, split keyboard support, and MIT license. The dominant firmware for wireless mechanical keyboards with 3,900+ GitHub stars.
Boards:nRF52840nRF52833nRF5340
Firmware:ZMKZephyr RTOS
Use Cases:keyboardsWireless InputCustom Keyboards
ZMK Firmware
ZMK is a modern, open-source keyboard firmware built from the ground up on the Zephyr RTOS. Unlike QMK which bolted on wireless support, ZMK was designed wireless-first — making it the de facto standard for BLE mechanical keyboards.
Key Features
- Wireless-first BLE support — built-in Bluetooth, not an afterthought
- Split keyboard support — designed for wireless split layouts
- Ultra-low power — deep sleep and power management via Zephyr
- ZMK Studio — official GUI configuration interface
- Power Profiler — estimate battery life for your build
- MIT License — no restrictions for commercial or personal use
- Broad hardware support — any Zephyr-compatible board
Supported Hardware
- nice!nano (nRF52840) — most popular wireless keyboard controller
- nRF52840 — primary target SoC
- nRF52833 — budget option
- Seeed XIAO BLE (nRF52840)
- Any board with Zephyr support
Community
- 257+ contributors, 3,900+ GitHub stars
- Active Discord community
- Rich ecosystem of keyboard configs and shields
Getting Started
ZMK uses a GitHub Actions-based build system — fork the config repo, customize your keymap, and the firmware is built automatically in the cloud. No local toolchain needed.
