Keychron wants to bring open-source firmware to gaming mice

[Alfonso Maruccia]

TL;DR: Gaming mice are kind of a black box: sensor tuning, polling behavior, and click processing are all locked behind manufacturer firmware you can't inspect or modify. Keychron wants to change that. The company is building ZGM, an open-source firmware project for gaming mice, with the explicit goal of doing for rodents what QMK and ZMK already did for keyboards: turning closed hardware into something enthusiasts can actually tinker with.

Keychron has just introduced its blueprint for developing open-source mouse firmware. The Zephyr Gaming Mouse (ZGM) project is going to do to mice what QMK or ZMK did for keyboards, Keychron said, bringing greater flexibility and transparency to what modern rodents can do beyond the capabilities stated by manufacturers.

The GitHub page for ZGM is up, though the firmware's code isn't arriving until the first quarter of 2027. However, we already know quite a bit about the new firmware and its developers' principles. ZGM is built on Zephyr, a real-time operating system (RTOS) capable of abstracting many of the hardware components used by supported devices.

Thanks to Zephyr RTOS' established foundation, ZGM should offer broad hardware compatibility and quickly scale with different configurations. The firmware itself is being designed to be a new foundation for modern gaming mice, with a specific focus on low-latency inputs, flexible hardware support, and many customization avenues for manufacturers and – dare we hope – end users.

– Keychron (@KeychronMK) July 29, 2026

ZGM will have a modular architecture, providing support for multiple hardware variants. Other essential components, including sensors, buttons, scroll wheels, and lighting drivers, are decoupled layers so that they can be easily swapped or extended without rewriting much within the firmware's code.

ZGM will supposedly be a performance-first project, with specific optimizations for sensor polling, button click processing, and wheel interaction. Keychron highlights its willingness to support the open-source community and its commitment to public transparency, as the company has already demonstrated by embracin FOSS keyboard ecosystems (QMK, ZMK) and releasing 3D blueprints for its own keyboards.

Keychron highlights that, unlike the QMK and ZMK projects, the mouse market has no established open-source firmware ecosystem just yet. By applying the same philosophy to mice with ZGM, the peripheral maker hopes to encourage an input ecosystem that's both more open and experimentation-ready.

That's the theory, at least. For now, ZGM still appears to be in the documentation and design phase with an ambitiously packed schedule ahead. Keychron plans to install the new firmware on its upcoming G6 HE mouse model, a flagship that's expected to compete with the Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike thanks to its MagOptic (optical+magnetic) switch design. As far as we can tell, the Pro X2 Superstrike isn't expected to adopt an open-source firmware system similar to ZGM.

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Keychron wants to bring open-source firmware to gaming mice

 

[yRaz]

How much better can mice get? I remember that in the morning 2000s and into the early 2010s mouse latency and and precision were a huge deal but now we have 50,000 DPI mice with ridiculous polling rates. Frankly, my Logitech g500 was the best mouse I ever had and that came out mid 2000s. Now.it seems like every mouse is basically the same. You have to go super cheap wireless mouse to get one that is noticably crap.

 

[mountains]

I have a nice Razer mouse. I got frustrated with Logitech due to shorter and shorter lifespans, double click and crappy firmware. Physically, the Razer is a nice, high end mouse.

But the invasive firmware/software installed SEVERAL different processes with a few of them trying to connect to the Internet, even after I turned everything I could off. Yes, I could just block their outgoing connection, but I looked for an alternative.

I installed X-Mouse Button Control and removed the crapware. Much better! But the Razer has a really nice proprietary thumb button that X-Mouse can't see. Now that switch does nothing.

The flagship mouse the article refers to does not really appeal to me, but I like the direction they are going. I really use the extra buttons on mice. I want mice with a high click switch lifespan, have dual mode scroll wheels, and other premium features. They have several mice on their website. I hope they start competing more at the high end of the market. That would improve their overall reputation.

But I LOVE the idea behind what Keychron is doing with open source firmware, as long as they don't insist on "always online"! Some of their mice seem to have a web based software approach that may be always online. The user should be in control of online/offline.

I will definitely start looking at their products! I am concerned that the big companies won't allow open source adoption unless Keychron can start winning market share.

 

[hahahanoobs]

I have a nice Razer mouse. I got frustrated with Logitech due to shorter and shorter lifespans, double click and crappy firmware. Physically, the Razer is a nice, high end mouse.

But the invasive firmware/software installed SEVERAL different processes with a few of them trying to connect to the Internet, even after I turned everything I could off. Yes, I could just block their outgoing connection, but I looked for an alternative.

I installed X-Mouse Button Control and removed the crapware. Much better! But the Razer has a really nice proprietary thumb button that X-Mouse can't see. Now that switch does nothing.

The flagship mouse the article refers to does not really appeal to me, but I like the direction they are going. I really use the extra buttons on mice. I want mice with a high click switch lifespan, have dual mode scroll wheels, and other premium features. They have several mice on their website. I hope they start competing more at the high end of the market. That would improve their overall reputation.

But I LOVE the idea behind what Keychron is doing with open source firmware, as long as they don't insist on "always online"! Some of their mice seem to have a web based software approach that may be always online. The user should be in control of online/offline.

I will definitely start looking at their products! I am concerned that the big companies won't allow open source adoption unless Keychron can start winning market share.

The whole point of web-based software is to avoid having software running in the background which makes perfect sense when you know peripheral settings are saved on-device which is also how I can have my case, RAM, AIO, and fans light up red every boot without any 3rd party software installed after initial setup.

Web-based software added to the justification of me leaving Razer for MCHOSE mouse and key and I couldn't be happier.

 

[Axeia]

Interesting, wonder how many mice will be 'hackable' so they can run this.
I think a lot of them are using a Nordic chip that can run Zephyr OS and thus this firmware. The right contacts would have to be exposed to get a way in though.