Seamus Cawley has released the firmware for PaperMono, an e-ink device designed to function as a household shopping list on a refrigerator. Built for the M5Stack PaperMono—which features an ESP32-S3 and a 3.97-inch e-paper touchscreen—the system synchronizes with a mobile web application via a dedicated server.
Product LaunchesSeamus CawleyM5Stack PaperMono
PaperMono: E-ink Fridge Magnet Shopping List with Mobile Sync and AI Sorting
The system organizes shopping lists by aisle to match a user's walking order in a store. While the device and phone app work offline to allow for ticking off items even in areas without signal, a small server running FastAPI and SQLite manages the data synchronization. To enhance organization, the software includes an optional feature that uses Claude to automatically categorize new items into the correct aisles based on the user's predefined aisle order.
The project is a personal implementation rather than a commercial product. The current version has been tested on the PaperMono C153 and lacks built-in Wi-Fi setup or server authentication, so it is intended for use on a local area network (LAN). The firmware is distributed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.
Sources
- Show HN: PaperMono, e-ink fridge magnet shopping list with mobile web page （Hacker News Frontpage, 2026-09-28）