install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install esptool

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%

sudo port install esptool

MacPorts ports tree · cross/esptool/Portfile · source: api.github.com

Linux

Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%

sudo apk add esptool

Alpine Linux edge package indexes · esptool · source: dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org

Debian aptverified · 92%

sudo apt install esptool

Debian stable package indexes · esptool · source: deb.debian.org

Fedora dnfverified · 92%

sudo dnf install esptool

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · esptool · source: dl.fedoraproject.org

Nixverified · 92%

nix profile install nixpkgs#esptool

nixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/es/esptool/package.nix · source: api.github.com

Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%

sudo pacman -S esptool

Arch Linux sync databases · esptool · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com

overview

Package summary

ESP8266 and ESP32 serial bootloader utility

Project links

Commands and aliases

esp_rfc2217_server
esp_rfc2217_server.py
espefuse
espefuse.py
espsecure
espsecure.py
esptool
esptool.py

history

Project history and usage

esptool is Espressif's Python-based, platform-independent serial utility for flashing, provisioning, and interacting with Espressif SoCs.

Project history

The official repository says esptool was initially created by Fredrik Ahlberg and later maintained by Angus Gratton; it is now supported by Espressif Systems and has received community improvements. That history reflects its move from community ESP8266 tooling into the vendor-supported flashing utility for the broader Espressif chip family.

Adoption history

As ESP8266 and ESP32 boards became common in hobbyist, IoT, and embedded development, esptool became the packaging target for the host-side operation everyone needed: moving firmware images onto chips over serial. Its distribution through Homebrew and many Linux package managers mirrors its role as infrastructure rather than as an application.

Espressif's documentation and repository describe a tool that spans flashing, provisioning, secure operations, eFuse management, remote serial ports, scripting, and chip-specific targets. That breadth made it a dependency under higher-level build systems as well as a direct CLI for firmware developers.

How it is used

The core workflow is `esptool write-flash`, where users provide a serial port and flash offsets plus one or more binary files. The documentation notes automatic chip detection for writing, serial transfer compression by default, erase behavior before writes, and options for skipping unchanged content or fast reflashing.

The Homebrew package also installs companion commands such as `espefuse`, `espsecure`, and `esp_rfc2217_server`, so package users get both everyday flashing and lower-level provisioning, security, and remote serial helpers from the same source package.

Why package nerds care

esptool is one of those packages that quietly defines an ecosystem: if an OS package set wants embedded developers to flash ESP boards without a vendor IDE, it ships esptool. Its Python implementation, cross-platform serial behavior, and explicit config-file search paths make it easy to package and script.

Timeline

2010s: Community-created esptool becomes the standard serial bootloader utility for ESP8266 and ESP32 development.
2016: Espressif-hosted documentation copyright period begins for the current docs site.
2020s: Espressif maintains esptool as the official multi-chip flashing, provisioning, and interaction utility.

Related projects

espflash cites esptool.py as an influence; ESP-IDF build and monitor workflows commonly sit next to esptool in Espressif development setups.

Sources

security posture

Risk level: blue

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.

Risk classifier

blue risk · medium confidence · tool

Why

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal

Signals

text:server

Install behavior

No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 6 platform targets.
Installs with 3 runtime dependencies.
Build metadata lists 1 build dependencies.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

local files

Configuration and credential file locations

These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval.

Configuration files

Config paths the tool may read or write during local use.

Linux: /home/<user>/.config/esptool/esptool.cfg
macOS: /Users/<user>/.config/esptool/esptool.cfg
Unix: ./esptool.cfg~/esptool.cfg./setup.cfg./tox.ini
Windows: c:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\esptool\esptool.cfgc:\Users\<user>\esptool.cfg

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure
`esp_rfc2217_server`	cli	global executable
`esp_rfc2217_server.py`	cli	global executable
`espefuse`	cli	global executable
`espefuse.py`	cli	global executable
`espsecure`	cli	global executable
`espsecure.py`	cli	global executable
`esptool`	cli	global executable
`esptool.py`	cli	global executable

