Projects
A project is how you organize what you're building with Palpable. Think of it like a folder that groups together the devices, behaviors, and displays that all work toward the same goal.
Why projects?
Imagine you have two things going on:
- A greenhouse monitor with temperature and soil sensors
- A workshop alert system with a motion sensor and buzzer
Without projects, all your behaviors and sensors would be mixed together in one big list. With projects, each setup has its own space:
| Greenhouse Monitor | Workshop Alert | |
|---|---|---|
| Devices | Pi with temp + soil sensors | Pi with distance sensor + buzzer |
| Behaviors | "Water when soil is dry" | "Buzz when motion detected" |
| PAL context | Knows about your plants | Knows about your workshop |
Creating a project
- Open the Palpable app
- Tap New Project on the home screen
- Give it a name and pick an emoji icon
- Link one or more devices to the project
- Optionally pick a template to get started (the app suggests templates based on your connected hardware)
Templates are just starting points. Picking "Garden & Plants" doesn't lock you in -- it just pre-creates a few useful behaviors that you can edit or delete.
What's inside a project
Linked devices
A project can have one or more devices (Pis) linked to it. When PAL creates a behavior, it automatically targets the right device based on which modules are connected where.
You can link the same device to multiple projects if you want different behaviors for different use cases.
Behaviors
All the WHEN/IF/THEN rules for this project live here. You can see which ones are active, toggle them on and off, and edit or delete them.
Displays
If any of your linked devices have an OLED display connected, you'll see a live preview thumbnail. Tap it to open the Display Editor.
PAL chat
When you chat with PAL from inside a project, PAL knows everything about that project -- which devices are linked, what modules are connected, what behaviors exist. This means your conversations are focused and PAL can give you more relevant suggestions.
Tips
- Start with one project per "thing" you're building. You can always reorganize later.
- Use descriptive names. "Living Room Climate" is better than "Project 1."
- Link devices first, then create behaviors. PAL needs to know what hardware is available before it can create rules for it.