Astrohaus has created a very specific niche. The Michigan-based startup builds devices for writers looking to eliminate distractions. After all, it’s really hard to finish that novel when Instagram exists.
While the company has made its name bucking most tech trends, however, its latest offering has found a range to jump into. Announced at CES 2025, Wordrunner embraces the mechanical keyboard boom while staying true to Astrohaus’ mission statement of distraction-free typing.
The Freewrite Wordrunner is, at its core, a standard mechanical keyboard with a few writer-centric tricks up its sleeve. Specifically, the peripheral has a Wordometer (word count) and a “sprint timer” for writing.
The idea is to embed productivity tools directly into the product itself. Astrohaus is essentially offering a way to bypass writing apps and focus on writing itself.
“Writers use keyboards more than anyone else, but they’ve never had professional-grade tools built specifically for them,” says founder and CEO Adam Leeb. “While gamers have an entire industry creating specialized features for them, writers have been forced to rely on general-purpose consoles and add-on software to keep up with their work. Wordrunner transforms this relationship by making the keyboard itself an active participant in the writing process – not just a passive input device, but a true writing companion.”
The keyboard is aluminum, with floating keys and a red control key. The system will launch on Kickstarter in February, with shipping planned for late 2025
