A curated list of awesome CircuitPython guides, videos, libraries, frameworks, software and resources.

CircuitPython is Adafruit's branch of MicroPython designed to simplify experimentation and education on low-cost microcontrollers. It makes it easier than ever to start prototyping by requiring no upfront desktop software downloads. With CircuitPython you can write clean and simple Python code to control hardware instead of having to use complex low-level languages like C or C++ (what Arduino uses for programming). It's great for beginners!

Contents

• CircuitPython.org
• Guides
• Community
• Books
• Code
• Frameworks
• Hardware
• Newsletter
• In the news
• Art, logos, graphics
• Social media
• Podcasts
• Events
• Swag
• Contributing

CircuitPython.org

CircuitPython.org is the first stop on the information snake highway. Here you can see all the supported boards and download the specific firmware for each one, including beta, latest, and previous versions. Downloads can be sorted by: maker, features, name, and more. At this time there are over 80 boards supported in the CircuitPython family!

Guides

• Welcome to CircuitPython! - An overview of CircuitPython and the community.
• CircuitPython Essentials - Learning the essential functions of CircuitPython.
• learn.adafruit.com CircuitPython - Adafruit Learning Guides on CircuitPython.
• learn.adafruit.com CircuitPython & MicroPython - Guides on both CircuitPython and MicroPython.

Community

• Adafruit CircuitPython Discord channel #CircuitPython - 24/7 chat and support on CircuitPython including a weekly podcast.
• Python on Hardware weekly VideoCast - The wonderful world of Python on hardware. Video-newsletter-podcast of all things Python and electronics.
• CircuitPython Weekly Meeting - Video archive of weekly community meeting via Discord, starting from September, 2017.
• Adafruit CircuitPython Forums - The Adafruit discussion forum on CircuitPython.

Books

• Getting started with Circuit Playground Express by Mike Barela (or purchase as part of your order from the Adafruit store) - Introduction and discussion of the Circuit Playground Express including programming via CircuitPython, MakeCode and Arduino.
• CircuitPython Development Workshop by Agus Kurniawan - This book helps you to get started with CircuitPython development. This book uses the Adafruit ItsyBitsy M0 Express board for development.
• CircuitPython for beginners with Adafruit Circuit Playground Express & Mu - Japanese by author Aoyama_PROD coming in September, 2019 from TechBookFest.
• Programming with MicroPython - by Nicholas H. Tollervey, includes CircuitPython - Discusses the MicroPython language.
• Wearable Tech Projects by Sophy Wong - Contains many wearable projects using CircuitPython.
• CircuitPython for beginners with Adafruit Circuit Playground Express & Mu - Japanese.
• Learning IoT with Python and Raspberry Pi by E.I. Horvath, E.A. Horvath
• Make Music with the Circuit Playground Express by Rick Leander - Twelve projects that make music, sound and noise with Circuit Python.
• Ten Games for the Circuit Playground Express by Rick Leander - Ten classic games adapted for Circuit Python.

Code

• CircuitPython Versions: Select per board at CircuitPython.org (easiest) or visit GitHub.
• CircuitPython Beta Releases: Select per board at CircuitPython.org (easiest), The 4.0 announcement
• CircuitPython API Reference - A list of functions and documentation available for CircuitPython.
• Circuit Playground Express CircuitPython API Reference - The functions and documentation specific to the Circuit Playground Express using CircuitPython.
• CircuitPython GitHub Repository - The source code for CircuitPython on GitHub.
• Adafruit CircuitPython Libraries - Current Adafruit CircuitPython Libraries. There are over 150+ libraries available. More on Libraries on CircuitPython.org.
• Adafruit Blinka - SBC Compatibility - CircuitPython Libraries on Raspberry Pi and other compatible single-board computers (SBC) running Linux.
• CircuitPython Cheat Sheet - Dave Astels's helpful cheat sheet on CircuitPython.
• Coding CircuitPython on iOS 13.x

Frameworks

• Glider: An app for editing Python on mobile devices wirelessly - Also a video, in development.
• The Mu Editor, IDE, REPL, and plotter for CircuitPython - The recommended Python editor for CircuitPython.
• For developers, Mu: A Python Code Editor - The documentation for Mu.
• Using Microsoft VSCode for CircuitPython - blog post discussing the process.
• A helper for CircuitPython development with Atom - A helper for the Atom editor.
• Thonny, a Python IDE for beginners - An editor with support for CircuitPython and MicroPython.
• Microsoft Device Simulator Express - Virtual Circuit Playground Express and CircuitPython programming in Visual Studio Code.

