[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"zeug-en\u002Fzeug\u002Fpi-coding-agent":3,"related-en\u002Fzeug\u002Fpi-coding-agent":364},{"id":4,"title":5,"badge":6,"body":7,"category":338,"date":339,"description":340,"draft":341,"extension":342,"image":343,"link":344,"linkText":345,"meta":346,"navigation":347,"path":348,"pinned":341,"publishTime":349,"seo":350,"stem":351,"tags":352,"verdict":361,"visual":362,"__hash__":363},"zeug_en\u002Fzeug\u002Fpi-coding-agent.md","Pi: there are many coding harnesses, but this one is mine","Daily Driver",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":326},"minimark",[10,14,17,20,28,31,34,37,44,49,52,55,57,60,63,92,95,98,102,105,108,110,113,121,124,127,130,134,137,139,142,145,148,151,155,165,168,171,173,176,178,181,183,188,190,194,198,201,204,206,209,212,215,218,222,262,264,273,281,285,288,290,293,296,299,302,305,309,312,315,317,320,323],[11,12,13],"p",{},"Coding agents are everywhere now.",[11,15,16],{},"And I do not only mean the models themselves. I mean the whole layer around them: terminal, tools, file access, Bash, sessions, context, prompts, shortcuts, UI, small safety rules and all the things that turn a chat window into a tool.",[18,19],"spacer",{},[11,21,22,23,27],{},"That layer is a ",[24,25,26],"strong",{},"coding harness",".",[11,29,30],{},"What it describes is the harness you put the AI into, rather than the AI itself. The model thinks and writes. The harness decides which tools it gets, how it reads files, how it runs shell commands, how context is loaded, how sessions are saved and how I, as the human, can interrupt in between.",[11,32,33],{},"And that is where it gets interesting.",[11,35,36],{},"Because there are many coding harnesses.",[11,38,39,40,43],{},"But ",[24,41,42],{},"Pi"," is currently the one that feels most like my own.",[45,46,48],"h2",{"id":47},"why-pi-feels-different","Why Pi feels different",[11,50,51],{},"Pi describes itself as a “minimal terminal coding harness”.",[11,53,54],{},"At first, that sounds like understatement.",[18,56],{},[11,58,59],{},"In practice, it is pretty much exactly the point.",[11,61,62],{},"Pi does not come with the attitude: “Here is your new workflow, please get used to it.” It feels more like: “Here is a slim core, build the rest the way you need it.”",[11,64,65,66,70,71,70,74,77,78,81,82,70,85,77,88,91],{},"By default, the model gets only a few tools. At the core, those are ",[67,68,69],"code",{},"read",", ",[67,72,73],{},"write",[67,75,76],{},"edit"," and ",[67,79,80],{},"bash",". Additional built-in read-only tools like ",[67,83,84],{},"grep",[67,86,87],{},"find",[67,89,90],{},"ls"," can be added, but the basic idea stays a terminal harness with clear edges instead of an overloaded agent spaceship.",[11,93,94],{},"I like that a lot.",[11,96,97],{},"Fewer features are not automatically better. But less hard-coded opinion usually means I have to fight the tool less.",[45,99,101],{"id":100},"barebones-does-not-mean-weak","Barebones does not mean weak",[11,103,104],{},"Pi deliberately leaves out things other tools build in directly.",[11,106,107],{},"No built-in plan mode, no subagents, no todo lists. Permission popups are not a basic assumption, and MCP is not a mandatory layer.",[18,109],{},[11,111,112],{},"Depending on your expectations, that can sound almost cheeky.",[11,114,115,116,120],{},"But I understand the approach: Pi does not want to decide ",[117,118,119],"em",{},"how"," I should have those things. If I want plan mode, I can build or install it as an extension. If I want subagents, I can solve that through extensions, tmux or a package. If I need permission gates, I build them for my setup instead of clicking through generic popups.",[11,122,123],{},"That is not more comfortable for everyone.",[11,125,126],{},"But for me, it is exactly right.",[11,128,129],{},"I like tools that have a good basic shape and then get out of my way.",[45,131,133],{"id":132},"the-really-good-part-everything-is-pluggable","The really good part: everything is pluggable",[11,135,136],{},"With Pi, minimal is the starting point and not the result.",[18,138],{},[11,140,141],{},"Pi can be extended through TypeScript extensions. And this is not a small “you can change the color” plugin system. Extensions can register custom tools, add slash commands, intercept events, block or modify tool calls, add custom UI components, change the footer, register custom providers, customize compaction or even retrofit things like subagents and plan mode.",[11,143,144],{},"On top of that, there are skills, prompt templates, themes and Pi packages.",[11,146,147],{},"Skills