What the source did
- He took his kid's old iPad and built a family dashboard that sits plugged in on the kitchen counter, used by everyone every day. It replaced an Echo Show they never used.
- He started in Grok with an HTML app modelled on smart calendars sold on Amazon, then moved it to Cloudflare to make it easier to manage and to add live weather and sports.
- Hosting, by his account: the app is a bundle of HTML and JS files on Cloudflare Pages' free tier, behind a password so only the family can open it. Each time it changes, Grok Bot rebuilds it and uploads it with Cloudflare's command-line tool, and it's live in under a minute.
- Chore checkmarks and stars sync between the iPad and the family's phones through Cloudflare's small serverless functions and key-value store, and a scheduled worker pulls weather and scores about every 20 minutes.
- Grok Bot connects his email and calendar, shows the calendar events, and puts notices it finds in his email on the screen: boil-water notices, Amazon deliveries, school events. He forwards some work emails to his personal inbox so meetings land on the calendar too.
- Tabs: a kids' Playroom (chores that earn stars and movie nights, plus a Learn tab with math that gets harder and read-aloud for his 4-year-old), House (maintenance like air filters on a 7 to 365-day schedule, put on the calendar), Sports, his wife's current Kindle book, and three local date-night ideas each week.
- Grok Bot pushes the small tweaks he asks for and checks Cloudflare's analytics weekly for issues.
- On the iPad it's just a link opened full screen in Safari and saved to the home screen, with the screen always on.
- Heads-up: commenters said they rebuilt something similar in minutes by pointing their own bot at his post, and one linked Wes Bos's open-source photo-frame dashboard. Those are other people's builds, not his.
“Grok built it, GrokBot manages it through Cloudflare.”— u/The_Pikl (r/GrokBot), Reddit
Summary written by Agent Cookbook from the original post. See the original for the full context. How we source recipes
Our notes
- What it takes
- Grok to build the first HTML app from his two opening messages, Grok Bot with your email and calendar connected, a free Cloudflare account (Pages, small functions and key-value storage), and an old iPad on a mount.
- Where it breaks
- Leaving the page open without a password, letting every promo email become a notice, battery wear on an always-on tablet, and trying to build every tab at once instead of adding them over time.
- Human checkpoint
- The dashboard only reads and shows. In ours the bot never replies to, deletes or buys from anything it reads, and deploys only the changes you asked for.
- Tools involved
- Grok Bot, plus Grok to build the first version, A free Cloudflare account (Pages, plus small functions and key-value storage), An old iPad or tablet and a counter mount, Your email and calendar connected to Grok Bot
✓ Verified Source link checked and still live. Notes by Thomas, editor. How we verify
Get their template
Made and published by u/The_Pikl. Start here; it is their original, not ours.
Their prompt
From u/The_Pikl Their exact wording: the two messages that started it, from his comment on the thread. Source ↗
My kid uses an iPad sometimes, could we make an html app that we sync our calendars to, me and my wife, and have a chore chart and things. Ran by grok bot, include the Aldi groceries, things like that. I could get a mount and put it on the counter
This could work well, how would it look on an iPad screen? Would it have to open as an html app in a browser? It'd be landscape. Want light background, different tabs, main screen is calendar. Different tabs, animations when kids complete chores, customizable chores.
Our adapted version
Ours Our version of the ongoing jobs, based on what u/The_Pikl described. His opening prompt is quoted above. Fill in the [BRACKETS].
You run our family's kitchen dashboard, a private web app on Cloudflare Pages that the iPad on the counter opens full screen.
KEEP IT CURRENT
- Show our shared calendars on the main screen.
- Read my email for things the family should know (utility notices like boil-water alerts, package deliveries, school events) and show each as a short notice with its date. Add dated events to the calendar.
- Read only. Never reply to, forward, delete or unsubscribe from any email.
CHANGES
- When I ask for a change or a new tab, describe it in a sentence or two, build it, and deploy it.
- Deploy only changes I asked for. Keep the password login in front, and never put private details on a page that isn't behind it.
- Once a week, check the site's analytics and errors, and tell me about anything broken.
NEVER
- Never buy, order or pay for anything, including groceries on the list.
- Never share the dashboard's link or password with anyone.
- Sending, buying, posting, deleting and paying always need my yes.
Approval rule
🛡
The dashboard only reads and shows. In our version the bot surfaces email notices but never replies, deletes or buys, and it deploys a change only after you've asked for it. Sending, buying, posting, deleting and paying always need a human.
Set it up
- Paste his two messages into Grok (or a Grok Bot chat) and let it build the first HTML version. Screenshots of a dashboard you like help.
- Make a free Cloudflare account. Have Grok Bot walk you through signing in, deploying it to Pages and adding a password login.
- Connect your email and calendar to Grok Bot and give it our version of the ongoing jobs.
- Open the link on the old iPad in Safari, add it to the home screen, set the screen to stay on, and mount it.
- Add one tab at a time as the family asks for things.
Common failures
⚠
- Leaving it open on the web. His sits behind a password; without one, anyone with the link sees your family's calendar.
- Notices that are noise. Tell the bot which kinds of email matter, or every promo ends up on the counter.
- Battery wear. A commenter asked about it; he keeps the iPad plugged in and used only as the dashboard.
- Building everything at once. He started with the calendar and chores and added tabs over time.
Variations
- A cheap digital photo frame or an Amazon Fire tablet instead of an iPad, as commenters did.
- Calendar and chores only, with no email reading.
- A yard or outdoor tab with seasonal tasks, which he says is next on his list.
Related setups: A Mission Control page for all your Grok Bots → · A "Hey Grok" wake word for Grok Bot voice chat → · Grok Bot as a TV voice remote → · Grok Bot sweeps one inbox category you never want → · Morning briefs from email, calendar and Slack → · Grok Bot that clips Kroger coupons → · A Grok Bot wellness officer →
Get the 10 best agent setups. Free.
Plus new recipes every week. One email, no spam.
Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy