Mapping a Macropad for Code Review
Mapping a macropad for code review is mostly a sorting exercise: list every action you take while reviewing an agent's proposed changes, then assign the ones you repeat most to the keys nearest your resting hand position. On a pad with knobs, the continuous actions - scrolling through a diff, adjusting a level - go on those instead of eating up keys that could hold something else.
What sixteen keys is actually room for
The KM16 Macropad's sixteen keys, in a four-by-four grid, are typically enough to cover test, commit, accept, reject, switching between models, and pane navigation with room to spare. Its three rotary encoders - one large, two small - handle the continuous controls a fixed key does badly: for review specifically, one knob scrolling through a diff and another controlling zoom covers the two continuous actions a review session actually needs.
Using layers so review does not crowd out everything else
Because it is VIA-compatible, remapping happens by clicking keys in a browser, with no firmware flashing involved, and VIA's layer support means a held key can switch the whole pad to a second set of assignments. For code review specifically, one layer can hold 'reviewing an agent's diff' - accept, reject, next file, run tests - while a second layer holds your everyday editor shortcuts, so the same sixteen keys serve two different modes of work without you needing two pads.
The setup you should actually expect
It arrives with a designer-oriented stock layout, so plan on spending about twenty minutes in VIA before any of this matches how you actually review code. That twenty minutes is the real cost of a macropad, not the hardware itself, and skipping it is why a lot of macropads end up unused after the first day.
When this much pad is overkill
If your review loop is genuinely just two actions - accept and reject, nothing more - sixteen keys and three knobs is a lot of surface area for that. A foot pedal or a two-button box does the identical job with far less to configure and far less desk space. A macropad earns its size once you are mapping five or more distinct actions across your review workflow, not two.
For a full worked layout aimed at reviewing multi-file changes, see our setup guide for Cursor, or browse the rest of our macropad notes.