google-gemini/glanceboard

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README

Glanceboard Demo Glanceboard is an e-ink display that helps you start your day, built with Gemini This demo showcases how to use Gemini 3.6 Flash and Nano Banana to turn your Google Calendar into art on an e-ink display. Using just a computer and an iCal feed, Glanceboard transforms your schedule, local weather, and custom family characters into Nano Banana generated art. Every morning, it reads your calendar and generates a fresh illustration so you know what's happening today, what to pack, and what to wear. No screens. No notifications. Just a quiet picture frame that helps you know what's happening today. Note: This demo was entirely vibe coded with Google Antigravity and uses off the shelf hardware.

How it works Glanceboard runs a lightweight local server on your computer (or a Raspberry Pi). Every few hours, it:

Reads your calendar events via iCal URL (universal standard for calendar data .ics file) Fetches the current weather for your location Builds a creative prompt for your characters Generates an illustrated daily planner image from the above using Nano Banana Dithers the image for 6-colour e-ink and serves it to your display

The display polls the server for new images — no cloud account needed.

What you need

Part Description

Waveshare ESP32-S3 PhotoPainter 7.3" colour e-ink display in a wooden frame with built-in WiFi

USB-C cable For power (or use an optional lithium battery)

A computer or Pi To run the Glanceboard server

Python 3.9+ Required for the server

Node.js 18+ Required to build the web dashboard

No soldering. No ribbon cables. Just one display and a server.

Using a Raspberry Pi as the display? The legacy Pi + separate e-ink HAT setup is still supported — see Legacy Pi Setup.

Features

Daily Nano Banana art — Your calendar events become illustrated daily planners 6 art styles — Pen-and-ink, fashion sketch, watercolour, pixel art, comic book, and Japanese sumi-e Custom characters — Add people and pets with reference photos for consistency Drag-and-drop widgets — Add sports scores, stock tickers, news, daily quotes, email digest, weather, and more to your display layout Google Calendar — Connect via iCal URL (any calendar that exports iCal works) Weather-aware — Shows weather on the display; characters dress for the actual conditions Location-aware — Uses your location to generate regionally accurate scenes (no snow in Sydney!) Smart countdowns — AI scans your calendar for birthdays, trips, and holidays to count down to Gemini-powered event rewriting — Turns "9am Tavi Library Bag" into "Tavi — remember library bag!" E-ink ready — Floyd-Steinberg dithered for 6-colour Spectra panels Smart scheduling — Auto-generates at your chosen times, only when your calendar or weather changes Custom prompts — Edit the image generation prompt template Email digest — Optional Gmail integration shows unread email summaries (setup required) Fully local — Runs on your own machine, no cloud account required

Quick start 1. Clone and install git clone https://github.com/google-gemini/glanceboard.git cd glanceboard

Install server dependencies

Install and build the web dashboard

API key — Enter your Google AI Studio key (see API key setup below) Calendar — Paste your iCal URL Location — Set your timezone and location for weather Art style — Choose from 6 styles Characters — Add your family members and pets

3. Set up the display See Display setup guide below to flash and connect your PhotoPainter.

Want to keep it running 24/7? See Self-Hosting Guide for systemd service setup, Raspberry Pi instructions, and running Glanceboard as a permanent home server.

Suggested models Glanceboard works with a range of AI image generation models:

Model Provider Notes

Nano Banana Pro Gemini API Recommended. Best quality, text rendering, and character consistency.

Nano Banana 2 Gemini API Balances speed with quality

Glanceboard also uses Gemini Flash 3.6 for intelligence:

Rewriting calendar events into friendly language Generating weather-accurate scene descriptions Scanning calendars for important upcoming events

API key setup Glanceboard requires a Gemini API key to generate images.

Go to aistudio.google.com/apikey Click Create API Key → select your Google Cloud project (or create one) Copy the key (starts with AIza...) Paste it into the Glanceboard dashboard during onboarding

That's it. The key is stored locally in your server/data/config.json file and used server-side to call the Gemini API.

