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Welcome to WLEDger

· 2 min read
Colton (TuxedoMakes)
Colton (TuxedoMakes)
WLEDger Dev, Maker of Things

The story behind WLEDger - CTRL + F for physical objects.

The Problem​

As a maker and serial hobbyist, I've accumulated a massive amount of "stuff" to support my cycle of making.

Over time, this accumulation led to a major bottleneck: I couldn't remember what parts I had or where they were stored. This resulted in accidental over-buying and under-utilizing the parts I already owned. I wanted a system that solved these problems so I could get back to doing what I love: making things.

I needed an inventory system that was self-hostable and privacy-respecting. Most tools I found were either closed source, expensive commercial software, or abandonware.

Inspiration​

WLEDger stands on the shoulders of giants. Two projects specifically inspired this journey:

  1. Zack Freedman's LED Gridfinity Project: Zack's approach is cool, but expensive and impractical. I store things in random containers, shelves, and boxes, so I needed a more flexible solution.
  2. MIMOSA / Spotlight Storage: This was much closer to my needs. It utilizes WLED to help users search for and locate items. However, the project hasn't been updated in over two years.

Introducing WLEDger​

Given the state of the existing ecosystem, I decided to build the tool I wanted to use. WLEDger is a modern inventory system that features:

  • Visual Stock Location: Use WLED to light up the location of your parts, and view your entire inventory status at a glance.
  • Custom Dashboards: Organize your inventory "containers" into custom views called "walls".
  • Multi-User Support: Authentication and user management with an optional guest mode.
  • Rich Part Management: Track details, quantities, urls, datasheets, and more.
  • Ranked Search: Find what you need instantly.
  • Data Safety & Convenience: Built-in backup, restore, and bulk import tools.
  • ... and much more!

WLEDger is the organizational maker tool I've been searching for. It's become an essential part of my workflow.

I hope you find WLEDger useful! My plan is to maintain and support WLEDger long into the future. If you have a feature request, feel free to submit an Issue on GitHub, or reach out to me on Discord.

Check out the documentation to get started, or view the source on GitHub!

Happy Making.