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-07-08

manager version5.3.1

manager updated2026-06-30

local dataok

upstreamnot checked

latest detectednot detected

https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esptool/en/latest/esp32/

infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esptool/en/latest/esp32/none confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:esptool
Version	5.3.1
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/esptool
Homepage	https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esptool/en/latest/esp32/
Repository	https://github.com/espressif/esptool
Upstream docs	https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esptool/en/latest
License	GPL-2.0-or-later
Source archive	https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/76/ac/d2016cf6b3709d0e0166f45f84bc6e2d717757b5f59020ccb34de08d1b9b/esptool-5.3.1.tar.gz
Last updated	2026-06-30T09:25:50Z
Pulse	updated
Dependencies	cryptography, libyaml, python@3.14
Build dependencies	rust
Bottle	available (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-install	not defined
Service	none declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source Database	Homebrew formula API
Tap	homebrew/core
Full Name	esptool
Version Scheme	0
Revision	0
Bottle Stable Root URL	https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecated	no
Disabled	no
Keg Only	no
URL Keys	stable

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Debian apt95%

esptool 4.7.0+dfsg-0.1

create and flash firmware files to ESP8266 and ESP32 chips

https://github.com/espressif/esptool

sudo apt install esptool

Section: electronics
Architecture: all
8 dependencies
1 optional deps
normalized package name match
Matched by: Esptool

Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: esptool from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

Nix95%

esptool

nix profile install nixpkgs#esptool

normalized package name match
Matched by: Esptool

nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/es/esptool/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

Ubuntu apt95%

esptool 4.7.0+dfsg-0.1

create and flash firmware files to ESP8266 and ESP32 chips

https://github.com/espressif/esptool

sudo apt install esptool

Section: universe/electronics
Architecture: all
8 dependencies
1 optional deps
normalized package name match
Matched by: Esptool

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: esptool from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

apk95%

esptool 4.8.1-r0

ESP8266 and ESP32 serial bootloader utility

https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esptool

sudo apk add esptool

License: GPL-2.0-or-later
Architecture: x86_64
Source Package: esptool
1 dependencies
1 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Esptool

Alpine Linux edge package indexes · dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org · Alpine Linux edge package indexes: esptool from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz

apk95%

esptool-pyc 4.8.1-r0

Precompiled Python bytecode for esptool

https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esptool

sudo apk add esptool-pyc

License: GPL-2.0-or-later
Architecture: x86_64
Source Package: esptool
1 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Esptool

Alpine Linux edge package indexes · dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org · Alpine Linux edge package indexes: esptool-pyc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz

dnf95%

esptool 5.2.0-2.fc45

A utility to communicate with the ROM bootloader in Espressif ESP8266 & ESP32

https://github.com/espressif/esptool

sudo dnf install esptool

License: GPL-2.0-or-later
Category: Unspecified
Architecture: noarch
Source Package: esptool
3 dependencies
4 provides
normalized package name match
Matched by: Esptool

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: esptool from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst

pacman95%

esptool 5.2.0-1

Espressif SoC serial bootloader utility

https://github.com/espressif/esptool

sudo pacman -S esptool

License: GPL-2.0-only
Architecture: any
11 dependencies
1 optional deps
normalized package name match
Matched by: Esptool

Arch Linux sync databases · geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com · Arch Linux sync databases: esptool from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz

MacPorts95%

esptool

sudo port install esptool

normalized package name match
Matched by: Esptool

MacPorts ports tree · api.github.com · MacPorts ports tree: cross/esptool/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/esptool.yml

Used sources

Geiger risk classifier
Nucleus package database
av.db category and tag curation
cross-ecosystem install command graph
curated configuration and credential file locations
curated package history
external package-manager database matches
package relationship graph
package version freshness
package-page enrichment

Install esptool with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman

Additional install commands

macOS

Linux

Package summary

Project links

Commands and aliases

Project history and usage

Project history

Adoption history

How it is used

Why package nerds care

Timeline

Related projects

Sources

Risk level: blue

Risk classifier

Why

Signals

Install behavior

Recommended review

Configuration and credential file locations

Configuration files

Installed executables

Version and freshness

Package metadata

Source database details

Other package-manager records

Internal package links

Topical hubs

Related tools

Same workflow

Agent security guides

Generated from repository data

Combined YAML source

Used sources