ZimengXiong/tinyTouch

Health v2 · maintenance only

Flags: young

Adoption not part of the score

1500 stars · 87 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded

tinyTouch is an open-source DIY hardware and software project that lets you authenticate, sudo, and log in to your computer with a fingerprint via a wireless ESP32-based fingerprint sensor. It supports two modes: HID (typing credentials over USB) and PIV/PAM (challenge-response smartcard authentication gated by fingerprint).

Use cases

• log in to my mac with a fingerprint without buying a $149 device
• authenticate sudo prompts with a fingerprint sensor
• unlock my lockscreen with a fingerprint over PIV
• build my own wireless fingerprint reader with an ESP32
• use fingerprint auth for Apple TCC prompts
• avoid typing my password for remote SSH sudo sessions

When to choose

• you want keyboardless fingerprint login/sudo on macOS or Linux without expensive commercial hardware
• you enjoy building your own hardware and accept DIY security tradeoffs
• you need PIV challenge-response auth that never exposes your password over USB

When to avoid

• you need maximum security - the sensor-to-ESP UART is unauthenticated and flash dumping is a risk without secure boot
• you want a plug-and-play commercial product rather than soldering and flashing firmware
• you need fingerprint auth everywhere including general settings and keychain on macOS (PIV mode limitations)

Facets

application · maturity active

auth security embedded developer-tools security hardware self-hosted privacy python embedded cross-platform fingerprint-authentication pam piv esp32 diy-hardware biometrics sudo hid two-factor macos linux

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markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="ZimengXiong/tinyTouch")