Hello.

An X3 showing Connect this X3: a QR code to scan with your phone, and a six-character code in a box.

Connect your X3

Put Deckle on your X3, give it your Wi-Fi, then type the code it shows. Everything else opens up after that.

How to install Deckle

Meanwhile, you can write letters. A friend with Deckle on their X3 can send you a pen-pal link, and you write to them from any browser. How letters work

Show Sleep screen Home Briefing

Today

Quick things to do

Screens

Build what your X3 shows, right on the X3: click a line to change it, drag it to move it, or press a + to add one. The preview is exact. Nothing reaches your X3 until you publish, and until then your changes are kept in this browser.

Add to More

Sign in as this X3’s owner to change this.

Ready-made rows for your X3. Add one and it’s on More the next time your X3 checks in.

Your screens

Every line on this screen, in order. Pick one, here or on the X3, to move, reword or remove it, or drag it to a new place.

Keys: the arrows pick a line, Alt with an arrow moves it, Enter rewords it, Delete removes it, and Ctrl+Z undoes.

The same screens as code, for people who like to type. What you change there shows on the X3 too.

Insert code

Code reference: layout, attributes and commands

Containers

<x-flex direction="row|column">: column is the default stack; row puts children side by side
justify="start|center|end|between": where the leftover space along the row goes
align="start|center|end|stretch": where children sit on the cross axis
flex="1" on a child: share of the leftover width; 0 (default) means natural size
<x-grid cols="2">: equal columns, or weights: cols="1fr 2fr"; children flow row by row
span="2" on a child: how many columns it covers

Nothing wraps: a row that doesn’t fit is reported, not quietly rewrapped. At size 3 the font fits about 26 characters across the full width, so a half-width column takes 13.

Attributes any tag takes

align="left|center|right": justification, per tag; rows default left, headings and text center
bold="true": a heavier strike of the same font, so it doesn’t change the layout
case="as-written": titles, headings, rows and buttons are drawn in capitals; this keeps the case you typed
size="1-9": text size; overrides the tag’s default and ignores the X3’s text-size setting
gap="px": space above the tag, 0-1020
route="screen": makes a tag focusable and says where OK goes

Commands you can route to

@ask:question: ask Deckle from any screen and open the screen it makes; 60 characters at most
@settings: sleep, text size, dark mode, side keys
@live:name: open a live screen
@apps: the launcher
@books: the books on the card, and the book you were reading
@update: fetch the newest screens; every start does this too
@calibrate: measure the six keys
@keys: show raw key values
@reload: read the card again
@info: version and free memory
%glance% … %glanceat%: as the whole text of an x-small: today at a glance (the weather, what needs you, what’s next, when it was updated)

History

Sign in as this X3’s owner to see it.

Your last thirty publishes. Restore puts one back in the builder so you can look at it; nothing reaches your X3 until you publish.

Sign in as the owner to see it.

Your X3 has these screens.

Connect an X3 to publish.

Deckle

Deckle is your X3’s companion. It writes the daily briefing, answers what you ask on your X3, and drafts replies to letters. It also has a life of its own: it writes you letters, dreams at night, and makes things while your X3 is put down.

Connect your X3 first

You can choose how Deckle looks and tell it about you once your X3 is connected.

Waiting for

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Ask Deckle to watch for something real. When it comes, it tells you once, on your X3.

Wait for…

What

At least (F)

Only on a weekend

What it’s for (optional)

Up to four at a time. Your X3 lists them under Waiting for, on Deckle’s page, where you can stop one.

What Deckle watches for

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Real things out there that Deckle keeps an eye on. When one happens, it tells you on your X3. It turned on the ones that fit where you live and what you like.

Looking…

Watching for you

More to watch for

Switch one on, or Deckle may ask you about one on your X3 when the moment’s right.

Each one uses free public data, asked for near your town, never your exact place.

Deckle’s life

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It does things on its own time, and your X3 is where you find out.

Moments to keep

Letters from Deckle

What it’s making

Dreams

On the wall

Prints

Around us

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What Deckle keeps an eye on, out there and in here.

Visitors

Tonight’s sky

The garden

The drifter

Look and name

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Everything here is saved as you choose it or type it.

Choose a look

Loading looks…

Its name

Keep Deckle, or call it anything: letters, spaces and hyphens, up to 16.

What Deckle knows about you

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It uses this when it talks to you and when it drafts replies to letters. Saved as you type.

What should it call you?

What do you do?

What are you into, or working toward?

Anything else it should know

What it remembers, in its own words

Sign in as this X3’s owner to see this.

Nothing yet.

Once a day it sums up the day’s letters, reading and comings and goings, and lets the raw record go after a week.

Deckle’s thinking

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0of 25 free thoughts used today

Each X3 gets a free allowance a day.

Your own Anthropic API key (optional)

About keys and the allowance

With your own key there’s no daily limit, and you pay Anthropic for what Deckle uses. The key is checked with one tiny request, then kept where no page, not even this one, can read it back.

Your sleep screen with this look.

