Ben Vallack Navigation

This pack is a complete home row navigation system inspired by Ben Vallack, a keyboard designer and YouTuber known for pushing the limits of what a keyboard can do. His channel explores minimal keyboard layouts, custom firmware, and the idea that your fingers should never leave the home row — for anything.

Screenshot — Ben Vallack's keyboard customization content

Ben’s approach is opinionated: modifiers move to the top row, the index fingers become layer toggles, and the entire right hand becomes a navigation surface. It’s a different philosophy from the default Vim Navigation pack — where that pack adds navigation alongside your normal keyboard, this one redesigns your keyboard around navigation.

If you’re new to keyboard customization, start with Home Row Arrows or Vim Navigation first. Come back here when you’re ready to go deeper.

What you get

Hold either index finger key (F or J) and your keyboard transforms:

  • H, J, K, L become arrow keys — left, down, up, right
  • Y copies, ; pastes — clipboard without leaving the home row
  • U deletes backward, I presses Enter
  • E and R switch browser tabs — previous and next
  • S and D jump to the start and end of a line
  • A opens the app switcher (⌘Tab)

Release your index finger and everything goes back to normal. Both F and J activate the same layer, so you can use whichever hand is more comfortable.

The navigation layer in detail

When you hold F or J, here’s what every key does:

Right hand — navigation and editing

Your right hand stays on the home row and handles all cursor movement and basic editing:

  ┌───────┬───────┬───────┬───────┬───────┐
  │   Y   │   U   │   I   │   O   │   P   │
  │  ⌘C   │  ⌫    │  ↵    │       │       │
  │ copy  │delete │enter  │       │       │
  ├───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┤
  │   H   │   J   │   K   │   L   │   ;   │
  │  ←    │  ↓    │  ↑    │  →    │  ⌘V   │
  │ left  │ down  │  up   │right  │ paste │
  └───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┘

The core navigation cluster follows the Vim HJKL layout: H is left, J is down, K is up, L is right. But unlike standalone Vim Navigation, the surrounding keys are mapped to editing actions — backspace on U, enter on I, copy on Y, paste on semicolon. Your right hand handles both movement and editing without reaching.

Screenshot — Right hand navigation keys in the overlay

Left hand — switching and jumping

Your left hand handles context switching — moving between apps, tabs, and positions within a document:

  ┌───────┬───────┬───────┬───────┬───────┐
  │   Q   │   W   │   E   │   R   │   T   │
  │  ⇥    │  ⎋    │ ◀tab  │ tab▶  │  ⌘[   │
  │  tab  │  esc  │prev   │next   │ back  │
  │       │       │  tab  │ tab   │       │
  ├───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┤
  │   A   │   S   │   D   │   G   │   V   │
  │ ⌘Tab  │ Home  │ End   │  📸   │  ⌘]   │
  │  app  │line   │line   │screen │forward│
  │switch │start  │ end   │ shot  │       │
  └───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┘

E and R cycle browser tabs (Ctrl+Shift+Tab and Ctrl+Tab) — invaluable when you have a dozen tabs open. A opens the app switcher (⌘Tab). S and D jump to the start and end of the current line — no more Home/End reaching. T and V navigate back and forward in apps that support ⌘[ and ⌘]. G takes a screenshot.

Screenshot — Left hand switching keys in the overlay

The full picture

Here’s the entire keyboard with the navigation layer active. Shaded keys are mapped; unshaded keys pass through to the base layer:

  ┌─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┐
  │  Q  │  W  │  E  │  R  │  T  │  Y  │  U  │  I  │  O  │  P  │
  │ tab │ esc │◀tab │tab▶ │ ⌘[  │ ⌘C  │  ⌫  │  ↵  │     │     │
  ├─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┤
  │  A  │  S  │  D  │ [F] │  G  │  H  │  J  │  K  │  L  │  ;  │
  │⌘Tab │Home │ End │HOLD │ 📸  │  ←  │  ↓  │  ↑  │  →  │ ⌘V  │
  └─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┘
                      ↑
                hold to activate

Modifiers on the top row

Here’s where the Vallack approach gets distinctive. Standard home row mods put modifiers on A, S, D, F — but that creates a conflict, because the Vallack nav layer also uses those keys for actions (A is app switcher, S is Home, D is End).

