The mpremote command line tool is used to interact with a MicroPython device over a USB/serial connection. It's an official part of MicroPython, well featured, and it works more reliably than competing tools. However, mpremote exhibits an unconventional and slightly awkward Linux command line interface. mpremote allows "chaining" of multiple sequential commands but the vast majority of users merely want to copy/delete files etc and unfortunately the mpremote user interface compromises usability for those most common use-cases. Also, users expect in-built help for all commands so they can easily see usage and expected arguments (e.g. like git provides).
So mpr presents an alternative interface which wraps mpremote to make it appear like a conventional Linux command line tool where only a single command is accepted (although there are global options to connect an explicit device; and/or mount a local directory before that command; and/or reset/reboot after the command). Unlike mpremote, mpr always allows you to exploit your shell wildcard abilities to pass multiple file/directory arguments to commands. Full in-built usage help is available for the tool, and each of it's commands (see Usage section below). It also provides a novel shortcut mechanism to infer target device directories based on where on your local PC you are copying files from or to. There are a few other nice features. The following session shows small examples of mpr in use.
$ tree
./
├── Makefile
├── boot.py
├── main.py
├── package_a.py
└── package_b/
├── file1.py
└── file2.py
# View the inbuild usage/help for the put command (Note you can just type
# mpr without any arguments to see all available commands, see Usage
# section below):
$ mpr put -h
usage: mpr put [-h] [-f] [-r] src [src ...] dst
Copy one or more local files to directory on device.
positional arguments:
src name of local source file[s] on PC
dst name of destination dir on device
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-f, --file destination is file, not directory
-r, --recursive copy local directory recursively to / on device
# Copy all Python files to root on device:
$ mpr put *.py /
cp boot.py :boot.py
cp main.py :main.py
cp package_a.py :package_a.py
# Create package_b dir and copy all package_b Python files:
$ mpr mkdir package_b
mkdir :package_b
$ cd package_b
# The following exploits mpr's directory inference feature to save typing
# the target directory, see Directory/Path Inference section below:
$ mpr put *.py //
cp file1.py :package_b/file1.py
cp file2.py :package_b/file2.py
# Connect to explicit 1st port, mount local dir, and then import main.py:
$ mpr -d id:0001 -m . exec 'import main'
...
I have developed this tool on Linux. The latest version and documentation is available at https://github.com/bulletmark/mpr.
Arch Linux users can install mpr from the AUR.
Python 3.7 or later is required. The mpremote program must
be installed. Note mpr is on
PyPI so just ensure that
pipx is installed then type the
following:
$ pipx install mpr
To upgrade:
$ pipx upgrade mpr
Type mpr or mpr -h to view the usage summary:
usage: mpr [-h] [-d DEVICE] [-m MOUNT] [-M MOUNT_UNSAFE_LINKS] [-x]
[-b] [-p PATH_TO_MPREMOTE] [--mip-list-url MIP_LIST_URL]
[-v] [-V]
{get,g,put,p,copy,c,ls,mkdir,mkd,rmdir,rmd,rm,touch,edit,e,reset,x,reboot,b,repl,r,list,l,devs,run,xrun,xr,exec,eval,mip,m,bootloader,df,rtc,version,config,cf}
...
This is a command line tool to wrap the MicroPython mpremote tool and provide
a more conventional command line interface. Multiple arguments can be
specified for commands and inbuilt usage help is provided for all commands.
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-d DEVICE, --device DEVICE
serial port/device to connect to, default is "auto".
Specify "-d list" to print out device mnemonics that
can be used.
-m MOUNT, --mount MOUNT
mount local directory on device before command
-M MOUNT_UNSAFE_LINKS, --mount-unsafe-links MOUNT_UNSAFE_LINKS
mount local directory and allow external links
-x, --reset do soft reset after command
-b, --reboot do hard reboot after command
-p PATH_TO_MPREMOTE, --path-to-mpremote PATH_TO_MPREMOTE
path to mpremote program. Assumes same directory as
this program, or then just "mpremote"
--mip-list-url MIP_LIST_URL
mip list url for packages,
default="https://micropython.org/pi/v2/index.json"
-v, --verbose print mpremote execution command line (for debug)
-V, --version print mpr version
Commands:
{get,g,put,p,copy,c,ls,mkdir,mkd,rmdir,rmd,rm,touch,edit,e,reset,x,reboot,b,repl,r,list,l,devs,run,xrun,xr,exec,eval,mip,m,bootloader,df,rtc,version,config,cf}
get (g) Copy one or more files from device to local directory.
put (p) Copy one or more local files to directory on device.
