Magic Mirror (Vilros V4, vertical)

Web dashboard for a vertically mounted Vilros Magic Mirror V4. Assumes the Pi is already wired (HDMI + power) and Node.js is installed.

Display after rotation: 1080×1920 (portrait). Set orientation: "portrait" in config.js (default).

Pi display rotation (required for vertical)

On the Pi, rotate the framebuffer so the tall mirror fills the screen:

Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm — edit /boot/firmware/config.txt:

# Portrait, clockwise (try 3 if the image is upside-down)
display_hdmi_rotate=1

Older Pi OS — same file may use:

display_rotate=1

Reboot: sudo reboot

Deploy to your Pi (fresh copy)

From your Windows PC (adjust host/user/path):

scp -r c:\Users\YOUR_USER\code\magic_mirror pi@YOUR_PI_HOST:~/magic_mirror

On the Pi:

cd ~/magic_mirror
npm start

Open http://YOUR_PI_IP:8080 from another device to verify, or on the Pi:

chromium-browser http://127.0.0.1:8080

Run on every boot

1. Node server (systemd)

sudo cp ~/magic_mirror/scripts/mirror.service /etc/systemd/system/magic-mirror.service
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/magic-mirror.service
# Set User= and WorkingDirectory= to your actual user/folder

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now magic-mirror.service
sudo systemctl status magic-mirror.service

2. Chromium kiosk (desktop autostart)

mkdir -p ~/.config/autostart
cp ~/magic_mirror/scripts/autostart-magic-mirror.desktop ~/.config/autostart/
nano ~/.config/autostart/autostart-magic-mirror.desktop
# Fix the path in Exec= if not /home/pi/magic_mirror

chmod +x ~/magic_mirror/scripts/start-kiosk.sh

Reboot. The server starts first; kiosk opens after a short delay.

Alternative: PM2 (if you already use it)

cd ~/magic_mirror
pm2 start server.js --name magic-mirror
pm2 save

Configure

Edit ~/magic_mirror/config.js on the Pi:

Setting	Notes
orientation	"portrait" (vertical) or "landscape"
timezone	e.g. America/Chicago
weather	Houston defaults; no API key
greeting.name	Optional
calendar.events	Until you add a calendar API

After edits: sudo systemctl restart magic-mirror (or refresh the browser).

Portrait layout

┌──────────────┐
│ TIME    ☀️ ° │
│ DATE         │
│ Good morning │
│              │
│  reflection  │
│              │
│ calendar     │
│  compliment  │
└──────────────┘

Use the mirror’s brightness buttons so white text shows through the glass.

Local dev on Windows

cd c:\Users\adolp\code\magic_mirror
npm start

Preview portrait: open http://localhost:8080, narrow the window or use DevTools device mode with 1080×1920.

Not MagicMirror²

This is a small custom UI (HTML + config.js), not the MagicMirror² project. If you were on MM² before, you can either keep using this stack or reinstall MM² separately — this repo does not conflict with Node on the Pi.

Files

File	Purpose
server.js	Node static server (port 8080)
config.js	Mirror settings
scripts/start-kiosk.sh	Fullscreen Chromium
scripts/mirror.service	systemd template