A MagicMirror² module that displays trivia questions with interactive answer reveals, configurable refresh intervals, and a smooth countdown timer. Perfect for adding educational entertainment to your smart mirror!

• Fresh Trivia Questions - Powered by API Ninjas with thousands of questions
• Configurable Refresh - Choose daily, hourly, or custom intervals
• Smart Countdown Timer - Shows when the next question arrives (updates smoothly every second)
• Manual Refresh Button - Get a new question on demand with cooldown protection
• Interactive Toggle - Reveal and hide answers with a single click
• Auto-Hide Answer - Answer automatically returns to question after 10 seconds
• Clean, Minimalist Design - Fits seamlessly into any MagicMirror theme
• API Usage Calculator - Automatically estimates your monthly API usage
• Highly Configurable - Customize every aspect to your preferences
• Raspberry Pi Optimized - Efficient caching and resource usage

• MagicMirror² instance
• API Ninjas API key (free tier: 3,000 calls/month)
• Node.js and npm

cd ~/MagicMirror/modules
git clone https://github.com/GeeYouEss/MMM-TriviaQOTD.git

cd MMM-TriviaQOTD
npm install

1. Visit api-ninjas.com
2. Sign up for a free account
3. Navigate to your dashboard and copy your API key
4. Free tier includes 3,000 API calls per month (more than enough!)

Add the module to your config/config.js file:

{
    module: "MMM-TriviaQOTD",
    position: "bottom_center",
    config: {
        apiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",  // REQUIRED - Get free key at api-ninjas.com
        questionRefreshMode: "hourly", // Options: "daily", "hourly", "custom"
        showTimer: true,               // Show countdown to next question
        allowManualRefresh: true,      // Show "New Question" button
    }
}

Important: Replace YOUR_API_KEY_HERE with your actual API Ninjas key!

pm2 restart MagicMirror

The module automatically calculates your estimated monthly API usage based on your refresh mode. Free tier provides 3,000 calls per month.

Note: The "New Question" button has its own 1-minute cooldown and doesn't count toward scheduled refreshes.

When you start MagicMirror, check the logs to see your estimated usage:

pm2 logs MagicMirror | grep "Estimated API usage"

Example output:

MMM-TriviaQOTD: Estimated API usage = 720/month (24.0% of 3,000 quota)

Fresh trivia every hour with all features enabled.

{
    module: "MMM-TriviaQOTD",
    position: "bottom_center",
    config: {
        apiKey: "your_api_key_here",
        questionRefreshMode: "hourly",
        showTimer: true,
        allowManualRefresh: true,
        answerTimeout: 10000,
    }
}

Usage: ~720 calls/month (24% of quota)

One question per day, perfect for minimal API usage.

{
    module: "MMM-TriviaQOTD",
    position: "bottom_center",
    config: {
        apiKey: "your_api_key_here",
        questionRefreshMode: "daily",
        showTimer: true,
        allowManualRefresh: true,
    }
}

Usage: ~30 calls/month (1% of quota)

New question every 2 hours for a balanced approach.

{
    module: "MMM-TriviaQOTD",
    position: "bottom_center",
    config: {
        apiKey: "your_api_key_here",
        questionRefreshMode: "custom",
        customRefreshMinutes: 120,  // Every 2 hours
        showTimer: true,
        allowManualRefresh: true,
    }
}

Usage: ~360 calls/month (12% of quota)

Clean interface with just question/answer toggle, no timer or manual refresh.

{
    module: "MMM-TriviaQOTD",
    position: "bottom_center",
    config: {
        apiKey: "your_api_key_here",
        questionRefreshMode: "hourly",
        showTimer: false,            // Hide countdown timer
        allowManualRefresh: false,   // Hide "New Question" button
        answerTimeout: 0,            // Disable auto-hide
    }
}

Reveal Answer:

• Click the "Reveal Answer" button to see the answer
• Answer automatically hides after 10 seconds (configurable)
• Click "Show Question" to manually return to the question

Get New Question:

• Click "New Question" to instantly fetch fresh trivia
• Button shows cooldown timer: "wait 59s" → "wait 1s" → "New Question"
• Prevents API spam with configurable cooldown (default: 1 minute)

Countdown Timer:

• Shows time until next automatic question refresh
• Updates smoothly every second
• Format examples:
  • "Next question in 58 minutes"
  • "Next question in 2h 15m"
  • "Next question in 1 day"

Solution: You forgot to add your API key or left it as the placeholder.

• Get a free key at api-ninjas.com
• Add it to your config.js

Check:

1. Verify your API key is correct
2. Check MagicMirror logs: pm2 logs MagicMirror | grep Trivia
3. Test your API key manually:

curl -X GET "https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/trivia" -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY"

The button has a cooldown to prevent API spam. It shows the remaining time:

• "wait 45s" means 45 seconds remaining
• Wait for it to change to "New Question"
• Default cooldown: 60 seconds (configurable)

WARNING! Estimated usage exceeds API quota!

Solution: Your refresh interval is too aggressive for the free tier.

• Change to "hourly" mode (720/month = 24% quota)
• Use "daily" mode (30/month = 1% quota)
• Increase customRefreshMinutes value

This should be fixed in v2.5+. Update to the latest version if you see this.

This should be fixed in v2.5+. The timer now updates smoothly without refreshing the entire module.

• Added configurable refresh modes (daily/hourly/custom)
• Added smooth countdown timer with per-second updates
• Added manual "New Question" button with cooldown timer
• Improved button labels ("Reveal Answer" instead of arrows)
• Added automatic API usage calculator
• Fixed timer flashing by updating only text elements
• Fixed time formatting (shows "60 minutes" not "1h 0m")

• Switched from web scraping to API Ninjas API
• Reliable daily trivia updates
• Better error handling and caching

• Initial release
• Web scraping implementation
• Basic question/answer toggle

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

• MagicMirror² - The amazing smart mirror platform
• API Ninjas - For providing the free trivia API
• The MagicMirror community for inspiration and support

If you encounter any issues or have questions:

1. Check the Troubleshooting section
2. Review the Configuration Examples
3. Open an issue on GitHub
4. Check MagicMirror logs: pm2 logs MagicMirror | grep Trivia

Made with love for the MagicMirror community

If you find this module useful, consider giving it a star on GitHub!