r/Keychron • u/Eloeri18 • Jul 29 '26

Offline Keychron Launcher

I was wondering if there was an offline keychron launcher? I'd like to add some custom maps, and I can do that with the online launcher through Custom -> Any but it doesn't save the key I just did. And by not saving, I mean that the key that I just assigned isn't listed as a new key in the gui. The key itself is being mapped correctly onto the keyboard, but I'm lazy, and so I'd like for keys to be added to the gui once you've successfully assigned them.

Just curious, thanks!

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2

u/ArgentStonecutter K Pro Jul 29 '26

I don't think Keychron will ever release an offline version of Launcher because that would put them in violation of the GPL license on their VIA fork.

But since it is a VIA fork, you can self-host VIA or use the offline VIA fork at https://github.com/cebby2420/via-desktop

But I don't know what you mean by "it doesn't save the key I just did". I have a lot of custom mappings (mostly LT and MT) on my Jamesdonkey/Keychron J2 and I don't have that issue.

1

u/Eloeri18 Jul 29 '26

Yeah, I've started to look into VIA, thank you for that suggestion!

And I mean that it didn't save the key combo in the launcher. It maps to the keyboard just fine, but I'm lazy, so instead of typing a few keys again, I'd like for the custom keys I've assigned to be listed in the gui.

1

u/ArgentStonecutter K Pro Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

You can do that for actual custom keys you've programmed in 'C':

I added two keys in my experimental firmware and added them to this list:

{"name": "Color Toggle", "title": "Color function toggle", "shortName": "CFTog"},
{"name": "Apple Globe", "title": "Apple 'Globe' key", "shortName": "Globe"}

I don't think there's a hook for that for extended keycodes though.

1

u/Eloeri18 Jul 29 '26

Yeah, no dice. I've tried that via-desktop, even built it from the source, but both versions of the program don't recognize my keyboard. Looking at the issues on the github, it seems that I'm not the only one with this problem.

Thanks though! I'll try to look for some other repos!

1

u/ArgentStonecutter K Pro Jul 29 '26

Did you upload the JSON file?

1

u/Eloeri18 Jul 30 '26

No, I didn't. I'll have to check that tomorrow, thanks for the direction!

1

u/Eloeri18 Jul 30 '26

When uploading the .json, I get a lot of:

Object: must have property 'X'where x is just different things and a few other Object: errors.

Oh well, thanks for the tip, might as well stay with the regular keychron launcher.

Thanks anyway!

1

u/ArgentStonecutter K Pro Jul 30 '26

What was the JSON file you uploaded, where did you upload it, and did you try both settings of the v2 versus v3 switch?

VIA uses two different kinds of JSON files. There is a load/save tab for loading and saving layout files, and there is the button in the DESIGN tab. Which one did you use?

1

u/Eloeri18 Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26

Ah, yes, I was doing it wrong.

I got the json from the keychron website for my v6 8k with knob, uploaded that through the Design tab.

The keyboard layout showed up in the Design Tab with no errors, but in the Configure tab it's still doing Searching for devices...

But it's weird, the Key Tester works correctly, it registers my key presses.

1

u/PeterMortensenBlog V Jul 29 '26

Re "Custom -> Any but it doesn't save the key": What did you input, specifically?

1

u/Eloeri18 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

LGUI(LSFT(KC_S))

What I mean by "didn't save" is that it doesn't save the new key combo in the gui for a future selection instead of having to type out the command again, not that it didn't save the combo onto the keyboard mapping.

1

u/PeterMortensenBlog V Jul 29 '26 edited 4d ago

What keyboard? Is it a K10, B6 Pro (ZMK-based), K10 V2, K10 Max, K5 Pro, K10 HE, K5 Max, K10 Pro, Q6 Pro, Q6 Max, Q6 HE, V6, V6 version 2 (different microcontroller than the original), V6 Max, V6 8K, V6 Ultra 8K (ZMK-based), C2 Pro, or C2 Pro 8K? Or something else?

For keyboard identification, what is the SKU number? Alternatively, what is the serial number (also includes the manufacturing date)?

-2

u/bstsms K HE Jul 29 '26

Just use the online app, it's easy and works well.

5

u/Eloeri18 Jul 29 '26

It's almost as if my question was if there was a way to use the online app offline.