Muse Gadgets Go Open Source as Meta Releases DIY Code

Meta wants people to build their own Muse gadgets, small devices that run Muse, the company's AI agent. The company has published open source code that lets anyone put Muse on hobbyist hardware such as a Raspberry Pi or an ESP32 board, according to a report by The Verge on October 2, 2026.

The code comes with suggested projects from Meta itself. The company points to three kinds of Muse gadgets: loading the assistant onto a color E Ink display to show reminders, adding it to an HDMI stick to put it on a big screen, or mounting it on a small touchscreen device that looks like a homemade version of Meta's Muse Charm.

Building your own Muse gadgets

"Muse gadgets are open source devices you build yourself," Meta says. "Program an off-the-shelf ESP32 board or set up a Raspberry Pi with our SDKs, then connect Muse to your displays, buttons, sensors, actuators, and whatever else you've got lying on your workbench."

The Muse gadgets instructions target a familiar audience: electronics hobbyists who keep spare boards and screens around and are used to soldering, flashing firmware, and wiring components together. The SDKs handle the connection to Muse, while the builder supplies the hardware and decides what the gadget does.

The suggested builds cover a wide range. A color E Ink display, the kind of low-power screen used in e-readers, could become a dedicated reminder board. An HDMI stick, a small computer that plugs directly into a television or monitor, would give Muse a large canvas for information. The small touchscreen version is the closest to a consumer device: a pocket-sized display running the assistant.

Meta adds a warning for anyone tempted to start right away. The company cautions builders to "proceed at your own risk," a sign that the code is aimed at experienced tinkerers rather than beginners, and that Meta will not support every combination of parts people try.

How the Muse gadgets projects work

The two supported platforms sit at different ends of the hobbyist market. An ESP32 board is a tiny, inexpensive microcontroller that connects to Wi-Fi and handles simple tasks such as reading sensors and driving small displays. A Raspberry Pi is a full single-board computer that can run an operating system and more demanding software. Between the two, a builder can make Muse gadgets ranging from a simple button that asks Muse a question to a display that shows answers on screen.

The connection point is Meta's software. The SDKs link the hardware to the Muse agent, and the builder's code decides which inputs reach it and how the responses come back. A button press could send a voice command. A sensor could trigger a check of the weather. A display could show a calendar for the day.

Community-built skills add another layer to Muse gadgets. These add-on capabilities extend what the assistant can do on a given device, part of a wider push to bundle AI agents into everyday products that also includes subscription agent bundles.

A free device giveaway

Alongside the open source code, Meta is giving away a gadget it built itself called the Muse Home Link. The company manufactured five thousand of the devices, according to Nat Friedman of Meta Superintelligence Labs, and people can claim a spot on the waitlist now ahead of shipping sometime this month.

The Muse Home Link is meant to show what open source Muse gadgets can do when paired with community-built skills. With those skills installed, the device lets the AI agent "turn on a light, control your TV, send a document to a printer, and more, depending on your setup," Meta says.

The small production run and the waitlist suggest Meta is treating this as a test. A few thousand devices in the hands of enthusiastic builders will surface real uses and rough edges faster than any internal testing program could.

Why Meta is opening it up

Voice assistants have spent a decade locked inside hardware their makers control: smart speakers, phones, and earbuds. Releasing the building blocks is a different strategy. By giving away the code, Meta is betting hobbyists will invent new Muse gadgets the company has not imagined, from workshop gadgets to kitchen displays.

The approach also widens the assistant's reach without Meta having to design, manufacture, and support every device itself. If a builder puts Muse on an old display in a garage or a dorm room, that is one more place the agent exists, created at no cost to Meta.

The move arrives as regulators start paying closer attention to AI agents. The FTC has opened a probe into rogue AI agents after reported breaches at OpenAI and Anthropic, a reminder that putting autonomous software into more devices invites scrutiny too.

Whether it works depends on the maker community. Open hardware projects succeed or fail on documentation and working examples, and on whether an active group of people keeps sharing what they built. The suggested projects and the Home Link giveaway are Meta's attempt to seed both.

The code is available now and the waitlist is open. The first homemade Muse gadgets should start appearing online within weeks of the Home Link shipping, and those projects will show what Meta's assistant looks like outside the hardware its maker designed for it.