Kaleido Mods

A few Skywalker Community Mods

Kaleido HiBean BLE Firmware


SnowBear Firmware Installation

Kaleido currently uses Classic Bluetooth to talk to HiBean  a dated standard that, importantly, isn't supported on iOS at all. This project is a workaround that finally brings Kaleido connectivity to iPhones and iPads. It also pairs nicely with Bear's bridge for connecting devices over BLE Serial, which sidesteps the long-standing issues Classic Bluetooth SPP has on macOS, especially on Apple Silicon. Brought to you by Bear of the Skywalker community, with support from Will_Z at HiBean. 


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Machines Confirmed Kaleido Roasters that work:
M1 Lite
M1 Pro
M2 LEGACY (Unsealed)

Requirements

This is still in Beta and code is still being worked on. Please report any issues you have to our Community Discord.

  1. ESP32-S3:

     Ensure you have the ESP32-S3 board 

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  2. USB A Male to USB C Male Cable (UART)

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    or
    C Splitter Dual (CP210x)

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  3. Binary File Link:
    SnowBear UART (Kaleido Top USB Port Tablet)
    SnowBear USB CP210x (Bottom USB port Artisan)

  4. Browser:Use Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge (supports Web Serial)
    ESPHome

Steps

1. Download the Binary File

2. Open ESPHome Web

  1. Go to 
    ESPHome Web
     in your Chrome or Edge browser.

  2. Make sure your ESP32-S3 is connected to your computer using a USB cable.

3. Connect the ESP32-S3

  1. On the ESPHome Web page, click the Connect button.

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  2. A pop-up will appear with available devices. Select the port for your ESP32-S3 and click Connect.

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4. Install the Binary File

  1. Once connected, click Install.

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  2. Choose File when prompted
  3. In the file selection dialog, locate and select the BLE_host_v1.2z_Kaleido_SnowBear.bin bin file you downloaded earlier.

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  4. Click Install to start the flashing process.

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5. Flash the Firmware

  1. ESPHome Web will erase the existing firmware and flash the BLE_host_v1.2z_Kaleido_SnowBear.bin  binary.

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  2. The flashing process may take a few minutes. Wait for it to complete.
  3. After successful installation, a success message will appear.

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6. Plug into Kaleido Tablet USB Port. (Top USB port not the bottom)

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Troubleshooting

    1. Unplug and replug while holding the BOOT button:

      1. Disconnect the ESP32-S3 from power (USB).
      2. Press and hold the BOOT button.
      3. While holding BOOT, plug the USB back in.
      4. Once connected, release the BOOT button.

Kaliedo Protocol Artisan USB

Kaliedo Roaster Protocol

Quick command reference for Artisan / HiBean serial control

Format Conventions

Instruction stream uses {[ as prefix and ]} as suffix.

Data stream uses { as prefix and } as suffix. Responses start with sid (status byte).

All keywords are uppercase. Each command is terminated with a newline (\n).

Multiple commands can share one {[ ]} pair, separated by commas — for example: {[HP 80,FC 60,RC 90]}

Connection and Setup

Command

Description

{[PI]}

Ping — connection test. Returns {sid}.

{[SC AR]}

Start Artisan session. Returns {sid,SN:xxxxxxxx}.

{[SC CP]}

Start Cropster session. Returns {sid,SN:xxxxxxxx}.

{[CL AR]}

Close Artisan session.

{[CL CP]}

Close Cropster session.

{[TU C]}

Set temperature unit to Celsius.

{[TU F]}

Set temperature unit to Fahrenheit.


Reading Data

Command

Description

{[RD A0]}

Read main parameters (BT, ET, AT, HP, FC, RC, AH, TS).

{[RD A1]}

Read main parameters plus heating status (adds HS field).

Example response (A1)

{0,BT:190.5,ET:185.0,AT:25.0,HP:80,FC:55,RC:90,AH:0,TS:180.0,HS:1}

Response fields

BT — bean temperature (0-300 °C / 32-572 °F)

ET — drum / environment temperature

AT — ambient temperature

HP — heater power %, step 5

FC — smoke fan speed %, step 5

RC — drum roll speed %, step 10

AH — auto-heat enabled (0 or 1)

TS — target temperature setpoint

HS — heating active (0 or 1, A1 mode only)

Heat Control

Command

Description

{[HS 0]}

Stop heating.

{[HS 1]}

Start heating.

{[HP n]}

Set heater power n% (step 5, range 0-100).

