Open by default
Hardware schematics, firmware, and dashboard code — all open-source and forkable. If you can read it, you can change it.
Open-source · Family-first · Hackable
Audio adventures for kids. Fully open-source.
OpenHush is the family audio player you can actually own. Hush is the device. Whispers are the cards. The whole stack — hardware, firmware, dashboard — is out in the open.
An audio player your family actually owns.
OpenHush brings the magic of card-driven audio to families — without the closed ecosystem, the monthly fees, or the data harvesting. Stories, music, and learning, all under your control.
Made for families
Designed around how kids actually use audio: tap a card, hear a story. No screens, no algorithms nudging them toward the next thing.
Hackable end-to-end
Author your own Whispers, swap firmware, self-host the dashboard, build new card types. Bring your own ideas — and ship them.
Hush · the device
A friendly little box that just plays.
Hush is the speaker. A simple, durable device shaped for small hands. Tap a Whisper card, and it plays. No app required. No login flow. No "are you a child?" dialogs. Just audio.
- Privacy-first. Works offline. Cloud is optional, never required.
- Self-hostable backend. Run your own dashboard at home, on a Pi, on a VPS — your call.
- Open hardware. Schematics, BOM, and firmware in the repo. Build it yourself or buy a kit.
- Sturdy by design. Built to survive being thrown across a room. Probably.
Whispers · the cards
Tap to play. That's the whole interaction.
A Whisper is a small NFC card linked to an audio playlist — a story, an album, a meditation, a custom recording from grandma. Place it on Hush, and Hush plays. Take it off to stop.
Pre-made or DIY
Buy beautifully illustrated Whispers, or print blank ones and link them to whatever audio you want.
Author from the dashboard
The OpenHush dashboard lets you upload audio, organize playlists, and bind a Whisper in a few clicks.
Offline-friendly
Audio is cached on the device. Cards keep working in the car, on a flight, in the countryside.
Yours forever
Your audio lives in your library. No subscription required to keep listening to what you already paid for.
Audio that fits the way kids actually grow.
Built around the daily rituals of family life. No screens to fight over. No accounts for kids. No content nobody asked for.
No screens, no ads
Audio-only by design. No video, no autoplay rabbit hole, no banner blinking at you while your kid tries to fall asleep.
Parent-controlled
You decide what's on each card. Curate playlists for bedtime, road trips, quiet time — whatever the moment needs.
Grows with them
Same device, new Whispers. Lullabies become stories become podcasts become language practice. The hardware doesn't age out.
For developers
Up and running in a few commands.
The whole stack is TypeScript, web standards, and boring tech that just works. Clone, install, run. Self-host the dashboard, flash a Hush, ship your own Whispers.
# Clone and run the dashboard locally
git clone https://github.com/OpenHush/website.git
cd openhush
pnpm install
pnpm --filter dashboard dev
# Now author your first Whisper at http://localhost:3000 Open-source manifesto
The audio your family loves shouldn't be locked away.
OpenHush exists because audio for kids has become a walled garden. We think the opposite is worth building: a player you can repair, content you can keep, code you can read, and a community you can join.
It's MIT-licensed, built in public, and made better by every contribution.