Inbox

What Deckle sorted for you, and where it comes from.

Connect your X3 first

Mail, calendars and feeds are connected to one X3, so connect yours first.

What needs you

Mail and calendar

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Mail is only ever read.

Sign in as the owner to see them.

Add

What to add Gmail A calendar Other mail

With an app password: a separate password Google makes for one app, which you can revoke any time. Read-only, checked every 15 minutes.

Turn on 2-Step Verification for the Google account, if it isn’t on.
Open App passwords, type Deckle as the name and press Create.
Copy the 16-letter password it shows into the box below.

Gmail address

App password

Name (optional)

What it can and can’t do

The mailbox is opened read-only: nothing is ever sent, deleted, archived or marked read. It reads the last two days to begin with and skips Promotions, Social and Forums. The password is checked before it’s kept, and stored where no page can read it back. Removing it here stops Deckle using it; revoking it in your Google account stops it for good.

Google Workspace accounts may need their administrator to allow app passwords.

Or sign in with Google

No password to make, but Google shows a warning that the app isn’t verified yet, and it’s limited to the first 100 people. Choose Advanced, then continue, to go ahead.

Name (optional)

Feeds

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News, releases and prices. Deckle checks them every hour and puts what changes in your Inbox, as updates from what you watch.

Sign in as the owner to see them.

News, tech, money, sports and more, each checked to work. Chatty ones are marked.

Or follow any page or feed

Address

Name (optional)

Only tell me about (optional)

Checked every hour. A page tells you when what it says changes; a feed, when something new appears in it; a GitHub project, when it makes a release. The first check only takes note of how things are; what changes after that arrives in your Inbox.

Send to your X3

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Send a link or a note from here, or from any browser or phone. It arrives in your Inbox, ready to read.

Your private send link

The send page works through a private link that sends to this X3 only. It’s made for you the first time you send. Anyone with the link can send to your X3, so keep it to your own phone and computer. Making a new one stops the old one working, including any bookmark made with it.

Letters

Your people and your letters: friends with an X3, and friends without one, who write from any browser. And bottles, for meeting new pals.

Connect your X3 first

Letters go to one X3, so connect yours first. Then you’ll have links to share.

Your people

Sign in as this X3’s owner to see them.

Everyone you write to. Their letters arrive in the Inbox on your X3, where Deckle drafts three replies; longer ones you write here.

Sign in as the owner to see them.

Add a friend

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Friends with an X3 swap codes once. Then your Deckles carry letters between you, and you can play Drop Four.

Got theirs?

Their friend code

(the old link and code stop working; friends you have stay).

Your name, as friends see it

Saved as you type it.

Let friends know when I’ve read their letters

Their Deckle says “Sam read your letter by lamplight”: the part of the day, never a time. Off, you won’t hear theirs either.

Blocking, reporting and privacy

Declining a request is quiet: they aren’t told. Removing a friend ends it for both of you, but they keep the letters already sent. Blocking also stops any new request from them, without telling them. Report sends the last letters to the person who runs Deckle, and blocks.

Withdrawing a pen pal’s link stops it working and deletes your letters with them.

Letters aren’t end-to-end encrypted: each Deckle reads the letters it receives so it can draft replies.

A photo goes only with a letter to a friend or from a pen pal, never in a bottle or a knock. It’s made into a small black-and-white print on the phone it’s sent from, and a small copy is looked at once by Anthropic’s model before it goes: a face close up, writing or a screen with someone’s details, or anything not right for a 13-year-old can’t go, and nothing is sent. The copy isn’t kept. The print is kept with the letter, and among the prints once it’s hung. Up to 10 photos a day from each X3.

Someone without an X3

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Most friends won’t have one, and they don’t need one. They get a private link to a page where they write to you and read your replies, from any browser. Anyone with the link can write as them, so send it only to them.

Their name

Write to Deckle

Sign in as this X3’s owner to write.

Deckle answers in its next letter. To have it watch for something, like warm weather or the first snow, use Waiting for, on its page under Watching.

Your letter

Letters to later

Sign in as this X3’s owner to write one.

Write to yourself, or to a friend with an X3, and seal it till a day you choose. Deckle keeps it on the shelf, and nobody can read it before then: not your friend, not you, not this page. On the morning of its day it comes through the door like any letter.

Bottles

Sign in as this X3’s owner to throw one.

Write to whoever finds it. Deckle takes your letter down to the water in a bottle, and another Deckle finds it on a walk. If they write back, you’re pals, and their Deckle comes to stay the night.

Bottle settings

What finders see

Deckle’s name, look and what it’s making, and up to three things you’re into. Never your name, your town or your email; sign your letters however you like.

Your bottles

Let Deckle find bottles

Your age 13 to 17 18 or over

Teens’ bottles only reach teens, and grown-ups’ only reach grown-ups. Bottles are for 13 and over.

What you’re into (up to 3)

Writes in

Safety

Every bottle is read for contact details, links and unkindness before it floats; one that has them stays with you, and you’re told why. Only one Deckle finds a bottle at a time, and no Deckle finds more than one a week.

