Building Meshtastic Firmware
Meshtastic uses PlatformIO, a development environment that enables easy multi-platform development and centralized tooling.
Setup the Build Environment
- Install PlatformIO
- Clone the Meshtastic Firmware repository
git clone https://github.com/meshtastic/firmware.git
- Update the repository's submodules
cd firmware && git submodule update --init
infoIf you want to build the RP2040 targets and get a 'Filename too long' error on Windows, please refer to the Platformio documentation for this toolchain
Update the Build Environment
- Change to
firmware
foldercd firmware
- Gather the latest changes to the Meshtastic Firmware repository and submodules
git pull --recurse-submodules
Build
- Open the newly cloned folder in Visual Studio Code. If you do this for the first time, this can take quite some while as PlatformIO will download all the necessary tooling and libraries. Also if platformio is not installed, VSCode will ask you to install it, probably requiring a restart of the program.
- To select the device you wish to build, open your command palette:
- Windows:
Ctrl + Shift + P
- Mac:
command + Shift + P
- Windows:
- Enter:
PlatformIO: Pick Project Environment
and select your target. - To build the firmware, simply run
PlatformIO: Build
from your command palette. - Finally, flash the firmware to your device by running
PlatformIO: Upload
Adding Custom Hardware
The build system is modular. Adding a new board variant for an already supported architecture is straightforward.
Build with Custom Hardware
- Go to the
variants
folder in the firmware source code and make a new directory for your hardware, let's call itm5stack_atom
, and copy an existing configuration you want to modify:cd variants; mkdir m5stack_atom
cp heltec_v1/* m5stack_atom
cd m5stack_atom - Modify the
platformio.ini
in this subdirectory from the canonical define of the hardware variant (HELTEC_V1
in this case) toPRIVATE_HW
and make the-I
on thebuild_flags
point to the newly created dir.[env:m5stack-atom]
extends = esp32_base
board = m5stack-atom
monitor_filters = esp32_exception_decoder
build_flags =
${esp32_base.build_flags} -D PRIVATE_HW -I variants/m5stack_atom
lib_deps =
${esp32_base.lib_deps} - Edit the
variant.h
file in this subdirectory to reflect the defines and configurations for your board. The example is very well commented. - Build, run, and debug until you are satisfied with the result.
Hardware Model Acceptance Policy
Due to limited availability and ongoing support, new hardware model numbers will only be added for Meshtastic Backers and Partners. The Meshtastic team reserves the right to make exceptions to this policy where needed. If you wish to have your hardware officially supported please contact Meshtastic Solutions.
Alternative for Community Contributors
Community Supported hardware is still welcomed, and community contributors can still add DIY hardware, however, please note:
- DIY hardware should use the
PRIVATE_HW
model number. - DIY hardware will not be officially supported by the core Meshtastic team, and will be denoted as
Community Supported
. - DIY hardware will not appear in the Web Flasher or GitHub release assets.
- You will be responsible for ongoing maintenance and support.
- DIY hardware models are experimental and will likely have limited or no testing.