TRMNL: Blog

Featured Community Plugin - HubbyCal

2026-09-22T00:00:00+00:00

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.

HubbyCal

Community member Oliver Cahill (Discord: frizzlefratz) created the HubbyCal plugin; here are their words on how it was created.

Why did you want this plugin to exist?

I normally use Apple Calendars and I have so many events it can make me crosseyed. I just wanted a simple way to for me and my husband to see our day and not have to fight different screens and apps or text each other with work schedules or plans.

Why were you the person to make it?

I was recently laid off from my Graphic Design job. My TRMNL X came in a few days later and inspired and pushed me to get out of my funk and get creative again. I was the person to make it because the universe said so. I had the time and a cool new toy to play with.

Were you inspired by any other recipes or plugin creators?

The Google Calendar. It was too busy! Also, I can’t remember the name of it but I saw a quote of the day recipe that gave me the idea for quotes when there are no events.

How did you balance look vs functionality?

I wanted everything to be big. And readable. And friendly. That was the main goal. Balance was hard because some days I have lots of events and figuring out how to make them all show at a size I can glance at while trying to get ready was tough. Once I got the design language down, I went extra hard on really maximizing the screen space with as many features as I could. I even had it reporting the charge level of my EV at one point. I’ll have to add that back in the future…

What was your process for creating the plugin?

Lots of mockups in Adobe XD and code done primarily in Claude and ChatGPT. I was very specific with what I wanted and spent hours and hours fine tuning as much as I could and drawing every screen and state our first to make sure the AI didn’t break away from my vision.

What, if any, challenges did you face while creating it?

Getting all the data in! I’ve been a Graphic Designer and UI/UX designer for 20+ years but I never worked with code or servers or APIs. So setting up my workspace and connecting to services and OAuth and all of that was new to me. I was familiar with it all but having to do a lot of that myself was a big jump for me.

Did you learn anything that you want to apply to future or past recipes?

Too much to put here! I learned a lot about architecting and planning software. Even with something as basic as this, I picked up so many workflows. Enough to where I’ve built a super charged version of this as an iOS App I’ll be launching soon.

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

If you’re going to use AI to help you with the coding, be very specific. Draw out your screens. Come up with your features and all the rules and be very specific. If you let it make that all for you, you’ll never achieve your vision.Plan first. Build later.

What part of the TRMNL Framework, Liquid filters, or other documentation was most helpful?

The entire framework documentation was a HUUUGE help. I may have used AI, but AI is not as smart as people think. It would go rogue and write its own stuff and more often than not, I’d have to refer it to a specific page or detail a specific way things need to be done for TRMNL recipes.

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

TBH I haven’t used many yet! The LCARS Schematics one is pretty great tho. We’re a big Star Trek house here.

How was support?

Your support staff is AMAZING. I feel so bad for Ikraam! I kept sending issues on Discord and he was so quick to respond and help.

Introducing Booking

2026-09-18T00:00:00+00:00

today we're thrilled to release a simple solution for organizations with bookable resources like meeting rooms, flex desks, or vehicles.

it's called TRMNL Booking.

connect resources, set preferences, and you'll be up in running in minutes. optional QR codes make devices interactive, providing walk-up booking and easy cancelations, while keeping your origin calendars the source of truth.

connect a resource

we rebuilt our calendar integrations from scratch, now with enterprise support for Microsoft and Google Workspace, as well as CalDAV feeds.

TRMNL syncs existing events, location metadata, and more in 1 click.

ignore resources you don't need connected to a display, for example a private or executive calendar.

set preferences

add your logo, enable walk-up booking, and rename resources as you see fit.

we're on the lookout for additional customizations and will respond quickly if you need something.

go live

connect any number of TRMNL devices to a bookable resource.

or combine resources into a single Collection, with a grid or table layout, while retaining walk-up booking capabilities.

booking resources

when a resource is available, book it via the QR code.

QR codes contain unique and temporary (rotating) links like trmnl.com/book/qwerty. visitors provide whatever details are needed for their booking. this event data is inserted directly to your origin calendar.

displays sync at a much faster rate than regular TRMNL devices (1-5 minutes) to maintain freshness for changing schedules.

