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sunaku/enthium

Keyboard layout: Engrammer meets Promethium
Source code at GitHub https://sunaku.github.io/enthium-keyboard-layout.html
sunaku/enthium.json
{
  "createdAt": "2024-10-31T15:09:09Z",
  "defaultBranch": "main",
  "description": "Keyboard layout: Engrammer meets Promethium",
  "fullName": "sunaku/enthium",
  "homepage": "https://sunaku.github.io/enthium-keyboard-layout.html",
  "language": "Makefile",
  "name": "enthium",
  "pushedAt": "2026-01-30T13:12:44Z",
  "stargazersCount": 153,
  "topics": [
    "engram",
    "keyboard-layout",
    "promethium"
  ],
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-08T19:01:37Z",
  "url": "https://github.com/sunaku/enthium"
}

![“Enthium: Engrammer meets Promethium” — Poster generated by Gemini.]!(poster.webp)

Enthium v14 — Engrammer meets Promethium

Section titled “Enthium v14 — Engrammer meets Promethium”

Enthium is a highly performant adaptation of the [Engrammer] and [Hands Down Promethium] keyboard layouts. It restores familiarity with [Arno’s Engram 2.0] layout (YOU on the left hand) and the [Dvorak] layout (HTNS on the right hand) while optimizing punctuation placement for programming in the spirit of Engrammer, featuring HJKL and ,; for Vim, -= for zooming, and ./ for filesystem paths.

![Heatmap of this layout by Valorance, adapted from Oxeylyzer.]!(heatmap.png)

  q y o u = x l d p z
b c i a e - k h t n s w
  ' , . ; / j m g f v
            r

[Hands Down Promethium] !: https://reddit.com/r/KeyboardLayouts/comments/1g66ivi [Arno’s Engram 2.0] !: https://github.com/binarybottle/engram [Engrammer] !: https://github.com/sunaku/engrammer [Dvorak] !: https://www.dvzine.org

Rationale

Section titled “Rationale”

  • Pinky load is stratified by frequency: heavy letters B (1.44%) and W (1.77%) are close to home position on the lateral pinky keys (CapsLock, Apostrophe); medium letters ' (0.47%) and V (1.09%) occupy the lower row pinky keys; and light letters Q (0.10%) and Z (0.09%) sit on the upper row. This distribution helps reduce strain for short pinky fingers or those [weakened by convention].

  • Vertical same-finger bigrams such as UE (0.08%), OA (0.05%), and NF (0.04%) can be raked down, mitigating their impact on typing flow and performance. Similarly, horizontal ones can be slid over based on dexterity and comfort.

  • Apostrophe is on a different finger from vowels to avoid same-finger bigrams when typing contractions in English: You’d, I’d, He’d, They’d, Quo’s, Via’s.

  • B/E/W, I/A, K/J, Ctrl-P/N, T/F, and ,; are directionally coherent for Vim.

  • Ctrl-B/I/U shortcuts for bold/italic/underline are all on the same hand.

  • - and = are clustered for intuitive zoom-in/out shortcuts with Ctrl.

  • . and / are in-rollable for relative ./ and ../ filesystem paths.

  • ,.;/ are in the same relative sequence as QWERTY for easier adaptation, especially for navigation and custom shortcuts that rely on shifted <>.

  • ',. are on the same fingers and hand (only the row changes) as Dvorak.

  • See [my blog post] for a closer look at Enthium’s design and evolution.

[my blog post] !: https://sunaku.github.io/enthium-keyboard-layout.html [weakened by convention] !: https://reddit.com/r/KeyboardLayouts/comments/1fy8nve/_/lqulnww/

Performance

Section titled “Performance”

The [keyboard layout community][rKL] commonly recommends [Pascal Getreuer’s guide][PGr] and ranking tables as a starting point for layout exploration, and Enthium ranks among the top-performing layouts there as of 2025-12-28. More importantly, Enthium is well-balanced in terms of ergonomic concerns (same-finger avoidance, redirects, rolls, and pinky load) for sustained use.

