meowagotchi

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Pi Meowagotchi

Pi Meowagotchi

A virtual pet that actually lives on your desk.

Pi Meowagotchi is an open-source hardware project that combines a Raspberry Pi, an ESP32 touch controller, and an ultra-low power e-paper display into a persistent desktop companion powered entirely by Meow Meow Scratch®.

Unlike traditional virtual pets, Pi Meowagotchi isn't trapped inside a single application.

It exists as a connected device whose state lives in the cloud, allowing multiple devices, applications and automations to interact with it simultaneously.

Features

  • 🐈 Persistent virtual pet
  • ⚡ Raspberry Pi powered
  • 📟 Ultra-low power e-paper display
  • 🎛️ Dedicated ESP32 touch controller
  • ☁️ Cloud-backed state
  • 🌐 REST API driven
  • 🤖 AI ready
  • 🔌 Open source

Meet Zero

Zero spends its day doing exactly what a cat should.

Sleep.

Wake up.

Demand food.

Play.

Sleep again.

Every interaction affects its wellbeing, and every decision is synchronised through Meow Meow Scratch so your pet remains alive even when individual devices are powered off.

Hardware

Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi is the brain of the project.

It runs the pet simulation, renders graphics for the e-paper display and keeps the pet synchronised with the cloud.

Responsibilities include:

  • Behaviour engine
  • Animation
  • Scheduling
  • API synchronisation
  • Display rendering
  • State management

ESP32 Controller

The touch controller gives your pet a physical interface.

With a single tap you can:

  • Feed
  • Play
  • Pet
  • Clean
  • Wake
  • Put your pet to sleep

Instead of communicating directly with the Raspberry Pi, the controller simply updates the pet through the Meow Meow Scratch API.

That means multiple controllers could exist simultaneously.

E-Paper Display

The e-paper display provides a beautiful always-on dashboard.

It displays:

  • Hunger
  • Happiness
  • Energy
  • Cleanliness
  • Current activity
  • Temperature
  • Pixel animations

Because it uses e-paper, the display only consumes power when changing.

Built on APIs

Every interaction becomes an API request.

Text
Touch Controller
       │
       ▼
Meow Meow Scratch
       │
       ▼
Pet State Updated
       │
       ▼
Raspberry Pi
       │
       ▼
E-Paper Display Refresh

No direct device-to-device communication.

Everything is built around the Meow Meow Scratch platform.

Why?

Pi Meowagotchi exists to demonstrate a different way of building connected hardware.

Instead of tightly coupling devices together, each component communicates through a shared API.

That means adding a new interface becomes trivial.

Imagine controlling your pet from:

  • 📱 Mobile apps
  • 🌐 Web applications
  • 🤖 AI agents
  • 🏠 Home Assistant
  • 🎙️ Voice assistants
  • 💬 Discord bots
  • ⚙️ Automation workflows

without changing a single line of firmware.

Open Source

The project is split into two repositories.

Raspberry Pi

Runs the virtual pet and e-paper display.

Repository

https://github.com/meowmeowscratch/pi-meowagotchi

ESP32 Controls

Firmware for the touch controller.

Repository

https://github.com/meowmeowscratch/pi-meowagotchi-controls

Built with Meow Meow Scratch®

Pi Meowagotchi showcases what's possible when hardware is built around APIs instead of direct device communication.

Every button press, every status update and every animation is powered through the Meow Meow Scratch platform.

Build once.

Connect anything.

Build Yours

Clone the repositories.

Flash the firmware.

Connect your hardware.

Bring your own virtual pet to life.

🐈

Because every desk deserves a cat.

Pi Meowagotchi — Meow Meow Scratch®