Meta opened Muse to hardware on October 2, 2026. A Muse gadget is a small device paired with your own Muse account: a screen on your desk, a button you press to talk, an e-ink panel that shows your morning, or a computer Muse can look after. This guide walks through the whole setup for the two do-it-yourself routes, an ESP32 board and a Raspberry Pi, in plain language. If you just want the free one Meta makes, see Muse Home Link instead.
Before you start: pick your route
There are three ways to get a Muse gadget. Muse Home Link is Meta's own device: free for Muse subscribers in the US, no building. A Raspberry Pi or Linux computer takes one install command and suits anyone who already has one. An ESP32 board is a small off-the-shelf circuit board, some with screens, speakers and batteries, that you load Meta's free software onto. That last step, called flashing, is the only technical part, and a coding agent can do it for you.
Not sure which board? Our board guide compares all of them. In short: for press to talk, pick a board with a speaker, such as the Waveshare round AMOLED; for a display that shows your day, the Seeed reTerminal e-ink panel; to learn on, the ESP32-C5 DevKitC-1.
Step 1: get a free SDK token
Every gadget needs a token to pair, including one only you will ever use. Sign in at gadgets.muse.ai with your Muse account, open Account, then SDK tokens, and create one. It starts with mgst_. Treat it as an identifier rather than a password: it gets built into your gadget's software, so if it leaks, revoke it on the same page, create a new one and rebuild. Before you use it, read the token rules. We summarize them in our guide to the Muse gadget SDK token; the short version is personal, non-commercial use, and no selling devices without Meta's written permission.
Step 2a: an ESP32 board
You need the board, a USB cable that carries data (many cables that come with chargers only carry power, and flashing will silently fail), and a Mac or Linux computer, which is what Meta's instructions cover.
The easy way: let a coding agent do it. Meta wrote its instructions for coding agents. Every folder in the code has an AGENTS.md file that tells an agent how to install the toolchain, build for your board, flash it and read its logs. Meta's own agent is Muse Code, and any agent that reads AGENTS.md works. Download the code, open the esp32 folder, plug in your board, start the agent there and say, for example, "Build this firmware for my Waveshare round AMOLED and flash it." The agent needs access to the USB port, so if it runs in a sandbox, let it run the flash and monitor commands outside it. You still approve each command before it runs. Then ask it to watch the log and tell you when the board is ready to pair.
The hands-on way. Install Espressif's ESP-IDF, version 6.0.1 exactly; Meta does not support other versions. Set your token in the configuration menu, build, and flash over USB. Several boards have a one-line helper, tools/board.sh, that builds with the right settings; the boards with Meta's full on-screen interface have their steps in AGENTS.md. If flashing cannot connect, hold the BOOT button, tap RESET, release BOOT and try again. Reflashing keeps your pairing and Wi-Fi settings.
Step 2b: a Raspberry Pi
Any Raspberry Pi 3B+, 4, 5 or Zero 2 W works, or another Linux computer with Bluetooth LE, running Raspberry Pi OS Bullseye or later, Debian 11 or later, or Ubuntu 22.04 or later, already on your network. On the Pi, download Meta's install script, read it, and run it with your token. It installs into /opt/musegadget, starts a service that survives reboots, asks before giving Muse your account, tells you if that account has admin rights, and then opens Bluetooth pairing for 10 minutes. See our Raspberry Pi page for the exact commands.
Step 3: pair it in the Muse app
On your phone, open the Muse app and go to Settings, then Devices, and turn on Developer mode. Tap the + icon in the top right to add a device. Your gadget appears with a name starting MuseGadget. Muse warns you that it is a community device; continue if it is yours. On an ESP32 board, press the board's button when asked, which proves the device in your hand is the one pairing. On a Raspberry Pi, when asked for Wi-Fi, pick the network shown; the Pi is already online, so no password is needed.
Step 4: read the light
Boards with a status light tell you where they are. Breathing orange: ready for setup. Breathing blue: press the button to confirm. Solid blue: joining Wi-Fi and connecting to Muse. Green: connected. Blinking yellow: reconnecting. Purple: not paired. Blinking red: something went wrong, so check the log. To reset and start over, hold the button for 5 seconds. Boards with screens show the same states on screen.
Step 5: make it useful
A gadget is only as useful as what Muse can see. Connect the apps you want it to use, such as Google Calendar, Gmail or Reminders, then try one of our gadget recipes: a morning briefing on an e-ink panel, a push-to-talk shopping list, or a Pi that reports in only when something is wrong. If your board reaches your home network, Muse can also control lights, speakers, TVs and printers with community skills.
Staying safe
Pairing needs a physical button press and creates a fresh encrypted session every time. But Meta is clear that community devices have no manufacturer check, so pairing cannot stop an active man-in-the-middle attack: set gadgets up on a network you trust. On boards that support it, turn on NVS encryption so nobody holding the board can read your Wi-Fi password from it. On a Raspberry Pi, Muse gets exactly the same access as the account you install it for; if that account can use sudo, so can Muse, so give it a limited account unless you need more.