copy (c) Copy one of more remote files to a directory on
device.
ls List directory on device.
mkdir (mkd) Create the given directory[s] on device.
rmdir (rmd) Remove the given directory[s] on device.
rm Remove the given file[s] on device.
touch Touch the given file[s] on device.
edit (e) Edit the given file[s] on device.
reset (x) Soft reset the device.
reboot (b) Hard reboot the device.
repl (r) Enter REPL on device.
list (l, devs) List currently connected devices.
run Run the given local program on device.
xrun (xr) Tool to compile and run a local application/program on
device.
exec Execute the given strings on device.
eval Evaluate and print the given strings on device.
mip (m) Install packages from micropython-lib or third-party
sources.
bootloader Enter bootloader on device.
df Show flash usage on device.
rtc Get/set the Real Time Clock (RTC) time from/to device.
version Show mpremote version.
config (cf) Open the mpr configuration file with your editor.
Type "mpr <command> -h" to see specific help/usage for any of the above
commands. Some commands offer a short alias as seen in brackets above. Note
you can set default options in ~/.config/mpr.conf (e.g. for --path-to-mpremote
or --mip-list-url). Use "mpr config" to conveniently change the file.
Type mpr <command> -h to see specific help/usage for any
individual command:
usage: mpr get [-h] [-f] src [src ...] dst
Copy one or more files from device to local directory.
positional arguments:
src name of source file[s] on device
dst name of local destination dir on PC, or "-" for stdout
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-f, --file destination is file, not directory
aliases: g
usage: mpr put [-h] [-f] [-r] src [src ...] dst
Copy one or more local files to directory on device.
positional arguments:
src name of local source file[s] on PC
dst name of destination dir on device
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-f, --file destination is file, not directory
-r, --recursive copy local directory recursively to / on device
aliases: p
usage: mpr copy [-h] [-f] src [src ...] dst
Copy one of more remote files to a directory on device.
positional arguments:
src name of source file[s] on device
dst name of destination dir on device
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-f, --file destination is file, not directory
aliases: c
usage: mpr ls [-h] [dir]
List directory on device.
positional arguments:
dir name of dir (default: /)
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
aliases: <none>
usage: mpr mkdir [-h] [-q] dir [dir ...]
Create the given directory[s] on device.
positional arguments:
dir name of dir[s]
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-q, --quiet supress normal and error output
aliases: mkd
usage: mpr rmdir [-h] [-q] [--rf] [-d DEPTH] dir [dir ...]
Remove the given directory[s] on device.
positional arguments:
dir name of dir[s]
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-q, --quiet supress normal and error output
--rf force remove given directories and files recursively
and quietly
-d DEPTH, --depth DEPTH
use with --rf to remove paths recursively to given
depth only, 1="/*", 2="/*/*", etc. Default is no
limit.
aliases: rmd
usage: mpr rm [-h] [-q] [--rf] [-d DEPTH] file [file ...]
Remove the given file[s] on device.
positional arguments:
file name of file[s]
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-q, --quiet supress normal and error output
--rf force remove given directories and files recursively
and quietly
-d DEPTH, --depth DEPTH
use with --rf to remove paths recursively to given
depth only, 1="/*", 2="/*/*", etc. Default is no
limit.
aliases: <none>
usage: mpr touch [-h] file [file ...]
Touch the given file[s] on device.
positional arguments:
file name of file[s]
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
aliases: <none>
usage: mpr edit [-h] file [file ...]
Edit the given file[s] on device. Copies the file from device, opens your
editor on that local file, then copies it back.
positional arguments:
file name of file[s]
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
aliases: e
usage: mpr reset [-h]
Soft reset the device.
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
aliases: x
usage: mpr reboot [-h] [delay_ms]
Hard reboot the device.
positional arguments:
delay_ms optional delay before reboot (millisecs)
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
aliases: b
usage: mpr repl [-h] [-e] [-c CAPTURE] [-x INJECT_CODE]
[-i INJECT_FILE]
Enter REPL on device.
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-e, --escape-non-printable
print non-printable bytes/chars as hex codes
-c CAPTURE, --capture CAPTURE
capture output of the REPL session to given file
-x INJECT_CODE, --inject-code INJECT_CODE
characters to inject at the REPL when Ctrl-J is
pressed
-i INJECT_FILE, --inject-file INJECT_FILE
file to inject at the REPL when Ctrl-K is pressed
aliases: r
usage: mpr list [-h]
List currently connected devices.
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
aliases: l, devs
usage: mpr run [-h] [-f] script [script ...]
