Astrohaus has captured a very specific niche. The Michigan-based startup builds gear for writers looking to eliminate distractions. It’s really hard to finish this novel when Instagram exists, after all.
Although the company has made its name bucking most tech trends, its latest offering has found a bandwagon. Announced at CES 2025, Wordrunner embraces the mechanical keyboard boom while staying true to Astrohaus’ mission statement of distraction-free writing.
The Freewrite Wordrunner is, in essence, a standard mechanical keyboard with a few writing-focused tricks up its sleeve. More specifically, the device has a Wordometer (number of words) and a “sprint timer” for writing.
The idea is to integrate productivity tools directly into the product itself. Astrohaus essentially offers a way to bypass writing apps and focus on writing itself.
-“Writers use keyboards more than almost anyone else, but they’ve never had professional-grade tools designed specifically for them,” says founder and CEO Adam Leeb. “While an entire industry creates specialized features for gamers, writers have been forced to rely on general-purpose keyboards 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 made of aluminum, with floating keys and a red control button. The system will launch on Kickstarter in February, with shipping planned for late 2025.
