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Tiny Tomte for developers

Build your own widgets

Tiny Tomte is an open platform. This page is the technical side: how widgets work, the device API, running your own server and the AI connector. Each part is marked honestly: Ready, Beta (works for us, opens to everyone later) or Coming.

How a widget becomes a screen

  1. 1 · Data

    Plain server code fetches it on a schedule, with a cache. No AI involved.

  2. 2 · Layout

    A React component with a settings schema and test data.

  3. 3 · Frame

    The server renders it into 1 bit: 300 × 400 pixels, 15 KB.

  4. 4 · Screen

    The device downloads a frame only when it changes, and draws clocks and timers itself.

What you can build on

  • Your own widgets

    Coming

    A widget is a folder: a React view, a settings schema with a description for every field, and at least one set of test data. The same description becomes the settings form on the website and a tool for AI. The kit for outside developers comes later.

  • Device API v1

    Beta

    The screen asks for a scene, downloads 1-bit frames by hash only when they change and sends button presses back as events. Our firmware uses it today; public docs come later. Version 1 only grows: new fields are added, nothing is removed.

  • Your own server

    Coming

    Run the server yourself and point your screens at it, for full control over your data.

  • MCP connector

    Coming

    Every widget describes what it shows and what it can do. Those actions become MCP tools, so Claude or ChatGPT can show things on the screen, set a timer or add to a list. Part of Pro.

  • Your own AI on a button

    Coming

    Bring an API key for Claude, OpenAI or DeepSeek, or your own Ollama server. Push to talk: the microphone listens only while the button is held, and the answer streams to the screen. Part of Pro.

  • Firmware

    Beta (v0.1)

    Our own firmware in Rust for the ESP32-S3 inside the device. Version 0.1 is an early build: it joins your Wi-Fi and shows widget frames from the server over Device API v1. There are no devices out there yet. Clocks and timers drawn by the device itself come in a later version.

  • Simulator for developers

    Ready

    Every widget on test or live data, the frame as PNG and its grayscale source, the pixels under the bezel and real-size calibration: open the simulator in developer mode.

Design rules

Screens use five tones (black, three patterns, white), a 4 px grid, rounded corners only and a safe area inside the bezel. Anything thin is black: thin gray lines break up in 1 bit.

Want early access?

Join the waitlist on Pro & makers: when the widget kit opens, we'll write to developers first.

Building for a business? Tell us on the business page.