PaperPi

Looking for the working version? PaperPi version 1 is on the v1 branch. See its install instructions. The last state of version 1 is marked with the tag v1-final.

PaperPi shows information (weather, clocks, music, comics and more) on e-paper displays attached to a Raspberry Pi.

Status: version 2 is being rewritten

This branch (main) holds PaperPi version 2, which is being written from scratch. It is not usable yet.

What version 2 will add

• Support for the IT8951 displays (such as the Waveshare 9.7") on Raspberry Pi OS "trixie"
• A web page for changing settings and plugin options, with a preview before sending to the display
• Settings changes without a restart
• Installation with one command, using Docker (a tool that runs a program together with everything it needs, separate from the rest of the system)
• Generated documentation with example images for every plugin

Progress is tracked in milestones.

Development

PaperPi needs Python 3.13, the version in Raspberry Pi OS "trixie".

It uses uv, a tool that installs the right Python version and all the packages PaperPi needs into a separate folder (.venv), and ruff, a tool that checks code style.

uv sync                    # install everything
uv run pytest              # run the tests (tests that need a real display are skipped)
uv run pytest -m hardware  # run only the tests that need a real display (on the Pi)
uv run ruff check .        # check code style
uv run ruff format .       # fix code formatting

See CLAUDE.md for how work is organized.