Collections make it easy to spot available resources at a glance, supporting up to a ~dozen resources in 1 view (more examples).

bookings created via TRMNL Booking may also be canceled directly via the QR codes, and Collections support 1-to-many booking with a top level splash screen.

all together it works like this:

what customers are saying

over the past couple months we welcomed 60+ private beta testers who helped improve Booking for everyone. here is just one of their comments.

I think it took me 10 minutes to set everything up without looking at the docs. It was super easy and very straightforward. Collections made sense, and are awesome.

The possibilities are crazy for us here. I gotta get more TRMNLs. I'm 100% replacing my current hacked-together ESP32 and BLE epaper tag system.
You all constantly release absolute bangers. I love it.

want more context? check out our first case study.

pricing

we're not the first group to offer a reservation solution. respected, competing products exist. our approach is being contract-free, simple to set up, with annual savings and discounted hardware pricing.

as of this writing, TRMNL Booking costs $8 /month (or $80 /year) per displayed bookable resource. not per device, and not for duplicated resources shown on multiple devices.

get started

check out the docs (trmnl.com/booking/docs) or jump in directly at trmnl.com/apps.

if you don't have an account, create a free virtual device at trmnl.com/byod-trial.

Is it Random Enough?

2026-09-16T00:00:00+00:00

Many plugins show one of many, whether it be quotes, jokes, totes, or photes [sic]. The freshness of the data depends on randomly selecting one of the possibilities, either from an API or from a set of data stored in a JSON array or object. Thus, early on we added a help document to inform developers how to get a random number with Liquid, the markup language for our plugins.

Hypothesis

When a playlist item is on a regular interval, it creates a pattern in a randomization based on server time.

TL;DR

We were wrong, both methods are sufficiently random across a sample of 1,000 data points. Human bias towards patterns was to blame.

After creating a plugin with ~120 questions in a static array, the plugin was set to randomly select one question using the nanoseconds value of the current time, with Liquid's date filter:

{% assign random_number = "now" | date: "%N" | modulo: 120 %}

After a week of watching the questions come up, there were some questions that seemed to never appear and some that appeared much more frequently than others. Obviously it could have just been luck based on when I was looking, but to be sure there wasn't a flaw in the system, a test was created.

Storing the Number

Using an old trick called a tracking pixel, much like email and websites have previously used to register that a page or email was loaded, a small script was setup that would accomplish 3 tasks:

Return a transparent 1x1 pixel image
Capture the random value passed in a query string parameter
Store the value, timestamp, and IP address in a CSV file

By adding this script link to the test plugin's Shared code as an <img> tag, we could capture and display the random number generated not only on the screen of the test TRMNL OG, but also transmit that value to the script on an external site.

Running the Test... Twice

Setting the test plugin to run every 5 minutes as the only item on the playlist on a single TRMNL OG, meant that within 4 days we would have 1,000+ data points, enough to do a cursory analysis of the randomization.

Since I didn't want to write a bunch of Python code myself, AI was used to spit out a few more charts:

(This last one is a favorite because it leans into human pattern recognition. It's a statistical "Where's Waldo" for finding a problem.)

Diagnostic	Result	Interpretation
Mean	50.572	Very close to the uniform expectation of 50.5; p = 0.937
Median	50.5	Exactly centered between the two middle values
Sample standard deviation	29.161	Close to the uniform expectation of 28.866
Ten value bands	81–118 per band	No significant deviation; p = 0.573
Twenty value bands	—	No significant deviation; p = 0.470
Last digits 0–9	88–110 per digit	No significant deviation; p = 0.864
Even versus odd	520 versus 480	No significant deviation; p = 0.217
Values 51–100 versus 1–50	500 versus 500	Perfect balance in this sample

Meanwhile...

Ryan, TRMNL's founder, took a customer focused look at the problem and thought, "This method sucks." A short while later, random_number was born as a Liquid filter, built on Ruby's own randomization.

