ninekeypad

A free, portable programmer for Vaydeer macro keypads, for Windows and Linux. One small file per system, no installer, no account, no internet.

Change what each key of your Vaydeer keypad sends: single keys, key combinations, media keys, up to 6 layers, and keys that switch between the layers. You do it on a simple page in your own browser, and the program checks every write.

⬇ Download the latest version · Tested hardware · Quick start · How the keypad talks

Not connected to or endorsed by Vaydeer. Tested with the Vaydeer 9-key keypad on Windows 11 and Ubuntu 26.04.1. The 4-key keypad is supported but not tested yet.

Features

• Every key, your choice: a single key, a key combination (e.g. Ctrl+Shift+F), a media key, or nothing. Letters, digits, F1–F12, number pad, navigation and editing keys, and media keys (play/pause, stop, next, previous, volume, mute).
• Up to 6 layers, each with its own name. "Use on keypad" makes any layer the active one.
• Layer-switch keys: set a key to "Next layer", "Previous layer" or "Go to layer N". While the program runs, pressing it switches the keypad's layer. (The keypad cannot switch layers by itself; this is what Vaydeer's own software does too.)
• See it live: press a key on the keypad and it lights up on the page.
• Safe writing: before every write, the whole keypad is saved as a backup in backups/. After writing, every layer and key is read back and compared. The firmware-update command is blocked in the code, so this program can never change the keypad's firmware.
• Layouts: save as many layouts as you like in layouts/, load, rename and delete them. The factory layout (7 8 9 / 4 5 6 / 1 2 3) is built in.
• Portable: one file (about 7.5 MB, pure Go, no runtime). It installs nothing, needs no driver, and writes only into its own folder, so it also runs from a USB stick.
• Private: the page is served only on this computer (127.0.0.1), protected by a secret key in its address. The program sends nothing to the internet.
• Your browser: the program prints the page's address; it never opens a browser itself.

Tested hardware

Only the 9-key keypad was tested. It was tested on two systems:

	Tested keypad
Keypad	Vaydeer 9-key "Smart Keypad", 3 × 3 keys
Model	JP-1011 (the start of its USB serial number)
USB ID	0483:5752, USB product name "9-key Smart Keypad"
Chip	Not inspected (the keypad was not opened). The USB vendor ID 0483 belongs to STMicroelectronics, which suggests an STM32 microcontroller; one other report says ESP32.
Firmware	1.1.5, bootloader 0.2.2 (the program shows both)
Layers	up to 6
Keys	numbered 1–9 on the page, left to right, top to bottom
USB interfaces	0: commands (vendor-defined, 64-byte reports) · 1: keyboard · 2: key events (vendor-defined) · 3: mouse, media and system keys

System	Version	Tested
Windows	Windows 11 Pro 25H2 (build 26200), x64	reading all keys and layers; writing 1 and 2 layers with the read-back check; key presses shown live; switching the active layer; layer-switch keys; single keys and Shift combinations typing in a real application
Linux	Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS (kernel 7.0), x64, GNOME on Wayland, Firefox; started from a live USB stick	finding and reading the keypad; the page; key presses shown live; switching the active layer; writing with the read-back check; --keepalive; files stay owned by the user although the program runs with sudo

Not yet seen on Linux: the program's second try when the keypad does not answer its first question (added after the first Linux test showed that problem).

Untested:

• The 4-key keypad (Vaydeer "One-Handed Macro Keyboard, 4 keys", model JP3071-C). Other projects report the same protocol and USB ID, and the keypad reports its own key count. The program supports it, numbers its keys 1 to 4 (their physical arrangement is not known here), and warns on the page that it is untested.
• Other Linux systems than Ubuntu 26.04.1, and computers other than x64 (only x64 programs are built).
• Other Vaydeer keypads (1 or 6 keys, knobs) and other firmware versions. Keypads with other key counts are refused, not guessed.

