Inkycal: an open source e-paper dashboard for Raspberry Pi

Inkycal is a Python application that renders a modular dashboard onto an e-paper display attached to a Raspberry Pi, covering things like a calendar, weather, task lists, images and RSS feeds (aceinnolab.github.io/Inkycal, read 2026-10-24). It's maintained by aceinnolab; the repository was created in August 2018 and last pushed to on 2026-09-12. It's GPL-3.0 licensed and had 1,483 stars, 151 forks and 2 open issues at that same read (github.com/aceinnolab/Inkycal, read 2026-10-24).

The project now has two ways in. You can build it yourself: pick a Raspberry Pi and a supported Waveshare panel, install the open source software, and wire your own case together. Or you can buy InkyCal v3, a small-batch, fully assembled kit from the same maintainer with a Raspberry Pi Zero W, e-paper display, custom driver board and a 3D-printed case already put together, configured afterward from a browser with no soldering or coding required (tindie.com, read 2026-10-24). Either way, the software underneath is the same open source project. It suits someone who wants a calendar or weather on a surface that's always on and easy to glance at, rather than a phone screen or a browser tab, and who doesn't mind that an e-paper panel only redraws every so often instead of updating live.

Built-in modules cover a monthly calendar, an agenda view of upcoming events from an iCalendar feed such as a Google Calendar export, current and forecast weather, images from a URL or local file, a slideshow mode, RSS and Atom feeds, stock tickers from Yahoo Finance, Todoist tasks, and a module that shows a random joke from iCanHazDad (tindie.com, read 2026-10-24). Modules can be mixed, reordered and removed, and the project documents how to write a custom Python module if none of the built-in ones fit.

The Web UI at inkycal.aceinnolab.com/ui builds that settings.json file step by step in the browser, and it's what actually controls the layout and modules. The same file can also be imported later through a local web interface running on the device itself. That local interface handles starting and stopping the service, checking hardware status, and running display calibration or a demo image, all without opening a terminal (aceinnolab.github.io/Inkycal, read 2026-10-24).

Supported hardware runs from a Raspberry Pi Zero up through a Pi 5, paired with a Waveshare e-paper panel from 5.83 inches to 13.3 inches, in black and white, black/white/red or yellow, or 16-grayscale versions, all connected over SPI. Optional PiSugar battery support is also documented, for a version that doesn't need to stay plugged in.

Three install paths are documented. The Raspberry Pi installer sets Inkycal up directly on Raspberry Pi OS Lite; a pip package installs it without any e-paper hardware attached, for development or testing modules; and InkycalOS-Lite is a prebuilt SD card image with everything preconfigured, described as the recommended route (aceinnolab.github.io/Inkycal, read 2026-10-24). Access to that prebuilt image is one of the perks listed for supporters on the project's GitHub Sponsors page, alongside anyone who buys the assembled InkyCal v3 kit.

Whichever path you take, the actual configuration step is the same: build a settings.json file in the Web UI, copy it to the device's boot partition, then either run it directly with python inky_run.py or let the installer set it to start automatically on boot.

The Inkycal software itself is free, open source under the GPL-3.0 license, with no subscription or license key. The only required cost if you build it yourself is the Raspberry Pi and e-paper panel you supply. The maintainer also sells a fully assembled InkyCal v3 kit on Tindie, including the Pi Zero W, display, driver board and case, but no price was shown on the product page read for this write-up.

E-paper redraws slowly by design, on the order of seconds per refresh, which is exactly what keeps its power draw low; it isn't a fit for anything that needs to update in real time. Building it yourself also means picking hardware carefully: only specific Waveshare panel sizes and color modes are supported, and community GitHub issues reference plenty of panel-specific fixes and requests, like driver support for newer displays and other e-paper controllers not yet covered.

The prebuilt InkycalOS-Lite image, which the docs call the recommended install path, isn't a public download; it's offered to GitHub Sponsors and to buyers of the assembled kit, so someone building their own device from scratch on a fresh Raspberry Pi is pointed toward the manual installer or the pip route instead. And the assembled kit itself is a small-batch product on Tindie rather than a mass-market listing, so its price and stock are only visible on that one page.