___  ____     _____  ______           _            
|  \/  | |   |  _  | | ___ \         | |           
| .  . | | __| |_| | | |_/ / __ _  __| | __ _  ___ 
| |\/| | |/ /\____ | | ___ \/ _` |/ _` |/ _` |/ _ \
| |  | |   < .___/ / | |_/ / (_| | (_| | (_| |  __/
\_|  |_/_|\_\\____/  \____/ \__,_|\__,_|\__, |\___|
                                         __/ |     
                                        |___/      
-------------------------------------------------
D C Z I A  ----------  2 0 2 6

DCZia Presents: The MK9 Badge

It blinks. It types. You can wear it around your neck and then set it on your desk and actually use it*.

* Desk productivity not guaranteed. DCZia assumes no responsibility for keys accidentally sent during badge parties. Consult your keyboard layer documentation before operating heavy machinery.

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About

The MK9 is a fully functional 3×3 mechanical macropad badge. Nine real mechanical switches, per-key RGB lighting, ambient underglow, an accelerometer that actually does something interesting, SAO support, and CircuitPython firmware out of the box — all in a package sized to hang around your neck at DEF CON and survive the week.

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Specs

Keys

• 9× mechanical switches in a 3×3 grid — standard MX footprint, swap keycaps as you please
• Ships with translucent blue keycaps
• Full N-key rollover USB HID keyboard when plugged into a computer

Lighting

• 9× WS2812B per-key RGB LEDs — one under each switch
• 6× SK6812 side-firing LEDs — edge-mounted for ambient underglow out the sides

Brains & Sensors

• RP2040 microcontroller
• 3-axis accelerometer — tilt-reactive lighting, shake to change patterns
• 2× SAO connectors (standard 6-pin, I2C + 2 GPIO each) — expand with the badge add-on ecosystem

Power & I/O

• USB-C — power and data
• 3× AAA battery pack — run it untethered
• Power switch for battery mode
• Reset button + BOOTSEL button for easy firmware flashing

Firmware

• Ships with CircuitPython firmware
• QMK-compatible hardware — reflash and run it as a full QMK macropad

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What It Does Out of the Box

On boot: a rainbow diagonal wipe sweeps across the keys and backlights. Any keypress skips it.

Once running:

• Background light patterns cycle across all 15 LEDs — rainbow wave, breathing pulse, or sparkle
• Pressing a key sends a colour ripple expanding outward from that key through all the LEDs
• Tilt the badge to shift the colour palette; shake it to switch patterns
• Plug into a computer and it shows up as a numpad (7–9 / 4–6 / 1–3 layout)

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Repository

mk9-badge/
├── buildguide.md — badge assembly, flashing, and troubleshooting
├── hardware/   — KiCad design files, BOM, fabrication outputs
└── software/   — MicroPython firmware

• Build Guide → — assembly, battery installation, flashing, and troubleshooting
• Hardware → — schematics, PCB layout, drill files, BOM
• Software → — firmware architecture, pinout, library requirements, flashing instructions

Fabrication outputs:

• PCB layer plot
• PTH drill map
• NPTH drill map

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Programming / Updating

The badge runs CircuitPython. To update the firmware:

1. Hold BOOTSEL while plugging the badge into your computer — it mounts as RPI-RP2.
2. Drag the CircuitPython .uf2 onto the drive. It reboots as CIRCUITPY.
3. Copy the lib/ folder contents to CIRCUITPY/lib/ (see software/README.md for the library list).
4. Copy all .py files from software/ to the root of CIRCUITPY.

The badge restarts automatically. If it gets into a weird state, delete everything on CIRCUITPY and start fresh — it won't brick.

Want to run QMK instead? The hardware is fully compatible; QMK setup instructions will be posted separately.

Recommended IDEs: Visual Studio Code with the CircuitPython extension, or Thonny. A Commodore 64 with a serial adapter also works but is left as an exercise for the reader.

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Open Source

DCZia is committed to open source hardware and software. All design files and firmware are publicly available.

• Live CAD (OnShape): View the design