Fat Bee 🐝
A familiar keyboard with unfamiliar comfort
Fat Bee is a compact mechanical keyboard that takes a gentle, scientific approach to ergonomics without making you relearn how to type.
What?
The keyboard layout we use today is ancient. Literally. It was designed in the 1800s to keep typewriters from jamming — not to keep your wrists from hurting.
Modern ergonomic keyboards try to fix that, but many go too far. Curved key wells, columnar layouts, and deep splits can help if you’re willing to adapt. Most people aren't.
Fat Bee bridges the gap between comfort and familiarity. It's the kind of keyboard you can sit down at and just start using — whether you hunt and peck, type with two fingers, or mastered touch typing in high school.
Gallery
What's in this repo?
- 3D-print case & palm rest source
- PCB source (KiCad)
- Keyboard layout (standard keyboard-layout-editor.com JSON)
- ZMK profile (coming soon)
FatBee's Characteristics
👐 Gently split layout
Just enough angle to align your hands naturally.
Reduces ulnar deviation — that awkward wrist bend that causes strain over time.
🏕️ 5.5° tenting
Raises the inner edge of the keyboard to match your forearm's natural rotation.
Avoids pronation, keeps your forearm bones from squeezing the carpal tunnel.
🛏️ Built-in palm rest + low rear angle
Supports your hands without forcing your wrists to bend upward.
Prevents wrist extension, a common source of fatigue.
🧲 Centralized alphas
Alphanumerics are dead center, not off to the left side.
Keeps your arms and shoulders aligned with your body.
The control cluster you didn’t know you needed
While redesigning the layout, something unexpected happened.
By centering the keys and adjusting row spacing, we created a weird little negative space on the left. Instead of ignoring it, we filled it with function:
- Escape, aligned with the numeric row
(no layer gymnastics for
~and') - Fn key + 3 utility buttons:
- Volume up (tap), volume down (Fn+tap)
- Brightness up/down
- App switcher (like Cmd+Tab / Shift+Cmd+Tab)
Specs
- 69 keys, number row, arrow cluster
- Low-profile Choc switches
Inspiration
- Apple keyboards – Subtly decreasing row stagger (between rows R2 and R3) since forever. Probably for style. Still, it adds up - used on FatBee.
- Jones layout – Combines centralized alphanumerics with non-staggered rows R2-R3.
- Logitech Wave - Despite feeling mushy and cheap, it does deliver great ergonomic improvements while still looking familiar.
License
CERN Open Hardware Licence Version 2 - Weakly Reciprocal (CERN-OHL-W V2).