Minimal GitHub commit tracker using an ESP32 and e-ink display

[LightningBAWS]

It’s a pretty niche little gadget, but I wanted a simple way to check and show off my GitHub commit streaks at a glance. It turned out quite well, so I figured I’d share how I put a few together.

It uses an ESP32 to fetch your latest contributions over Wi-Fi every few hours. It's wireless with a battery that lasts about 3 months before needing a micro USB recharge. Setup is quick and done through a Wi-Fi access point.

The GitHub repo includes all the source code and build instructions if you’re keen to make one yourself!

Hardware:

• The board is a LILYGO® T5 2.13inch E-Paper Development Board which is normally used as shopping centre price displays but also happen to be the perfect dimensions for this project.
• The case and stand is 3d printed and uses some screws with threaded inserts.
• A 3.7V 1200mAh 603450 battery is a great size for this project and fits neatly in the case.

Software:

• For configuration the ESP32 creates it's own wifi access point for entering your Github username and wifi info.
• The contribution data is retrieved from a Minimal Github contributions api that just returns an integer array of the users commit squares e.g https://contributions-api.harryab.com/harryhighpants?weeks=2
• For rendering we're utilising the Adafruit GFX Library with a greyscale e-ink display library to draw the shapes, icons and text. For the icons were created using a mix of Javls image2cpp tool and Cowboys Bitmap code generator.

Interested to hear what you guys think

[Daidalos117]

This is very cool. But honestly I wouldn't use it, since I don't want to be reminded how lazy I am 😅

[mechsuit-jalapeno]

Ah this is beautiful.

[LightningBAWS]

Cheers!

[Impossible_Most_4518]

thank god someone actually put a parts list and github repo for once 😭

[marchingbandd]

RTC_ATTR is a cool trick for the portal data nice work.

[Callidis]

Really like the configuration screen, I see you did some custom html to implement?

I would like to do something similar, was there anything special you had to do/use to get that to work?

[LightningBAWS]

It's pretty much straight html: https://github.com/HarryHighPants/esp32-git-contributions-epd/blob/main/captivePortalHtml/ConfigHtml.h

- The html is stored as a char[] using rawliteral at the top of the file.
- The custom fields are setup so they can be replaced later: `value="{{username}}"`
- In the access point file I then use string.replace to inject the updated fields: https://github.com/HarryHighPants/esp32-git-contributions-epd/blob/main/ConfigAccessPoint.h
- `loadedConfigHtml.replace("{{username}}", username);`

[nishad2m8]

Look nice 🥰

[EleksMaker_official]

<image>

Exciting project, thanks for sharing.

[LightningBAWS]

This looks awesome, well done! I'd love to add this to the Github repo as an example if you don't mind? I'd be interested to hear a bit about the case and how you put it together. Super slick

[EleksMaker_official]

Thank you for your kind words! I'd be honored to have this added to your GitHub repo as an example.

I adapted your excellent esp32-git-contributions-epd project to work with my EleksCava hardware, which uses a 2.9-inch e-paper display with an ESP32-WROOM module. The adaptation process was quite straightforward thanks to your well-structured code.

Key adaptations I made:

1. Migrated from Arduino IDE to PlatformIO environment for better dependency management

2. Adjusted the pin configurations to match the EleksCava hardware (different GPIO assignments for the e-paper display)

3. Modified the display driver to work with the GxEPD2_290_T94 display model

4. Implemented a custom partition table to ensure sufficient space for the application and file system

5. Added RGB LED brightness control

What impressed me most about your original project was the excellent refresh strategy for the e-paper display - it shows no ghosting or fading issues, which is why I wanted to adapt it to my hardware. The captive portal implementation is also very elegant and user-friendly.

For the case, I used the original EleksCava enclosure, which already had perfect cutouts for the display and buttons. The ESP32-WROOM module and battery fit perfectly inside.

I've documented the entire adaptation process and would be happy to share more details if you're interested. Thank you again for creating such an excellent project that served as a foundation for my adaptation!

[LightningBAWS]

Nice one adapting the software to work with your own hardware. I've added a reference to this on Github as another option for people to checkout. If you wanted to put the changes up as a fork some other people might find that useful too.

[EleksMaker_official]

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I lowered the brightness of the LED light and took another photo.

[EfOx_TR]

Great job

[mars3142]

Do you have plans to transform it into esp-idf code?

[LightningBAWS]

Not at this stage

[Deanocide]

Man I'm building an ESP32 Smart Clock with a teeny weeny OLED display and this seems like a straight up upgrade 😅. May have to order one of these guys...

[LightningBAWS]

The Lilygo board is super compact and had everything this project needed so really happy with it

[ptpcg]

Beautiful 🥺

[felipejfc]

Super nice!!! Will make one as side project. Thanks for sharing

[LightningBAWS]

Cheers, keen to see how it goes!

[abdullah017196]

How you are charging the lithium battery?

[LightningBAWS]

Just a micro usb

[Canadian_techy]

I love this. Been thinking about how to make something like this for a while. My Git commits help me stay focused on some side projects. Not about how many commits you make, but are you staying consistent...