Comparing with [conventional layout rankings][PGl] !:

  • 0.55% SFBs — second 🥈 place; only surpassed by Focal
  • 2.67% SFSs — first 🥇 place; beats the entire table!
  • 0.07% LSBs — first 🥇 place; beats the entire table!
  • 1.48% redirects — second 🥈 place; after HandsDownNeu
  • 0.16% scissors — sixth place; after Dvorak, Anymak:END, APTv3, MTGAP, Colemak-DH
  • 45.82% rolls — beats Semimak, Engram, HandsDownNeu, Anymak:END, Halmak, Dvorak
  • 2.91% pinky off — beats Canary, Gallium, APTv3, Semimak, MTGAP, Dvorak, Recurva, etc.

Comparing with [thumb-letter layout rankings][PGt] !:

  • 0.55% SFBs — second 🥈 place; only surpassed by Night
  • 2.67% SFSs — second 🥈 place; only surpassed by Night
  • 0.07% LSBs — second 🥈 place; only surpassed by Caster
  • 1.48% redirects — third 🥉 place; after Nordrassil, Vibranium
  • 0.16% scissors — fourth place; after RSTHD, Promethium, Maltron
  • 45.82% rolls — sixth place; beats Promethium, Nordrassil
  • 2.91% pinky off — third 🥉 place; after RSTHD, Nordrassil

Several same-finger bigrams (SFBs) in Enthium can be raked down vertically across adjacent rows or slid over horizontally, based on your dexterity and comfort. This allows the same finger to actuate both keys in one continuous motion, thereby mitigating their impact on your typing flow and performance:

0.55% SFBs - 0.26% rakeable - 0.07% slideable = 0.22% effective SFBs

SFBCostMitigation
ue0.08%rake down
oa0.05%rake down
nf0.04%rake down
ws0.03%slide in
yi0.03%rake down
e-0.02%slide out
sw0.02%slide out
a.0.02%rake down
lk0.02%rake down
e/0.01%rake down
hm0.01%rake down

These results were [computed with Cyanophage’s Layout Analyzer][cNM] as follows.

[![Statistics for Enthium from Cyanophage’s Layout Analyzer]!(cyanophage.png)][cNM]

[cNM] !: https://cyanophage.github.io/playground.html?layout=qyou%3Dxldpz%5Cciae-khtnsw%27%2C.%3B%2Fjmgfv*rb&mode=ergo&lan=english&thumb=r [cPM] !: https://cyanophage.github.io/playground.html?layout=fpdlx%3Buoybzsnthk%2Caeicqvwgmj-.%27%3D%2F%5Cr&mode=ergo&lan=english&thumb=l [cNG] !: https://cyanophage.github.io/playground.html?layout=byou%27%3Bldwvzciea%2C.htsnqgxjk-%2Frmfp%5C%5E&mode=ergo&lan=english&thumb=l [cDV] !: https://cyanophage.github.io/playground.html?layout=%27%2C.pyfgcrl%2Faoeuidhtns-%3Bqjkxbmwvz%5C%5E&mode=ergo&lan=english&thumb=l [cCD] !: https://cyanophage.github.io/playground.html?layout=qwfpbjluy%3B-arstgmneio%27zxcdvkh%2C.%2F%5C%5E&mode=ergo&lan=english&thumb=l [cQW] !: https://cyanophage.github.io/playground.html?layout=qwertyuiop-asdfghjkl%3B%27zxcvbnm%2C.%2F%5C%5E&mode=ergo&lan=english&thumb=l

