Learn ThingBoard

1. 1Open the app and sign in with Google. Your name and profile picture are used so everyone can tell each other apart on the board.
2. 2Choose Create a family and give it a name, or choose Join a family and paste the invite code someone sent you.
3. 3If you created the family, open settings and share your invite code with the rest of the household.

Everyone in a family sees the same calendar, lists, notes, and lunch menu, updating live as people add and check things off.

• Members can add, edit, assign, check off, and delete anything on the board.
• Administrators can do all of that plus manage members, children, the lunch menu, lock mode, and the family's subscription.

💡 You can belong to more than one family — a household and a grandparents' board, for example. Switch between them from the family picker in settings.

• Expand a card. Tap the expand button on any card to blow it up on its own. The screen stays awake while a card is expanded, which is what you want on a wall tablet.
• Full screen. The full-screen button hides the browser chrome for an always-on kiosk look.
• Text size. Three scaling levels make the whole board readable from across the room.
• Lock mode. An administrator sets a PIN. While locked the board is read-only, so nobody can clear the grocery list by accident. Unlock with the big number pad.
• On a phone the board becomes a simple tabbed app — calendar, groceries, to-dos, and the Assistant — with a menu for everything else.

• The now line. A red line marks the current time and the board scrolls itself back to it every few minutes. The Today button in the header jumps back manually.
• Add an event. Tap an empty spot on a day, then set a title, time, and — if it repeats — how often.
• Repeating events. When you edit one, you'll be asked whether the change applies to that day only or the whole series.
• Nothing on? A quiet day just says "Free 🎈".
• Double-tap any event to give it a sparkle everyone in the family can see.

1. 1Open settings and go to the Google section, then connect your Google account.
2. 2Pick exactly which calendars should appear. Nothing syncs until you choose — work calendars can stay off the kitchen wall.
3. 3Turn on Google Tasks if you'd like tasks to appear alongside your to-dos.

• When several family members are invited to the same event, it shows as one card with everyone's photo on it instead of duplicates.
• Google occasionally expires the connection. When that happens the board shows a reconnect prompt — one tap and you're back in sync.
• Items that come from Google are marked with a small G and are edited in Google itself.

• Adding. Start typing and autocomplete suggests items from the shared catalog, already sorted into aisles.
• Sections. Items belong to a section like produce or dairy so the list reads in shopping order.
• Fragility. Mark eggs or bread as fragile so whoever packs the bags knows.
• Notes and assignees. Add a note to any item, and tap a profile picture to make it someone's job.
• Sort and filter. The sort and filter menus in the card header narrow the list by section, fragility, assignee, or done state.
• Done items disappear. A checked item stays visible for an hour, then hides itself. Unchecking it cancels that timer.
• Buying it again? Hidden items come first in autocomplete — picking one puts it straight back on the list instead of creating a duplicate.

💡 To see things you've already ticked off, turn on "Show hidden items" in the filter menu.

• Assign it. Tap a family member's photo on an item and it becomes theirs.
• Due dates and times. Add a deadline, and choose reminders a day before, an hour before, or right on time — each in your own time zone.
• Repeating chores. A to-do can reset once at a chosen date and time, or on the same day every week. A badge shows exactly when it comes back.
• Filtering. The filter menu narrows by done status, assignee, and whether hidden items are shown.
• Hiding. Just like groceries, a completed to-do fades out an hour after you tick it.
• Tap to reveal. Tap a row to slide out its delete and edit actions, so nothing gets removed by a stray finger.

1. 1Tap Add on the Notes card.
2. 2Give it a label and a description — "Babysitter at 6", for instance.
3. 3Optionally set an expiry time. The note removes itself when that moment passes, so the board never fills with stale reminders.

1. 1An administrator sets the available options for each course and how many picks are allowed, in the Lunch tab of settings.
2. 2Open the lunch card and choose a day from the dropdown — you can pick up to a week ahead.
3. 3Work through one course at a time: main, then side, then dessert, then drink. Press Next to move on; the breadcrumb on the right shows how far along you are.
4. 4Finished picks appear on the right day in the week schedule.

• Administrators add each child in settings with a name, nickname, photo, birthday, and favourite colour.
• That colour follows the child everywhere they appear on the board.
• Lunch picks are made per child, so each one gets their own menu.

• Themes. Midnight, Bulletin board, Seasonal, Terminal, Quiet, Modern, Lasso, and Cupertino.
• Layout. Put the calendar on top, on the left, or on the right, and the cards arrange themselves around it.
• Text size. Three levels, from compact to across-the-room.
• Time zone. Set yours and every time on the board is shown in it, including reminders.
• Sparkles. Double-tap an event, item, or note to make it glow for everyone.

• Account — your profile, time zone, and signing out.
• Family — members and roles, the invite code, children, lock mode, and switching between families.
• Appearance — theme, layout, and text size.
• Lunch — the menu options and pick limits for each course.
• Google — connecting Google Calendar and Tasks and choosing which calendars sync.
• Billing — your ThingBoard Plus subscription and Assistant credits.

• Google Calendar sync from the calendars you choose.
• Google Tasks flowing into your to-do list.
• The ThingBoard Assistant.
• MCP API access for your own AI tools.

It's $3 a month for the whole family, with the first month free. Subscribe or manage your plan from the Billing tab, or read the details on the ThingBoard Plus page.

Open it from the header, or the Assistant tab on a phone Plus

• Ask things like "what's on this week?", "who has soccer on Thursday?", or "what's left on the grocery list?"
• Tell it to do things: add groceries, create a chore and assign it to someone, or put an event on the calendar.
• It docks to the side and gently pushes the board over rather than covering it, switching the cards to a compact stacked layout while it's open.
• The refresh button starts a fresh conversation when you want a clean slate.
• Usage is metered against a monthly allowance. If you run out, you can top up with a small one-off credit purchase from the card that appears.

ThingBoard exposes an MCP server so assistants like Claude, ChatGPT, or Lovable can read and update your family's lists with your permission. Connect it from your AI tool using ThingBoard's MCP endpoint and authorise the connection when prompted. Plus

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