Display setup guide Step 1: Flash the firmware

Connect your PhotoPainter to your computer via USB-C Open the Glanceboard Web Flasher in Chrome or Edge Click Install Glanceboard Firmware and select your device Wait for the flash to complete (~2 minutes) Unplug and replug the USB-C cable to reboot

Step 2: Connect to WiFi and configure

After rebooting, the display shows a setup screen with the WiFi name Glanceboard-XXXX On your phone or computer, connect to the Glanceboard-XXXX WiFi network (no password) A setup page will open automatically (or go to http://192.168.4.1) Enter your WiFi network name and password (leave password blank for open networks) Paste the Display Image URL from your Glanceboard dashboard (found in Settings → E-Ink Display Setup → 📋 Copy URL) — it looks like http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:8000/images/latest_display.bmp Choose a poll interval (how often the display refreshes) Click Save & Connect

The device will restart, connect to your WiFi, and begin polling for images. The display will update within ~60 seconds.

Tip: You can reconfigure the device later by accessing its IP address from any browser on the same network. The IP is shown on the display after setup.

Using a Raspberry Pi as the display? The legacy Pi + separate e-ink HAT setup is still supported — see Legacy Pi Setup.

Architecture Local Server (FastAPI on Python 3.11+) ────────────────────────────────────────────────────── server/app.py ├── /api/config GET/POST — settings ├── /api/generate POST — trigger image generation ├── /api/status GET — generation status ├── /api/preview GET — preview the prompt ├── /images/* static — generated display images └── /* static — built Vite SPA dashboard

data/config.json local config (API key, calendar, etc.) data/images/ generated display images

Scheduler (APScheduler) └── runs every 15 min, generates at user-chosen hours only when calendar/weather has changed

Web Dashboard (Vite SPA) ├── Onboarding wizard ├── Settings panel ├── Drag-and-drop widget layout editor ├── Character manager └── Live display preview ────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │ │ ▼ ▼ ESP32-S3 PhotoPainter AI Provider polls /images/latest_* Gemini API updates e-ink display (Gemini Flash / Pro)

Gemini Flash 3.6 • Rewrites calendar events in friendly text • Generates weather-accurate scene prompts • Scans calendar for important countdowns

Project structure glanceboard/ ├── server/ # Local Python server (FastAPI) │ ├── app.py # All backend logic + API endpoints │ ├── requirements.txt # Python dependencies │ ├── requirements-email.txt # Optional email widget dependencies │ └── data/ # Runtime data (gitignored) │ ├── config.json # Your settings (gitignored) │ ├── config.example.json # Template config │ ├── gmail_credentials.json # Gmail OAuth credentials (gitignored, optional) │ ├── gmail_token.json # Gmail OAuth token (gitignored, optional) │ └── images/ # Generated display images (gitignored) ├── web/ # Frontend (Vite SPA) │ ├── index.html # Dashboard + landing page │ └── src/ │ ├── main.js # App logic │ ├── style.css # Styles │ ├── config.js # Firebase config (gitignored, only for hosted version) │ └── config.example.js # Template config ├── functions/ # Cloud Functions (for hosted version) │ ├── main.py # Backend logic (Firebase variant) │ └── requirements.txt # Python dependencies ├── firmware/ # ESP32-S3 PhotoPainter docs │ └── README.md # SD card & firmware setup ├── pi/ # Legacy Raspberry Pi scripts │ ├── LEGACY_PI_SETUP.md # Pi setup guide │ ├── install.sh # One-line installer │ └── display_update.py # Display update script ├── firestore.rules # Firestore security rules (hosted version) ├── storage.rules # Storage security rules (hosted version) ├── firebase.json # Firebase config (hosted version) ├── SELF_HOSTING.md # Guide to running on your own server 24/7 ├── FIREBASE_DEPLOY.md # Firebase deployment guide (hosted version) ├── EMAIL_SETUP.md # Optional email widget setup guide └── LICENSE # Apache 2.0 License

Email widget (optional) Glanceboard can optionally show a summary of your unread Gmail on the display. This requires setting up your own Google Cloud OAuth credentials — see EMAIL_SETUP.md for step-by-step instructions. The email widget:

Only reads subject lines and sender names (not email bodies) Summarises them via Gemini into a short digest Runs entirely on your own machine — no data leaves your server Is completely optional — everything else works without it

Contributing Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for details on how to contribute and the Contributor License Agreement (CLA) process.

Licensing & Disclaimer Copyright 2026 Google LLC All software is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (Apache 2.0); you may not use this file except in compliance with the Apache 2.0 license. You may obtain a copy of the Apache 2.0 license at: https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 All other materials are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY). You may obtain a copy of the CC-BY license at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, all software and materials distributed here under the Apache 2.0 or CC-BY licenses are distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the licenses for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under those licenses. This is not an official Google product.

Built with ❤️ by Raph Dixon using Antigravity and Gemini Flash 3.6.

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