Cobalt is an open-source app platform for Kobo e-readers: a launcher, a signed App Store, a Rust SDK, and a capability-isolated runtime. One USB install; every app after that arrives over Wi-Fi.
I wanted to break free from watching my laptop screen for long Claude sessions partially due to degrading eyesight and have a sidekick for approvals streamed to the Kobo. I ended up building that, a SDK and full app store for Kobo.
Introducing Cobalt - an Android like platform for Kobo to develop apps and enable reading more things than books.
We read a lot more things than books daily: forums, long form articles, research papers, Coding agents logs etc.
If you really need these, usually the way is to search, download, convert elsewhere like a laptop and then sideload on the eInk display. Cobalt makes it much easier.
Some of the apps we have added to Cobalt app store:
1. A RSS discovery & reader 2. An audiobook generator using deep research and ElevenLabs API all running on it. 3. An arXiv browser and reader for people doing research 4. Gutenberg browser and reader 5. Offline games for your flight 6. A Claude Code / Codex controller 7. A terminal
We now support Libra Color, Libra 2, Clara BW, Elipsa 2E, Clara HD, Clara Color and a lot more apps are in the pipeline. You can build your own favorite app too.
Managing Claude code and Codex from a $100 device with a month long battery life on the go has been a real help with Cobalt. A lot more use cases come up once you map your problems to an app using the Cobalt SDK.
About Cobalt on Product Hunt
“Your Kobo can run apps now”
Cobalt launched on Product Hunt on August 27th, 2026 and earned 91 upvotes and 2 comments, placing #22 on the daily leaderboard. Cobalt is an open-source app platform for Kobo e-readers: a launcher, a signed App Store, a Rust SDK, and a capability-isolated runtime. One USB install; every app after that arrives over Wi-Fi.
Cobalt was featured in eBook Reader (5.3k followers), Productivity (659.3k followers) and GitHub (41.4k followers) on Product Hunt. Together, these topics include over 184.5k products, making this a competitive space to launch in.
Who hunted Cobalt?
Cobalt was hunted by manish kumar. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
Want to see how Cobalt stacked up against nearby launches in real time? Check out the live launch dashboard for upvote speed charts, proximity comparisons, and more analytics.
manish kumar
Hi!
I wanted to break free from watching my laptop screen for long Claude sessions partially due to degrading eyesight and have a sidekick for approvals streamed to the Kobo. I ended up building that, a SDK and full app store for Kobo.
Introducing Cobalt - an Android like platform for Kobo to develop apps and enable reading more things than books.
We read a lot more things than books daily: forums, long form articles, research papers, Coding agents logs etc.
If you really need these, usually the way is to search, download, convert elsewhere like a laptop and then sideload on the eInk display. Cobalt makes it much easier.
Some of the apps we have added to Cobalt app store:
1. A RSS discovery & reader
2. An audiobook generator using deep research and ElevenLabs API all running on it.
3. An arXiv browser and reader for people doing research
4. Gutenberg browser and reader
5. Offline games for your flight
6. A Claude Code / Codex controller
7. A terminal
We now support Libra Color, Libra 2, Clara BW, Elipsa 2E, Clara HD, Clara Color and a lot more apps are in the pipeline. You can build your own favorite app too.
We were recently #1 on hackernews with 650+ votes, https://news.ycombinator.com/ite...
Hope you are as amazed by your $100 device as I was!