The system uses an ESP32 microcontroller, priced at $5, to manage a remote PC. The device operates in deep sleep mode, waking up every 5 minutes to check for commands via an HTTPS-based file on a VPS. This setup avoids port forwarding, enhancing security by keeping the home network isolated.
The project separates the 'wake-up' and 'control' channels. For power-up, the ESP32 sends a Wake-on-LAN (WOL) packet to the PC. Once Windows boots, a PowerShell-based agent connects to an MQTT broker on the VPS to receive commands. This agent executes scripts and returns output to the user via Telegram.
The ESP32 is configured to minimize power consumption by using an 80 MHz clock frequency and disabling the radio between polling intervals. The system includes a monitoring script for hardware metrics, such as GPU temperature and VRAM usage, and an auto-shutdown feature based on system idle time.
To bypass potential network restrictions and simplify maintenance, the system uses an n8n webhook as a proxy for Telegram notifications. This allows the user to update bot tokens or message formats on the VPS without needing to reflash the microcontroller or access the home PC directly.
