Flashing with the CLI

caution

Make sure not to power the radio on without first attaching the antenna! You could damage the radio chip!

Before you flash your device start by verifying connectivity with the device being flashed. Outlined below are steps that can be taken to verify connectivity and, if necessary, to install the appropriate drivers. If you end up needing to install drivers be sure to reboot your computer afterwards to verify the installation is complete.

note

The T-Beam 0.7 board is an earlier version of the T-Beam board, and due to changes in the design in subsequent iterations this board uses a specific firmware file different from the other T-Beam boards.

firmware-tbeam0.7-X.X.X.xxxxxxx.bin is the correct firmware. firmware-tbeam-X.X.X.xxxxxxx.bin is incompatible. For all other T-Beam boards review the resources section for the correct selection.

Command Line Interface Instructions

Install Prerequisite Software

Linux

Linux

Check if you have python3 and pip installed with the following command

python3 --version
pip3 --version

If python3 is not installed, install with

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3

If pip is not installed, install with

sudo apt-get install python3-pip

macOS

macOS

OS X comes with Python 2.7 installed, but not pip. The following uses Homebrew to install python3 which includes pip3. On MacOS you will use pip3 instead > of pip.

note

Check if you have Homebrew installed with the following command

brew -v

If it's not installed, follow the instructions on the Homebrew website before continuing.

Check if you have python3 and pip installed with the following command

python3 --version
pip3 --version

If python3 is not installed, install with Install Python3

brew install python3

Confirm pip3 was installed alongside python3

pip3 -v

Windows

Windows

• Download and install Python. When installing, make sure to click Add Python X.Y to PATH.
• Download and install Gitbash (or other appropriate shell) and run all subsequent commands from that shell.

note

Confirm installation of python & pip with the following commands.

py --version

pip --version

Install esptool

pip3 install --upgrade esptool

Confirm Communication With Chip

Linux

Linux

important

On Linux, you may need to explicitly declare esptool as a .py script. Use esptool.py chip_id.

macOS

macOS

important

On macOS, you may need to explicitly declare esptool as a .py script. Use esptool.py chip_id.

Windows

Windows

important

On Windows, you must explicitly declare esptool as a .py script. Use esptool.py chip_id.

Connect the radio to your computer using a data USB cable. Confirm your device is talking to your computer using the following command:

Command

esptool chip_id

Expected Output

# You should see a result similar to this:
mydir$ esptool chip_id
esptool.py v2.6
Found 2 serial ports
Serial port /dev/ttyUSB0
Connecting....
Detecting chip type... ESP32
Chip is ESP32D0WDQ6 (revision 1)
Features: WiFi, BT, Dual Core, 240MHz, VRef calibration in efuse, Coding Scheme None
MAC: 24:6f:28:b5:36:71
Uploading stub...
Running stub...
Stub running...
Warning: ESP32 has no Chip ID. Reading MAC instead.
MAC: 24:6f:28:b5:36:71
Hard resetting via RTS pin...

Download Firmware

1. Head to the Meshtastic Downloads Page to download the latest firmware.
2. Scroll down to the Firmware section and select one of the following, depending on your preferences:

• Download Stable: For stable, well-tested releases.
• Download Alpha: For newer, experimental releases with the latest features.

3. Once redirected to the GitHub release page, scroll down to the "Assets" section and expand it. Identify the correct firmware for your device by its architecture (e.g., firmware-esp32s3 for ESP32-S3-based devices like the Heltec V3).
4. Download the file and take note of the download location on your system (usually in your ~/Downloads folder).

Navigate to Firmware Directory

1. Open a terminal and navigate (cd) to the directory where your firmware was downloaded. The folder name typically matches the architecture and firmware version from the zip file. For example:

Example

cd ~/Downloads/firmware-esp32s3-X.X.X.xxxxxxx/

note

Make sure to replace esp32s3 and the version number with those corresponding to the file you downloaded.

Install/Update Firmware

Now, proceed with the instructions below for your operating system to install or update the firmware for your specific board:

caution

Be very careful to install the correct firmware file for your board. In particular, the popular 'T-BEAM' radio from TTGO is not called 'TTGO-Lora' (that is a different board). So don't install the 'TTGO-Lora' build on a TBEAM, it won't work correctly. If you flash the incorrect device firmware, it may appear to successfully complete, yet the device will usually become unresponsive, displaying a blank screen (if equipped). Attempt to flash the correct version. Please note, while these devices are quite resilient and damage is not always likely, there is a possibility of onboard radio and peripheral damage due to incorrect GPIO pin direction

Linux

Linux

Install

Command

./device-install.sh -f firmware-BOARD-VERSION.bin

Update

Command

./device-update.sh -f firmware-BOARD-VERSION-update.bin

macOS

macOS

Install

Command

./device-install.sh -f firmware-BOARD-VERSION.bin

Update

Command

./device-update.sh -f firmware-BOARD-VERSION-update.bin

Windows

Windows

Install

Command

device-install.bat -f firmware-BOARD-VERSION.bin

Update

Command

device-update.bat -f firmware-BOARD-VERSION-update.bin

Use the --web option to include the embedded Web Client during installation of the firmware.

Connect and Configure Device

After flashing the Meshtastic firmware to the device, you can proceed with the initial configuration.

Connect and Configure Device