Tronbyt Server

What is Tronbyt Server?

Tronbyt Server is a self-hosted backend that drives Tidbyt-style LED-matrix displays from your own machine. It runs the apps, renders each screen with Pixlet, and pushes the frames to your device over your local network — with no dependency on Tidbyt’s cloud. Started as “Tidbyt Manager,” it now manages the whole display from a web UI.

What is Tronbyt Server best for?

It’s best for Tidbyt owners who want their display to keep working after Modal wound the company down and put its cloud on borrowed time — and for tinkerers who want to run custom Pixlet or Starlark apps, unblock APIs, and control brightness and rotation from a local web interface instead of a phone app.

What can Tronbyt Server do?

• Manage, schedule, and configure the apps on your display from a web UI
• Render Pixlet / Starlark apps and push frames to the device on your own rotation
• Set per-app dwell time and control display brightness
• Generate and flash replacement firmware to turn a Tidbyt into a “Tronbyt”
• Run community apps and reach APIs Tidbyt’s cloud blocked (such as Surfline)
• Drive varied hardware: Tidbyt Gen1/Gen2, Tronbyt S3, MatrixPortal S3, and Raspberry Pi with HUB75 LED panels
• Back it with SQLite out of the box, or Postgres/MySQL, with optional Redis caching and Prometheus metrics

Where does Tronbyt Server fall short?

• It requires flashing replacement firmware onto the device (via an ESPHome flasher) — a one-time step that takes a Tidbyt off its official firmware and cloud for good.
• There’s no mobile app. Tidbyt’s polished iOS/Android app is replaced by a web UI, and notification latency is slightly higher.
• Some built-in apps that depend on Tidbyt’s cloud-stored secrets won’t run once you’ve cut ties with the vendor backend.

Is Tronbyt Server free?

Yes — Tronbyt Server is fully free and open source under the Apache-2.0 license. There’s no paid tier, open-core upsell, or hosted cloud; you run it yourself. You still need a compatible display, whether that’s a Tidbyt you already own, a Tronbyt device, or a DIY Raspberry Pi and LED-panel build.

What does Tronbyt Server replace?

Tronbyt Server replaces Tidbyt’s cloud backend and companion app. After Tidbyt was acquired by Modal and stopped producing new units, this server lets existing displays keep running entirely on your own network — the same weather, stocks, and sports apps, without waiting to see how long the official cloud stays online.

FAQ

Is Tronbyt Server open source? Yes. It’s licensed under Apache-2.0, a permissive OSI-approved license, and the full source is on GitHub and free to self-host.

Will my Tidbyt keep working if Tidbyt’s servers shut down? Yes — that’s the point of the project. With Tronbyt replacement firmware and this server, your display runs locally and no longer depends on the vendor’s cloud staying online.

Do I have to flash new firmware? For a Tidbyt or other ESP32-based device, yes — you flash Tronbyt’s replacement firmware first, and the server then talks to it locally. Raspberry Pi builds with HUB75 panels are supported as an alternative to flashing a Tidbyt.

What do I need to run it? Docker (the recommended path), a compatible LED-matrix display, and a database — SQLite works out of the box, with Postgres and MySQL supported for larger setups.