your razer hardware. your rules.

Neuron is my replacement for Razer Synapse. I don't run Synapse anymore: Neuron handles my Naga V2 Pro and BlackWidow Chroma V2 every day. DPI, polling, lighting, profiles and button remapping, without an account, cloud sync or telemetry. If I need something it doesn't do, I build it.

I like my Razer hardware. I just got tired of what came with controlling it. So I built a Windows app and CLI in Rust, with settings in plain TOML on my own disk. It works on my desk; check the evidence for yours.

more than a replacement.

Reactive lighting, layers, app-aware profiles, button remapping, Python macros, radial menus, spellweaving and audio control. Underneath it all: when this, do that. A button, glyph or held layer triggers an action; the same engine connects them. Gamepads already feed it too. A control layer built to grow beyond Razer, not a promise that every vendor works today.

your hardware, without another driver.

I reverse-engineered how Synapse communicates with my Razer hardware, using wire captures, existing protocol research and live investigation. Neuron sends the supported HID feature reports directly through Windows, without an extra kernel driver or vendor SDK.

On supported devices that means DPI and stage cycles, polling, brightness, lift-off, scroll stages and battery readings. Settings with getters are read back to check what the device accepted; live lighting checks protocol replies. Device detection isn't proof every control works. The status page keeps tested, partial and unverified support separate.

lighting that means something.

Neuron invokes the firmware's static, breathing, spectrum, wave, reactive, and starlight effects by their native IDs. Its own theme engine sits above them. An effect is two halves that compose, a pattern that decides where light lands and how bright, and a spectrum that decides what colour and when. Since a frame is just data, a live readout (battery, cpu, your mic peak) drops in as its own layer over a running effect, and painting the fire sim with an ocean gradient gives you cold fire with zero code. Changes apply live.

Three I built for the fun of it, so you can see what the engine gives you past the stock set:

Alongside more. Because a preset is only a pattern plus a spectrum, more will come as development goes, and adding your own is a bit of data.

hold, draw, cast.

Hold a trigger, weave a stroke, release, and it fires an action live as a real keybind. Glyphs aren't matched pixel against pixel. Each stroke is fit to a small dynamical model and identified by its eigenmotion, its natural frequency and decay, which is what makes it hold up no matter where on the screen you drew it, how big, or how fast, and lets clockwise and counter-clockwise fall out as genuinely different shapes.

Because a resolved gesture is just another trigger, one capture drives a whole family of instruments: teleport pops a live minimap of your monitors you fling the cursor across, glance pulls every matching window into a magnetic collage, a dial turns the next hold into an analog slide where speed is sensitivity, and knockback is a little rhythm game your mouse plays back at you while you wait in queue.

macros are real python.

A macro is a Python file with def macro(ctx). Neuron starts its bundled interpreter when needed and keeps it warm for later runs. New macros use BOUND helpers for Neuron actions; choose RAW when you want full Python, including files, subprocesses and sockets. RAW is unsandboxed: treat it like any other program you run.

# PowerShell, in your Neuron install folder
.\neuron.exe macro prelude

Start with the GUI block builder: it edits the same Python source, so you can move between blocks and code. Or write Python yourself; the CLI command above shows the helper reference for your installed build. Each run gets a snapshot of the moment that triggered it. Coding-agent skills are an optional shortcut, not something you need to install.

hold a key, get a second keyboard.

Razer ships hypershift as hold-only. Neuron makes the layer first-class and gives it four stances, then makes sure releasing one layer only drops that layer, so two held layers never stomp each other.

it checks its work.

A normal Windows launch arms live binds when the input engine starts; safe mode keeps input disarmed and device writes paused. Supported settings are checked against their getters, lighting checks protocol replies, and unverified writes stay gated. A mismatch fails loudly instead of becoming a fake success.

Once a change lands, Neuron shows a confirmation card. You can move them, batch them, or turn them off.

bring your settings. leave synapse when you're ready.

Neuron imports supported plaintext Synapse exports, keeping changed binds and showing what it can't import. A dry run previews the result before you apply it. Encrypted cloud-only profiles aren't supported. Check your device and the features you use before removing your existing setup.

When you're ready to be rid of it, Neuron can figure out which services are Razer's by asking who installed them, stops them respawning, and ends the whole tree. 

download it. make it yours.

Free Windows 10/11 beta, with an installer or portable ZIP. Both include the app and CLI; launch Neuron from Start, or run neuron-app.exe from the ZIP. Windows may warn because the build is unsigned. Linux builds from source but has no published download or verified native Razer hardware control yet. macOS has no backend.

No terminal needed: DEVICE handles settings, LIGHTING builds effects, INPUT connects buttons and gestures, and SYSTEM has diagnostics. FAQ & manual help · CLI reference.