Apple - How to increase keyboard key repeat rate on OS X?

You can also change the preference keys by running the following in Terminal:

defaults write -g InitialKeyRepeat -int 10 # normal minimum is 15 (225 ms)
defaults write -g KeyRepeat -int 1 # normal minimum is 2 (30 ms)

The changes aren't applied until you log out and back in. KeyRepeat can't be set between 2 (30 ms) and 1 (15 ms) though.

I also use KeyRemap4MacBook. I've set the repeat rates to 40 ms and the initial repeat rates to 150 ms.

I just discovered that I had KeyRemap4MacBook installed and inside this application you have lots of low level settings for key repeat.

Now I'm happy with 400ms initial repeat time and 20ms repeat wait.

Old post, but this may help someone: If you are using the "Karabiner app" (https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/) which is a third party app commonly used to remap keys (or make OS X keyboard mimic some of Windows keyboards behaviors) it will bypass your OS X configurations.

If you are using it, to increase your keyboard rate you should go to the app and on the second tab ("Key Repeat") you'll find the option Repeat Rate. Changing that will render immediate effect and, as far as I can tell, it's the only way to get the repeat rate changed when using this app.