# Adding Default Keymaps to QMK Configurator :id=adding-default-keymaps
This page covers how to add a default keymap for a keyboard to QMK Configurator.
## Technical Information :id=technical-information
QMK Configurator uses JSON as its native file format for keymaps. As much as possible, these should be kept such that they behave the same as running `make <keyboard>:default` from `qmk_firmware`.
Keymaps in this directory require four key-value pairs:
* `keyboard` (string)
* This is the name of the keyboard, the same as would be used when running a compile job through `make` (e.g. `make 1upkeyboards/1up60rgb:default`).
* `keymap` (string)
* Should be set to `default`.
* `layout` (string)
* This is the layout macro used by the default keymap.
* `layers` (array)
* The keymap itself. This key should contain one array per layer, which themselves should contain the keycodes that make up that layer.
Additionally, most keymaps contain a `commit` key. This key is not consumed by the API that back-stops QMK Configurator, but is used by Configurator's maintainers to tell which version of a keymap was used to create the JSON keymap in this repository. The value is the SHA of the last commit to modify a board's default `keymap.c` in the `qmk_firmware` repository. The SHA is found by checking out [the `master` branch of the `qmk/qmk_firmware` repository](https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/tree/master/) and running `git log -1 --pretty=oneline -- keyboards/<keyboard>/keymaps/default/keymap.c` (use `keymap.json` if the keyboard in question has this file instead), which should return something similar to:
```shell
f14629ed1cd7c7ec9089604d64f29a99981558e8 Remove/migrate action_get_macro()s from default keymaps (#5625)
```
In this example, `f14629ed1cd7c7ec9089604d64f29a99981558e8` is the value that should be used for `commit`.
## Example :id=example
If one wished to add a default keymap for the H87a by Hineybush, one would run the `git log` command above against the H87a's default keymap in `qmk_firmware`:
```shell
user ~/qmk_firmware (master)
$ git log -1 --pretty=oneline master -- keyboards/hineybush/h87a/keymaps/default/keymap.c
ef8878fba5d3786e3f9c66436da63a560cd36ac9 Hineybush h87a lock indicators (#8237)
```
Now that we have the commit hash, we need the keymap (edited for readability):
```c
...
#include QMK_KEYBOARD_H
const uint16_t PROGMEM keymaps[][MATRIX_ROWS][MATRIX_COLS] = {
[0] = LAYOUT_all(
KC_ESC, KC_F1, KC_F2, KC_F3, KC_F4, KC_F5, KC_F6, KC_F7, KC_F8, KC_F9, KC_F10, KC_F11, KC_F12, KC_PSCR, KC_SLCK, KC_PAUS,
KC_GRV, KC_1, KC_2, KC_3, KC_4, KC_5, KC_6, KC_7, KC_8, KC_9, KC_0, KC_MINS, KC_EQL, KC_BSPC, KC_BSPC, KC_INS, KC_HOME, KC_PGUP,
KC_TAB, KC_Q, KC_W, KC_E, KC_R, KC_T, KC_Y, KC_U, KC_I, KC_O, KC_P, KC_LBRC, KC_RBRC, KC_BSLS, KC_DEL, KC_END, KC_PGDN,
KC_CAPS, KC_A, KC_S, KC_D, KC_F, KC_G, KC_H, KC_J, KC_K, KC_L, KC_SCLN, KC_QUOT, KC_NUHS, KC_ENT,
KC_LSFT, KC_NUBS, KC_Z, KC_X, KC_C, KC_V, KC_B, KC_N, KC_M, KC_COMM, KC_DOT, KC_SLSH, KC_RSFT, KC_TRNS, KC_UP,
KC_LCTL, KC_LGUI, KC_LALT, KC_SPC, KC_RALT, MO(1), KC_RGUI, KC_RCTL, KC_LEFT, KC_DOWN, KC_RGHT),
[1] = LAYOUT_all(
KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, RGB_TOG, RGB_MOD, RGB_HUD, RGB_HUI, RGB_SAD, RGB_SAI, RGB_VAD, RGB_VAI, BL_TOGG, BL_DEC, BL_INC,
KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_VOLU,
KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, RESET, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_MPLY, KC_MNXT, KC_VOLD,
KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS,
KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS,
KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS, KC_TRNS),
};
```
The default keymap uses the `LAYOUT_all` macro, so that will be the value of the `layout` key. Compiled to a QMK Configurator JSON keymap, our resulting file should be:
```json
{
"keyboard": "hineybush/h87a",
"keymap": "default",
"commit": "ef8878fba5d3786e3f9c66436da63a560cd36ac9",
"layout": "LAYOUT_all",
"layers": [
[
"KC_ESC", "KC_F1", "KC_F2", "KC_F3", "KC_F4", "KC_F5", "KC_F6", "KC_F7", "KC_F8", "KC_F9", "KC_F10", "KC_F11", "KC_F12", "KC_PSCR", "KC_SLCK", "KC_PAUS",
"KC_GRV", "KC_1", "KC_2", "KC_3", "KC_4", "KC_5", "KC_6", "KC_7", "KC_8", "KC_9", "KC_0", "KC_MINS", "KC_EQL", "KC_BSPC", "KC_BSPC", "KC_INS", "KC_HOME", "KC_PGUP",