Hardware

All supported boards may be viewed at circuitpython.org to include descriptions, pictures, and compatible CircuitPython builds. A summary of current boards on circuitpython.org:

• Adafruit CircuitPython boards - Adafruit Circuit Playground Express, Adafruit Feather M0 Basic, Adafruit Feather M0 Express, Adafruit Feather M0 Adalogger, Adafruit Feather M0 RFM9x, Adafruit Feather M0 RFM69, Adafruit Feather M4 Express, Adafruit Feather nRF52832, Adafruit Feather nRF52840 Express, Adafruit nRF52840 Sense, Adafruit CLUE, Adafruit Gemma M0, Adafruit Grand Central M4 Express, Adafruit HalloWing M0 Express, Adafruit HalloWing M4 Expres, Adafruit ItsyBitsy M0 Express, Adafruit ItsyBitsy M4 Express, Adafruit Metro M0 Express, Adafruit Metro M4 Express, Adafruit NeoTrellis M4, Adafruit Trinket M0, Adafruit PyPortal, Adafruit PyPortal Titano, Adafruit PyPortal Pynt, Adafruit pIRkey, Adafruit Feather Huzzah, Adafruit PyBadge, Adafruit PyBadge AirLift, Adafruit PyBadge LC, Adafruit PyGamer, Adafruit PyGamer Advance, Adafruit Metro M4 AirLift Lite, Adafruit Gemma M0 PyCon 2018, Adafruit Circuit Playground Express Digi-Key, Adafruit Circuit Playground Express 4-H, Adafruit Circuit Playground Express + Crickit, Adafruit Circuit Playground Express Bluefruit, Adafruit Feather M0 Express + Crickit, Adafruit PyRuler, Adafruit EdgeBadge, Adafruit M7 1011.
• Arduino - Arduino MKR WAN 1300, Arduino MKR Zero, Arduino Zero, Arduino Nano 33 BLE, Arduino Nano 33 IoT.
• Electronic Cats - CatWAN USB Stick, Meow Meow, Escornabot Match.
• MakerDiary - nRF52840 Micro Dev Kit, nRF52840 Micro Dev Kit USB Dongle.
• Nordic Semiconductor - nRF52840 DK board PCA10056, nRF52840 Dongle PCA10059.
• NXP - MIMXRT1010 Eval Kit, MIMXRT1060 Eval Kit
• Particle - Particle Argon, Particle Boron, Particle Xenon.
• Benjamin Shockley - Mini SAM M4.
• Radomir Dopieralski - PewPew, μGame, PewPew M4.
• SparkFun - SparkFun Pro nRF52840 Mini, SparkFun SAMD21 Mini, SparkFun SAMD21 Dev, SparkFun Pro nRF52840 Mini, SparkFun SAMD21 Dev, SparkFun RedBoard Turbo, SparkFun LumiDrive, Sparkfun Qwiic Micro, SparkFun Qwiic Micro without Flash, SparkFun Qwiic Micro with Flash, SAMD51 Thing Plus.
• Dave Astels - Feather M0 Supersized, Trinket M0 Haxpress.
• Max Holliday - KickSat Sprite, SAM32.
• Itaca Innovation - uChip M0
• Capable Robot Components - Programmable USB Hub, SenseTemp.
• Robotics Masters - Robo HAT MM1 M4
• Robot Exploration Lab - PyCubed
• Amitabh Shrivastava - Hearrings.
• Prof. Fartsparkle - Numberwang badge
• arturo182 - Serpente, Feather MIMXRT1062, Feather MIMXRT1011.
• Sony - Spresense
• PJRC - Teensy 4.0
• Electronut Labs - Papyr
• TZT - STM32F411CE Black Pill
• J&J Studios - datum-IMU, datum-Distance
• KittenbBot- Meowbit
• OSHWA - Open Hardware Summit 2020 Badge
• Damien George - PyBoard 1.1
• Seeed Studios - Seeeduino XIAO
• Oddly Specific Objects - The Open Book
• ST - STM32F412 Discovery Kit, STM32F411 Discovery kit, STM32F407 Discovery Kit
• Alethea Flowers - Winterbloom Sol
• Cedar Grove Studios - StringCar M0 Express
• keithp.com - Snekboard
• Elecrow - PYB Nano v2
• XinaBox - XinaBox CS11, XinaBox CC03
• Teknikio - Bluebird
• Sarfata - ShIRtty Board
• Scott Shawcroft - Python powered GameBoy-compatible cartridge
• noGarage - Ndbit6
• Null Byte Labs LLC - CircuitBrains Deluxe, CircuitBrains Basic

Adding new boards to the CircuitPython list on circuitpython.org: Please do a pull request on GitHub at https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython. CircuitPython developers may help get the correct pin data and other information to map a new board.

CircuitPython sensors and accessories - Complete listing of sensors, LCDs, displays, robotics, breakout boards, and more.

python.digikey.com - Digi-Key electronics has a listing of all Python-supported boards on their site in one location including CircuitPython and MicroPython boards.

