Use cases Real designs on real boards
What will yours be? Pick one and open it.
Every use case below is a real design from our gallery, for a named board, with a link that opens it in the designer. Nothing to download. Where a design has run on a board, we say which one. Where it has only been compiled, we say that too.
- 107
- boards with a ready-made test you flash from the browser
- 4
- exports: Arduino, ESP-IDF, MicroPython and ESPHome
- 24 fps
- H.264 video with sound on the ESP32-P4
- 9
- ESP32 chips our free SerialWizard flashes
01Home automation
Home Assistant panels for the wall
Lights, heating, solar, the doorbell. A topic from your MQTT broker is a value you bind a label, gauge or switch to, and a button press can publish one back. Tick a variable and the panel turns up in Home Assistant as a device of its own, no YAML. On a Waveshare ESP32-P4 4.3 against our test house it joined the broker, appeared in Home Assistant by itself and was controlled both ways.
- MQTT, free
- Home Assistant discovery (Pro)
- Web data and REST
- Wi-Fi by phone
Compiledgenerated and compiled; not yet reported from a board
Boards for itWaveshare ESP32-P4 4.3LCDWIKI ES3C35PCapacitive CYD
02Vehicles and CAN
Gauges fed straight from the diagnostic socket
The ESP32 has a CAN controller built in, so a round gauge can read the car itself: one transceiver and the OBD2 device under Hardware. It asks the engine computer which readings it has before asking for any, and an unplugged board doesn't sit retrying for ever. Arcs, needles and scales are widgets, so a coolant or fuel gauge is a drag and a binding.
- OBD2 over CAN
- Arc, Scale and needle widgets
- Round 240x240 panels
- Pressed and held buttons
Compiledgenerated and compiled; not yet reported from a board
Boards for itESP32-S3 + GC9A01 roundWaveshare S3 Touch LCD 1.28Waveshare S3 Touch LCD 4.3 (CAN terminal)
03Industrial HMI
Workshop and factory panels, pressed with gloves on
Big targets, a status you can read across the room, and the field buses kit actually speaks: Modbus RTU over RS485 and Modbus TCP over Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet (W5500 or RMII). Our free SerialWizard is a Modbus RTU and TCP master with a demo device built in, so you can poke the other end before the panel exists. The Modbus and Ethernet parts are compiled; tell us how yours runs.
- Modbus RTU and TCP
- RS485
- Wired Ethernet
- Log to CSV on the SD card
Compiledgenerated and compiled; not yet reported from a board
Boards for itSunton ESP32-8048S043Sunton ESP32-8048S070Waveshare S3 Touch LCD 4.3 (RS485 and CAN)
04Media and video
Video players with sound on the ESP32-P4
H.264 at 24 frames a second with AAC sound and no gaps, at 512x288 and 640x360, measured on a Waveshare 4.3. From flash, the SD card, a web MP4, an RTSP camera or MJPEG. Drop buttons, a title or a logo onto the player and they sit over the moving picture without a flicker. In the designer the player shows the clip's real frame, and Preview plays it with sound.
- Video player (Pro)
- Overlays and full screen
- RTSP and MJPEG cameras
- Spectrum analyser
Ran on a boardthe owner's Waveshare 4.3
Boards for itWaveshare ESP32-P4 4.3Elecrow CrowPanel Advanced 9"Waveshare ESP32-P4 7B
05Stream decks and macro pads
A touchscreen that pairs as a Bluetooth keyboard
Scene keys, mute, record and a GO LIVE you have to hold. The board pairs with your PC as a keyboard and sends OBS Studio's hotkeys, and any button, encoder or automation can send a key, media keys and volume included. Or pair it as a two-way serial link to your own app. The OBS deck ran on an LCDWIKI ES3C35P: "obs integration tested and working".
- Bluetooth keyboard (Pro)
- Bluetooth serial HMI link (Pro)
- Rotary encoders
- Timer widget
Ran on a boardthe owner's LCDWIKI ES3C35P
Boards for itLCDWIKI ES3C35PWaveshare S3 Knob 1.8Waveshare S3 Touch LCD 3.49
06Radios and audio
Internet radios, MP3 players and voice recorders
Stations from a playlist, MP3, AAC, FLAC and WAV from the card with shuffle and seek, a microphone, voice notes listed by date, and a spectrum analyser that hears whatever the board plays. On a classic ESP32 it can play to a Bluetooth speaker, free. Voice Notes ran on a Waveshare ESP32-P4 4.3, and the CYD radio plays through the board's own DAC.
- Internet radio
- Card player
- Microphone and voice notes
- Bluetooth speaker (free)
Compiledgenerated and compiled; not yet reported from a board
Boards for itLCDWIKI E32R28TCheap Yellow DisplayWaveshare ESP32-P4 4.3
07Wearables and round screens
Round faces, tiny AMOLEDs and handsets
A round panel has no corners to put things in, so the canvas draws the real glass, round or with the AMOLED's rounded corners, and touch is read the way each maker's own code reads it. Two boards can pair over ESP-NOW for push-to-talk with no router. The round handset ran on a Waveshare 1.46C, talking to a 3.49.
- Two-way radio over ESP-NOW
- ESP-NOW data (Pro)
- Power keys on battery
- IMUs and step counters
Ran on a boardthe owner's Waveshare 1.46C
Boards for itWaveshare S3 Touch LCD 1.46BWaveshare S3 AMOLED 1.8 V2Waveshare S3 AMOLED 1.75
08Bench and lab
Meters, timers and controllers for the bench
Give a bench supply a display, time an espresso shot, watch a reflow profile. Sensors are devices you tick under Hardware (INA219, BME280, SEN66 air quality, MLX90614 infrared and plenty more), and their readings are values you bind. Charts and logging to CSV come built in. If a new board stays blank, Test my board flashes a ready-made test from the browser first.
- Sensors as devices
- Charts
- Stream to card (CSV)
- Test my board
Compiledgenerated and compiled; not yet reported from a board
Boards for itCheap Yellow DisplayM5Stack Core2LilyGO T-Display-S3
From idea to a board on your desk
Four steps, all in the browser but the last
- Pick your board. Its real screen, pins and parts come with it: touch, audio, SD, battery, sensors.
- Design and press Preview. Buttons press, values move, videos play and the radio streams, before anything is flashed.
- Export. A whole Arduino, ESP-IDF, MicroPython or ESPHome project, the board set up the way its maker does it.
- Flash and test. Build it, flash it with the free SerialWizard, and if the board stays blank, Test my board shows whether it's the board or the code.
Try it now, nothing to install
Open the designer
Start on any board, or open one of the designs above. You only need an account to save or export.
Test my board
Pick your board and flash a ready-made test from Chrome or Edge. In about a minute it shows what works.
Weighing it up against another editor? See the comparisons, with sources and the date we checked.