This took a chunk of code:

{%liquid
  assign rand_index = "now" | date: "%N" | modulo: my_collection.size
  assign rand_item = my_collection[rand_index]
%}

and turned it into this:

{%liquid
assign rand_index = "" | random_number: my_collection.size
assign rand_item = my_collection[rand_index]
%}

You're thinking, that's not that different. Except... this is what it looks like when calling an API and wanted to just get a random_number in a range:

https://some-api.com/jokes/{{ "" | random_number: 1, 1000 }}

Back to Testing

With a new method in hand, it was time to update the test plugin and repeat the test. Other than a bug fix discovered because of this test, not much to report other that the results.

Narrator: They were very normal and boring.

Diagnostic	New dataset, first 1,000	Interpretation
Mean	49.051	Somewhat below 50.5, but not significant; p = 0.112
Median	49.5	Near the center
Sample standard deviation	28.831	Very close to the uniform expectation of 28.866
Values 1–50 versus 51–100	506 versus 494	No significant imbalance; p = 0.728
Even versus odd	493 versus 507	No significant imbalance; p = 0.681
Ten value bands	81–115 per band	Compatible with uniformity; p = 0.241
Twenty value bands	—	Compatible with uniformity; p = 0.539
Last digits	75–111 per digit	Compatible with uniformity; p = 0.163
Distinct values	100 of 100	All possible values appeared

Conclusion

We had an assumption, we tested that assumption, and in the end it improved the quality of life for our plugin developers. It's not a groundbreaking result, but hopefully an interesting detour.

Also, we learned that Mario was wrong, which was valuable, but not very reassuring.

Creator Fund - August 2026

2026-09-09T00:00:00+00:00

for more context see the Creator Fund announcement.

our 11th payout recognizes community contributions between August 7, 2026 and September 4, 2026.

source of funds

each payout period, a portion of developer-specific revenue goes directly to creators.

source	revenue	share	amount
Stripe Developer Edition BYOD TRMNL+ Shopify Developer Edition Clarity Kit (X) Clarity Kit (OG) BYOD	$4,400 $2,940 $525 $283.85 $12,570.02 $15,029.80 $9,075.57	15% 15% 80% 15% 10% 10% 15%	$660 $441 $420 $42.58 $1,257 $1,502.98 $1,361.34
	$44,824.24		$5,684.90

source

revenue

share

amount

Stripe

Developer Edition
BYOD
TRMNL+

Shopify

Developer Edition
Clarity Kit (X)
Clarity Kit (OG)
BYOD

$4,400
$2,940
$525

$283.85
$12,570.02
$15,029.80
$9,075.57

15%
15%
80%

15%
10%
10%
15%

$660
$441
$420

$42.58
$1,257
$1,502.98
$1,361.34

$44,824.24

$5,684.90

by the numbers

total payout: $5,684.90
plugin author share: $3,979.43 (70% of base total)
strategic contributors share: $1,705.47 (30% of base total)

plugin author earnouts are calculated automatically by a collection of factors including a plugin's age (on live playlists), presence (by % dominance on playlists), and impressions (times displayed on device), relative to all other community plugins. there is a minimum threshold of 50 total connections (installs + forks) to qualify for monthly payouts.

strategic contributors are those who contribute to TRMNL open source projects. these earnouts are calculated with a mix of automation + human touch. relative to the funding available, below are allocations by category:

Firmware, 0%
3D Models, 0%
BYOS, 40%
Localizations, 2%
BYOD, 55%
Documentation/Resources, 0%
Tooling, 3%

note: these allocations change monthly based on contributions by category.

algorithm?

see the algorithm in action here. over time the above weights, revenue share percentages, and minimum thresholds may change.

candid feedback is welcome, email team@trmnl.com.

Featured Community Plugin - Buienradar

2026-09-08T00:00:00+00:00

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.

Buienradar

Community member Doeke (Discord: doekenorg) created the Buienradar plugin; here are their words on how it was created.

Why did you want this plugin to exist?

I've tried a few of the other weather plugins, but their accuracy for The Netherlands was not that great. Not that weather apps are often right... but I figured using a Dutch service, would have more accuracy overall.

Why were you the person to make it?

I'm a software developer, with some sense of proper design. Not that I'm a designer at all, but I know what looks and works well. So I keep at it, making it suck less, until it looks good.

Were you inspired by any other recipes or plugin creators?

