Gear that makes you faster.
A practical buying guide to the keyboards and accessories worth owning if you live in keyboard shortcuts — what to look for in each category, not a list of prices.
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None of this is required to use keyboard shortcuts — that's the whole point of shortcuts. But the right hardware removes friction, and a few well-chosen upgrades genuinely make a long day at the keyboard faster and more comfortable. Below is what we'd actually pay attention to in each category. The links go to Amazon search results so you always see current options and prices rather than a stale recommendation.
Mechanical keyboards
If you spend your day in keyboard shortcuts, the keyboard itself is the upgrade you feel most. A good mechanical board gives you crisper, more consistent keypresses and lasts for years. The things that actually matter when choosing: the switch type (tactile switches like browns give a bump you can feel without being loud; linear reds are smooth and quiet-ish; clicky blues are loud), the layout (a compact 75% or TKL board frees up desk space and keeps your mouse closer), and whether it's hot-swappable so you can change switches later without soldering.
Look for: compact hot-swap mechanical keyboards (paid link), or a well-reviewed all-rounder like the Keychron K2 / K8 (paid link) for Mac and Windows.
Low-profile & quiet keyboards
Not everyone wants a tall, clacky board — for shared spaces, video calls or just a slimmer desk, a low-profile keyboard is the move. These have shorter key travel that feels closer to a laptop while still being far nicer to type on, and quiet switches keep you from annoying everyone on the call. They're also a gentler transition if you're coming from a standard membrane keyboard.
Look for: low-profile mechanical keyboards (paid link), or the popular Logitech MX Keys (paid link) membrane board for all-day comfort.
Ergonomic & split keyboards
If your wrists ache after long sessions, an ergonomic or split keyboard is worth serious consideration. Split designs let your hands sit shoulder-width apart with a more natural wrist angle, and tented versions tilt each half so your palms aren't forced flat. There's a short adjustment period, but people who switch rarely go back. Pair one with the shortcuts you already know and you keep your speed while saving your wrists.
Look for: ergonomic split keyboards (paid link) and a matching wrist rest (paid link).
Productivity mice
A mouse with programmable buttons is a quiet superpower: you can map your most-used app and browser shortcuts to a thumb button and trigger them with one click. The other things to weigh are a comfortable shape for your hand size, a precise sensor, and a smooth scroll wheel (the free-spinning kind is great for long documents). For multi-computer setups, look for one that pairs with several devices and switches between them.
Look for: productivity mice with programmable buttons (paid link), such as the widely recommended Logitech MX Master series (paid link).
Macro pads & programmable keypads
A macro pad is a small block of extra keys you can program to fire shortcuts, text snippets or whole sequences — perfect for the actions you do dozens of times a day. Streamers use the screen-key kind for scene switching, but they're just as useful for coding, editing and design. Even a cheap programmable numpad-style pad can offload your most common keyboard combos onto dedicated buttons.
Look for: programmable macro pads (paid link) and stream deck style key panels (paid link).
Monitor arms & laptop stands
Getting your screen to eye level is the cheapest ergonomics win there is — it takes the strain off your neck and lets you sit upright. A monitor arm frees the desk space under your display and makes it easy to reposition; a laptop stand does the same for a portable, ideally paired with an external keyboard so your hands stay low. If you only buy one thing for comfort, raising your screen is it.
Look for: monitor arms (paid link) and laptop stands (paid link).
USB-C hubs & docks
If you run an external keyboard, mouse, monitor and the rest from a laptop, a hub or dock turns the whole setup into a single cable you plug in once. Look for the ports you actually use — HDMI or DisplayPort for your monitor, enough USB-A for peripherals, pass-through charging so the dock powers your laptop too, and an Ethernet port if you want a wired connection. A good dock makes a laptop feel like a desktop.
Look for: USB-C hubs (paid link) and full laptop docking stations (paid link).
Wrist rests, desk mats & comfort
The small stuff adds up over a working day. A wrist rest keeps your hands neutral instead of bent back over the front edge of the keyboard; a large desk mat gives your mouse a consistent surface and tidies the desk; and a footrest or seat cushion can fix posture problems you didn't know you had. None of it is expensive, and together it's the difference between finishing the day comfortable or sore.
Look for: keyboard wrist rests (paid link) and large desk mats (paid link).
Learning aids
If you're actively trying to memorise an app's shortcuts, a couple of physical aids help. Keyboard shortcut sticker sets overlay the keys with an app's commands so you learn them in place without looking anything up, and printed reference cards sit by your screen until the muscle memory sticks. (You can also print any cheatsheet on this site — there's a print button on every one.)
Look for: keyboard shortcut stickers (paid link) for your app of choice.
Software worth a look (not affiliate)
A couple of apps pair naturally with keyboard-driven work, and these are plain recommendations — not affiliate links, we earn nothing if you try them. A launcher like Raycast (Mac) or Flow Launcher (Windows) adds a command palette that turns almost any action into a few keystrokes, and a text-expander tool turns short abbreviations into full snippets for anything you type repeatedly.
Want the shortcuts to go with this setup? Browse the cheatsheets, the command references, or jump back to the browser tools.