Newsletter

• Adafruit Daily, Python for microcontrollers - A weekly newsletter on MicroPython and CircuitPython, a spam-free list.
• Contribute to newsletter - Guidelines on contributing to the newsletter.
• Archives of all newsletters - List of every newsletter published from the start, November 2016.

News

• Program CircuitPython devices with iPhone & iOS 13
• Changing Lives through Open Source, Passion and Mentoring - the keynote talk at PyOhio, July 27, 2019 by Kattni Rembor.
• Control servos with CircuitPython and Raspberry Pi - The MagPi Magazine, Issue 84, Melissa LeBlanc-Williams, July, 2019.
• PyDev of the Week: Scott Shawcroft, July 1, 2019.
• Scott Shawcroft: History of CircuitPython - A discussion of CircuitPython for the core developers of Python, PyCon 2019.
• Five Things You Didn't Know Python Could Do - YouTube video, June 19, 2019.
• PyCon2019 Keynote - Light Up Your Life - With Python and LEDs by Nina Zakharenko. Python opens a whole new world of working with wearable electronics. The slides are also available.
• Learn Hardware Programming with CircuitPython - A course offered by Codecademy in collaboration with Adafruit.
• Use CircuitPython boards on the TI-83 Premium CE calculator - CircuitPython runs on Texas Instrument calculators.
• Make: Vol. 68 Boards guide - Make: Magazine names Python the #1 Tech Trend for boards in 2019!
• Scott Shawcroft Is Squeezing Python Into Microcontrollers - IEEE Spectrum Magazine article on the Python programming language for makers.
• Circuit Playground Express 4-H edition approved - The 4-H branded version was approved by the USDA, this is the first CircuitPython powered board that is also 4-H approved!
• CircuitPython in Space - CircuitPython provides an approachable and logical means of conducting science with hardware. Paired with low-cost hardware shown to work in space, we can enable an new generation to question and explore the unknown. With the necessary “satellite stuff” already baked in, students can spend their time trying something new rather than reinventing the wheel.
• Adafruit PyPortal: GUI meets CircuitPython in a Big Way - Disrupt It Yourself podcast on CircuitPython and the IoT device, PyPortal.
• Cool Tools - Sophy Wong Talks Circuit Playground Express including CircuitPython.
• CircuitPython for Rapid Microcontroller-Based Prototyping and Development - Digi-Key on the open source community's efforts adapting specific microcontrollers and dev boards to support serious microcontroller development using CircuitPython.
• HackSpace Magazine - Issue 17 - CircuitPython powered Adafruut Grand Central M4 Express review.
• Python on Hardware Means Choices for Makers by Liz Clark - Apress. CircuitPython (a fork of MicroPython that is designed from the ground up to be beginner friendly.) This allows end users to use Python for their electronics hardware projects similar to how they may have used C/C++ with the Arduino IDE.
• Method's Magazine - Methods eZine: Design Trends & the Transformation of Everything features Python on hardware, page 35 - PDF.
• HackSpace Magazine - Issue 15 - CircuitPython makes the cover on HackSpace Magazine with feature article, and projects.
• CircuitPython in 2019 - Community call for what's wanted and needed in CircuitPython for 2019.
• CircuitPython in 2018 - An article discussing the future directions for CircuitPython 2018 edition.
• CircuitPython on the Adafruit.com/blog - Adafruit Blog posts discussing CircuitPython.
• CircuitPython in MicroSolutions Digital Magazine - Microchip’s MicroSolutions, “Python on Microcontrollers” in Design Corner article. MicroSolutions is Microchip’s bi-monthly digital magazine.
• CircuitPython Snakes its Way onto Adafruit Hardware - An article by MAKE on CircuitPython.
• Adafruit Circuit Playground Express review - Raspberry Pi reviews the Circuit Playground Express.
• The Amp Hour #383 - An Interview with Scott Shawcroft.
• CircuitPython on Hackaday - Hackaday posts related to CircuitPython.
• CircuitPython on hackster.io - hackster.io posts related to CircuitPython.
• CircuitPython on MAKE - CircuitPython related content on MAKE.

Art

• CircuitPython Art Pack! Logos, banners, photos and Blinka! - Adafruit art relating to CircuitPython.

Social

• #CircuitPython tagged on Twitter, latest - Twitter posts tagged CircuitPython.
• CircuitPython Twitter - Twitter account aggregator for CircuitPython news and more.
• CircuitPython videos on YouTube, latest - YouTube posts tagged CircuitPython.
• #CircuitPython tagged photos & videos on Instagram - Posts on Instagram tagged CircuitPython.
• CircuitPython - micropython.org forums - Articles on the MicroPython forums tagged for CircuitPython.
• CircuitPython tagged on Reddit - Reddit posts relating to CircuitPython.
• CircuitPython community on Reddit - Dedicated home of CircuitPython on reddit /r/circuitpython/
• CircuitPython on Hackaday.io - Currated list of projects on hackaday.io
• CircuitPython on hackster.io - Python on hardware projects on hackster.io including CircuitPython.
• CircuitPython on Instructables - How-tos, guides, and more, using CircuitPython on Autodesk's Instructables.

