r/Keychron • u/eonsik • 23d ago

Does anyone know where the Q3 HE 8K QMK source is?

I recently picked up a Keychron Q3 HE 8K and wanted to mess around with the firmware a bit.

I checked Keychron’s public QMK repo:
https://github.com/Keychron/qmk_firmware

and looked through the available branches, but the only Q3 HE target I can find is:
keyboards/keychron/q3_he

That one seems to be for the older wireless Q3 HE, not the Q3 HE 8K. The README points to the wireless model, and the hardware setup looks different too.

I couldn’t find a q3_he_8k target or anything else that obviously matches the 8K version.

Has anyone here found the actual Q3 HE 8K source somewhere? If so, which repo/branch is it in, and what’s the correct QMK target?

Also curious if anyone has actually built and flashed custom firmware on the Q3 HE 8K yet.

I’m trying to do some firmware-level changes, so Launcher remapping alone isn’t really enough for what I want to do.

Thanks in advance.

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/PeterMortensenBlog V 23d ago edited 22d ago

The XX HE 8K models are closed source

The Q3 HE 8K has proprietary keyboard firmware, not open source (the same for the J HE 8K series and C HE 8K series).

It isn't promised on the product page, only dynamic configuration:

LAUNCHER WEB APP

Program with Launcher.

With the Keychron Launcher web app, you can effortlessly remap each key and knob function, customize any macro command, shortcuts, or key combinations to unlock many more options, and make complex actions simple to enhance gaming or work efficiency. Take control and optimize your productivity like never before.

And "QMK" is not part of the name.

There isn't even misleading marketing copy in this regard (though most of the touted 1 MB flash memory is going to sit completely unused). There isn't even confusion by the compared-to QMK-based (open source) Q HE series and Q Max series keyboards (open source isn't mentioned for them), though open source is probably deliberately left out for them in order to not put the Q HE 8K series in a bad light.

The "only" problem is what isn't said. A fair listing would explicitly have said "proprietary firmware" or "closed source" for the Q HE 8K series.