# artisan scope: recording, analysing and driving coffee roast profiles > artisan scope is a Python application that logs roast profiles from coffee roasters, analyses them, and can drive the roast through a PID controller. It supports a long list of machine brands over several protocols, and its AGPL-3.0 licence is the part of the decision that deserves the closest reading. **artisan-roaster-scope/artisan** — artisan scope: the world's most trusted roasting software - Repository: https://github.com/artisan-roaster-scope/artisan - Website: https://artisan-scope.org - Stars: 1,231 · Forks: 364 - Language: Python - License: AGPL-3.0 - Published: 2026-10-19 · Updated: 2026-10-19 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/artisan-roaster-scope-artisan ## A roaster's logbook that also turns the burner artisan scope is described as a visual scope for coffee roasters, and the README states the job plainly: it helps coffee roasters record, analyze, and control roast profiles. The point of a roast profile is the curve, temperature against time, and it is the record a roaster uses to decide what to change on the next batch so the cup tastes a particular way. Two hardware partners make that possible. Paired with a thermocouple data logger, artisan scope measures the roast. Paired with a proportional integral derivative controller, it goes further and can automate the creation of roasting metrics, so the decisions that influence the final coffee flavour are made against a repeatable curve rather than by eye. That combination is what makes the project interesting beyond a curve viewer. The audience is two overlapping groups. There is the home roasting enthusiast who wants data instead of guesswork, and there is the small roasting business or consultant who runs the same machine every day and needs profiles that are recorded, comparable and exportable. The project also notes that Artisan is listed on Awesome Python Applications, which is a reasonable signal for the kind of application this is. ## Machine support is a protocol problem, and the topic list shows the protocols The breadth of the integration surface is visible in the repository topics, which name the devices and protocols artisan scope speaks to: acaia, aillio, fuji, hottop, probat, roest, phidgets, yoctopuce, thermocouple, and on the protocol side modbus, mqtt, s7 and websockets. Read that list as two layers. The roaster brands are the machines, the hardware whose burners and drums have to be read and driven. The protocols are the wire formats, and they are the reason a new machine usually means a new piece of work rather than a new configuration. Supporting a machine that exposes a serial thermocouple is a different exercise from supporting one that sits behind a Siemens S7 PLC over modbus. Version history shows the pattern of steady widening. v4.2.0, dated Jun 30, 2026, added support for ROEST, Orbiter, Pratter, Probat G/UG 2026, Neuhaus Neotec and North Roasters, and added the MQTT protocol. v3.4.0, dated Oct 31, 2025, added Kraffe, Berto, Nordic PLC, Prisma, the latest Cogen and Toper roasters, updated setups for Sweet Coffee Italia and Joper, added the Tasi TA612C 4-channel meter and Shelly energy meters, enabled import of Cropster profiles through drag-and-drop, and enabled multi-day coffee fermentation experiments. Each of those is a small machine-specific or format-specific piece of work, and the total is what makes artisan scope usable on a mixed fleet of roasters. ## Getting it onto the bench: a download page, a wiki and a doc site There is no pip install line in the README, and that is deliberate. artisan scope ships as a packaged application, and the README links to a download page at artisan-scope.org/download that covers macOS, Windows, Linux and RPi, to installation instructions in the wiki at the Installation.md page, and to the documentation at artisan-scope.org/docs. The documentation tree in the repository mirrors that structure. The top level holds src, doc and wiki directories alongside the usual project files, and the README points at a detailed release history in wiki/ReleaseHistory.md. The wiki is also where the machine pages live, one page per supported roaster family under artisan-scope.org/machines, and where the device pages such as the meters and the MQTT protocol are described. For a first run, the practical path is to pick the build for your platform, follow Installation.md for the runtime it needs, and then connect either a thermocouple data logger or a PID controller. The devices pages are the reference for what has to be configured on the hardware side before the software will talk to it. Note that the same page also carries the project support links, so a first-time install doubles as a tour of where the machine-specific documentation lives. ## The continuous build is the risky one, and the README says so The releases page carries a warning that should be read before downloading: pre-release continuous builds may not work, use at your own risk. The repository has three recent release entries, continuous dated 2026-10-13, v4.2.1-beta5 dated 2026-08-17, and v4.2.0 dated 2026-06-30. The most recent push to the repository was on 2026-10-13, the same day as the continuous build. This is a normal pattern for a project with an active integration list, and it is also a real operational risk. A continuous build is produced from the current tip of the branch, so it contains work on machines and protocols that may not be finished, which is precisely what the warning refers to. For a roastery that runs a paid production schedule, a tagged release is the right choice, and v4.2.0 is the newest one that is not labelled pre-release or beta. The beta tag v4.2.1-beta5 sits between the two, which means the 4.2 line is still moving. A team that pins to v4.2.0 should also expect to re-pin when 4.2.1 settles, and should read the release history page before each bump, since the machine list changes the risk of an upgrade as much as the code does. ## AGPL-3.0 is the term that decides it for a commercial roastery The repository is licensed under AGPL-3.0. The README states that the software is open source and absolutely free to use, also in commercial settings, and the project asks for donations through a PayPal.Me page, with the note that extra technical support can be arranged by inquiry. It also publishes the ranges that home roasters and small businesses typically give, which is an unusually transparent picture of who the project serves. Free to use is not the same question as free to modify in a commercial deployment, and the difference is where AGPL differs from a permissive licence. An AGPL licensed network service carries