Status | Supported Boards | Download | Documentation | Contributing | Differences from Micropython | Project Structure
CircuitPython is an education friendly open source derivative of MicroPython. CircuitPython supports use on educational development boards designed and sold by Adafruit. Adafruit CircuitPython features unified Python core APIs and a growing list of Adafruit libraries and drivers of that work with it.
This project is stable. Most APIs should be stable going forward. Those that change will change on major version numbers such as 2.0.0 and 3.0.0.
- Adafruit CircuitPlayground Express (CircuitPython Guide)
- Adafruit Feather M0 Express (CircuitPython Guide)
- Adafruit Metro M0 Express (CircuitPython Guide)
- Adafruit Gemma M0 (CircuitPython Guide)
- Adafruit ItsyBitsy M0 Express (CircuitPython Guide)
- Adafruit Trinket M0 (CircuitPython Guide)
- Adafruit Metro M4 (CircuitPython Guide)
- Adafruit Feather HUZZAH
- Adafruit Feather M0 Basic
- Adafruit Feather M0 Bluefruit LE (uses M0 Basic binaries)
- Adafruit Feather M0 Adalogger (MicroSD card supported using the Adafruit CircuitPython SD library)
- Arduino Zero
Official binaries are available through the latest GitHub releases. Continuous (one per commit) builds are available here and includes experimental hardware support.
Guides and videos are available through the Adafruit Learning System under the CircuitPython category and MicroPython category. An API reference is also available on Read the Docs. A collection of awesome resources can be found at Awesome CircuitPython.
Specifically useful documentation when starting out:
See CONTRIBUTING.md for full guidelines but please be aware that by contributing to this project you are agreeing to the Code of Conduct. Contributors who follow the Code of Conduct are welcome to submit pull requests and they will be promptly reviewed by project admins. Please join the Discord too.
Differences from MicroPython
CircuitPython:
- includes a ports for MicroChip SAMD21 (Commonly known as M0 in Adafruit product names) and SAMD51 (M4).
- supports only SAMD21, SAMD51, and ESP8266 ports. An nRF port is under development.
- tracks MicroPython's releases (not master).
- Longints (arbitrary-length integers) are enabled for most M0 Express boards (those boards with SPI flash chips external to the microcontroller), and for all M4 builds. Longints are disabled on other boards due to lack of flash space.
- The order that files are run and the state that is shared between them. CircuitPython's goal is to clarify the role of each file and make each file independent from each other.
boot.py(orsettings.py) runs only once on start up before USB is initialized. This lays the ground work for configuring USB at startup rather than it being fixed. Since serial is not available, output is written toboot_out.txt.code.py(ormain.py) is run after every reload until it finishes or is interrupted. After it is done running, the vm and hardware is reinitialized. This means you cannot read state from ``code.py`` in the REPL anymore. CircuitPython's goal for this change includes reduce confusion about pins and memory being used.- After
code.pythe REPL can be entered by pressing any key. It no longer shares state withcode.pyso it is a fresh vm. - Autoreload state will be maintained across reload.
- Adds a safe mode that does not run user code after a hard crash or brown out. The hope is that this will make it easier to fix code that causes nasty crashes by making it available through mass storage after the crash. A reset (the button) is needed after its fixed to get back into normal mode.
- Unified hardware APIs: audioio, analogio, busio, digitalio, pulseio, touchio, microcontroller, board, bitbangio
- No
machineAPI on Atmel SAMD21 port.
- No module aliasing. (
uosandutimeare not available asosandtimerespectively.) Insteados,time, andrandomare CPython compatible. - New
storagemodule which manages file system mounts. (Functionality fromuosin MicroPython.) - Modules with a CPython counterpart, such as
time,osandrandom, are strict subsets of their CPython version. Therefore, code from CircuitPython is runnable on CPython but not necessarily the reverse. - tick count is available as time.monotonic()
- RGB status LED
- Auto-reload after file write over mass storage. (Disable with
samd.disable_autoreload()) - Wait state after boot and main run, before REPL.
- Main is one of these:
code.txt,code.py,main.py,main.txt - Boot is one of these:
settings.txt,settings.py,boot.py,boot.txt
Here is an overview of the top-level source code directories.
The core code of MicroPython is shared amongst ports including CircuitPython:
docsHigh level user documentation in Sphinx reStructuredText format.driversExternal device drivers written in Python.examplesA few example Python scripts.extmodShared C code used in multiple ports' modules.libShared core C code including externally developed libraries such as FATFS.logoThe MicroPython logo.mpy-crossA cross compiler that converts Python files to byte code prior to being run in MicroPython. Useful for reducing library size.pyCore Python implementation, including compiler, runtime, and core library.shared-bindingsShared definition of Python modules, their docs and backing C APIs. Ports must implement the C API to support the corresponding module.shared-moduleShared implementation of Python modules that may be based oncommon-hal.testsTest framework and test scripts.toolsVarious tools, including the pyboard.py module.
Ports include the code unique to a microcontroller line and also variations based on the board.
atmel-samdSupport for SAMD21 based boards such as Arduino Zero, Adafruit Feather M0 Basic, and Adafruit Feather M0 Bluefruit LE.bare-armA bare minimum version of MicroPython for ARM MCUs.cc3200Support for boards based CC3200 from TI such as the WiPy 1.0.esp8266Support for boards based on ESP8266 WiFi modules such as the Adafruit Feather HUZZAH.minimalA minimal MicroPython port. Start with this if you want to port MicroPython to another microcontroller.pic16bitSupport for 16-bit PIC microcontrollers.qemu-armSupport for ARM emulation through QEMU.stmhalSupport for boards based on STM32 microcontrollers including the MicroPython flagship PyBoard.teensySupport for the Teensy line of boards such as the Teensy 3.1.unixSupport for UNIX.windowsSupport for Windows.zephyrSupport for Zephyr, a real-time operating system by the Linux Foundation.
CircuitPython only maintains the atmel-samd and esp8266 ports.
The rest are here to maintain compatibility with the
MicroPython parent
project.