TinyDesk apps

App packages (.tdapp) for TinyDesk, with their sources. TinyDesk's Store app lists them and installs them on a board; each package also runs on its own with py NAME.tdapp.

The catalog is published with GitHub Pages at https://tinydesk-project.github.io/tinydesk-apps/:

File	For
catalog.txt	the Store app (one key value per line; format in tools/make_index.py)
index.json	people and web pages: the same entries as JSON
<id>.tdapp	the packages
index.html	a plain list

An app's folder

apps/<id>/
  app.json        the App Builder project: the source to edit
  app.py          the Python App Builder generated from it (for reading)
  store.json      what the Store shows: title, summary, category, author...
  <id>.tdapp      the package, built from app.json
  (pictures, modules)  files the project names

An app can also be written by hand in Python. Its app.json is then a small project naming the source and its modules (<name>.py next to it):

{"version": 1, "name": "network_tools", "application": {"version": "1.0.0"},
 "board": 2000, "source": "main.py", "modules": ["qr"]}

<id> is the app's name in the Store and on the board: lowercase letters, digits, _ and -, up to 31 characters. store.json:

{"title": "Network Tools", "summary": "One line, up to 160 bytes.", "category": "Tools",
 "author": "TinyDesk project", "license": "MIT",
 "repo": "https://github.com/tinydesk-project/tinydesk-apps/tree/main/apps/network_tools"}

Categories: Examples, Tools, Games, Industrial, Education. author (up to 40 bytes), license (16) and repo (an https:// address, 84) are required; the Store shows them with the app's details. The version is the project's application.version (x.y.z); raise it for every change, so boards offer the update.

The apps

App	What it does
MQTT Dashboard	Tiles for MQTT topics: live values, switches that send ON / OFF, text senders. Broker from ~/mqtt.conf, tiles in ~/mqtt_dashboard.json.
Modbus Monitor	Up to 8 Modbus TCP or RTU values with bars and a trend; write registers and coils; CSV log on the SD card (or ~). Points in ~/modbus_monitor.json.
Network Tools	Wi-Fi scan, the access point with a QR code phones scan to join it, ping, TCP port check. tools/check_qr.py checks its QR encoder against segno.

Building and checking

The packages are built with TinyDesk App Builder's own generator and package code, and mpy-cross 1.29 (TinyDesk's build makes one in build*/compiler/mpy_cross/). Node.js and Python 3 are needed:

python tools/build_apps.py --builder ../tinydesk-app-builder --compiler PATH/TO/mpy-cross
python tools/make_index.py

build_apps.py writes app.py and <id>.tdapp for every app (or the ids given); builds are deterministic. make_index.py needs only Python: it checks every package (format, every entry's SHA-256, that it matches app.json) and writes the site into site/. CI runs the check on every push and pull request, and publishes the site from main.

What a board checks

The Store installs an app only if the board can run it: the tdui API (api), the canvas cells (cells: 2000 runs on every board, more needs PSRAM), capabilities such as rgb_pictures (needs) and, for native code, the CPU (cpu). It downloads into ~/Apps, checks the size and SHA-256 before keeping the file, and adds the app to the user's Start menu. SHA-256 catches damaged downloads; it is not a signature. The catalog is fetched over HTTPS.

Adding an app

Make it in App Builder and save the project as apps/<id>/app.json, or write it by hand as above; add store.json, run the two commands above and open a pull request. Only apps whose sources are in this repository are accepted.

Licence

MIT, see LICENSE, for the tools and the apps unless an app's folder says otherwise.