"KC_TAB", "KC_Q", "KC_W", "KC_E", "KC_R", "KC_T", "KC_Y", "KC_U", "KC_I", "KC_O", "KC_P", "KC_LBRC", "KC_RBRC", "KC_BSLS", "KC_DEL", "KC_END", "KC_PGDN",
"KC_CAPS", "KC_A", "KC_S", "KC_D", "KC_F", "KC_G", "KC_H", "KC_J", "KC_K", "KC_L", "KC_SCLN", "KC_QUOT", "KC_NUHS", "KC_ENT",
"KC_LSFT", "KC_NUBS", "KC_Z", "KC_X", "KC_C", "KC_V", "KC_B", "KC_N", "KC_M", "KC_COMM", "KC_DOT", "KC_SLSH", "KC_RSFT", "KC_TRNS", "KC_UP",
"KC_LCTL", "KC_LGUI", "KC_LALT", "KC_SPC", "KC_RALT", "MO(1)", "KC_RGUI", "KC_RCTL", "KC_LEFT", "KC_DOWN", "KC_RGHT"
],
[
"KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "RGB_TOG", "RGB_MOD", "RGB_HUD", "RGB_HUI", "RGB_SAD", "RGB_SAI", "RGB_VAD", "RGB_VAI", "BL_TOGG", "BL_DEC", "BL_INC",
"KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_VOLU",
"KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "RESET", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_MPLY", "KC_MNXT", "KC_VOLD",
"KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS",
"KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS",
"KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS", "KC_TRNS"
]
]
}
```
The white space in the `layers` arrays have no effect on the functionality of the keymap, but are used to make these files easier for humans to read.
## Caveats :id=caveats
### Layers can only be referenced by number :id=layer-references
A common QMK convention is to name layers using a series of `#define`s, or an `enum` statement:
```c
enum layer_names {
_BASE,
_MEDIA,
_FN
};
```
This works in C, but for Configurator, you *must* use the layer's numeric index – `MO(_FN)` would need to be `MO(2)` in the above example.
### No support for custom code of any kind :id=custom-code
Features that require adding functions to the keymap.c file, such as Tap Dance or Unicode, can not be compiled in Configurator **at all**. Even setting `TAP_DANCE_ENABLE = yes` in the `qmk_firmware` repository at the keyboard level will prevent Configurator from compiling **any** firmware for that keyboard. This is limited both by the API and the current spec of our JSON keymap format.
### Limited Support for Custom keycodes :id=custom-keycodes
There is a way to support custom keycodes: if the logic for a custom keycode is implemented at the keyboard level instead of the keymap level in qmk_firmware, that keycode *can* be used in Configurator and it *will* compile and work. Instead of using the following in your `keymap.c`:
```c
enum custom_keycodes {
MACRO_1 = SAFE_RANGE,
MACRO_2,
MACRO_3
};
...
bool process_record_user(uint16_t keycode, keyrecord_t *record) {
switch(keycode) {
case MACRO_1:
if (record->event.pressed) {
SEND_STRING("This is macro #1.");
}
return false;
case MACRO_2:
if (record->event.pressed) {
SEND_STRING("This is macro #2.");
}
return false;
case MACRO_3:
if (record->event.pressed) {
SEND_STRING("This is macro #3.");
}
return false;
}
return true;
};
```
... add the keycode `enum` block to your keyboard's header file (`<keyboard>.h`) as follows (note that the `enum` is named `keyboard_keycodes` here):
```c
enum keyboard_keycodes {
MACRO_1 = SAFE_RANGE,
MACRO_2,
MACRO_3,
NEW_SAFE_RANGE // Important!
};
```
... then the logic to your `<keyboard>.c` through `process_record_kb()`:
```c
bool process_record_kb(uint16_t keycode, keyrecord_t *record) {
switch(keycode) {
case MACRO_1:
if (record->event.pressed) {
SEND_STRING("This is macro #1.");
}
return false;
case MACRO_2:
if (record->event.pressed) {
SEND_STRING("This is macro #2.");
}
return false;
case MACRO_3:
if (record->event.pressed) {
SEND_STRING("This is macro #3.");
}
return false;
}
return process_record_user(keycode, record);
};
```
Note the call to `process_record_user()` at the end. Additionally, users of the keyboard will need to use `NEW_SAFE_RANGE` instead of `SAFE_RANGE` if they wish to add their own custom keycodes at keymap level, beyond what is provided by the keyboard.
## Additional Reading :id=additional-reading
For QMK Configurator to support your keyboard, your keyboard must be present in the `master` branch of the `qmk_firmware` repository. For instructions on this, please see [Supporting Your Keyboard in QMK Configurator](reference_configurator_support.md).