are for reusable workflows. Prompt templates are small callable prompt building blocks. Themes change the terminal feel. Packages bundle all that stuff and make it shareable.",[11,149,150],{},"By that point Pi feels less like a tool to me and more like a workbench for coding agents.",[45,152,154],{"id":153},"what-i-actually-use","What I actually use",[156,157,162],"pre",{"className":158,"code":160,"language":161},[159],"language-text","$ pi list\n\nUser packages:\n  npm:@howaboua\u002Fpi-glm-via-anthropic\n  npm:@sting8k\u002Fpi-vcc\n  https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fleandr0ck\u002Fpi-find-skills\n  npm:@aliou\u002Fpi-processes\n  npm:pi-mcp-adapter\n  npm:pi-web-access\n  npm:@tintinweb\u002Fpi-subagents\n  npm:@marckrenn\u002Fpi-sub-bar\n  npm:pi-quit\n  https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fpatriceckhart\u002Fpi-btw\n  npm:pi-rtk-optimizer\n  npm:pi-tool-display\n  npm:@marckrenn\u002Fpi-sub-core\n  https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fmuffe\u002Fpi-kimi-usage\n  npm:@eko24ive\u002Fpi-ask\n  \u002Fopt\u002Fpi-ext-sync\n  npm:pi-crofai\n","text",[67,163,160],{"__ignoreMap":164},"",[11,166,167],{},"At first glance, that obviously looks like quite a lot.",[11,169,170],{},"But if you consider how bare Pi is when naked, this handful of extensions gets the harness exactly to the point where I want it.",[18,172],{},[11,174,175],{},"Not less, not more.",[18,177],{},[11,179,180],{},"And thanks to the good documentation, the self-made extensions mostly happened because I wrote a prompt along the lines of",[18,182],{},[11,184,185],{},[67,186,187],{},"Build me an extension for yourself that does xyz.",[18,189],{},[11,191,192],{},[117,193,175],{},[45,195,197],{"id":196},"the-short-system-prompt-is-not-an-accident","The short system prompt is not an accident",[11,199,200],{},"One detail I especially like about Pi: the default system prompt is surprisingly short.",[11,202,203],{},"At its core, it says: you are a coding assistant inside Pi, you can read files, run commands, edit code and write new files. Then it lists the available tools, a few guidelines like “be concise” and “show file paths clearly”, plus project context, skills and relevant Pi docs when the topic is Pi itself.",[18,205],{},[11,207,208],{},"That is almost it.",[11,210,211],{},"Of course the prompt grows dynamically when project rules, skills or extensions are added. But Pi does not start with a novel about how the agent is supposed to think.",[11,213,214],{},"I think that matters.",[11,216,217],{},"Many agent problems do not only come from the model, but from too much harness opinion in the prompt. Too many rules, too many rituals, too many implicit product decisions. Pi feels lighter there without coming across as dumber.",[45,219,221],{"id":220},"what-i-like-in-daily-use","What I like in daily use",[223,224,225,232,238,244,250,256],"ul",{},[226,227,228,231],"li",{},[24,229,230],{},"It runs in the terminal."," Exactly where my projects already are.",[226,233,234,237],{},[24,235,236],{},"It stores sessions cleanly."," Including branching, forking and tree navigation when you want to jump back.",[226,239,240,243],{},[24,241,242],{},"It supports many providers."," Subscription logins and API-key providers are not locked to a single vendor.",[226,245,246,249],{},[24,247,248],{},"It is open to custom models and providers."," Local models, proxies or custom APIs are not immediately special cases.",[226,251,252,255],{},[24,253,254],{},"It can run interactively, as print\u002FJSON, over RPC and through an SDK."," That makes Pi a layer you can embed as well, and not only an app.",[226,257,258,261],{},[24,259,260],{},"It feels honest."," When something is not built in, it is usually a deliberate decision, not a forgotten feature.",[18,263],{},[11,265,266,267,272],{},"Especially together with small tools like ",[268,269,271],"a",{"href":270},"\u002Fen\u002Fzeug\u002Fterminal-token-tool","RTK",", it gives me a very pleasant agent environment: less noise, less product magic, more control.",[11,274,275,276,280],{},"I deliberately moved the model question into its own article: ",[268,277,279],{"href":278},"\u002Fen\u002Fzeug\u002Fllms-fuer-pi-coding-agent","My LLMs for Pi",". The model question quickly becomes its own little zoo.",[45,282,284],{"id":283},"what-pi-does-not-do-for-you","What Pi does not do for you",[11,286,287],{},"Pi is not a softly padded agent amusement park.",[18,289],{},[11,291,292],{},"If you want a tool that makes every decision for you, bakes in best practices everywhere, cushions every dangerous command