CategoryStatistic[Enthium][cNM][Promethium][cPM][Engrammer][cNG][Dvorak][cDV][Colemak-DH][cCD][QWERTY][cQW]
SummaryTotal Word Effort 📉724.5732.1899.51185.51047.92070.6
SummaryEffort 📉415.46398.09457.41769.69534.991258.15
BigramsSame Finger Bigrams 📉0.55%0.58%0.99%1.87%0.91%4.38%
BigramsSkip Bigrams (2u) 📉0.33%0.36%0.39%0.45%0.49%1.43%
BigramsSkip Bigrams (SFS) 📉2.67%3.05%3.47%3.48%4.24%5.45%
BigramsLat Stretch Bigrams 📉0.07%0.24%0.41%0.80%1.27%4.55%
BigramsScissors 📉0.16%0.11%0.36%0.08%0.15%1.46%
TrigramsAlt 📈38.09%36.98%35.62%39.08%25.43%21.38%
TrigramsAlt SFS 📉4.46%5.27%5.93%5.85%5.47%5.42%
TrigramsRoll in 📈1.55%1.72%1.82%0.28%1.50%1.32%
TrigramsRoll out 📈0.40%0.29%0.29%0.27%0.98%1.48%
TrigramsBigram roll in 📈26.99%29.17%28.14%23.51%25.18%20.38%
TrigramsBigram roll out 📈16.88%14.56%14.03%15.14%21.54%17.58%
TrigramsRedirect 📉1.48%1.53%2.26%1.55%5.33%6.22%
TrigramsWeak redirect 📉0.79%0.87%0.74%0.64%1.09%0.44%
TrigramsOther 📉9.36%9.61%11.17%13.68%13.49%25.78%
ComputedPinky off 📉2.91%4.08%5.70%4.13%0.78%2.47%

[rKL] !: https://www.reddit.com/r/KeyboardLayouts/ [PGr] !: https://getreuer.info/posts/keyboards/alt-layouts/ [PGl] !: https://getreuer.info/posts/keyboards/alt-layouts/#which-alt-keyboard-layout-should-i-learn [PGt] !: https://getreuer.info/posts/keyboards/alt-layouts/#layouts-with-thumb-keys

Implementation

Section titled “Implementation”

![Concept of this layout on a split, ortho-linear keyboard.]!(layout.png)

Row-staggered keyboards

Section titled “Row-staggered keyboards”

![Rendering of this layout on a row-staggered keyboard.]!(laptop.png)

Split/columnar keyboards

Section titled “Split/columnar keyboards”

See my [Glorious Engrammer] keymap:

Rendering of this layout on my Glove80 keyboard. Photograph of this layout on my Glove80 keyboard.

[Glorious Engrammer] !: https://github.com/sunaku/glove80-keymaps

Installation

Section titled “Installation”

Linux setup

Section titled “Linux setup”

Install:

cd linux/
sudo make install
echo Now restart your graphical session.

Activate:

setxkbmap -layout us    -variant enthium         # one layout; no switch
setxkbmap -layout us,us -variant enthium,basic   # dual layout switching

Repair (e.g. whenever a system-wide XKB package upgrade reverts installation):

cd linux/
sudo make reinstall
echo Now restart your graphical session.

Uninstall:

cd linux/
sudo make uninstall
echo Now restart your graphical session.

MacOS setup

Section titled “MacOS setup”

Install:

  • You’ll need [Karabiner-Elements], which is also available in [Homebrew] !:

    brew install --cask karabiner-elements

Activate:

  • Use the [complex modification feature for Enthium][KeNM] to remap your keys.

    (Note: The latest version of this is [available here in this Git repository]!(macos/karabiner.json).)

Uninstall:

  • Remove the complex modification feature for Enthium that you activated.

  • Optionally remove Karabiner-Elements, which can be done with Homebrew:

    brew uninstall --cask karabiner-elements

[KeNM] !: https://ke-complex-modifications.pqrs.org/?q=enthium [Karabiner-Elements] !: https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org [Homebrew] !: https://brew.sh

License

Section titled “License”

[Spare A Life] !: https://sunaku.github.io/vegan-for-life.html

Like my work? 👍 Please [spare a life] today as thanks! 🐄🐖🐑🐔🐣🐟✨🙊✌
Why? For 💕 ethics, the 🌎 environment, and 💪 health; see link above. 🙇

(the ISC license)

Copyright 2024 Suraj N. Kurapati https://github.com/sunaku

Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.