Run the given local program on device.
positional arguments:
script script to run
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-f, --no-follow do not keep following output, return immediately
aliases: <none>
usage: mpr xrun [-h] [-f] [-D DEPTH] [-o] [-C] [-e EXCLUDE]
[--map MAP] [-1] [-X PATH_TO_MPY_CROSS]
[prog] [args ...]
Tool to compile and run a local application/program on device. Displays
program output in your local terminal using mpremote and, in parallel, it
waits watching for edits/changes to Python source files in the associated
directory tree on your host. When changes are detected then new .mpy bytecode
files for changed files are compiled using mpy-cross in a hidden cache
directory on your host and then copied to the device. The specified program is
then restarted and redisplayed in your local terminal. Command line arguments
on the host can be passed to the program via sys.argv on the device. Only .mpy
bytecode files are copied to the device, never .py source files, and the
specified prog[.py] is imported to run as a .mpy file. So you run this utility
in one terminal window while you edit your source files in other windows and
your program will be automatically restarted and redisplayed each time you
save your changes. Since all bytecode compilation is done on your host, not on
the remote device, your development workflow is faster to build, load, and
run; and device memory usage is significantly reduced. Note that you can
specify default options for this command locally in your working directory in
mpr-xrun.conf, or globally in ~/.config/mpr-xrun.conf.
positional arguments:
prog name of .py module to run, e.g. "main.py". If not
specified then new .mpy files are merely compiled and
copied to the device.
args optional arguments to pass in sys.argv to started
program. Separate with -- if switch options are passed
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-f, --flush flush cache and force update of all .mpy files at
start
-D DEPTH, --depth DEPTH
directory depth limit, 1 = current directory only
-o, --only only monitor the specified program file, not the whole
directory/tree
-C, --compile-only just compile new .mpy files, don't copy to device or
run any program
-e EXCLUDE, --exclude EXCLUDE
exclude specified directory or file from monitoring.
Can specify this option multiple times. If you exclude
a directory then all files/dirs below it are also
excluded. Default excludes are "main.py" and
"boot.py". Any specified runnable "prog" file is
removed from the excludes list.
--map MAP map specified source name to different target name
when run as main prog, e.g. "main:main1" to map
main.py -> main1.mpy on target and "main1" will be
run. Can specify this option multiple times, e.g. may
want to map main.py and boot.py permanently for when
you run either as prog.
-1, --once run once only
-X PATH_TO_MPY_CROSS, --path-to-mpy-cross PATH_TO_MPY_CROSS
path to mpy-cross program. Assumes same directory as
this program, or then just "mpy-cross"
aliases: xr
usage: mpr exec [-h] [-f] string [string ...]
Execute the given strings on device.
positional arguments:
string string to execute
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-f, --no-follow do not keep following output, return immediately
aliases: <none>
usage: mpr eval [-h] string [string ...]
Evaluate and print the given strings on device.
positional arguments:
string string to evaluate
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
aliases: <none>
usage: mpr mip [-h] [-n] [-t TARGET] [-i INDEX]
{install,list} [package ...]
Install packages from micropython-lib or third-party sources.
positional arguments:
{install,list} mip command
package package specifications, e.g. "name", "name@version",
"github.org/repo", "github.org/repo@branch"
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-n, --no-mpy download .py files, not compiled .mpy files
-t TARGET, --target TARGET
destination directory on device, default="/lib"
-i INDEX, --index INDEX
package index to use, default="micropython-lib"
aliases: m
usage: mpr bootloader [-h]
Enter bootloader on device.
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
aliases: <none>
usage: mpr df [-h]
Show flash usage on device.
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
aliases: <none>
usage: mpr rtc [-h] [-s]
Get/set the Real Time Clock (RTC) time from/to device.
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-s, --set set the RTC to the current PC time, default is to get the time
aliases: <none>
usage: mpr version [-h]
Show mpremote version.
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
aliases: <none>
usage: mpr config [-h]
Open the mpr configuration file with your editor.
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
aliases: cf
This section describes differences that users transitioning from mpremote to mpr should be aware of.
The usage/arguments of individual mpremote commands are not easily discoverable. mpr overcomes this by providing in-built full usage help for every individual command:
# See overall help:
$ mpr (or mpr -h)
# See help for a specific command:
$ mpr mkdir -h
Unlike mpremote, mpr implements each command as a standard Pythog Argparse subparser which means the help output is automatically generated from the software code so the user can be confident the help output is complete, and the individual command descriptions are syntactically accurate.
