openbricks (host CLI + sim)
Host-side tooling for openbricks hubs — same UX as pybricksdev, built on commodity Python tooling (bleak, esptool, mpremote). One package, one console script: openbricks flash / list / run / upload / stop / log. The MuJoCo-backed simulator is built in too — openbricks sim … opens the sim's CLI when the [sim] extra is installed.
Website: https://openbricks.dev · Documentation: https://docs.openbricks.dev
Install
Recommended — with pipx so the CLI lands in an isolated venv and avoids the "externally managed environment" error on modern macOS / Linux distros:
pipx install openbricks # CLI only (lightweight; bleak / esptool / mpremote)
pipx install 'openbricks[sim]' # CLI + MuJoCo physics simulator
Plain pip works too:
pip install openbricks
pip install 'openbricks[sim]'
For development against a repo checkout (editable install):
pip install -e 'tools/openbricks[sim]'
[sim] adds mujoco (~50 MB, native OpenGL) and numpy — most users (flash + run + log) don't need it. Without [sim], openbricks sim … prints a helpful "pip install openbricks[sim]" hint instead of crashing.
Note: binary wheels (manylinux, macOS universal2, Windows AMD64; CPython 3.9–3.13) ship on PyPI since 0.10.3, so installs are toolchain-free on common platforms. On anything outside that matrix, pip falls back to the sdist and compiles the bundled native extension (
openbricks_sim._native), which needs a C compiler + Python headers.
Commands
flash — program a hub
openbricks flash \
--name RobotA \
--port /dev/tty.usbserial-XXXX \
--firmware native/micropython/ports/esp32/build-openbricks_esp32s3/firmware.bin
Writes the firmware image and bakes the hub's BLE advertising name into NVS. --name is mandatory: two hubs with the same name can't be individually addressed over BLE.
Port syntax: /dev/ttyUSB0 (Linux), /dev/cu.usbserial-* (macOS), COM5 (Windows).
Useful flags: --chip esp32s3, --baud 921600, --skip-erase (faster dev loop, keeps stale NVS).
list — scan for hubs
openbricks list [--timeout 5.0] [--all]
Runs a BLE scan and prints every named device found, sorted by RSSI (strongest first). --all includes unnamed devices too.
run — stage and launch; button stops it; client exits on stop
openbricks run -n RobotA examples/hello.py
Stages the script to /program.py (same target as upload) and triggers the hub's launcher to execute it immediately. Output streams back to your terminal in real time.
- Button stop. Pressing the hub button while the program runs raises
KeyboardInterruptvia the same launcher pathupload+button uses. The client sees the clean "stopped by button press" line and exits. - Program completion. When the program finishes (or raises), the client disconnects and exits — same as
pybricksdev run. - Script persists. Because
runstages to/program.py, the hub can re-run the last program via a button press without another upload.uploadandrundiffer only in whether the client auto-launches after upload.
Stderr (e.g. exception tracebacks) arrives after stdout and is surfaced with a blank-line separator. No paste-mode === echo — raw-paste mode is clean.
stop — interrupt the running program
openbricks stop -n RobotA
Sends a single Ctrl-C byte over the NUS REPL bridge, which MicroPython surfaces as KeyboardInterrupt. Useful when openbricks run has already exited but the hub's still chewing on a long-running user program.
upload — stage a script; hub button launches it
openbricks upload -n RobotA examples/wander.py
Writes the script to /program.py on the hub. The code does not run automatically. Place your robot, press the program button (GPIO 4), and the program starts. Press again to stop it mid-run.
(Pybricks calls this same operation download from the hub's "download to me" perspective. We name by direction-of-data-travel — bytes flow up to the hub, hence upload.)
This works because the firmware ships a frozen main.py that:
- Brings BLE + REPL bridge up immediately (so
openbricks run/upload/stopare always reachable, even when no program is running). - Instantiates the board's Hub, which wires the BLE-toggle button (short-press on GPIO 5) with LED feedback.
- Watches the program button (GPIO 4) via
openbricks.launcher.run()— a short-press runs/program.py, a second short-press raisesKeyboardInterruptin the running program.
Two separate pins (4 for program, 5 for BLE toggle), each handled by short-press only — no duration-based dispatch.
Pass --path /alt.py to stage at a different filename (if you've written your own main.py that reads from there).
Tests
cd tools/openbricks
PYTHONPATH=. python -m unittest discover -s tests -t .
No real hardware needed — esptool, mpremote, and bleak are mocked.
1 maintainer
Release files for openbricks 4.2.0
For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.
Source distribution (sdist)
| File | Size | Uploaded | |
|---|---|---|---|
| openbricks-4.2.0.tar.gz | 6.2 MB | Details |
Built distributions (wheels)
Total release size: 96.4 MB
Release files / openbricks-4.2.0.tar.gz
| Download URL | openbricks-4.2.0.tar.gz |
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| Size | 6.2 MB |
| Tags | Source |
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