with popups and ships a full project-management philosophy, Pi may not be the most comfortable starting point.",[11,294,295],{},"Pi trusts you more.",[11,297,298],{},"That is nice if you know what you want.",[11,300,301],{},"And dangerous if you were actually looking for a guardrail.",[11,303,304],{},"That is why I would not recommend Pi to everyone as their first agent tool. But I would recommend it very quickly to people who, after two weeks with other tools, think: “Can I not just have this differently?”",[45,306,308],{"id":307},"would-i-recommend-pi","Would I recommend Pi?",[11,310,311],{},"Yes.",[11,313,314],{},"For me, Pi is currently the coding harness that best fits the way I work.",[18,316],{},[11,318,319],{},"And precisely because it deliberately does not build everything in.",[11,321,322],{},"It gives me terminal, model, tools, context, sessions and a very open extension layer. I get to decide the rest.",[11,324,325],{},"And that is exactly why Pi is good stuff for me: it lets me build my own agent workflow instead of trying to be one.",{"title":164,"searchDepth":327,"depth":327,"links":328},3,[329,331,332,333,334,335,336,337],{"id":47,"depth":330,"text":48},2,{"id":100,"depth":330,"text":101},{"id":132,"depth":330,"text":133},{"id":153,"depth":330,"text":154},{"id":196,"depth":330,"text":197},{"id":220,"depth":330,"text":221},{"id":283,"depth":330,"text":284},{"id":307,"depth":330,"text":308},"Software","2026-06-04","My experience with Pi as a minimal, pluggable coding harness for agent work in the terminal, without forcing someone else's workflow on me.",false,"md","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fpi-coding-agent-cover.webp","https:\u002F\u002Fpi.dev",null,{},true,"\u002Fzeug\u002Fpi-coding-agent","12:15",{"title":5,"description":340},"zeug\u002Fpi-coding-agent",[353,354,26,355,356,357,358,359,360],"pi","pi.dev","coding agent","agent harness","terminal","typescript","ai","developer tool","Pi is strong for me because it does not try to become my entire workflow. It gives me a good frame and lets me shape the rest myself.","stripes","TcLK81qeV9vLOdxG19zS06JZ7ulXgshFNtx9oyp_6Q4",[365,578,852],{"id":366,"title":367,"badge":368,"body":369,"category":556,"date":557,"description":558,"draft":341,"extension":342,"image":559,"link":560,"linkText":345,"meta":561,"navigation":347,"path":562,"pinned":341,"publishTime":563,"seo":564,"stem":565,"tags":566,"verdict":575,"visual":576,"__hash__":577},"zeug_en\u002Fzeug\u002Fsurefeed-mikrochip-futterautomat.md","SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder: how three cats finally eat their own food","Game Changer",{"type":8,"value":370,"toc":548},[371,374,377,379,382,385,388,390,393,396,399,403,410,413,415,418,421,424,428,431,433,436,439,443,446,448,451,454,456,459,462,466,498,502,505,508,510,513,516,518,521,524,527,530,534,537,539,542,545],[11,372,373],{},"For years, I stood next to the bowls at every meal.",[11,375,376],{},"Purely as a supervisor, because otherwise the fastest cat clears all three bowls.",[18,378],{},[11,380,381],{},"We have three cats, and they eat so differently that \"just put down three bowls\" has never worked as a plan.",[11,383,384],{},"Two of them eat slowly, spread across the whole day. Both need a specific food because of physical conditions, one hypoallergenic, one gastrointestinal. There is no room to negotiate on that.",[11,386,387],{},"The third one eats everything. At roughly three times the speed.",[18,389],{},[11,391,392],{},"Anyone who has run a multi-cat household with two prescription diets knows how that ends. The fast cat finishes her portion before the others have properly started, then chases them off their bowls and eats their food too.",[11,394,395],{},"So there were two options. Stand there until everyone is done. Or sort the cats into separate rooms for every meal.",[11,397,398],{},"Both work. Both are ridiculous in the long run.",[45,400,402],{"id":401},"what-the-surefeed-actually-does","What the SureFeed actually does",[11,404,405,406,409],{},"The ",[24,407,408],{},"SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder"," from Sure Petcare dispenses no food at all, despite the name. It is a bowl with a lid and a chip reader.",[11,411,412],{},"When the right cat stands in front of it, the lid opens. When she steps away, it closes again.",[18,414],{},[11,416,417],{},"What it reads is the microchip the cat already carries under her skin. The feeder handles the usual chip formats, 9, 10 and 15 digits, and stores up to 32 animals. For a cat without a chip, an RFID collar tag is included.",[11,419,420],{},"You also get a