Stack Overflow 3 Key Keyboard updated with hot swappable RGB switches.

What just happened? The April Fool’s Day Stack Overflow mechanical keyboard for programming, which has become a real product, is getting an update. Key 2.0 introduces RGB lighting and hot-swap switches for three keys while maintaining the same $29 price tag as its predecessor.

The project kicked off last spring when Stack Overflow kept showing an ironic pop-up notifying users that they were almost out of free copies every time they used a keyboard command to copy characters from the site.

“If they want unlimited copy and paste access from Stack Overflow, all they have to do is buy a key,” said Ben Popper, director of content at Stack Overflow. The Key was a playful three-key keyboard consisting of the Ctrl, C, and V keys for copy and paste.

But people loved the keyboard idea so much that Stack Overflow teamed up with keyboard enthusiasts Cassidy Williams and Drop to create a real working model. Despite its limited functionality, The Key has sold over 10,000 units, which probably explains why we’re getting a new version.

Key 2.0 comes with the same three keys as before, all of which can be configured to perform other functions, but this time we get the defining feature of all modern keyboards: adjustable RGB lighting. It also has an acrylic body that allows all those colors to shine through.

Another update is that the three Kailh Black Box switches on the keyboard are now hot swappable with others like the Cherry range. It also comes with a coiled USB cable.

You can pre-order Drop’s Key 2.0 keyboard costs the same $29 as the original model. The initial run is limited to 3,900 copies, due on July 20, 2022.