Yes, since I've been using other plugins; I've been biased to their designs, of course. But also by other plugins that were way too crowded and cramped a lot of info in a small window.

How did you balance look vs functionality?

In this case, design was slightly more important. Functionality is of course: making the weather information available. But design drives how easy it is to absorb that information. Visual hierarchy is very important there. I also wanted to make the plugin feel native to the TRMNL platform, as well as to users familiar with Buienradar. So I reused their iconography.

What was your process for creating the plugin?

First I read the API and figured out what information would be good to use on the screens. Then I used a combination of Claude and my JetBrains IDE to design every step. I also used the TRMNL local dev server to test the plugin on various screens. Lastly, I created a proper git repo for the plugin, using the GitHub actions to quickly be able to release new features and updates.

What, if any, challenges did you face while creating it?

The data is limited to a 5-day forecast (today + 4 days). This meant that the design needed to include or exclude information based on the screen size. Sometimes that meant including something only on portrait mode, but not on portrait mode of another screen size. This meant testing and retesting every screen on OG and X a lot. I also missed some leading tools to increase the line-height of larger and longer texts. I mentioned this to the team, and they responded very positive on the idea.

Did you learn anything that you want to apply to future or past recipes?

I created an AGENTS.md file to let AI agents use the correct best practices, as well as the appropriate helper classes. This meant that changes would always use the framework, making the change automatically work on light/dark mode. And the shared template is a great way to set up re-usable template parts. Having a single place to change classes across pages has been a great timesaver.

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

As always, first, RTFM. That is very extensive. It would be great to have those docs as markdown files for LLM's. Or even as an MCP server (Editor: We do!). For now I just pulled to my local memory. But definitely test your plugin on multiple screens using the local dev server.

Featured Community Plugin - This Week in Videogames

2026-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

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.

This Week in Videogames

Community member Martin Rapavý (Discord: martin2097) created the This Week in Videogames plugin; here are their words on how it was created.

Why did you want this plugin to exist?

What I love the most about TRMNL is the emphasis on slowing down. Every day, we are bombarded with all sorts of news, and most of it is pure fluff. I also love following gaming news, which also suffers from low-quality, clickbaity, ad-filled content. So it was like a revelation for me when This Week in Videogames came into existence—curated, ad-free, and written by actual humans. From there, it seemed like a perfect match to bring this content to TRMNL.

Why were you the person to make it?

I have followed TWIV since its beginnings, and it has been my main source of gaming news, so I think that made this choice so obvious for me.

What was your process for creating the plugin?

My daily job is in the AI field, but I work in a bank, so I don't have many opportunities to try AI agents in an unconstrained environment. Because of that, I wanted to try Claude Code's current capabilities enhanced by the TRMNL MCP server. In the end, it did some of the rough work for me. For the backend and data transformations, it's really great, but when it comes to visuals, it really struggles with creating "beautiful" stuff. So in the end, I spent most of my time in the Visual Editor, tuning every parameter to get the best look.

What, if any, challenges did you face while creating it?

Crafting a beautiful layout for landscape OG and landscape/portrait X means 12 layouts you have to take care of. And that is... a lot of layouts! 😅 But I hope I got the best out of every screen size, and no matter if you own a TRMNL OG or a TRMNL X, you'll enjoy the most beautiful display!

Did you learn anything that you want to apply to future or past recipes?

gap--auto and gap--distribute can save you a lot of tinkering when the length of the content varies.

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

I have 2 tips:

The look of the plugin matters. Show it to your wife, kids, mum, dad, or neighbours. Do they understand what they're seeing? Do they like it? Most of us programmers feel that if it works and has super sophisticated code behind it, we've done a great job. But presentation is equally important, if not even more important.
Don't forget that some TRMNL users are not programmers or even tech people at all. It's great to give users a ton of room for customization. But what's even better for most users is when it's already beautiful out of the box! Choosing what looks best is a hard decision, but trust me—it will push you forward and make your plugin better.

What part of the TRMNL Framework, Liquid filters, or other documentation was most helpful?

Don't underestimate the TRMNL Framework. It looks really great, and knowing all of its capabilities gives you much more freedom to imagine what you can build. 100% of my plugin's look is made using TRMNL Framework components, and I really love it. Working within meaningful constraints can be really beneficial.