normal bowl, a split bowl for two kinds of food and a mat for whatever ends up next to it. Capacity is 400 ml, so two pouches of wet food fit.",[11,422,423],{},"Power comes from four C cell batteries that last at least six months according to the manufacturer. So the bowl can sit where the cat eats anyway, rather than wherever the nearest socket happens to be.",[45,425,427],{"id":426},"setup-minutes-if-your-cats-are-chipped","Setup: minutes, if your cats are chipped",[11,429,430],{},"All three of ours are chipped, so setup was unremarkable. Press the button, let the cat eat, chip stored.",[18,432],{},[11,434,435],{},"For nervous animals there is a training mode where the lid stays put at first and then moves further in stages, until the cat accepts the sound.",[11,437,438],{},"That barely mattered here. Where there is food, skepticism turns out to be negotiable pretty fast.",[45,440,442],{"id":441},"what-changed-day-to-day","What changed day to day",[11,444,445],{},"Feeding is no longer an event.",[18,447],{},[11,449,450],{},"The two slow eaters can take their time. Their food sits out in the open and is still unreachable for the third one.",[11,452,453],{},"Between bites the lid is closed, so the wet food does not dry out. For cats that keep coming back over several hours, that matters more than any other feature.",[18,455],{},[11,457,458],{},"And I no longer stand there.",[11,460,461],{},"That sounds like a small thing, but it is the entire difference. Before, every meal was an appointment I had to attend. Now it is just food, sitting there.",[45,463,465],{"id":464},"what-i-like-about-it","What I like about it",[223,467,468,474,480,486,492],{},[226,469,470,473],{},[24,471,472],{},"The key is already inside the cat."," No collar, no tag, no accessory to lose.",[226,475,476,479],{},[24,477,478],{},"It solves exactly one problem, and solves it properly."," Who eats which food is no longer up for negotiation.",[226,481,482,485],{},[24,483,484],{},"Prescription food becomes reliable again."," With hypoallergenic or gastrointestinal food, it genuinely matters whether the right cat ends up with the right food inside her.",[226,487,488,491],{},[24,489,490],{},"The split bowl is a thoughtful touch."," Wet and dry side by side, without the two developing a shared consistency.",[226,493,494,497],{},[24,495,496],{},"It needs no attention."," No app, no firmware, no account. Batteries in, cat registered, done.",[45,499,501],{"id":500},"the-honest-limits","The honest limits",[11,503,504],{},"Now the part that actually annoys me.",[11,506,507],{},"One of our cats eats like a toddler. With commitment, and in every direction.",[18,509],{},[11,511,512],{},"When gravy runs past the bowl insert and works its way into the gaps of the housing, it gets unpleasant. The bowl can go in the dishwasher, the mat and lid are hand wash. But the housing must never go in water, you only wipe it with a damp cloth. And taking the whole thing apart only works with a lot of patience and a feel for it. It certainly does not feel like the manufacturer had disassembly in mind.",[11,514,515],{},"With dry crumbs, none of this matters. With dried gravy in an edge your finger cannot reach, it does.",[18,517],{},[11,519,520],{},"Three more things worth knowing beforehand.",[11,522,523],{},"It does not portion anything. \"Feeder\" here only means controlled access. If you want a device that serves breakfast at seven on its own, you want something else.",[11,525,526],{},"It costs around €130, and in a household with several cats you rarely buy just one.",[11,528,529],{},"And it manages the bowl, not the mood in the room. A cat that sits down next to it and waits will still sit there. The lid stays shut, but the device does not do social work for you.",[45,531,533],{"id":532},"would-i-buy-it-again","Would I buy it again?",[11,535,536],{},"Immediately.",[18,538],{},[11,540,541],{},"For a single cat it is probably a luxury, unless the wet food should stay fresh longer or somebody who is not allowed a snack keeps taking one. A dog in the house counts here too.",[11,543,544],{},"For a household with several cats, one of which eats fast while the others need a specific food, it is close to irreplaceable.",[11,546,547],{},"You will never get it properly clean. But it took over a job I did myself for years, and did it worse than the feeder does.",{"title":164,"searchDepth":327,"depth":327,"links":549},[550,551,552,553,554,555],{"id":401,"depth":330,"text":402},{"id":426,"depth":330,"text":427},{"id":441,"depth":330,"text":442},{"id":464,"depth":330,"text":465},{"id":500,"depth":330,"text":501},{"id":532,"depth":330,"text":533},"Gadget","2026-08-06","My