C01 Manual — Canary

Quick start

Power. Pair. Type.

01

Flip the power switch

The switch sits on the rear edge. ON enables wireless. OFF makes the board wired-only — every radio stays down and wireless input is ignored entirely.

02

Pair or plug in

Bluetooth: hold Fn + Q for three seconds until Q flashes red fast, then select Canary65-BT1 on your device.

2.4G: hold Fn + R for three seconds, then insert the receiver.

Wired: connect USB-C. Done.

03

Set the operating system

Hold Fn + A for three seconds for Windows, or Fn + S for three seconds for Mac. The key flashes white three times to confirm.

Keyboard seems dead? It's asleep — the backlight drops after two minutes idle and the board enters deep sleep at thirty. Press any key and give it a second.

Connect

Five channels. One board.

Short press switches to a channel. Hold three seconds to pair a new device on it.

Bluetooth 1

Canary65-BT1

Fn+Q

Hold three seconds and Q flashes red fast while the board is discoverable. It holds solid for two seconds the moment a device connects. If nothing connects, the light goes out and the board sleeps — hold again to retry.

Bluetooth 2

Canary65-BT2

Fn+W

The second saved device, on a blue indicator. Once paired, a short press moves the board between channels without pairing again.

Bluetooth 3

Canary65-BT3

Fn+E

The third saved device, on a yellow indicator. Three Bluetooth hosts stay in memory at once — desktop, laptop, tablet.

2.4G

Canary65-2.4G

Fn+R

Hold three seconds and R flashes green fast, then insert the receiver. If no receiver appears within thirty seconds the board stops looking and sleeps — hold Fn + R again to retry.

Wired · USB-C

Canary65

Fn+T

Connect the cable and T holds solid white for two seconds as wireless steps aside. Wired works with the power switch in either position.

Power switch OFF is wired-only by design. No radios, nothing broadcasting, nothing to interfere with. It is the setting for a clean RF desk, and the reason a board with the switch off will never pair.

Indicators

Small lights. Plain meanings.

The swatches below run at the board's real cadence. Match yours against them.

Signal	Location	Meaning
Fast flash	Q · W · E · R	Pairing. The channel is discoverable and waiting for a device to pick it up.
Slow flash	Q · W · E · R	Reconnecting to a device it already knows. Wake the device and it settles on its own.
Solid, two seconds	Q · W · E · R · T	Connected. The channel's key holds its color for two seconds, then goes dark. T is white for wired.
Flashing red	Fn	Battery is low. Connect USB-C — the board keeps working while it charges.
Solid red	Fn	Charging. `Fn` + `Tab` hides the indicator if you would rather not see it.
Matches the backlight	Fn	Fully charged. The Fn key rejoins the lighting effect and stops reporting.
Solid white	Caps Lock	Caps Lock is on.
Solid white	Win	The Windows key is locked. `Fn` + `Win` unlocks it.
Solid white	Left Ctrl	The number row types F1–F12 by default. `Fn` + `L-Ctrl` flips it back to numbers.

Backlight controls

Fn+Space

Backlight on or off. Status indicators stay live either way.

Fn+\

Cycle through the eighteen lighting effects, in this order.

1 Constant Light · 2 Breathing · 3 Dreamy Rainbow · 4 Instant Activation · 5 Walking in the Rain · 6 Rainbow Wheel · 7 Button Ripple · 8 Twinkling Stars · 9 Snowflakes Without a Trace · 10 Unceasing Flow · 11 Drifting with the Waves · 12 Shadowless · 13 Dazzling Light Wave · 14 Spinning Windmill · 15 Rainbow Waterfall · 16 Blooming Flowers · 17 Game Lighting · 18 Off

Game Lighting lights Esc, WASD and the arrows blue and leaves the rest dark. The keys and colors are customizable in the driver.

Fn+]

Cycle colors: mixed, then ten shades each of red, green, blue, yellow, purple and cyan, then white.

Fn+↑/↓

Brightness, five levels; the board ships at four. The arrow flashes white three times when you reach either end.

Fn+←/→

Effect speed, five levels; the board ships at four.

Fn+C

Light self-test. Red, green, blue, white, then back to where it was.

Fn layer

Hold Fn. Everything opens.

System

Fn+AHold 3s

Switch to Windows mode. A flashes white three times.

Fn+SHold 3s

Switch to Mac mode. S flashes white three times.

Fn+EscHold 3s

Factory reset. The backlight flashes three times, then every channel is empty — pair again afterwards.

Fn+Win

Lock or unlock the Windows key. The key lights solid white while it is locked. Windows mode only — Mac has nothing to lock.

Fn+X

Battery check on the number row. Wireless only.

Fn+Tab

Hide or show the charging indicator on the Fn key.

Fn+L-Ctrl

Toggle the number row between numbers and F1–F12 as the default. Left Ctrl lights white when the F-row is default. Media keys live in F-row mode.

Shift+Esc

Types ~

Shift+Del

Types `

Fn+PgUp

Home

Fn+PgDn

End

Connections

Fn+Q

Bluetooth 1 — Canary65-BT1. Press to switch, hold three seconds to pair.

