Canonical: https://kleidos.dev/overview/coreink/ Updated: 2026-11-04 1. [Overview](https://kleidos.dev/overview/) 2. M5Stack CoreInk Overview # Kleidos on the M5Stack CoreInk Kleidos turns the M5Stack CoreInk into a password manager: it keeps your passwords encrypted on the board and types them into your computer over Bluetooth, after you unlock it on the board itself. The firmware costs nothing and asks for no account. There is nothing to install yet: version 0.1.0 is not released. The same firmware runs on [nine boards](https://kleidos.dev/overview/#devices), and I recommend none of them over the others: this page is what the CoreInk does with it. Updated 4 November 2026 1. [On screen](https://kleidos.dev/overview/coreink/#on-screen) 2. [Controls](https://kleidos.dev/overview/coreink/#board-controls) 3. [Capacity](https://kleidos.dev/overview/coreink/#holds) 4. [Consumption](https://kleidos.dev/overview/coreink/#draws) 5. [Price](https://kleidos.dev/overview/coreink/#cost) 6. [Status](https://kleidos.dev/overview/coreink/#release) ## Kleidos on its own screen Every recording here is of the CoreInk's own screen, with a demonstration vault on a development build. The same recordings are on the [recordings page](https://kleidos.dev/recordings/#fleet-clips), beside those of the other boards I have filmed.  [Live from the device](https://kleidos.dev/recordings/#provenance) **One-bit electronic paper** The same demonstration vault drawn in one bit on electronic paper: the list with its dithered service marks, the wheel stepping down to an entry, the card's pager walking its sections, and the password unmasked under a held key.  [Live from the device](https://kleidos.dev/recordings/#provenance) **A one-time code** The vault steps from its passwords to its 2FA page, and two demonstration codes are drawn in one bit, each with the ring that shows how long it has left. They are real codes, computed on the device for the moment the clip was recorded.  [Live from the device](https://kleidos.dev/recordings/#provenance) **The code that opens the panel** The CoreInk's own screen while it serves the admin panel: the vault, then the admin card with the join code drawn on electronic paper and the name to open in a browser, then the vault again with the radio down. Nothing moves in between: the card is a screen the device holds for as long as it serves. I served the panel over a debug link for this recording, so the network behind the code is a placeholder. Each picture's badge says how I made it, and [the legend of the badges](https://kleidos.dev/recordings/#provenance) explains every kind. - Live from the device ## What each control does Each row quotes what the CoreInk itself shows for that control: on the pages it shows the first time it starts, or in the bar at the foot of its vault list. **The wheel, turned** What the board says it does: “move, adjust” **The wheel, pressed** What the board says it does: “select, continue” **The wheel, held** What the board says it does: “hold: type, dial PIN” **The side key** What the board says it does: “side key: back, wake” **The top key** What the board says it does: “top key: lock” A hold is a press longer than 600 ms. I will write a guide to every screen, board by board, once the interface stops changing. ## What it holds, and how it keeps time The vault is the same on every board. What changes with the board is how much it holds, how it keeps time for the one-time codes and where its backups go. **Chip** ESP32 **Input** Wheel **Screen** 200×200 **Case** 40×56 mm **Capacity** 90 credentials, 30 two-factor codes **Clock** Battery-backed chip **Card slot** No: backups go through the panel ## What it draws from its battery What the CoreInk draws in each state, as the [measurements page](https://kleidos.dev/measurements/#boards) prints it, with what each state is and how each figure was taken. ### M5Stack CoreInk I give no battery estimate for it: nothing on it reads current, and putting the measurement system in its battery wire means opening the case. Its lock-screen clock, which ships switched on, also wakes it every minute, so its sleep has to be measured as the charge used over an hour, not as a current read at one moment. I publish no unlock time for it yet. **Asleep** not yet **Light sleep** not yet **Normal use** not yet **Wi-Fi** not yet **Bluetooth** not yet Drops its own power hold: the board cuts its supply. ## What it costs Kleidos costs nothing: there is nothing to buy from the project and no account to make, and the firmware is free software under [GPL-3.0-or-later](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html). What you pay for is the board. **Price** US$29.90 **Listed by** [M5Stack's own store](https://shop.m5stack.com/products/m5stack-esp32-core-ink-development-kit1-54-elnk-display) **Product code** K048 **Read on** 1 November 2026 That is what the maker's own store asked on the day I read it, before shipping and taxes. Resellers ask their own, and the price moves. ## Where the firmware stands Kleidos is pre-release, at version 0.1.0: there is nothing to install yet, and [the roadmap](https://kleidos.dev/roadmap/#status) says what is left before the first release. **Version** 0.1.0 **To install** Nothing yet: no release is published **Hardened build** Not available (4 MB flash) I have not had the firmware or the cryptography reviewed by anybody outside the project; [the security page](https://kleidos.dev/security/#verify) says what you can and cannot check. - [Previous board M5StickC Plus SE](https://kleidos.dev/overview/m5stickc-plus-se/) - [Next board M5Stack CoreS3 SE](https://kleidos.dev/overview/cores3-se/) - [All nine boards](https://kleidos.dev/overview/#devices)