The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2025
Bayleaf: a hobbyist builds the ultra-thin split keyboard Apple never made
Sebastian Graz learned PCB design from scratch to build Bayleaf, a wireless split keyboard with machined-aluminium halves and Apple-like thinness.
Bayleaf
What it had to solve
Split keyboards were functional but utilitarian — thick bodies, exposed parts, long-travel switches — while Apple's thin keyboard was never split. Sebastian Graz, a self-described beginner at electronics and PCB design, decided the missing product was the form itself and learned the craft to build one.
How it works
Bayleaf started from a design gap, not a technical one. Sebastian Graz wanted a keyboard that was wireless and split for ergonomics yet as thin and beautifully finished as an Apple keyboard — the split keyboard commenters said they had hoped Apple would make for years. Existing low-profile splits were rare and utilitarian, so he set out to build his own.
Graz called himself a beginner at electronics, PCB building and designing for manufacturing, and the project was an apprenticeship in all three. The finished board pairs two machined-aluminium halves with Kailh PG1316S switches that travel only 1.8mm, keeping the profile close to a laptop keyboard. The aluminium enclosures came from PCBWay at $187 a pair; components totalled about $400 and tools and software roughly $1,000. The hardest step was soldering, which he did four switches at a time.
The response showed the gap was real. The Show HN on 4 March 2025 drew 735 points and 247 comments, and the thread was full of purchase offers and comparisons to Apple: 'Shut up and take my money', 'I would buy this board in a heartbeat', 'looks like a polished product from Apple'. The maker's own page was candid that ergonomics took second place — 'this is a planned form-over-function kind of deal' — and the single prototype was not for sale.
Why it lands
- The reference object gave the project a spec: aiming at the thinness and finish of an Apple keyboard settled every component and material choice before it became a debate.
- Form-first is a differentiator in a category where builders optimise for function: the thread's strongest demand came from people who wanted the object itself, not more features.
- A self-imposed finish standard — machined aluminium instead of a 3D-printed case — is what made it read as a product rather than a kit, and commenters noticed immediately.
- Learning the whole stack made the design executable: a beginner who controlled schematic, layout and manufacturing could chase thinness without waiting on anyone else's product roadmap.
What it did
The Show HN of 4 March 2025 drew 735 points and 247 comments. Commenters repeatedly called it 'the keyboard I've been hoping Apple would make' and 'a polished product from Apple', and offered to buy the prototype on the spot; the maker confirmed it was a single non-commercial build, with a second iteration planned for better sound and ergonomics.
What you can take
When a category fills with function-first builds, designing the object first can open a gap: the maker admitted Bayleaf was form-over-function, and the strongest demand was for exactly that object.
Since then
Bayleaf remained a single prototype; the maker said it was not for sale, that he would consider a run at scale depending on reception, and that a second iteration was already in the works with an improved sound profile and ergonomics. Commenters asked for integrated trackpads or trackpoints in that version and the maker said he was exploring them without breaking the minimalist look. The thread also inspired peers building similar thin aluminium splits, and the graz.io case study stayed live as the reference for the project.
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