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

As you've probably figured out by now, I'm naturally drawn toward the visual side of things. Weather Glance, Formula 1 – Race and Standings, and Flip Clock are all really beautiful plugins that I admire.

What was your biggest enemy?

Off-by-one pixels.

Framework is now Open Source

2026-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

we started with an 800x480, 1-bit display. it didn't take long to realize: designing for low resolution ePaper panels is tricky. thus Framework was born:
https://trmnl.com/framework

fast forward a few years, today we host 93,108 private plugins delivering 281,872 instances to 10s of thousands of devices around the world every 5-15 minutes.

which is why i'm thrilled to announce that our entire design system is now open source.
https://github.com/usetrmnl/trmnl-framework

after thousands of iterations, here are a few things it can do.

Components

nobody wants to reinvent a table, label, or stat widget.

Framework components provide device-aware markup that looks great on your computer screen or ePaper display. charting is powered by Highcharts under the hood, with theme overrides to account for hardware limitations.

speaking of hardware...

Hardware

as our device model library grows, your work should Just Work on different display sizes and resolutions.

the model picker reads from the Model API to inject dimensions, colors, and other capabilities of a given device directly into the web based markup editor or your local dev tooling with trmnlp.

try changing parameters in the top-right dropdown in our docs to see how it works:

Framework is even compatible with televisions, tablets, iPads, and beyond.

Legibility

perfect vision is wasted on the youth. we created our own font from scratch, and now it's yours. for everything else there's Inter.

whether you want small type, large graphics, serifs or sans, Framework lets you scope typography on a per element basis.

Magic (JavaScript)

tying together many of the above elements is a JS runtime, terminalize().

this lets you scale text, adhere to cultural or regional formatting, truncate big values, and more.

Value Formatting

if you're wondering why this matters, it's because TRMNL is designed for arbitrary content. the value of {{ some_variable }} should never break your markup.

Fit Value

the Framework Runtime even solves for fixed display heights, check out Table Overflow.

what's next

if you're just getting started, check out the docs and examples. if you've been with us awhile, skim the v3 overview guide for the latest features.

to report an issue or contribute new features, visit the source code:
https://github.com/usetrmnl/trmnl-framework

Model X Progress Report

2026-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

We introduced X on July 30, 2025. We began assembly + fulfillment on March 18, 2026.

To see your live spot in the order queue, go here:
https://trmnl.com/order-tracker

Here's our per-warehouse queue as of September 17, 2026:

For more frequent and detailed updates over time, see below.

When will I receive my TRMNL X?

Live in USA, Canada, India, Mexico, or Australia?

Your TRMNL will ship from our USA warehouse. See chronological updates below for the latest availability.

Live in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, etc?

Your TRMNL will ship from our Berlin warehouse. Due to Customs issues and supplier theft, this warehouse is moving slower through their queue than the USA. See chronological updates below for the latest availability.

Tech Specs

Highlights below, or see everything here.

10.3" 1872x1404 EPD resolution with 16 shades of gray
Dust and basic waterproofing with a hacker-friendly enclosure
ESP32-S3 with 16MB of flash and 8MB of PSRAM as a core processor with fallback 2.4GHz WiFi
5GHz WiFi support via ESP32-C5 as a modem (external antenna)
Support up to 2x 6000mAh 3.8V LiPo batteries with automatic detection
Battery gas gauge from TI for battery SOC/SOH/capacity tracking
Bosch accelerometer for portrait/landscape orientation
Gesture touch-bar based on Azotech IC
Magnetic pogo pin-based mount for charging and accessories (Coming 2026)
OTG support with 5V 2A output

Dimensions

These values may change as we scale production. last updated December 15, 2025.

