Badger: An E-Ink Badge I Use For Conferences

Developer Sean Boult built a conference badge using the Badger 2350 e-ink device from Badgeware, programming it with Python and AI assistance from Codex to display QR codes linking to his LinkedIn and personal site. The project includes a simulator for testing and a simple make deploy command for installation, with the full code available on GitHub.

I attend conferences regularly, and for years I’ve wanted a badge that makes it easy for people to find me online. In 2019, I attended defcon and built defpi https://github.com/hacksore/defpi , a goofy raspberry pi powered badge. While that was fun I wanted a bit more turnkey and I found just what I wanted with a Badgeware Badger https://badgewa.re/ nerdy domain hack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain hack badgewa.re . Since my use case is to just have my socials via QR I chose the e-ink version as it made the most sense. So what does the Badger come equipped with? I might not be the biggest Python fan but in the age of AI does it matter? I just ask Codex to help me get the desired outcome I'm looking for So Codex and I cooked a few hundred lines of Python and boom my profiles are only a QR code scan away. Let's take a look at my default badge screen in all its glory. Social screen. All in all it's pretty simple, get you to either my LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanboult or my personal site https://seanboult.dev . The crazy thing is the simulator lets me test the code before I deploy it to the badge. make sim and I'm able to test it locally. Then a simple make deploy while the badge is connected and it deploys it all. You can check out the code repo if you wanna ~~steal~~ slopfork https://www.slopfork.dev/ my setup. Personal Badgeware https://badgewa.re/ app for the Badger 2350. Requirements: macOS, uv https://docs.astral.sh/uv/ , Git, and a data-capable USB-C cable. Run make to see the three available commands. make sim The first run clones and builds Badgeware Desktop https://github.com/pimoroni/badgeware-simulator beside this repo. Later runs reuse that build, stage the current app in an isolated filesystem, and launch it at the Badger's 264×176 resolution. Simulator controls: Space : Button B; flip between the badge and social/QR screens ↑ / ↓ : change the background pattern ← / → : Buttons A and C Esc : hot reloadConnect the Badger over USB-C. Double-tap RESET . Wait for the BADGER drive to appear. Run: make deploy The command validates the app, copies its Python and image files into /apps/badge , safely ejects the drive, and lets the badge reboot. This installs the latest official firmware together… Happy conferencing, folks PS: If you're going to be in Dallas for Commit Your Code 2026 https://www.commityourcode.com/ come find me and I’ll show off the badge. Follow me for all things tech.