Running GitHub Copilot's Chat and Completions From a Macropad

The KM16 Macropad is a 16-key aluminium macropad with three rotary knobs, remapped entirely in a browser using VIA, no firmware flashing, no compiling. For a GitHub Copilot setup, sixteen keys is enough room to give the whole review loop its own layer: accept, reject, open chat, cycle suggestions, jump between files, with knobs left over for scrolling and zoom.

What would you actually put on sixteen keys?

• Accept and reject, duplicating whatever keystrokes Copilot already uses, just under a dedicated finger instead of buried in the main keyboard.
• A key to open or focus the chat panel, since typing a chat prompt starts with getting there.
• Keys for navigating between files or panes, which is where a lot of review time actually goes once a suggestion is accepted.
• Whatever's left over for version control, stage, commit, diff, since reviewing Copilot's output and reviewing your own changes happen in the same sitting.

What do the three knobs do?

One large knob and two small ones, free to map to any continuous control: scroll, zoom, or volume if you're also on a call. Reviewing a longer suggestion or a chat reply often means scrolling through it, and a knob does that more comfortably than a trackpad gesture.

Do I need to flash firmware to change any of this?

No. The KM16 Macropad is VIA-compatible, so remapping happens by clicking keys in a browser interface, and layers are supported. A held key can switch the whole pad to a second set of assignments, so one layer serves your editor and another serves whatever else you use it for.

Who should buy something smaller instead?

If you only need a handful of actions, accept, reject, and maybe one more, sixteen keys and three knobs is more surface than you'll use, and you'll spend time deciding what goes where instead of just using it. Our EM Mini Pad guide for GitHub Copilot covers a five-key alternative that takes up a fraction of the desk space. It's also worth knowing this arrives with a designer-oriented stock layout, so plan on spending twenty minutes in VIA before it matches your actual Copilot workflow rather than someone else's. See the rest of our GitHub Copilot hardware guides for the pedal-based alternative to a macropad.