Whoever finds yours can let it drift on, and you’re never told. Block or report a pal from their row: reports come to the person who runs Deckle.

Pal board Experimental

Deckles whose people would like a pen pal. Knock on a door, and if they let you in, you’re pals: you can write, and your Deckles can visit.

Connect your X3 first

The board is for Deckles on an X3, so connect yours first.

Deckle on the board

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Others see Deckle’s card, never your name, your town or your email.

Show Deckle on the board

Teens only see teens, and grown-ups only see grown-ups. Knocks are limited to five a day.

Device

How your X3 is doing, where it lives, and its updates.

Your X3

Sign in, then follow the three steps below.

Install Deckle on the X3. How to install it
Give it your Wi-Fi. When it starts without Wi-Fi, the X3 opens its own network, Deckle- and four letters or numbers, and shows its password on the screen. Join it on your phone with that password and choose your Wi-Fi; the page opens by itself, or go to 192.168.4.1.
Or put the Wi-Fi on its card instead

This makes a small file, net.txt, in this browser; your password isn’t sent anywhere. Copy it to the top of the X3’s microSD card.

Wi-Fi name

Wi-Fi password
Type the code it shows. Once on Wi-Fi, the X3 shows a six-character code. It becomes yours when you enter it here.

Code on the X3

Where it lives

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Deckle uses your city for the weather in its window and in the briefing, the sky at night, its garden and the wildlife that visits. It also sets your X3’s clock. It’s only ever sent out rounded to about a kilometre.

Home city

Temperature in °F °C

Lodgers: small folk who come to stay in Deckle's room

Off, nobody new comes and their rows go. Whoever's already there stays.

Moment screens

A big picture on the sleep screen when something special happens, or when it's your move in a game with a friend.

Let migrating lodgers winter in Deckle's room

When their summer ends somewhere across the equator, a swift or a cloud bat may come to stay the winter. Others only ever learn your climate, never your town.

Share usage counts

How often it's picked up each hour, and which kinds of screen you open: counts only, never what you read or write. What's sent

Language you read in

Deckle only speaks English for now. This tells us which language to add first.

Use a different time zone

Time zone

Advanced

Live screens, the layouts Deckle follows, buttons that call the web, and a QR wallet. You don’t need any of this to use Deckle.

Connect your X3 first

Live screens and layouts belong to one X3.

Push a live screen

A screen you can change any time without publishing: from this form, a script, or Deckle. To reach it on your X3, add a row in the builder that opens a live screen by this name.

Name

Lowercase letters, digits, - and _. briefing, sleep and glance are made by Deckle; pushing to one replaces it until the next briefing.

Title Body Rows, one per line

Layouts Deckle follows

The instructions it follows when it makes a kind of screen.

Changing one changes every screen of that kind from now on. They’re instructions, not code, so to see their effect, show the last one sent to your X3.

Layout Instructions

What your X3 asked

Questions asked on your X3 that are still being answered.

Sign in to read the queue.

Things to do

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Buttons your X3 can press for you: web addresses it calls from More, then Things to do, after asking you to confirm.

Sign in to see them.

Add or change one

Name

Label on your X3

Method

Web address to call

Only your account can read these; an address like this is usually a secret. Saving with an existing name replaces it.

QR wallet

Codes your X3 can show for a phone camera to read: your Wi-Fi, a ticket, a link.

Why this is built here

The wallet is built in this browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere; a password in a published screen would be readable by anyone. Copy both downloaded files into /apps/wallet/ on the card and it appears under All apps.

The bundle

The compiled file your X3 downloads: its size, its screens, and which version it runs.

Status: not checked
Size: –
Screens: –
Published: –
On your X3: not reported

Support

Messages from the website and the app, newest first. Each new one is in the Inbox on your X3 too, until you answer or close it. Only you see this page.

Show Open All

Welcome to Deckle.

No X3? You can still write.

Your account is deleted.

Tell Deckle where home is

One question from Deckle

Connect your X3

What’s new

Today

What needs you

From today’s edition

Today’s paper

In brief

Quick things to do

Get started

Add to More

On Home

Containers

Attributes any tag takes

Commands you can route to

History

Waiting for

Told you

Wait for…

What Deckle watches for

Watching for you

More to watch for

Deckle’s life

Moments to keep

Letters from Deckle

What it’s making

Dreams

On the wall

Prints

Things I folded from your papers

Around us

Visitors

Tonight’s sky

The garden

The drifter

Look and name

The spare key

What Deckle knows about you

What it remembers, in its own words

Deckle’s thinking

What needs you

Mail and calendar

Add

Feeds

Send to your X3

Your people

Friend requests

Write

Add a friend

Got theirs?

Someone without an X3

Write to Deckle

Letters to later

A letter for later

Bottles

Throw a bottle

What finders see

Your bottles

Deckle on the board

Your X3

Where it lives

Push a live screen

Layouts Deckle follows

What your X3 asked

Things to do

Add or change one

QR wallet

The bundle