Most mpremote commands are available, but some are implemented in a
different manner. Commands can not be chained, but that is usually only
required for the mpremote connect and mount commands. In mpr, these
two commands are available as global command line options, not as
explicit commands. So for example, to connect to a specific device and
mount your local directory before importing a module in mpremote you can
do the following:
$ mpremote connect id:0001 mount . exec 'import test'
The equivalent mpr command is:
$ mpr -d id:0001 -m . exec 'import test'
All device full path names and mpremote defined shortcut
names can be used for the -d/--device
option. For convenience, you can type mpr -d list to print out the
standard mpremote device names and shortcuts.
The cp command in mpremote is implemented with explicit get and
put commands in mpr so there is no need for the user to use a : char
to infer direction.
mpr provides shortcut aliases for the most commonly used longer
commands, e.g. r for repl, p for put, and g for get. See the
main help/usage for a list of all commands and their aliases. E.g,
the command mpr put *.py / can instead be tersely typed as: mpr p *.py /.
Note that the mpr get, put, and copy commands always expect the
specified target argument to be a directory, so if you want to rename a
file when you copy it then you must explicitly indicate the target to be
a file using the -f/--file option, e.g.
$ mpr get file.py newfile.py
# The above will fetch file.py to file.py/newfile.py which is not what
# you want. Add -f switch to specify that the target is a file:
$ mpr get -f file.py newfile.py
Commands mkdir, rmdir, and rm have a -q/--quiet option added to
suppress normal and error output. E.g. you could use this in a script to
ignore a mkdir error when the directory already exists.
The fs command is redundant in mpremote so is not implemented in mpr.
soft-reset is implemented in mpr as reset. Hardware reset is
implemented in mpr as reboot. Mpr also adds global options to reset
(-x/--reset) or reboot (-b/--reboot) after the specified command is
run.
The cat command is implemented differently. Instead type mpr get file.py - to pipe a file to standard output.
The disconnect, resume, and umount commands are appropriate for
use with "chained" commands which are not relevant to mpr so are not
implemented.
You can not define shortcuts/macros with mpr, although all the standard macros within mpremote are available in mpr. Of course you can create standard shell based aliases and/or scripts invoking mpr if you want.
The mip command in mpremote currently only offers an install
sub-command but mpr also offers a list sub-command which fetches all
package descriptions from micropython.org and then prints their names,
versions, and descriptions.
There are some undocumented features in mpremote which have been added to mpr as they are discovered.
- The
rebootcommand can accept an optional millisecs delay. - The
putcommand (cpin mpremote) can copy a specified local directory recursively to root (/) on the device.
mpremote provides shortcut names, e.g:
a0, a1, a2, a3 - connect to /dev/ttyACMn
u0, u1, u2, u3 - connect to /dev/ttyUSBn
c0, c1, c2, c3 - connect to COMn
However for mpremote this only works for those first 4 devices of each
type (as per this
bug) so
instead mpr converts these shortcuts itself so you can use up to any
number you want, e.g: mpr -d u10 ls is a shortcut for mpr -d /dev/ttyUSB10 ls.
Use mpr -d list to remind yourself of device and shortcut names.
mpremote allows you to delete one or more specified files but does not
provide a mechanism to recursively delete a whole directory and it's
files. Since this is commonly desired, mpr adds a --rf option to
both the rm and rmdir commands. The specified directory and it files
are deleted recursively (although the top/root directory / is always
preserved). Some examples:
# Remove all files and directories on the device (but preserve '/'):
$ mpr rm --rf /
# Remove /lib/ directory completely (including it's files/dirs):
$ mpr rm --rf /lib
# Remove the top level files but preserve any directories:
$ mpr rm --rf --depth 1 /
mpremote (and thus mpr) provides the run command to run a single
python file on the connected device. However, this proves inadequate
when developing any significant application which is comprised of
multiple files, and sometimes in various package directories. So mpr
adds an xrun command (think extended run).
Running the xrun command in an application's directory runs that
program and displays program output in your local terminal. In parallel,
it waits watching for edits/changes to Python source files in that
directory tree on your host. When changes are detected then new .mpy
bytecode files for changed files are compiled using mpy-cross in a
hidden cache directory on your host and then copied to the device. The
specified program is then restarted and redisplayed in your local
terminal. Command line arguments on the host can be passed to the
program via sys.argv on the device. Only .mpy bytecode files are
copied to the device, never .py source files, and the specified
prog[.py] is imported to run as a .mpy file. So you run this utility
in one terminal window while you edit your source files in other windows
and your program will be automatically restarted and redisplayed each
time you save your changes. Since all bytecode compilation is done on
your host, not on the remote device, your development workflow is faster
to build, load, and run; and device memory usage is significantly
reduced.
Note that mpr does not automatically create the required mirror of
directories for your files on the device. You are expected to initially
create/update these manually using the mpr mkdir and/or mpr rmdir
commands.
Note that you can specify default options for the xrun command locally
in your working directory in mpr-xrun.conf, or globally in
~/.config/mpr-xrun.conf.
You can set default global starting options for your user in
~/.config/mpr.conf. E.g. use this to set a default
--path-to-mpremote setting so it does not have to be specified each
time. Blank lines and anything after a # on any line is ignored.
E.g. create ~/.config/mpr.conf with contents:
--path-to-mpremote ~/.local/bin/mpremote
Now you need only specify the command, e.g. mpr ls and it will use
that specified ~/.local/bin/mpremote program.
You can use the mpr config command to conveniently change this file
(merely as a shortcut to explicitly specifying your editor and the path
to the file). You can keep commented out configurations for a number of
different settings in your file (e.g. various --device and/or
--mount options) and switch between them by un-commenting the lines
you want to use.
Note that the xrun command can be independently set with it's own
default options as described in the previous section.
For the following discussion, assume you have a project structured as follows on your local machine and the same directory hierarchy is used on your target device.
./
├── file1.py
├── file2.py
└── mymodule/
├── file3.py
├── file4.py
└── templates/
├── file5.tpl
└── file6.tpl
mpr automatically appends the target file name when appropriate, e.g.
if you are sitting in the root of the above tree, you only need to type
mpr put file1.py / instead of mpr put file1.py /file1.py. For this
reason, you can copy multiple files with mpr put file1.py file2.py /
or mpr put *.py /. Further to this, mpr can also infer the
appropriate target directory as described next.
If you are currently sitting in the directory mymodule/templates/ on
your local machine and you want to copy file5.tpl to the
/mymodule/templates/ on the target device then the command you would
naively use is:
$ mpr put file5.tpl /mymodule/templates
To avoid this verbose typing, mpr allows you to instead use the following shortcut because mpr can "infer" the full target path based on your current local directory:
$ mpr put file5.tpl ///
To then remove that same file from the target device:
$ mpr rm ///file5.tpl
I.e., mpr intercepts the two redundant lead slashes for the above two
cases and automatically inserts the parent and current directory names
in the path string (determined from the current directory on your local
machine). To be clear, if you are sitting one level above in the
mymodule directory then the command to copy to that same directory on
the target device is:
$ mpr put file3.py //
You can also use this shorthand for source files/dirs by inserting a
sequence of leading slashes as a "dummy" argument. Once set, that dummy
argument sets the default directory for the following arguments. E.g. if
you are sitting in the local templates directory then to delete all
the *.tpl files in the same directory on the target you can type:
$ mpr rm /// file5.tpl file6.tpl
or just:
$ mpr rm /// *.tpl
Note the 2nd "trick" above exploits the wildcard file list generated by your shell to pass those local file names to the remote device. It assumes those same names exist in the analogous directory there (and arguably this trick should be avoided!).
Many using this program possibly also have downloaded the MicroPython
source tree for building firmware images. E.g. the source installed at
/opt/micropython/ also includes mpremote at
/opt/micropython/tools/mpremote/mpremote.py. So for this reason mpr
does not require mpremote to be explicitly installed as a formal
package.
Mpr first looks for a mpremote program in the same directory as it's
own executable mpr self, otherwise mpr assumes mpremote is somewhere
in your PATH (e.g. at /usr/bin/mpremote). Alternatively, you can
specify the option --path-to-mpremote to explicitly specify the path,
e.g. if you have the MicroPython source installed somewhere then you
don't need to formally install mpremote and can instead just set e.g.
--path-to-mpremote /opt/micropython/tools/mpremote/mpremote.py in your
~/.config/mpr.conf as a default option as
described in a previous section.
Command line shell tab
completion is
automatically enabled on mpr commands and options using
argcomplete. You may need to
first (once-only) activate argcomplete global
completion.
Note that mpr is essentially just a thin wrapper around mpremote and exists merely to provide a simpler, and hopefully more consistent and familiar command line interface, particularly for Linux shell command line users.
This means that most execution problems you may encounter will likely
due to mpremote, not mpr. So if you think your find a problem in mpr,
always run mpr with the -v option to see the command line being
executed with mpremote. If that command line looks ok, but mpremote is
not doing what you expect, then run mpremote manually with those same
mpremote options + arguments to prove to yourself that mpremote is
exhibiting that issue, not mpr.
If you run mpr with the -v option and see a wrong or unexpected
mpremote command being executed, then certainly raise an mpr discussion
thread, or
issue about that.
Copyright (C) 2022 Mark Blakeney. This program is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ for more details.