Podcasts

• Weekly community chat on Adafruit Discord server CircuitPython channel - Audio / Podcast edition - Audio from the Discord chat space for CircuitPython, meetings are usually Mondays at 2pm ET, this is the audio version on iTunes, Pocket Casts, Spotify, and XML feed.
• Python on hardware weekly video cast - The wonderful world of Python on hardware! This is our video-newsletter-podcast of all things Python and electronics! The news comes from the Python community, discord, Adafruit communities and more. It’s part of the weekly newsletter, then we have a segment on ASK an ENGINEER and this is the video slice from that! This video podcast is on iTunes, YouTube, IGTV (Instagram TV), and XML.
• The Best Python Podcasts

Events

• Weekly community chat on Adafruit Discord server CircuitPython channel - The Discord chat space for CircuitPython, meetings are usually Mondays at 2pm ET.
• Weekly Adafruit Show-and-tell, Wednesday 7:30pm ET on Google+ Hangouts - The weekly Adafruit Show-and-tell program often has CircuitPython-related projects on display.
• ASK AN ENGINEER, Wednesday 8pm ET on YouTube LIVE - The longest running Youtube live show about electronics, information on CircuitPython each week during "Python on hardware segment".
• PyCon 2020 - Pittsburg, PA USA April 15-23, 2020, planned CircuitPython hardware and sprints.

Swag

• CircuitPython 6 release poster - CircuitPython release version 6 poster.
• CircuitPython 5 release poster - CircuitPython release version 5 poster.
• CircuitPython 4 release poster - CircuitPython release version 4 poster featuring Nordic.
• CircuitPython 3 release poster - CircuitPython release version 3 poster.
• Blinka the CircuitPython Limited Edition Enamel Pin - An enamel pin with the CircuitPython mascot.
• Blinka the CircuitPython Sticker - A sticker featuring Blinka, the CircuitPython mascot.
• Blinka the CircuitPython Temporary Tattoo - A temporary tattoo featuring the Blinka character.
• CircuitPlayground lanyard - CircuitPlayground lanyard featuring Blinka.

Talks

• PyCon India - 2019 Interactive Hardware Poster Presentation powered by CircuitPython by Ayan Pahwa and Aakanksha Agrawal
• Max Holiday - CircuitPython in space, SmallSats and more!
• EuroPython 2019 talk video: Nicholas Tollervey – Tools of the Trade: The Making of a Code Editor
• EuroPython 2019 talk video: Radomir Dopieralski – Game Development with CircuitPython
• VIDEO: PyCascades – Light Up Your Life – With Python and LEDs - Nina Zakharenko
• Hanselminutes Technology Podcast – Learning CircuitPython with Scott Shawcroft
• PyCon2019 Keynote: Python on Hardware – Nina Zakharenko
• MicroPython & the Internet of Things - MicroPython & the Internet of Things by Damien George at GOTO 2016
• Changing Lives through Open Source, Passion and Mentoring - Changing Lives through Open Source, Passion and Mentoring, Keynote by Kattni Rembor at Pyohio 2019
• CircuitPython: Python on hardware - CircuitPython: Python on hardware by Dave Astels at PyCon Canada
• Lighting Macro Photographs with CircuitPython - Lighting Macro Photographs with CircuitPython by Stacy Morse at PyCon Australia
• Embedded Programming for everyone using MicroPython and CircuitPython - Embedded Programming for everyone using MicroPython and CircuitPython by Ayan Pahwa at FOSSASIA Summit
• Writing fast and efficient MicroPython - Writing fast and efficient MicroPython by Damien George at PyCon Australia
• Extending MicroPython: Using C for good - A look at how MicroPython can be extended to add features and improve performance. By Matt Trentini at PyCon Australia

Contributing

Contributions and suggestions are always welcome! Please make pull requests from your own fork to modify Awesome CircuitPython.

The workflow is explained in detail here: Adafruit : Contribute to CircuitPython with Git and GitHub

Contribution Workflow Overview

1. Fork the repo on Github.
2. Clone the forked repo to your drive.
3. Add a remote using owner adafruit and the original URL.
4. Fetch the remote
5. Merge adafruit master (or main)
6. Create a branch
7. Make a change
8. Commit and push to your repo
9. Create a pull request on the official repo.
10. Once accepted, repeat by merging from the official repo to your fork's master, and re-branch.

License & Trademarks

To the extent possible under law, the authors have waived all copyright and related or neighbouring rights to this work.

Last updated: February 28, 2020