yaris-obd/FEATURES.md

yaris-obd Feature Requests

Ideas and requests for new features (distinct from bugs, which belong in BUGS.md, and the phase-by-phase implementation history in PLAN.md). Use this file to record anything that should be built eventually but isn't an active roadmap phase yet. When a feature gets picked up, create a dedicated PLAN.md phase (or fold it into the relevant existing work) and mark it here.

How to use this file

• One ## FEAT-XX section per idea. Keep numbering sequential.
• Status field: IDEA (brainstormed, not planned) → PLANNED (has an assigned phase) → IN PROGRESS → SHIPPED (deployed + verified) or WONTFIX/SUPERSEDED as appropriate.
• Relate to roadmap: when a feature lands in a phase, note the phase here and drop a link back here from PLAN.md so the two stay in sync.
• Keep each entry small and one-idea-per-entry so it's easy to pick up and scope.

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Feature ideas

FEAT-01 — Parallel/concurrent chunked dashcam uploads

• Status: IDEA
• Area: modules/app_upload.py (Pi upload client)
• Phase: Phase 27
• Requested: noted in Phase 10 of PLAN.md as a possible future optimization; not yet requested explicitly by the owner.
• Idea: upload multiple dashcam chunks (and/or multiple files) concurrently instead of the current strictly sequential one-chunk-then-one-file at a time. Would speed up the multi-hour full-backlog drain of a large local dashcam archive, at the cost of more complexity (bounded concurrency, per-file state, failure handling for the individual concurrent workers).
• Outstanding considerations: memory budget on the Pi (~900MB, no swap — must stay streaming), and whether the sequential pace is actually annoying enough in practice to justify the added complexity.

FEAT-02 — QR / claim-code device pairing flow

• Status: IDEA
• Area: server device provisioning + Pi credential setup (Phase 25.5c)
• Phase: Phase 27
• Requested: discussed in Phase 25.5c as a possible follow-up to the manual copy/paste API-key provisioning.
• Idea: zero-manual-copy provisioning of YARIS_SERVER_URL / YARIS_DEVICE_NAME / YARIS_API_KEY onto the Pi — e.g. the portal shows a short-lived claim code / QR that the Pi app (or owner) enters/scans once to adopt the device, instead of typing credentials by hand.
• Outstanding considerations: bigger scope than the current copy/paste flow; ship copy/paste first, add pairing only if provisioning still feels annoying.

FEAT-03 — Manual start odometer fallback when OBD odometer is unavailable

• Status: IDEA
• Area: Settings page / odometer display (Pi app_settings, /api/stats, trip odometer)
• Phase: Phase 27
• Requested: owner — the 2013 Yaris's ECU is (as expected) NOT exposing OBD PID 0xA6 odometer (see Phase 24.6), so the odometer reads nothing.
• Idea: allow the owner to enter the vehicle's current odometer reading once in the Settings page; the app then computes a rolling odometer by adding subsequent trip distances (from trips table cumulative distance) to that entered baseline, instead of relying on the unavailable OBD odometer PID.
• Outstanding considerations: what happens when the user's entered value comes from the car's instrument cluster vs the OBD one being absent — this would be the only odometer source in that case; needs a clear "this is a manual baseline" indicator in the UI so it's not mistaken for a live OBD reading; decide whether it should also sync to the remote device config (Phase 25.5) or stay local.

FEAT-04 — Replace SIM868 2G GSM hat with 4G LTE modem (Huawei E3372h-153)

• Status: IDEA
• Area: modems / uplink (Pi modules/app_cellular.py, modules/app_gps.py, uplink switching) — replaces the current SIM868 GSM/GNSS HAT + cellular fallback path
• Phase: Phase 27
• Requested: owner — just purchased a Huawei E3372h-153 4G LTE Modem. The 2G/3G-only SIM868 hat will not work in Canada (2G networks are decommissioned), so the plan is to make the 4G modem the working cellular uplink instead.
• Idea: integrate the Huawei E3372h-153 as the primary cellular data uplink, replacing reliance on the SIM868's GSM (AT+HTTP) path. The E3372h-153 is a USB "stick" modem — likely supported via Realtek / cdc_ether / usb-storage based drivers and exposes a dial-up or LTE dongle interface the Pi can use for connectivity (e.g. via NetworkManager / ModemManager, or a static APN config).
• Outstanding considerations:
  • Determine the E3372h-153's local mode vs stick/dial mode and the correct Linux driver/interface (hierarchical USB mode switching may be needed; it's the "153" variant which may use the RNDIS / ECM / CDC-NCM profile).
  • Whether to run it as the primary uplink or just another option in the existing phone-hotspot / home-wifi / local-AP priority chain.
  • What happens to the SIM868 — keep it purely for its GPS/GNSS role (it's the PWRKEY-toggled GNSS receiver on /dev/serial0) while dropping its 2G GSM cellular path, vs removing it entirely.
  • The SIM868's app_gps.py GNSS positioning must keep working (it's the car's GPS source) even if the 2G-modem half is retired — separate the two concerns.
  • Keep this feature as-is (2G/GSM fallback) for countries where 2G/3G still works — don't remove the existing cellular fallback code; gate it so the 2G path remains available there.
  • LTE SIM plan/APN specifics for Canadian carriers (Rogers/Bell/Telus) and whether the modem can run the Pi's hotspot/SSID the same way app_network.py currently does.