Fn+W

Bluetooth 2 — Canary65-BT2. Press to switch, hold three seconds to pair.

Fn+E

Bluetooth 3 — Canary65-BT3. Press to switch, hold three seconds to pair.

Fn+R

2.4G — Canary65-2.4G. Hold three seconds, then insert the receiver within thirty seconds.

Fn+T

Wired over USB-C. T holds solid white for two seconds.

Media & F-row

The number row has three jobs — numbers, F1–F12 and media — and Fn + L-Ctrl picks the mode. Out of the box the row types numbers and Fn reaches F1–F12; media is not on the row at all. Toggle to F-row mode (Left Ctrl lights white) and media appears, on opposite sides of Fn depending on the OS.

Mode	Key alone	Fn + key
Numbers default · L-Ctrl dark	1 – =	F1–F12
F-row default · L-Ctrl white · Win	F1–F12	Media, as listed below
F-row default · L-Ctrl white · Mac	Media, as listed below	F1–F12

Media assignments by key, with the F-key that shares the position.

1Win

My Computer F1

2Win

Browser home F2

3Win

Email F3

4Win

Calculator F4

5Win

Music F5

6Win

Stop F6

1Mac

Display brightness down F1

2Mac

Display brightness up F2

3Mac

Mission Control F3

4Mac

Control panel F4

5Mac

Keyboard backlight down F5

6Mac

Keyboard backlight up F6

7

Previous track F7

8

Play / pause F8

9

Next track F9

0

Mute F10

-

Volume down F11

=

Volume up F12

Knob

Turn left

Volume down

Press

Play / pause

Turn right

Volume up

Every key is remappable. The C01 runs QMK. Plug in over USB-C, open usevia.app in a Chromium browser and remap any key or layer live — nothing to install, and the board keeps the map.

Battery & sleep

Ten keys. Ten percent each.

Fn + X pauses the backlight and reads the charge across the number row. Each lit key is ten percent.

Below 30% Below 50% Above 50%

State	Trigger	Wake
Light sleep	2 minutes idle	The backlight drops, the board stays connected. Any key wakes it instantly.
Deep sleep	30 minutes idle	The radio stands down. Press any key and give it a second to find the host again.
Auto-shutdown	Cell at 3.1 V	Connect USB-C. The board is usable the moment the cable is in, and charges while you type. Wireless returns once the cell is back at 3.3 V.

Battery check is a wireless feature. On USB-C the board reads charge from the cable, so Fn + X does nothing there.

Hot-swap

Lift it out. Press one in.

The 2-in-1 puller in the box does both jobs. No soldering, no firmware step.

01

Pull the keycap

Use the wire end of the puller. Hook it under two opposite corners of the cap and lift straight up until it releases.

02

Pull the switch

Turn the puller to the pincer end. Squeeze the tabs at the top and bottom of the switch housing and lift straight out — never at an angle. Angled pulls bend the pins.

03

Seat the new switch

Check both pins are straight, line them up with the socket and press until the switch sits flush against the plate. Replace the keycap and type.

The sockets take 3-pin and 5-pin switches. Wing and Canary are the two the C01 ships with — anything hot-swap compatible drops into the same socket.

Troubleshooting

Something's off. Here's the fix.

The keyboard seems completely dead

Almost always sleep. The backlight drops after two minutes idle and the board enters deep sleep at thirty — press any key and wait a second for it to find the host again.

If nothing happens, the battery hit critical and the board shut itself down. Connect USB-C: it works immediately while charging.

Wireless won't activate

The power switch on the rear edge is OFF. In that position the board is wired-only by design — every radio is down and wireless input is ignored. Flip it to ON, then pair.

My device can't find the keyboard

A short press only switches channels. To make the board discoverable you have to hold the combo for three seconds — the key flashes fast once it is broadcasting.

Fn+Q/W/EHold 3s

On Bluetooth, if nothing connects the key light goes out and the board sleeps — hold the combo again. On 2.4G, the board searches for thirty seconds and then sleeps. Insert the receiver inside that window, or hold Fn + R again to restart it.

The number row types F-keys

Fn + L-Ctrl has been toggled, making F1–F12 the default layer. Press it again to put the numbers back. Left Ctrl lights solid white whenever the F-row is default, so you can tell at a glance.

Media keys do the wrong thing

Two possibilities. If media does nothing at all, the number row is in numbers mode, where media is not on the row — press Fn + L-Ctrl so Left Ctrl lights white.

If media fires but the wrong action lands, the board is in the other OS mode. Hold Fn + A for three seconds for Windows or Fn + S for three seconds for Mac. The key flashes white three times to confirm the change.

I want a clean slate

Hold Fn + Esc for three seconds. The backlight flashes three times and every setting and saved channel goes back to factory. Pair your devices again afterwards.

Still stuck? Email hello@canary.store with your unit number. Registered owners get priority support in The Nest.

Registration

One unit. Your name on it.

Registration activates the warranty, unlocks priority support, and enrolls you in The Flock. Nothing in this manual is behind it.

Warranty · Priority support · The Flock

Everything the C01 does.Nothing it doesn't.