About us

How Keebart came about

Backstory

Hello! My name is Alexei and I am the founder of Keebart. As a chemist working on computational chemistry and simulations, and as a software developer, I spent a great deal of 2021 figuring out how to simplify the way I work at the computer. I disappeared into the world of tmux, terminal-based text editors such as Neovim and Helix, and window managers such as yabai and Aerospace. I would not be lying if I said that all of this probably took up more time than the work I was busy with in the first place.

Inside that bubble I quickly discovered split keyboards, and I was taken with them enough that I bought a Moonlander in 2022. The keyboard impressed me a lot. I experimented with it endlessly and tried to learn different layouts such as Colemak and Dvorak. After a few months I landed on the Miryoku layout, which I have used ever since.

That was the point at which it became clear to me that I needed a smaller and even more compact keyboard than the Moonlander, since I was only ever using 36 of its keys and the rest served no purpose for me personally.

The Moonlander with the Miryoku layout

After some research I noticed that there was barely any way to buy a finished split keyboard such as the 3w6 or the Corne in Germany, or in the EU at all. The alternatives mostly came from outside the EU, were expensive, and carried import and customs fees on top. It was also often unclear what would happen if the keyboard I ordered turned out not to work and I needed support, or even a repair.

So I decided to build the 3w6 myself. I gathered every component I would need, ordered the PCBs and a small soldering station, and waited for it all to arrive. After a few months of trial, error and reordering more parts alongside my main work, I finally had a working keyboard, and could trade the Moonlander in for a tiny, compact 3w6 — the one I still use today, and the one I am writing this on.

My first self-built 3w6 with White Clicky Choc v1 switches

Founding

Since I still had components left over and wanted to recover a little of my high costs, I decided to list two more 3w6 boards for sale on Kleinanzeigen. Within two to three weeks a few interested people got in touch and the keyboards were gone quickly. That is where the idea came from: that I could open a small shop on the side and give people like me in Germany and the EU a way to buy fully built split keyboards at a fair price, without having to worry about import duties, long shipping times, missing support, or assembling and soldering the electronics themselves.

Keebart was founded in February 2024 and grew slowly but steadily over its first months. Over time, and with wonderful ideas from the community, the range kept getting larger, and since August 2024 I have been able to focus on the shop full time, improving the products continuously and bringing new ones to market. More and more often friends and family even have to help me with various tasks, so that I can keep the fast delivery, the quality and the support at this high level and improve them further.

Thank you!

My warmest thanks to everyone who has read this article to the end, ordered from Keebart, left a review, contributed good ideas for where to take it next, and helped beginners on our Discord server!

Alexei, February 16, 2025