{[HP UP]}

Step heater up by 5%.

{[HP DW]}

Step heater down by 5%.

{[TS n.n]}

Set target temperature (0-250 °C / 32-482 °F).

{[AH 0]}

Disable auto-heat (manual power mode).

{[AH 1]}

Enable auto-heat (device PID controls heat to TS).


Fan and Drum

Command

Description

{[FC n]}

Smoke fan n% (step 5, range 0-100).

{[FC UP]}

Step fan up by 5%.

{[FC DW]}

Step fan down by 5%.

{[RC n]}

Drum roll n% (step 10, range 0-100).

{[RC UP]}

Step drum up by 10%.

{[RC DW]}

Step drum down by 10%.


Cooling

Command

Description

{[CS 0]}

Cooling off.

{[CS 1]}

Cooling on.


Roast Event Markers

Sends a user-tagged roast event to the device. The device synchronizes the event to its embedded control panel.

Command

Description

{[EV 1]}

Charge — beans loaded into drum.

{[EV 2]}

Temp Return (TP) — turning point.

{[EV 3]}

Dry End — end of drying phase.

{[EV 4]}

First Crack Start.

{[EV 5]}

First Crack End.

{[EV 6]}

Second Crack Start.

{[EV 7]}

Second Crack End.

{[EV 8]}

Drop — beans dropped to cooling tray.

{[EV 9]}

Cool End — cooling complete.


Status Byte (sid) Decoder

Every response begins with a status byte. Convert sid to 8-bit binary, then read the low 4 bits when the lowest bit of the high nibble is 0:

Command

Description

0000

IDLE

0001

CHARGE

0010

TP (Turning Point)

0011

DRY END

0100

FC (First Crack)

0101

FC END

0110

SC (Second Crack)

0111

SC END

1000

DROP

1001

COOL END


Typical Session Sequence

The handshake Artisan uses on connection, captured live from a real roaster:

Command

Description

{[PI]}

Ping the roaster to verify connection.

{[TU C]}

Set the unit (C or F).

{[SC AR]}

Open an Artisan session — roaster returns its serial number.

{[RD A0]}

Poll for live data, repeated about every 1.5 seconds.

{[CL AR]}

Close the session when disconnecting.


Notes

Polling interval for RD should be at least 1 second. Default 1.5 seconds. Repeated queries faster than 1 second are ignored.

The roaster responds to RD without requiring SC AR first, though using SC AR is the documented startup sequence.

Baud rate observed: 57600, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, no flow control.

CP210x VID:PID is 10C4:EA60.

Kaliedo Tablet USB

Kaleido Roaster Communication Protocol

This project documents the reverse-engineered communication protocol used by Kaleido coffee roasters and provides the information needed to interface with the roaster using custom hardware and software.

Protocol Overview

Kaleido communicates with its controller over a UART serial connection using a proprietary variable-length protocol.

Serial configuration

During initialization, the controller and roaster exchange a handshake sequence. A session key is then obtained and used to XOR-encode and decode subsequent communication.

Initialization

The observed startup sequence includes:

FF

08 01 03 07 0F 1F 3F 7F

16 20

Following initialization, the communication transitions to XOR-encoded command and telemetry messages.

Numeric Encoding

Kaleido uses a custom representation for decimal digits before applying the XOR encoding:

Digit Value
0 0x6B
1 0x4B
2 0x2B
3 0x0B
4 0x6F
5 0x4F
6 0x2F
7 0x0F
8 0x63
9 0x43

The resulting message is XORed with the current session key before being transmitted.

Known Telemetry

The protocol provides access to several important roaster parameters:

Telemetry fields are identified within decoded messages using 0x23 field separators.

Known Controls

The reverse-engineered protocol allows control of:

The reference implementation translates Artisan-style commands such as OT1, OT2, IO3, SV, and CLDN into the corresponding Kaleido UART messages.

Bridge Architecture

A typical implementation is:

Artisan / Application → ESP32 → Kaleido UART Protocol → Roaster

The ESP32 acts as a protocol bridge, receiving easy-to-use commands from software, translating them into Kaleido messages, applying the session XOR encoding, and transmitting them to the roaster.

This makes it possible to integrate Kaleido roasters with custom controllers, roasting software, alternative Bluetooth interfaces, and other community-developed hardware without relying exclusively on the original control interface.

Current Status

The protocol has been sufficiently reverse engineered to:

Further protocol analysis may reveal additional commands, operating states, alarms, configuration parameters, and model-specific differences.