Ben’s solution: move modifiers to the top row.

  Standard home row mods:              Vallack top-row modifiers:

  ┌─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┐          ┌─────┬─────┬─────┐   ┌─────┬─────┬─────┐
  │  q  │  w  │  e  │  r  │          │  Q  │  W  │  E  │   │  U  │  I  │  O  │
  │     │     │     │     │          │hold:│hold:│hold:│   │hold:│hold:│hold:│
  ├─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┤          │ ⌃   │ ⌥   │ ⌘   │   │ ⌘   │ ⌥   │ ⌃   │
  │  A  │  S  │  D  │  F  │          └─────┴─────┴─────┘   └─────┴─────┴─────┘
  │hold:│hold:│hold:│hold:│
  │ ⌃   │ ⌥   │ ⇧   │ ⌘   │            tap Q = q           tap U = u
  └─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┘            hold Q = Control     hold U = Command

Tap Q normally to type “q”. Hold Q to get Control. Same for W (Option) and E (Command) on the left, and U (Command), I (Option), O (Control) on the right.

This frees the entire home row for navigation and typing. No conflicts — modifiers live on a row you don’t type on as frequently, and the top row is easy to reach without moving your hands.

Diagram — Standard vs Vallack modifier placement

Three collections working together

When you install the Ben Vallack Nav pack, KeyPath sets up three coordinated collections:

Collection What it does
Vallack Navigation The layer mappings — arrows, clipboard, tab switching, line navigation
Ben’s Modifiers Top-row modifiers (Q/W/E and U/I/O) instead of standard home row mods
Vallack Layer Toggles F and J as hold-to-activate triggers for the navigation layer

These three are designed to work as a system. Installing the pack enables all three and configures them to the Vallack defaults. You can adjust individual settings in each collection if you want to customize.

Screenshot — Vallack pack detail with three collections

Who is this for?

Good fit if you:

  • Want everything accessible without moving your hands — arrows, editing, clipboard, tabs
  • Are comfortable with an opinionated layout that changes how your whole keyboard works
  • Type frequently and want to minimize hand travel
  • Enjoy the mechanical keyboard customization community and want to try a layout that a well-known designer uses daily

Try something simpler first if you:

  • Just want arrow keys on the home row → Home Row Arrows
  • Want Vim-style navigation but keep your standard modifiers → Vim Navigation
  • Are new to keyboard customization → start with Remapping

Installing

  1. Open the Pack Gallery
  2. Find Ben Vallack Nav and click Install
  3. KeyPath will ask about conflicts if you have Home Row Mods or Vim Navigation enabled — the Vallack system replaces both

Screenshot — Ben Vallack Nav in the Pack Gallery

Or from the command line:

keypath pack install vallack-system

Tips for getting started

Start with navigation. Hold F, press HJKL to move around in a text editor. Don’t worry about the other keys yet — just get comfortable with arrows.

Add clipboard next. Once HJKL feels natural, start using Y (copy) and ; (paste). Select text with Shift+arrows (hold Shift on the left hand while pressing HJKL), then Y to copy.

Tab switching last. E (previous tab) and R (next tab) are the most powerful once you’re in the flow — navigate code, switch tabs, paste a snippet, all without touching the mouse.

Give the top-row modifiers a week. Moving modifiers off the home row feels strange at first. The payoff is that your home row is purely for typing and navigation, with no timing-sensitive tap-hold decisions on your most-used keys.

Screenshot — Editing workflow with Vallack navigation

Learn more from Ben

Ben Vallack’s YouTube channel is the best place to understand the thinking behind this layout: