esp-hosted

ESP-Hosted

ESP-Hosted, an open-source connectivity solution, leverages Espressif SoCs as dedicated wireless co-processors for Linux systems and microcontrollers.

It offloads protocol management to the co-processor, providing the host with full Wi-Fi, Bluetooth/BLE, and Thread capabilities via standard peripheral buses (SDIO, SPI, or UART).

Key features

• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth/BLE and 802.15.4 over a single wired link
• Fully open source code — both co-processor and host
• Broad host support: an MCU, or Linux
• Several buses: SDIO, SPI, SPI-HD, UART, and combinations
• Standard Wi-Fi security: Open, WPA, WPA2, WPA3
• Classic Bluetooth, BLE, BTDM (4.2..6.0)
• Shared networking: ESP and host can share the same IP address
• Power efficient: low power modes for battery-powered use cases

High-Level Architecture

ESP-Hosted Solutions

esp-hosted-linux

FullMAC solution for Linux hosts:

• Single step solution
• Seamless, out-of-the-box connectivity
• Native Wi-Fi interface (wlan0)
• Linux cfg80211 integration
• wpa_supplicant and NetworkManager support
• Bluetooth using HCI
• 802.11 MAC runs on the ESP co-processor

esp-hosted-mcu

RPC-based solution for MCU and Linux hosts:

• ESP-IDF way: fully-compatible ESP-IDF APIs, and event handlers usable at host
• App controls everything. APIs translate into portable protobuf based RPC requests to co-processor
• Host can use esp_event for co-processor events transparently
• Users can send their custom frames between host and co-processor
• 802.3 Ethernet interface
• Bluetooth using HCI
• 802.15.4 supports Thread and Zigbee
• Host and ESP can share a single IP address while the ESP maintains connectivity during host sleep

Choosing the Right Solution

The first question is how the host wants to reach Wi-Fi.

Host	Host Wi-Fi interface	Solution
Linux	Linux networking stack: wlan0, cfg80211, wpa_supplicant, NetworkManager	esp-hosted-linux
Linux or MCU	ESP-IDF esp_wifi_*() APIs	esp-hosted-mcu

By use case:

Use case	Recommended
Standard Linux Wi-Fi config (NetworkManager, wpa_supplicant)	esp-hosted-linux
A native wireless interface, so existing tooling and scripts keep working	esp-hosted-linux
Linux with custom or proprietary control over Wi-Fi	esp-hosted-mcu
Embedded Linux boards (Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone)	either
ESP-IDF application code that should run unchanged on the host	esp-hosted-mcu
Wi-Fi in AP + station mode on Linux	esp-hosted-mcu
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth/BLE together	either
Classic Bluetooth	either
Connectivity kept up while the host sleeps	either

Solution Comparison

ESP-Hosted-Linux — FullMAC ESP-Hosted-MCU — custom solution

Seamless connectivity

Out-of-the-box networking

Existing Linux tooling and scripts keep working

Both Linux and MCU hosts use standard ESP-IDF APIs

Single co-processor firmware for MCU and Linux hosts

Same host app works on MPU and MCU

See the detailed comparison to understand how the two solutions differ.

Getting Started

Active development is currently taking place in these repositories:

Repository	Purpose	Support
esp-hosted-linux	Standard Linux Solution	Linux Issues
esp-hosted-mcu	Custom solution for MCU and Linux hosts	MCU Issues

Contributing and issues

Contributions are welcome — bug reports, fixes, new features and documentation. ESP-Hosted is developed in the open, and every change goes through review. For anything substantial, please open an issue first so the approach can be agreed before you write the code.

️ Legacy implementations

Legacy implementation	Migrated to	Status	Code
ESP-Hosted-NG	esp-hosted-linux	Legacy	legacy/fg-ng
ESP-Hosted-FG	esp-hosted-mcu	Legacy	legacy/fg-ng