an obligation to offer the corresponding source of the modified version to the users who interact with it over the network. In a roastery, the deployment is usually a desktop application on a machine next to the roaster rather than a hosted service, so the network trigger may not be the operative one. The README does not discuss the licence terms in that detail, so this is a question for whoever owns the compliance decision, not a conclusion drawn here. The practical point for readers is narrow but real. If your organisation has a policy that restricts AGPL components in anything that touches production systems, that conversation happens before the install, not after. The alternative to adopting the licence is to keep artisan scope off the production network and use it for measurement and analysis only, which the project's own two hardware modes make easy to arrange. ## Measurement only, or a closed loop on the burner artisan scope offers two levels of involvement, and the difference between them is the difference between a logging tool and a control system. In the first, a thermocouple data logger is attached to the bean or drum probe and artisan scope records the curve. The machine is still driven by the roaster's own controls and by the operator. In the second, a PID controller is used and the software can automate the creation of roasting metrics, so the loop closes through the software rather than through a human watching a dial. That second mode is where the engineering interest lies, and also where the caution belongs. v4.0.0, dated Jan 28, 2026, added UI modes and a 2DOF software PID implementation with interpolated gain scheduling, bumpless transfer and filtering, along with general stability and performance improvements, plus support for the Lebrew RoastSee NEXT and the Acaia Pyxis Black (2025). Interpolated gain scheduling and bumpless transfer are the vocabulary of a control loop that has to stay stable when the operating point moves, which tells you the PID work here is not a naive single-gain controller. The same point cuts the other way. A control loop that holds a roast profile is influencing a process whose output goes into a cup, and artisan scope has no notion of a cup. It knows about beans, time and temperature, and the person who decides whether the batch was good is still a person. Where a roastery wants the software purely advisory, logging without the controller is the sensible setting, and the choice of that mode is a roastery decision rather than a technical limitation of the project. ## Where artisan scope is the wrong tool Three cases stand out. The first is a roaster whose protocol is not in the machine list. The integration surface is large but finite, and a machine from a small manufacturer may simply not be there. The README also carries an invitation for machine support requests in the repository wiki area for people who want to add a roaster, which shows the cost of extending it is not trivial. The second is a site that needs a vendor guarantee. artisan scope is a volunteer project with a donation link, a wiki and a support request form, not a company with a service level agreement. For a coffee business whose roasts go to wholesale customers on a schedule, a software failure during a production roast is an operational problem, and no amount of the project being free and open makes that risk disappear. The counterargument is the same as for any open source tool: the code is available, the machines are supported, and the failure mode is a person with the source. The third is a workflow that needs an audit trail of who changed what. The README describes recording, analysing and controlling profiles, and the release notes describe features. It says nothing about user accounts, roles, or a signed record of an operator's decisions, so artisan scope should be treated as a single operator's instrument unless the organisation builds that layer itself. ## Conclusion artisan scope suits a roastery or a serious home roaster who wants a permanent, comparable record of every batch and, if the hardware allows, a reproducible control loop over the machine. It does not suit someone who needs a certified, vendor-supported production cell, and it does not suit a developer who cannot accept AGPL-3.0 terms. Before installing, check the download page for the build that matches macOS, Windows, Linux or RPi, stay on the tagged v4.2.0 release rather than the continuous pre-release, and confirm that your roaster or logger is in the supported machine list. ## FAQ ### What is artisan scope used for in coffee roasting? It helps roasters record, analyze, and control roast profiles. Used with a thermocouple data logger it measures the roast, and used with a PID controller it can automate the creation of roasting metrics that help decide changes affecting the final coffee flavour. ### How do I install artisan scope? The README links to a download page at artisan-scope.org/download offering macOS, Windows, Linux and RPi builds, and to installation instructions in the wiki at the Installation.md page. There is no pip install command in the README. ### Which coffee roasters does artisan scope support? The release history records support added over time, including ROEST, Orbiter, Pratter, Probat G/UG 2026, Neuhaus Neotec and North Roasters in v4.2.0, and Kraffe, Berto, Prisma, Cogen, Toper, Joper and Sweet Coffee Italia in v3.4.0. Machine pages live under artisan-scope.org/machines. ### Is it safe to run the continuous pre-release build of artisan scope? The README carries a warning that pre-release continuous builds may not work and should be used at your own risk. The tagged release v4.2.0, dated Jun 30, 2026, is the newest non pre-release build, while v4.2.1-beta5 and the continuous build are labelled as pre-releases. ### Can I use artisan scope in a commercial coffee roastery? The README states the software is open source and absolutely free to use, also in commercial settings, and the project accepts donations for further development with extra technical support available by inquiry. The repository is licensed under AGPL-3.0, so the terms for modified or network deployed use are a question for your own compliance review. ## Sources - [artisan-roaster-scope/artisan on GitHub](https://github.com/artisan-roaster-scope/artisan) - [License: AGPL-3.0](https://github.com/artisan-roaster-scope/artisan/blob/master/LICENSE) - [Project website](https://artisan-scope.org) - [README](https://github.com/artisan-roaster-scope/artisan/blob/master/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/artisan-roaster-scope/artisan/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/artisan-roaster-scope-artisan