X enclosure dimensions (mm)

Weight (device only, no attachments)

1 battery - 362 grams
2 batteries - 448 grams

August 2025

Multiple boards and controllers support touch gestures, battery charging, and 5ghz WiFi
The circular area interfaces with a waterproof "puck" shaped charging connector, and several test points on the motherboard's bottom will let us build a QA jig for our warehouse
Prior to release we'll prototypes to your favorite creators for first-look reviews

September 2025

PCB preview

We ordered 50x more prototypes with stronger magnets so devices can attach directly to a surface (e.g. refrigerator) without mounts
Dual band WiFi will be powered by the ESP32-C5 and we've benchmarked faster speeds + better range with custom modem firmware
Orders with the Battery Upgrade (or Clarity Kit) will now enjoy 10,000mAh versus the announced 7,000mAh variant
Our "charging puck" (name TBD) now has a universal connector for kickstands and other peripheral accessories that will debut in 2026
The same firmware that runs all OG + BYOD devices has been extended and is already running my own X prototype, preview here

October 2025

Grayscale testing with a GOAT

The first batch of screens arrived at our USA warehouse, more en route to our Berlin warehouse
Gesture bar + charging pucks are in small batch production
Received and approved packaging samples. Model X packaging will be more premium and protective than OG packaging.
Consolidating WiFi antennas (2.4 + 5gh) to a single component
Added 3 angle options (degrees) to the kickstand
[Work in progress] battery options may grow another 20% to 6000/12000mAh variants pending more testing

November 2025

Full assembly (3D printed parts, not final)

Fully functional prototype (3D printed case, non-branded silicone pads)

Prototype running latest (public) firmware release

Added extra reset buttons to S3 and C5 MCUs for hacker friendliness, board design is final
Batteries are in production and we can confirm the improved 6k / 12kmAh sizing (announced size: 5k / 7k)
Enclosure injection molds are in production, purchase order placed for thousands of cases in different colors
Magnet deliveries from Chinese factories have been delayed due to recent Critical Mineral Export Bans

December 2025

Battery production complete, shipping to our warehouses next week
EC licenses underway at testing facilities
Packaging in mass production
Magnets in mass production
[New] OTG functionality - power other devices from your TRMNL's charging puck

January 2026

From my desk to yours, a video update.

February 2026

From our warehouse to your desk, a video update.

March 2026

From my desk to yours, a video update.

If you prefer not to watch the video, in summary we're shipping single-battery devices only from our USA warehouse because our magnet supplier ripped us off and sent thousands of weak magnets, following multiple sample shipments with the correct (strong) magnets.

As of Wednesday, March 18:

Berlin warehouse has all 3 types of PCBs
Berlin warehouse should receive device enclosures in 1-2 weeks
USA warehouse has everything and has begun assembly + fulfillment

To check your place in the queue go here:
https://trmnl.com/order-tracker

If you already have a TRMNL, install the Order Tracker plugin to stay up to date:
https://trmnl.com/recipes/260817

How can I estimate the time it will take to receive mine?

Devices will be shipped in the order they were purchased and we intend to scale to 100s of fulfillments per day, as we have done for past releases and back-in-stock periods.

Our 2x warehouses have trained 15+ individuals to flash, assemble, and ship devices. We do not outsource to 3rd party logistics companies. You can learn more about our end to end philosophy and technology here and here.

April 2026

See a live demonstration of strong, N52 grade magnets on various refrigerator surfaces in this video update.

On April 26, N52 magnets arrived at our USA warehouse and assembly/fulfillment pace will increase dramatically beginning Monday, April 27.

On April 27, white + gray cases arrived at our Berlin warehouse and they are building half-assemblies (docks, kickstands) as they await N52 magnets.

May 2026

Between May 2-6th the USA warehouse was out of stock of charging docks for several colors due to a supplier mistake. To mitigate we assembled devices of all colors, but only fulfilled in-stock (charging dock) orders, some of which may sequentially be behind yours.

May 7 - black and sage charging docks arrived, allowing us to mostly ship in sequential order. This ensures the highest throughput overall, as punishing later orders with in-stock colors does not increase the speed of out-of-stock colors arriving.

May 19 - USA warehouse is still awaiting white + gray docks and cannot ship those colors, despite having the other parts. They were lost in transit and a new batch is on the way.

May 21 - Berlin, Germany warehouse received a batch of N52 magnets. They are now shipping black, sage, clear.

May 27 - Berlin, Germany warehouse received white u-mounts and is now able to ship white devices.

May 29 - USA warehouse received missing white charging docks and is finally shipping white devices.