Have a 4-key keypad, another firmware or another system? Please open an issue with the output of ninekeypad --list and ninekeypad --read (on Linux with sudo). Both only read.

Quick start

Windows

1. Download ninekeypad-…-windows-x64.zip from Releases and unzip it anywhere, e.g. to a USB stick.
2. Start ninekeypad.exe. The program is not signed, so Windows may say "Windows protected your PC": click More info, then Run anyway.
3. Press Enter in its window to copy the page's address, and paste it into your browser. You can bookmark it: the address stays the same.

Linux

tar -xzf ninekeypad-*-linux-x64.tar.gz
cd ninekeypad-linux
sudo ./ninekeypad

sudo is needed because Linux lets only the administrator talk to USB devices directly (the program installs no system rules). To copy the address, select it with the mouse and use right-click > Copy: in a terminal, Ctrl+C stops the program.

On Linux the tested keypad types nothing until a program reads its key presses. While ninekeypad runs, it does that; without the page, sudo ./ninekeypad --keepalive keeps the keys working.

On the page

Click a key, choose what it sends, and press Write to keypad. More in the README.txt next to each program (Windows, Linux).

Command line

Option	What it does
(none)	starts the page
--list	lists the keypad's USB interfaces (for troubleshooting)
--read	prints the keypad's layers as JSON
--keepalive	Linux: keeps the keys working without the page, until Ctrl+C
--port N	uses port N for the page this time
--dir FOLDER	keeps layouts and backups in FOLDER instead of the program's folder

No warranty

The program writes to the keypad's memory. It makes a backup first and checks every write, but use it at your own risk. Keys made with the Vaydeer app that hold text, macros, mouse actions or program launches are shown but cannot be written by this program, so its backups cannot restore those; only the Vaydeer app can.

How it works

The program talks to the keypad over USB HID with only what the system offers: hid.dll on Windows, /dev/hidraw on Linux. It needs no driver and no library. It runs a small web server on 127.0.0.1, and the page in your browser talks to it. Everything known about the keypad's protocol, and which facts were seen on the real keypad, is in docs/protocol.md.

Build from source

Needs Go 1.22 or newer. The scripts use a project-local Go in .tools/go:

scripts\build.ps1

This runs the tests and builds dist\ninekeypad-windows\ninekeypad.exe and dist\ninekeypad-linux\ninekeypad, each with its README.txt and LICENSE.txt. Both are pure Go (no cgo); the Linux program is built on Windows.

Run Go only through scripts\go.ps1 (e.g. scripts\go.ps1 test ./...): it keeps Go's cache, temp files and settings inside .tools\, so building writes nothing outside the project.

Setting up .tools/go: download the Windows amd64 zip from https://go.dev/dl/, check its SHA-256 against the page, unzip it so .tools\go\bin\go.exe exists, then run scripts\go.ps1 telemetry off.

scripts/pre-commit (turned on with git config core.hooksPath scripts) refuses a commit that contains an e-mail address, a personal folder path, or the git author's name or e-mail.

Path	What
cmd/ninekeypad	the program: options, clipboard, clean stop
internal/hid	USB HID with only the system: hid.dll/cfgmgr32 (Windows), sysfs + /dev/hidraw (Linux)
internal/vaydeer	the keypad protocol; see docs/protocol.md
internal/vaydeer/vaydeertest	a simulated keypad for the tests
internal/layout	layouts, backups, presets, file storage
internal/app	the local web server (127.0.0.1 + secret key) and the page (web/index.html)

Thanks

The keypad's protocol was learned from these projects (facts only; no code was copied):

• callum-baillie/vaydeer-studio-linux
• alex-savin/go-vaydeer-ninepad-hid
• philipp-fischer/vaydeer-macro-keyboard
• primis.org: Vaydeer 9 Key Linux Fix

License

CC0 1.0: public domain. Use, change and share it for anything, no permission needed.

"Vaydeer" is a trademark of its owner; it is used here only to say which keypads this program works with.