John Cole

Articles ​

PiPiece ​

• I Rebuilt the Entire UI for My Raspberry Pi Camera App Using AI. Here's What Actually Happened. — A step-by-step account of a full UI overhaul using GitHub Copilot (Claude Sonnet): TDD on hardware, seven attempts to pass one timer test, a dark mode debugging saga, and 100 files changed in a single session.
• I Built an AI Bird Watcher with a Raspberry Pi 5 and an HQ Camera — in One Day — Automatic bird detection using LiteRT and EfficientDet-Lite0, with full-resolution captures triggered by detection events and a real-time Vue UI powered by Server-Sent Events.

AI Development Workflows ​

• Your AI Doesn't Know How You Work. Teach It. — The problem with AI coding tools that have no workflow context, and the fix: six Claude Code skill files that encode my actual development process.
• A Side Effect I Didn't Expect: I Started Sharing My Work — How automating commit messages lowered the friction for sharing — and why AI writing drafts need real editing.

Projects ​

My personal projects fall into a few areas. I like designing and printing 3D parts, and I use OpenJSCAD for many of them. I also enjoy astrophotography and have a few software projects focused on it.

You can also browse my shared Astronomy Album

3D Printing ​

• Bahtinov Mask - A parametric Bahtinov mask generator for astrophotography. Create custom-sized 3D-printable focusing masks tailored to your telescope's aperture and tube diameter. Built with OpenJSCAD, this tool generates precision masks with adjustable bar width, gap spacing, and resolution for optimal focusing performance. GitLab Project
• PiPiece - A Raspberry Pi 5 case for use with the HQ Camera V3 and a HyperPixel 4.0 screen. GitLab Project
• picam3 - A Raspberry Pi case for the HQ Camera. GitLab Project
• scope-jack - GitLab Project
• square-stencil
• cube-hook
• pvc-joints
• shower-spacer
• pitablet
• picase - GitLab Project
• light-clamp
• kcup - GitLab Project

Astrophotography ​

• PiPiece UI - A Raspberry Pi-based camera control system for astrophotography, with a web interface for the Raspberry Pi HQ Camera. GitLab Project
• fits-viewer - A streaming FITS file loader that allows processing while data is still loading. The example application creates an image from 1-axis or 3-axis FITS images as data chunks are read. GitLab Project
• phd2 for pitablet - A customized version of OpenPHD2 for an 800x480 screen.
• scope-pi - A Raspberry Pi case that fits on a telescope. GitLab Project
• scope shelf - Using a Raspberry Pi with the 7-inch LCD on a telescope works well, but it needs a place to rest near the scope because of attached cables. A telescope hand controller has a clip for hanging on a tripod leg, and this provides a similar solution for the small tablet.

OpenJSCAD ​

• jscad-browserify-test - A test OpenJSCAD project that uses jscad-utils and the CSG viewer. GitLab Project
• jscad-utils - A collection of utilities for OpenJSCAD projects. These extend CSG objects with utilities for alignment, scaling, and colors. It also includes basic parts that use outside dimensions rather than radii. GitLab Project
• jscad-raspberrypi - A collection of OpenJSCAD parts that model the Raspberry Pi B+ and various HATs. These models use jscad-utils and return jscad-utils group objects. GitLab Project
• jscad-hardware - A collection of OpenJSCAD parts that model common imperial and metric bolts and washers. These models use jscad-utils and return jscad-utils group objects. GitLab Project
• jscad-gears - jscad parts library to create gears
• jscad-test-utils - Utilities to help test jscad project using image snapshots and AVA