May 31 - USA warehouse ran out of Clear enclosures and sage wall mounts. Black running very low. New shipment (full refresh) expected within a week.

June 2026

June 1 - USA warehouse received missing gray charging docks (sent/lost by UPS on April 7).

June 4 - Berlin, Germany warehouse received gray enclosures.

June 5 - Berlin, Germany warehouse received wood enclosures. Berlin is now able to ship all colors.

June 9 - USA warehouse only has inventory to ship white and gray X devices. More of every color arrive Thursday, June 11.

June 11 - USA warehouse received more inventory of every color and is fully in stock, shipping all X combinations.

June 21 - USA warehouse ran out of clear enclosures; affected customers have been emailed the option to change colors and not experience further delays.

June 24 - USA ran out of sage docks + kickstands, as FedEx lost this package (1 of 42 in our latest freight shipment) in May and is still looking for it. An extra set of components has been ordered (via air express) from our injection mold supplier.

Sage components lost by FedEx

June 29 - Berlin, Germany warehouse ran out of branded packaging. A rush order is en route. The team is still assembling devices to minimize delays.

July 2026

July 3 - USA warehouse received missing Sage docks + kickstands, along with Clear cases. Clear kickstands + docks are still en rout, but the remaining 300+ on-hold Sage orders will be shipped by end of Monday, July 6.

July 7 - Berlin, Germany warehouse received X packaging. Foam should arrive within 24 hours and then shipping will resume.

July 13 - Berlin, Germany warehouse continues experiencing delays in receiving X packaging foam. As of today, 3 of 5 pallets have arrived at BER airport and are still processing through Customs. They have been stuck elsewhere in Europe for 7 days.

July 15 - Berlin, Germany warehouse finally received packaging foam and is resuming shipments of assembled devices.

Die-cut packing foam

July 23 - Berlin, Germany is down to their last ~150 devices and awaiting a new shipment of PCBs, ordered on May 6 but with long lead times. USA warehouse is expecting missing Clear kickstands / docks / u-mounts next Monday, then its queue will be zero'd out.

July 27 - Berlin, Germany received new packaging and is expecting more PCBs tomorrow.

July 30 - Berlin, Germany PCBA are stuck in-country but stuck at Customs. A new batch of PCBA were shipped to USA warehouse and should arrive on August 5th.

August 2026

August 3 - Berlin, Germany received a new batch of PCBA following a week of being stuck in Customs. Shipping resumed today. Incoming USA batch of PCBA cleared Customs last night and arrive on Wednesday.

August 12 - USA warehouse PCBA have cleared Customs, then put on hold, back and forth a few times. We got in touch with courier (DHL) and they don't have more information. As of this morning the freight has again "cleared" Customs.

August 18 - I (Ryan) visited the ATL airport cargo facilities to check on our PCBA freight, which continues to post "Clearance" events, followed by "On Hold" notifications, multiple times per day since early August.

Visiting DHL <> Customs

Unfortunately the assigned CBP agent was not in office, so we left our information with a request to expedite clearance. The DHL team claims we will receive a phone call update within 24 hours.

August 24 - The USA warehouse received a response to our support ticket with DHL / Customs. At this point, our next shipment of PCBA may arrive sooner than the batch that has been in the States since July.

September 2026

September 2 - The USA warehouse still has no update from DHL or the Customs agent assigned to our case (inbound PCBA). Once this shipment arrives, we need just 4-5 days to clear our entire queue and resume same-day X shipping.

September 9 - The USA warehouse received an update from DHL's customer service team, alleging customs will be completed within 3 days.

September 17 - The USA warehouse received a small batch of X PCBA -- our main batch is still stuck in DHL / Customs at the Atlanta airport, this is a followup rush order. X shipping resumed temporarily but we are now awaiting new magnets, set to arrive by sea tomorrow (September 18) and then put on a truck.

September 18 - Berlin, Germany ran out of X screens, but a new shipment is departing our supplier's warehouse (via air express freight) on Monday, September 21.

September 27 - Magnets (USA) and screens (Berlin, Germany) are still en route. Magnets arrived at a port, but no truck tracking is available. For screens we used our fastest boutique broker (not a major courier) who also do not provide last mile tracking.

