E‑Paper Agent Console

Desk display for agent status + hold-to-talk dumps — the “broadcast console” pattern applied to HEOS / Arthur

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Status: planning / field notes — not built yet on this desk.

Source post: Vinny (@hot_town) — ESP32 radio station console (~$55)

What this path is

A Wi‑Fi ESP32 board with e‑paper (and often onboard mics) that:

Polls a tiny API every N seconds and draws a simple “console” UI
On hold-to-talk: records audio → uploads → server transcribes → posts to chat / agent inbox
Runs on battery as a standalone desk object

Vinny built it for an online radio station (live stats + owner chat pin). Our remapping: HEOS / agent status on the screen; dumps go to arthur.agent (or Janice), not radio chat.

What this path is not

Not a full product character shell (see character path)
Not the lowest-friction unbox experience (see M5 path)
Not on-device LLM inference — board is I/O; brain stays in the cloud / your agents

Their stack (from the post)

Part	What they used
Board	Waveshare ESP32-S3 1.54" e‑Paper AIoT (~$30) — Wi‑Fi, mics, speaker, battery charge
Battery	3.7V 500mAh LiPo (~$10)
Connectors	JST 1.25 adapters (bulk pack)
Display loop	Poll radio API every ~20s → 200×200 e‑paper “broadcast console”
Voice loop	Hold-to-talk → WAV upload → OpenAI transcription → websocket chat (API-key as owner)
Backend	Wasp (React/Node/Prisma) on Railway — `/status`, `/chat`, `/voice-chat`
Firmware	PlatformIO + Arduino, GxEPD2, Waveshare ES8311 codec drivers
Build help	Claude for endpoints + firmware; e‑paper UI mockups as Claude artifacts

Our version (HEOS / agents)

Their job	Our job
Radio live stats UI	TODAY Big 3 + Arthur/Janice status (working / needs review / idle)
Station chat message	Mental fog / code dump → HEOS inbox → Arthur sorts
Owner pin via API key	Device API key scoped to “dump only” — no email send, no spend
Wasp radio app	3 tiny endpoints in front of HEOS / existing agent harness

Matches the backlog on /cyborg: desk ESP32 for Big 3 + one button → agent.

Parts list (order)

Full carts + product links: Cart A on /cyborg-shopping.

Priority	Item	Exact search / name	Why
P0	Main board	`Waveshare ESP32-S3-ePaper-1.54` AIoT (~$30)	E‑paper + mic + codec + charge on one board
P0	USB‑C (data)	Not charge-only	Flash + serial
P1	Battery	3.7V LiPo ~500mAh, match JST 1.25 if required	Untethered desk
P1	JST adapters	Only if battery plug ≠ board	Avoid forcing wrong connector
P2	microSD FAT32	Any small TF card	Optional audio/log storage

Official product page: waveshare.com/esp32-s3-epaper-1.54 · docs: docs.waveshare.com

Tiny API contract

Endpoint	Job
`GET /status`	JSON for e‑paper: Big 3 lines, agent states, last dump time
`POST /voice-in`	Multipart WAV/PCM + device key → transcribe → HEOS inbox / Arthur
`POST /chat` (optional)	Text-only dump if mic path fails

Host anywhere boring: Railway, Fly, Netlify functions, or a route on an app you already run. Device auth = long random key in firmware secrets, not a full user session.

Tutorial ladder

Tooling: PlatformIO (or Arduino IDE) — flash blink / serial hello on the board
Wi‑Fi: join network, HTTPClient GET to a public JSON URL
Display: draw 3 lines of text with GxEPD2 (or board sample sketch)
Status: point GET at your stub /status (hardcoded JSON is fine)
Button: hold-to-talk GPIO → LED or serial “recording”
Mic: short WAV/PCM buffer → POST to laptop endpoint first
Transcribe: OpenAI Whisper (or equivalent) on server → log text
Vault: append markdown / HEOS inbox entry; only then pretty UI
Battery: sleep between polls; last, not first

UI pro tip (from the thread): ask Claude/Grok for 5–10 e‑paper UI mockups at 200×200 (or your resolution) before writing firmware layout code. Artifact mockups beat guessing pixels.

Skills & docs to follow

PlatformIO ESP32 docs + board vendor Arduino samples
GxEPD2 (or Waveshare e‑paper examples) for partial/full refresh tradeoffs
Waveshare ES8311 / codec examples if using their AIoT board mics
OpenAI (or other) audio transcription API docs for the server side
Your own agent handoff: reverse prompting, mental fog, HEOS

Design rules (from cyborg principles)

One job: display status + capture dump — not email, not calendar write-all
Write to vault: transcription must land somewhere durable
Blast radius: device key can only create dumps / read status
Named agent: default dump target is arthur.agent, not “AI”

First ship definition

Done when:

E‑paper shows 3 lines from live /status
One hold-to-talk produces a text file or HEOS note you can open on the laptop
No speaker/TTS required for v1

Related paths

Cyborg wave hub

All three paths + shared architecture.

Hub →

Character device

When you want a face + speaker product story.

Path →

M5 StickS3

Faster modular alternative for demos.