experience with the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder in a house with three cats, two prescription diets and one cat that eats three times as fast as the others.","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fsurefeed-mikrochip-futterautomat-cover.webp","https:\u002F\u002Flink.amazon\u002FB0d9kTjzO",{},"\u002Fzeug\u002Fsurefeed-mikrochip-futterautomat","11:00",{"title":367,"description":558},"zeug\u002Fsurefeed-mikrochip-futterautomat",[567,568,569,570,571,572,573,574],"surefeed","surefeed mikrochip futterautomat","futterautomat mit chip","mehrkatzenhaushalt","katzen","spezialfutter","sure petcare","futterneid","I no longer stand next to the bowls keeping track of who empties which one. Every cat gets her own food, including the slow one.","halftone","Pkf3r5HzcKMaYBDCRmwrKMGyyqdiAage_b9-LQHrPtA",{"id":579,"title":580,"badge":368,"body":581,"category":556,"date":829,"description":830,"draft":341,"extension":342,"image":831,"link":832,"linkText":345,"meta":833,"navigation":347,"path":834,"pinned":341,"publishTime":835,"seo":836,"stem":837,"tags":838,"verdict":849,"visual":850,"__hash__":851},"zeug_en\u002Fzeug\u002Ftrmnl-bwry.md","TRMNL BWRY: An E-Ink Display Against Expired Yogurt",{"type":8,"value":582,"toc":821},[583,586,589,591,594,597,601,604,607,610,612,619,622,625,627,630,633,636,640,643,646,648,651,659,661,664,667,671,674,677,680,682,689,692,695,697,700,703,710,714,717,720,722,748,750,753,756,758,761,763,795,799,802,804,807,810,812,815,818],[11,584,585],{},"There is this moment that probably everyone knows.",[11,587,588],{},"You clean out the fridge, and in the back left corner sits a yogurt that expired eleven days ago. Bought with good intentions. Forgotten with a system.",[18,590],{},[11,592,593],{},"For a long time I blamed my character.",[11,595,596],{},"By now I believe: it is a data problem.",[45,598,600],{"id":599},"the-expiry-date-lives-in-the-worst-database-in-the-world","The expiry date lives in the worst database in the world",[11,602,603],{},"The information exists.",[11,605,606],{},"Every package has a best-before date. Printed tiny, preferably on a fold, preferably facing away from the door, behind the milk, at five degrees.",[11,608,609],{},"To know what needs eating this week, I would have to open the fridge and rotate every single package. Nobody does that, obviously.",[18,611],{},[11,613,614,615,618],{},"One quick word in defense of the date: I am fully aware that a ",[24,616,617],{},"best-before"," date is not an expiry date. It says best before, not deadly after. Yogurt does not turn at midnight, and hard cheese and mustard are still laughing about it weeks later.",[11,620,621],{},"The number is useful anyway, because it is the only one I have to sort what needs eating first.",[11,623,624],{},"And with genuinely perishable things, the joking stops. Ground beef and fresh fish do not carry a best-before date, they carry a use-by date, and that one means it. Those are exactly the items I want to keep an eye on before I have to start sniffing a package.",[18,626],{},[11,628,629],{},"We tried a note on the fridge door. The note itself expired after four days.",[11,631,632],{},"And there are plenty of pantry-tracking apps. But an app I have to actively open is an app I do not open. Certainly not at six in the evening with a pan in one hand.",[11,634,635],{},"So the problem was never missing information. The problem was that the information was never where the what-are-we-cooking decision actually happens.",[45,637,639],{"id":638},"so-i-built-a-fridge-tracker","So I built a fridge tracker",[11,641,642],{},"The first half of the solution is a small self-built web app.",[11,644,645],{},"After grocery shopping, everything gets scanned: barcode in front of the phone camera, the app pulls name and picture from Open Food Facts, I type in the expiry date, done. Over time it even learns how long a product typically lasts in our house and suggests the date right away.",[18,647],{},[11,649,650],{},"For things without a barcode, like the fresh meat from a HelloFresh box, there is the photo path: take a picture, a vision model reads name, quantity, and expiry date off the packaging, and I confirm.",[11,652,653,654,658],{},"Confirm is the important word here. The AI may suggest, but it never writes anything silently. If the date was hard to read, it honestly says so. Same rule as my ",[268,655,657],{"href":656},"\u002Fen\u002Fzeug\u002Fgmail-zu-kalender","Gmail-to-Calendar automation",": AI detects, I decide.",[18,660],{},[11,662,663],{},"And when something