FEAT-05 — DTC history synced to remote server with code descriptions

• Status: IDEA

• Area: modules/app_upload.py, modules/app_sql.py, server/sql/, server/modules/db.py, server/app.py, server portal templates

• Phase: Phase 27

• Requested: 2026-08-11 — owner wants DTC codes persisted to the server (not just local SQLite) with code + description, surviving until user deletes them or OBD reports the code cleared.

• Current state (2026-08-11):

  • Pi: app_obd.py polls DTCs from ECU → app_sql.save_dtc_state() persists MIL + codes (code, description, IS_SET, FIRST_SEEN_AT, LAST_SEEN_AT) to local SQLite dtc table.
  • Pi: app_upload.py uploads tracking rows and dashcam files — NO DTC upload path exists.
  • Server: NO dtc_events table, NO DTC API, NO portal DTC page.

• Design:

  Server schema (server/sql/migrate_phase26_dtc.sql):

  CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS dtc_events (
      id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
      device_id INTEGER NOT NULL REFERENCES devices(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
      code VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL,
      description TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
      mil_on BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT FALSE,
      is_active BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT TRUE,
      first_seen_at TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL DEFAULT now(),
      last_seen_at TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL DEFAULT now(),
      cleared_at TIMESTAMPTZ,
      UNIQUE (device_id, code)
  );
  

  Server API (server/app.py):

  • POST /api/v1/dtc/batch (device auth): receives current DTC snapshot from Pi. Body: {"mil_on": true/false, "codes": [{"code": "P0301", "description": "Cylinder 1 Misfire"}, ...]}
    • Insert new codes, update last_seen_at for existing active codes.
    • Mark any previously-active codes NOT in this batch as is_active=false, cleared_at=now().
    • Return {received: N, cleared: M, unchanged: K}.
  • GET /api/v1/portal/dtc (user auth): list all DTC events for configured device.
  • DELETE /api/v1/portal/dtc/<id> (user auth): manual deletion.

  Server portal: new DTC page or section showing code, description, MIL state, first/last seen, active/cleared status, cleared timestamp.

  Pi upload (modules/app_upload.py):

  • New _upload_dtc_snapshot() — called after tracking batch in _upload_loop().
  • Only uploads when the local DTC snapshot differs from last-uploaded (hash or version compare).
  • Reuses same _credentials()/_headers() as tracking uploads.
  • Same WiFi-first, cellular-fallback (if configured) path as tracking batches.

• Deduplication logic: server-side per (device_id, code) unique key. Pi sends the full current snapshot each time. Server diffs: new codes = insert, existing = touch last_seen_at, missing from snapshot = mark cleared. This means if a code disappears from the ECU, it auto-clears on the server on the next upload — no manual "clear" step needed.

• Manual deletion: only via the server portal delete button. Cleared codes stay visible as history. The Pi never deletes from the server automatically.

• Outstanding considerations:

  • The Pi's local save_dtc_state() already handles IS_SET/cleared tracking — the upload path just needs to read the current active snapshot from SQLite (reuse get_persisted_dtc_state()).
  • DTC descriptions come directly from the ECU (python-obd's GET_DTC response) — they're the standard SAE J2012 descriptions, no external lookup needed.
  • Should we upload on every poll (every ~2s OBD cycle) or batch? Answer: batch. Upload alongside tracking batches (every 30s idle, 1s catchup). DTCs don't change mid-drive that often.
  • First upload after Pi reboot with no OBD connected: snapshot is empty → server marks all previously-active codes as cleared. Is that desired? Probably not — should skip upload when OBD is disconnected/unavailable (the Pi already knows this from connection state).

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Ideas that landed

(No entries yet — shipped features land here. Keep the original idea text intact and add the shipped phase/date.)