Featured Community Plugin - Jenkins CI/CD

2026-08-11T00:00:00+00:00

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.

Jenkins CI/CD

Community member Stephen Yeargin (Discord: stephenyeargin) created the Jenkins CI/CD plugin; here are their words on how it was created.

Why did you want this plugin to exist?

I've used Jenkins at various jobs for a rather long time, and decided a few years ago to start using it to orchestrate personal projects. I had a scheduled build fail and didn't get the notification, so I thought it would be nice to keep up with it on the TRMNL near my desk.

Were you inspired by any other recipes or plugin creators?

There are a handful of great plugins that monitor GitHub Actions workflows. I looked through those to understand the different ways to present the data.

How did you balance look vs functionality?

I lean into the Framework components to make most of the harder UI decisions for me so that I can focus more on making sure the data is timely and accurate. I tend to lean into function first, and improve the design through iteration.

What was your process for creating the plugin?

I have a GitHub repository template that I used as the base of it. From there, I read through the REST documentation for Jenkins and tested a few of the calls with Postman. I stuck to the general Job list in Jenkins to decide what was important. The TRMNLP application is indispensable for developing plugins.

What, if any, challenges did you face while creating it?

Jenkins uses weather icons to quickly identify the health of your builds. I needed to find SVG icons for each, and to make sure the logic picked the right one. From there, the next challenge was getting the JSON payload under the limit with the sandbox runtime. I also knew I wanted to let the user see either all jobs, or builds from a specific job, so I needed to work out the logic for that.

Did you learn anything that you want to apply to future or past recipes?

Using conditionals and assignments in the polling_url setting. It makes managing the data flow a bit easier and prevents unnecessary requests.

polling_url: |
  {%- if my_setting_value -%}
  https://example.org/api/endpoint_1?q={ my_setting_value }
  {%- else %}
  https://example.org/api/endpoint_2
  {%- endif %}

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

Follow the blog for new features and join the Discord server. Also, shared.liquid is your friend for not repeating a ton of markup for all four views.

What part of the TRMNL Framework, Liquid filters, or other documentation was most helpful?

Table Overflow is really useful to ensure the data fills the screen, but doesn't break the layout.

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

Paperboy is solid. It immediately reminded me of Freedom Forum's "Today's Front Pages" site, which I had bookmarked from when I worked for a newspaper.

What might you improve about the plugin in the future?

Not everyone has a dozen Jenkins Jobs, so I probably would come up with another view that showed them as cards in a grid.

Creator Fund - July 2026

2026-08-07T00:00:00+00:00

for more context see the Creator Fund announcement.

our 10th payout recognizes community contributions between July 6, 2026 and August 6, 2026.

source of funds

each payout period, a portion of developer-specific revenue goes directly to creators.

source	revenue	share	amount
Stripe Developer Edition BYOD TRMNL+ Shopify Developer Edition Clarity Kit (X) Clarity Kit (OG) BYOD	$4,660 $2,900 $535 $398.73 $12,664.41 $16,977.77 $8,818.39	15% 15% 80% 15% 10% 10% 15%	$699 $435 $428 $59.81 $1,266.44 $1,697.78 $1,322.76
	$46,954.30		$5,908.79

source

revenue

share

amount

Stripe

Developer Edition
BYOD
TRMNL+

Shopify

Developer Edition
Clarity Kit (X)
Clarity Kit (OG)
BYOD

$4,660
$2,900
$535

$398.73
$12,664.41
$16,977.77
$8,818.39

15%
15%
80%

15%
10%
10%
15%

$699
$435
$428

$59.81
$1,266.44
$1,697.78
$1,322.76

$46,954.30

$5,908.79

by the numbers

total payout: $5,908.79
plugin author share: $4,136.15 (70% of base total)
strategic contributors share: $1,772.64 (30% of base total)

Firmware, 25%
3D Models, 0%
BYOS, 66%
Localizations, 2%
BYOD, 5%
Documentation/Resources, 0%
Tooling, 2%

note: these allocations change monthly based on contributions by category.

algorithm?

see the algorithm in action here. over time the above weights, revenue share percentages, and minimum thresholds may change.

candid feedback is welcome, email team@trmnl.com.