leaves the fridge, there are exactly two buttons: eaten or thrown away.",[11,665,666],{},"More on that later. That button is meaner than it looks.",[45,668,670],{"id":669},"why-an-e-ink-display-of-all-things","Why an e-ink display, of all things",[11,672,673],{},"Now the honest part: the app alone would not have solved the problem.",[11,675,676],{},"See above, apps have to be opened.",[11,678,679],{},"The list had to go where the decision happens: onto the kitchen wall.",[18,681],{},[11,683,684,685,688],{},"That is exactly where the ",[24,686,687],{},"TRMNL BWRY"," now hangs. A 7.5-inch e-ink display that can do exactly four colors: black, white, red, and yellow. Hence the name. It runs for months on battery, does not glow, does not hum, and wants no attention. It just hangs there as a calm piece of information.",[11,690,691],{},"Four colors sounds like very little.",[11,693,694],{},"For a fridge, it is exactly the right amount: red means expired or due today. Yellow means the next three days. Everything else can stay black and white and quietly wait its turn.",[18,696],{},[11,698,699],{},"At the very bottom there is a black bar with the next bin collection days: organic, recycling, paper, general waste. If a bin is due within the next two days, it gets a yellow highlight. That is also one of those things you somehow always need to know exactly when you are standing in the kitchen.",[11,701,702],{},"Technically, TRMNL is pleasantly open. There are ready-made plugins for calendars, weather, and the like, but also private plugins: the display fetches JSON from your own endpoint at fixed intervals and renders your own template. My endpoint serves the fridge list, sorted by due date.",[11,704,705,706,27],{},"The app behind it is a small Nuxt project and runs where my TypeScript things always end up: on ",[268,707,709],{"href":708},"\u002Fen\u002Fzeug\u002Fvercel-typescript-hosting","Vercel",[45,711,713],{"id":712},"what-actually-changed","What actually changed",[11,715,716],{},"The everyday effect is unspectacular, and that is exactly why it works.",[11,718,719],{},"You walk over for morning coffee and see in passing: two things due soon. Dinner surprisingly often gets planned off the display now. Fine, tonight it is the thing with the bell pepper.",[18,721],{},[223,723,724,730,736,742],{},[226,725,726,729],{},[24,727,728],{},"The information is where the cooking happens."," No opening an app, no thinking, a glance in passing is enough.",[226,731,732,735],{},[24,733,734],{},"Red and yellow work instantly."," Nobody reads tables on a kitchen wall. A colored edge on the row is plenty.",[226,737,738,741],{},[24,739,740],{},"One push a day, no more."," Every phone can set its own time and its own look-ahead window. No notification machine-gun fire.",[226,743,744,747],{},[24,745,746],{},"The stats keep you honest."," Eaten or thrown away turns into a waste rate and a small hall of shame of the most frequently discarded products.",[18,749],{},[11,751,752],{},"That last point is the one that got me.",[11,754,755],{},"A number telling you what percentage of tracked food ended up in the bin does not argue. It just hangs there. And it has actually been dropping since the display went up, because the soon-to-expire things now get eaten instead of discovered.",[45,757,501],{"id":500},[11,759,760],{},"The setup is good. It is not magic.",[18,762],{},[223,764,765,771,777,783,789],{},[226,766,767,770],{},[24,768,769],{},"Tracking stays manual."," Every product has to be scanned or photographed. Stop doing that after two weeks and you own a very calm display with very wrong data.",[226,772,773,776],{},[24,774,775],{},"There is no magic camera in the fridge."," Nothing automatically detects what goes in or out. The display only shows the truth you gave it beforehand.",[226,778,779,782],{},[24,780,781],{},"E-ink is calm, not fast."," The display updates at fixed intervals, and a color refresh is a short, visible flicker. Completely irrelevant for an expiry list, fatal for real-time dreams.",[226,784,785,788],{},[24,786,787],{},"Without the tinkering itch, you miss the best part."," The TRMNL works fine with ready-made plugins. But this exact fridge setup cannot be bought, it has to be built or copied.",[226,790,791,794],{},[24,792,793],{},"BWRY is a limited edition."," If you cannot get one anymore: the regular black-and-white TRMNL does the same job, just without red and yellow. It works, but loses half the point.",[45,796,798],{"id":797},"would-i-recommend-it","Would I recommend it?",[11,800,801],{},"Yes, with one clear footnote.",[18,803],{},[11,805,806],{},"The