fberrez/quietdash.com

QuietDash is a small desk dashboard built around an e-ink screen, the kind of low power display used in e-readers that shows a static image without glowing or backlighting. It runs on a Raspberry Pi connected to a Waveshare 7.5 inch e-Paper panel, and its whole purpose is to show a handful of numbers you actually care about, like how much of your workday is left, your tasks, the weather, your calendar, the time, and a short news feed, then sit there quietly without pulling your attention the way a normal screen does. The project's creator explains that the appeal of e-ink here is that it does not glow or move, so it reads more like a printed page sitting on your desk than an active screen demanding attention. The display refreshes only a few times an hour rather than continuously, and there are no notifications. Which widgets appear, and where they sit within the screen's fixed 800 by 480 pixel frame, is configurable. QuietDash is open source and meant to be self hosted. It has three parts: a server that renders the dashboard image and exposes a small API, a web app called the studio where you log in, pair your Pi devices, and arrange the layout, and a Python client that runs on the Raspberry Pi itself to fetch and display the rendered image. The server can either run directly on the Pi for an all in one setup, or on any other machine on your home network, and by default nothing leaves your local network. To run it, you need Node.js 22 or newer and the pnpm package manager to build and start the server and studio web app, then a Raspberry Pi with the Waveshare panel to run the device client, which connects to your server and shows a QR code on the panel itself to help you pair it. The project supports both a single password mode for personal use and a multi user mode intended for a future hosted version. The README notes that the license for this project has not yet been decided.