Claude Desktop Buddy — M5Stack Core2

A hardware companion for Claude Cowork and Claude Code, ported from anthropics/claude-desktop-buddy to the M5Stack Core2 (M5S K010-V11).

What it does

• Dashboard — live session count, running/waiting status, BLE link, token count
• ASCII buddy — animated character that reacts to Claude's state (sleep, idle, busy, attention, celebrate, dizzy, heart)
• Permission prompts — approve or deny tool requests via touchscreen buttons or hardware buttons
• Transcript — scrollable log of recent Claude activity
• Stats — pet level, mood, fed, energy, approval/denial counts
• Shake — shake the device for a dizzy animation + vibration

Hardware

• M5Stack Core2 (ESP32-D0WDQ6-V3, 320×240 ILI9341, capacitive touch)
• Connects to Claude Desktop via BLE (Nordic UART Service)

Flashing

1. Install PlatformIO Core
2. Connect Core2 via USB-C
3. Flash:

cd claude-buddy-core2
pio run -t upload

Pairing with Claude Desktop

1. Enable Developer Mode: Help → Troubleshooting → Enable Developer Mode
2. Open Developer → Open Hardware Buddy…
3. Click Connect and pick your "Claude-XXXX" device
4. Enter the 6-digit passkey shown on the Core2 screen

Controls

Input	Normal	Approval prompt
Touch tabs	Switch views	—
Touch APPROVE	—	Approve once
Touch DENY	—	Deny
BtnA (left)	Next view	Approve
BtnB (center)	Scroll log	—
BtnC (right)	—	Deny
Shake	Dizzy animation	—

Screen auto-sleeps after 60s idle; any touch wakes it.

Project layout

src/
  main.cpp        — UI, state machine, touch handling
  ble_bridge.cpp  — Nordic UART Service BLE bridge
  ble_bridge.h
  data.h          — JSON protocol parser, time sync
  stats.h         — NVS-backed stats, settings, pet mechanics
platformio.ini    — build config for M5Stack Core2

Credits

Based on the official claude-desktop-buddy by Anthropic (Felix Rieseberg).