TRMNL BWRY is great for people who have a real recurring information problem and enjoy solving it with a small tool of their own. The fridge is my case. For others it is the calendar, the weather by the bike rack, or the train to work.",[11,808,809],{},"It is wrong for anyone expecting technology to solve the problem without any personal discipline. The display does not make anyone tidier. It just mercilessly shows how tidy you currently are.",[18,811],{},[11,813,814],{},"For me, that is precisely the point.",[11,816,817],{},"The TRMNL does not make anything smarter. It just hangs the right information on the right wall.",[11,819,820],{},"And sometimes that is exactly what good stuff looks like.",{"title":164,"searchDepth":327,"depth":327,"links":822},[823,824,825,826,827,828],{"id":599,"depth":330,"text":600},{"id":638,"depth":330,"text":639},{"id":669,"depth":330,"text":670},{"id":712,"depth":330,"text":713},{"id":500,"depth":330,"text":501},{"id":797,"depth":330,"text":798},"2026-08-02","My experience with the TRMNL BWRY as a kitchen display for a self-built fridge tracker: expiry dates, bin collection days, and an honest food-waste stat.","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Ftrmnl-bwry-cover.webp","https:\u002F\u002Ftrmnl.com",{},"\u002Fzeug\u002Ftrmnl-bwry","09:00",{"title":580,"description":830},"zeug\u002Ftrmnl-bwry",[839,840,841,842,843,844,845,846,847,848],"trmnl","trmnl bwry","e-ink display","epaper dashboard","fridge tracker","expiry dates","food waste","diy","self-built","nuxt","Four colors, one glance while getting coffee, and expired yogurt went from the rule to the exception in our house.","rings","kqwF_7WEOlUEBc-3TePUqOGpMSljsjOK7vYtRkg-66w",{"id":853,"title":854,"badge":368,"body":855,"category":1031,"date":1032,"description":1033,"draft":341,"extension":342,"image":1034,"link":1035,"linkText":345,"meta":1036,"navigation":347,"path":1037,"pinned":341,"publishTime":1038,"seo":1039,"stem":1040,"tags":1041,"verdict":1053,"visual":362,"__hash__":1054},"zeug_en\u002Fzeug\u002Fsigenergy-pv-anlage.md","Sigenergy solar system: four weeks without a single real kilowatt-hour from the grid",{"type":8,"value":856,"toc":1023},[857,860,863,865,868,871,873,876,880,883,885,888,890,893,895,898,902,905,907,910,912,915,918,922,925,927,930,932,935,937,940,942,968,970,973,976,978,981,983,986,989,991,994,996,999,1001,1004,1006,1009,1012,1014,1017,1020],[11,858,859],{},"I have had solar panels on the roof for four weeks now.",[11,861,862],{},"And for four weeks I have had a slightly embarrassing new hobby: the first thing I do in the morning is check how much power my own roof has produced again.",[18,864],{},[11,866,867],{},"That sounds like a topic for people who enjoy talking about feed-in tariffs and payback periods.",[11,869,870],{},"That was my fear, too.",[18,872],{},[11,874,875],{},"The reality is much more mundane and at the same time far more satisfying: in four weeks I have not pulled a single real kilowatt-hour from the grid.",[45,877,879],{"id":878},"what-is-actually-on-the-roof-and-in-the-basement","What is actually on the roof and in the basement",[11,881,882],{},"A quick word on the hardware, because this is supposed to be good stuff, not just a feeling.",[18,884],{},[11,886,887],{},"On the roof there are 30 modules totaling almost 14 kWp. One of them was thrown in for free on top, which gives me a disproportionate amount of joy as a human being.",[18,889],{},[11,891,892],{},"In the utility room hangs a Sigenergy Sigen hybrid inverter with 12 kW, plus the SigenStor battery with 9 kWh.",[18,894],{},[11,896,897],{},"The battery is modular, so I could add to it later. Right now the 9 kWh are easily enough to carry the sun from the day into the evening.",[45,899,901],{"id":900},"four-weeks-not-one-real-kilowatt-hour","Four weeks, not one real kilowatt-hour",[11,903,904],{},"The weather is good right now. I have to say that honestly, more on it later.",[18,906],{},[11,908,909],{},"But at the moment exactly what the glossy brochures promise is actually happening: during the day the roof produces more than we use. The surplus charges the battery. In the evening and at night the house runs off the battery.",[18,911],{},[11,913,914],{},"Meanwhile the meter for grid consumption basically stands still.",[11,916,917],{},"Four weeks without a single real kilowatt-hour I would have to pay for. It feels a little like cheating every single time.",[45,919,921],{"id":920},"why-home-assistant-makes-the-difference","Why Home Assistant makes the difference",[11,923,924],{},"The system has its own app, and it is genuinely good. Clear, fast, I