Featured Community Plugin - Brick Storage

This post is part of a series, featuring the incredible work of plugin authors who grow the TRMNL plugin ecosystem with every contribution. The TRMNL team has individually selected these plugins and authors to be featured.

Brick Storage

Community member Daniel Boberg created the Brick Storage plugin; here are their words on how it was created.

Why did you want this plugin to exist?

I built Brick Storage to track my LEGO collection. Market values, ROI, what's gaining value. But I kept opening the app just to glance at my portfolio total. When I got my TRMNL, it clicked immediately: this number belongs on my desk, updating quietly, not behind a browser tab. A passive, always-there glance at your collection's worth. No login, no app, no notification. Just the data, on e-ink, beautiful.

Why were you the person to make it?

I'm a LEGO collector who couldn't find a tool that treated collections like real portfolios so I built Brick Storage myself. It started as a side project for tracking my own sets, and grew into a platform with 25,000+ sets, live market data from multiple sources, and a small but passionate community. When my TRMNL arrived, the first thing I wanted to see on it was my collection's value. I'm not just the developer, I'm the first user. Every feature exists because I wanted it on my own desk first.

How did you balance look vs functionality?

Data first. On e-ink you don't have color or animation, so the information hierarchy has to carry everything. I spent most of my time figuring out what to show vs. what to cut. The portfolio view packs a lot into one screen (value, ROI, sparkline, top performers), but it only works because TRMNL's CSS framework handles the typography well. For the random discovery view I let the set image do the heavy lifting and kept the text minimal.

What was your process for creating the plugin?

I already had the full data pipeline running on Supabase. So the plugin was mostly about building a new rendering layer on top of existing data. I wrote the markup endpoint that generates HTML for all four TRMNL sizes. No Liquid, no external template engine. Just raw HTML strings with TRMNL's CSS classes.

Did you learn anything you want to apply to future recipes?

Start with all four layout sizes from day one. I built the full view first and then had to rethink everything for half and quadrant. If I'd designed quadrant first, the full view would have come together much faster. Small screen first, then scale up.

Is there a tip you would give to a new plugin developer?

Use the TRMNL CSS Framework classes instead of writing custom styles. I wasted time with inline CSS before realizing the built-in classes handle e-ink rendering way better. Also, test with actual data early. The preview on trmnl.com looks different from the real device, especially with images and contrast.

What is your favorite plugin that someone else created and why?

The YouTube Stats plugin. Simple idea, clean execution. Subscriber count and recent video stats on your desk without opening YouTube Studio. It's the same principle I follow: Data you check too often deserves a passive e-ink display.

Do you have a LEGO addiction?

My TRMNL shows my LEGO portfolio at all times. I caught myself rearranging my desk so it's the first thing I see in the morning.