Use case
Build a smart-home device by describing it
Most smart-home ideas are simple in concept — sense something, decide, react — but assembling even a basic device means picking a microcontroller, wiring sensors, and writing firmware. For anyone who isn’t already an embedded developer, that’s enough friction to never start. The off-the-shelf products never quite do the specific thing you wanted.
The problem with DIY smart home
The behavior you want is usually trivial to state — “turn on the light when motion stops being detected after dark,” “warn me when CO₂ climbs.” Getting there means microcontroller choice, wiring, and firmware most people don’t want to learn. Commercial gadgets, meanwhile, are closed and rarely do your exact thing.
How Palpable helps
Plug in Qwiic modules — motion, light, air quality, temperature, a display — and describe the behavior in plain English or by voice. PAL detects the hardware, writes the TypeScript, and runs it locally on a Pi, so it keeps working even if your internet or cloud goes down. Open REST/WebSocket APIs let it talk to the rest of your setup.
What you’d build
A room monitor that reads air quality, temperature, and motion, shows status on a small display, and posts events over WebSocket to your home dashboard or automation hub. Want a new rule? Describe it and PAL ships it over the air, with automatic rollback if something breaks.
Honest caveat
Palpable runs device behavior on a Raspberry Pi with off-the-shelf modules — it doesn’t design custom boards or replace a full home-automation platform like Home Assistant. It’s ideal for building the specific device you can’t buy, then wiring it into whatever ecosystem you already use via its APIs.
Describe the smart-home device you wish existed, and have PAL run it on a Pi.
Questions
Do I need to know how to code?
No. You describe what you want in plain English or by voice, and PAL writes and runs the code. The TypeScript and APIs are there if you want them.
Does it keep working if my internet drops?
Yes. Scripts run locally on the Pi, so the device keeps sensing and reacting offline. Cloud features resume when connectivity returns.
Can it integrate with my existing smart home setup?
Each project exposes REST and WebSocket APIs plus a CLI, so you can connect it to dashboards, hubs, or automation tools you already run.
Make something you can hold.
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