Temporal open sourced the entire ecosystem behind the ESP32-S3 hardware badges distributed to 2,000 attendees at their Replay conference. The repo includes C++ firmware, MicroPython bridge, KiCad hardware files, fabrication outputs, Doom port, OTA update tooling, and a Temporal-powered batch flashing system called Ignition. The post covers the engineering challenges of embedded development — memory constraints, resource ownership, partition layout, MessagePack vs JSON, and bridging C++ with MicroPython — as well as the process of curating a messy internal project into a clean open-source release that future contributors (human or AI) can navigate.
Table of contents
What we actually open sourced #Hardware has different gravity #Firmware as joy infrastructure #The badge is not a browser tab #Doom wanted everything #C++ as the kernel, MicroPython as the place I wanted to play #Games, Doom, and hidden delight #Temporal flashing Temporal badges #The open-source victory lap #The second life of the badge #42 Impressions