Introducing the Adafruit nRF52840 Feather

These are some of the common questions regarding CircuitPython and CircuitPython microcontrollers.

As we continue to develop CircuitPython and create new releases, we will stop supporting older releases. Visit https://circuitpython.org/downloads to download the latest version of CircuitPython for your board. You must download the CircuitPython Library Bundle that matches your version of CircuitPython. Please update CircuitPython and then visit https://circuitpython.org/libraries to download the latest Library Bundle.

I have to continue using CircuitPython 3.x or 2.x, where can I find compatible libraries?

We are no longer building or supporting the CircuitPython 2.x and 3.x library bundles. We highly encourage you to update CircuitPython to the latest version and use the current version of the libraries. However, if for some reason you cannot update, you can find the last available 2.x build here and the last available 3.x build here.

Is ESP8266 or ESP32 supported in CircuitPython? Why not?

We are dropping ESP8266 support as of 4.x - For more information please read about it here!

https://learn.adafruit.com/welcome-to-circuitpython/circuitpython-for-esp8266

How do I connect to the Internet with CircuitPython?

If you'd like to add WiFi support, check out our guide on ESP32/ESP8266 as a co-processor.

Is there asyncio support in CircuitPython

We do not have asyncio support in CircuitPython at this time

My RGB NeoPixel/DotStar LED is blinking funny colors - what does it mean?

The status LED can tell you what's going on with your CircuitPython board. Read more here for what the colors mean!

What is a `MemoryError`?

Memory allocation errors happen when you're trying to store too much on the board. The CircuitPython microcontroller boards have a limited amount of memory available. You can have about 250 lines of code on the M0 Express boards. If you try to import too many libraries, a combination of large libraries, or run a program with too many lines of code, your code will fail to run and you will receive a MemoryError in the serial console (REPL).

What do I do when I encounter a `MemoryError`?

Try resetting your board. Each time you reset the board, it reallocates the memory. While this is unlikely to resolve your issue, it's a simple step and is worth trying.

Make sure you are using .mpy versions of libraries. All of the CircuitPython libraries are available in the bundle in a .mpy format which takes up less memory than .py format. Be sure that you're using the latest library bundle for your version of CircuitPython.

If that does not resolve your issue, try shortening your code. Shorten comments, remove extraneous or unneeded code, or any other clean up you can do to shorten your code. If you're using a lot of functions, you could try moving those into a separate library, creating a .mpy of that library, and importing it into your code.

You can turn your entire file into a .mpy and import that into code.py. This means you will be unable to edit your code live on the board, but it can save you space.

Can the order of my `import` statements affect memory?

It can because the memory gets fragmented differently depending on allocation order and the size of objects. Loading .mpy files uses less memory so its recommended to do that for files you aren't editing.

How can I create my own `.mpy` files?

You can make your own .mpy versions of files with mpy-cross.

You can download the CircuitPython 2.x version of mpy-cross for your operating system from the CircuitPython Releases page under the latest 2.x version.

You can build mpy-cross for CircuitPython 3.x by cloning the CircuitPython GitHub repo, and running make in the circuitpython/mpy-cross/ directory. Then run ./mpy-cross path/to/foo.py to create a foo.mpy in the same directory as the original file.