// the find
danslimmon/oscar
Scan your coffee's barcode, and it'll get added to your grocery list
Oscar is a small Python and Node project that runs on a Raspberry Pi with a barcode scanner by the trash can. Scan an item as it goes in the bin and it is added to a Trello board that serves as your grocery list. It suits someone who already lives in Trello and is willing to leave a Pi running in the kitchen.
- Scanning on the way to the bin is a good trigger. You are already holding the empty package, so logging it costs about a second and nothing has to be remembered.
- Trello is the list store, so the list already has mobile apps and sharing. The project avoids building any list UI of its own.
- The Python client (lib/trellodb.py) and the Node client (web/lib/trellodb.js) write to the same board, so the device and the web side share one source of truth without a database.
- The last push was November 2019, and the acknowledgements say the author no longer has a Pi to test on. Nearly seven years of Trello API and Raspbian changes are unaccounted for, so expect something to need fixing before it runs.
- The README admits the install script has not really been tested, and it runs as root. Plan to debug it on the device rather than trust it.
- The Python and JavaScript clients each implement the same Trello calls. Every API change has to be made twice, and the visible tree contains no tests to catch the two drifting apart.
- Nothing works without Trello and the API accounts it needs. Trello is a service the author does not control, so a change on their side breaks the whole pipeline with no fallback.