Doorlink is a self-hosted smart doorbell built around a custom ESP32-S3 board and a Raspberry Pi. A button press wakes the board, captures a still image, and sends the event to a local gateway. The gateway stores the media, updates the web dashboard, and sends a notification. The doorbell plays a local chime; when configured, the gateway also sends a Home Assistant webhook to play a chime on all configured smart speakers in the home. Visitor recordings and stored, turn-based voice replies are also supported.
The assembled Rev C board has completed battery-powered button wake, QXGA image capture, Wi-Fi upload, dashboard display, notification, and return to deep sleep. The microphone, speaker, and stored voice-reply path have been exercised on hardware. The latest session timing and hardened firmware still need a final flashed hardware retest; battery life and closed-enclosure current have not been measured. This is a working prototype, not a qualified outdoor product.
This is my first PCB layout and my first time hand-soldering surface-mount parts, including the ESP32-S3 module and ICS-43434 microphone. It took three revisions to get here: some scope creep, plus a few dumb mistakes that waited until after I ordered the boards to announce themselves.
flowchart LR
A[Doorbell PCB<br/>ESP32-S3 · camera · audio] -->|Wi-Fi| B[Raspberry Pi gateway<br/>Spring Boot]
B --> C[(PostgreSQL<br/>events)]
B --> D[(MinIO<br/>images and audio)]
B --> E[Next.js dashboard]
B --> F[ntfy notifications]
A --> G[Local doorbell chime]
B -->|Configured webhook| H[Home Assistant]
H --> I[Smart speaker chimes]
E -->|Stored voice replies| B
The firmware captures the image before joining Wi-Fi, then powers the camera down. Audio is turn-based: the visitor microphone and doorbell speaker do not run as a full-duplex call. The Raspberry Pi also runs Mosquitto for device commands.
| KiCad Rev C Board | Rev C Schematic |
|---|---|
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| PCB Copper Layers (F.Cu and B.Cu) | Rev C Board Before ESP32 and Microphone Soldering |
|---|---|
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| Bench Bring-Up | Populated PCB | Enclosure Wiring |
|---|---|---|
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The board uses an ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8, OV5640 camera, ICS-43434 microphone, MAX98357A amplifier, MCP73871 charger, and TPS63802 3.3 V regulator. The PCB overview links the KiCad source and exact Rev C manufacturing files.
| Area | Contents |
|---|---|
main/ |
ESP-IDF firmware and routed board pin map |
config/firmware/ |
Firmware build presets and archived camera configurations |
gateway/ |
Spring Boot event API, persistence, media storage, and notifications |
dashboard/ |
Next.js event and intercom interface |
pcb/ |
KiCad project and manufacturing records |
docs/parts.md |
Main unit parts and CAD cost |
docs/firmware-architecture.md |
Firmware flow and validation status |
docs/hardware-bringup.md |
Detailed Rev C hardware test record |
The dashboard is shown with synthetic sample sessions and a generated doorbell-camera view looking outward from the porch toward the steps, front path, and street. No visitor or household data is included.
Install Docker Compose, Java 21, Node.js/npm, and the dashboard dependencies (cd dashboard && npm ci). From the repository root, run ./scripts/run-dev.sh to start the isolated development stack. The gateway uses port 8081 and the dashboard uses localhost:3001. On first run, enter the setup token printed by the launcher. Ctrl+C stops the stack. The local credentials in .env.dev are for development only.
Firmware builds require ESP-IDF. Copy main/config.example.h to the ignored main/config.h, set your Wi-Fi and gateway values, then see firmware architecture for the safe and production build commands. Raspberry Pi deployment is documented in docs/pi-deployment.md.
Software and written documentation: MIT. KiCad hardware designs and manufacturing files under pcb/: CERN-OHL-P-2.0. Project photographs: CC0 1.0.