see generation, consumption and battery level at a glance.",[18,926],{},[11,928,929],{},"But the real fun starts once I pull everything into Home Assistant over Modbus TCP.",[18,931],{},[11,933,934],{},"Suddenly the system is no longer a closed product, but part of my smart home. I do not just see numbers, I can shape my behavior around them.",[18,936],{},[11,938,939],{},"Dishwasher, washing machine, charging the bigger loads: it all mentally moves into the hours when the roof is producing more than we need anyway. Data turns into behavior, and that is exactly the part that gets addictive.",[45,941,465],{"id":464},[223,943,944,950,956,962],{},[226,945,946,949],{},[24,947,948],{},"Grid consumption stands still."," In good weather the power comes entirely from my own roof, directly during the day, from the battery in the evening and at night.",[226,951,952,955],{},[24,953,954],{},"The app is really good."," Generation, consumption and battery at a glance, no tinkering required.",[226,957,958,961],{},[24,959,960],{},"Modbus TCP in, Home Assistant happy."," The system becomes part of the smart home instead of staying an island.",[226,963,964,967],{},[24,965,966],{},"The battery is expandable."," I do not have to decide for eternity today.",[45,969,501],{"id":500},[11,971,972],{},"Now the part the brochures like to leave out.",[11,974,975],{},"It is summer right now. Four weeks without grid power are impressive, but they are also the result of long, bright days.",[18,977],{},[11,979,980],{},"In winter it will be different. Over a full year, realistic self-sufficiency is closer to around 70 percent, not 100. Physics stays physics, and in December the sun simply shines for shorter and wearier hours.",[18,982],{},[11,984,985],{},"But there is an honest lever for exactly that: the inverter can react to the price signals of dynamic electricity tariffs. So I can deliberately charge the battery when grid power is cheapest, instead of when it happens to be most expensive.",[11,987,988],{},"In summer I do not need this. In winter it is exactly the difference between \"power is just expensive\" and \"power is at least bought cleverly\".",[18,990],{},[11,992,993],{},"On top of that, the obvious point: this is a five-figure investment, in our case around 15,000 euros. It pays off over years, not overnight.",[18,995],{},[11,997,998],{},"And honestly: the Modbus hookup and the whole Home Assistant part are nerdy. If you just want power from your roof and are happy with the app, you do not need any of it. I enjoy it, but it is optional, not mandatory.",[45,1000,798],{"id":797},[11,1002,1003],{},"Yes. With a clear head, but without hesitation.",[18,1005],{},[11,1007,1008],{},"If you have a suitable roof, can think a few years ahead and are willing to carry the five-figure investment, then a system like this is one of the few big purchases that feels right from the first sunny day.",[11,1010,1011],{},"If, on the other hand, you expect the system to make you as self-sufficient in January as in June, you will be disappointed. That is not how it works.",[18,1013],{},[11,1015,1016],{},"For me, the combination of Sigenergy, the SigenStor battery and Home Assistant has become exactly what I had hoped for.",[11,1018,1019],{},"Instead of a closed black box, it is a piece of the house I understand, see and can control.",[11,1021,1022],{},"And watching your own roof make money is, every single time, pretty good stuff.",{"title":164,"searchDepth":327,"depth":327,"links":1024},[1025,1026,1027,1028,1029,1030],{"id":878,"depth":330,"text":879},{"id":900,"depth":330,"text":901},{"id":920,"depth":330,"text":921},{"id":464,"depth":330,"text":465},{"id":500,"depth":330,"text":501},{"id":797,"depth":330,"text":798},"Hardware","2026-07-23","My first four weeks with a Sigenergy solar setup, a SigenStor battery and a Home Assistant hookup over Modbus TCP: why I am not pulling a real kilowatt-hour from the grid right now, and where the catch is.","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fsigenergy-pv-anlage-cover.webp","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.sigenergy.com\u002F",{},"\u002Fzeug\u002Fsigenergy-pv-anlage","09:30",{"title":854,"description":1033},"zeug\u002Fsigenergy-pv-anlage",[1042,1043,1044,1045,1046,1047,1048,1049,1050,1051,1052],"sigenergy","sigenstor","photovoltaik","pv anlage","solaranlage","stromspeicher","home assistant","modbus","wechselrichter","autarkie","erfahrung","Four weeks, not one real kilowatt-hour from the grid, and a slightly embarrassing new hobby: watching my own roof make money.","-iMd1XuxIzbWXluOZgdV-5C5ftBT_wREEbBf5V2jhnk"]