Learn how to build a web server to control the ESP32 or ESP8266 outputs using MicroPython framework. As an example we’ll build a web server with ON and OFF buttons to control the on-board LED of the ESP32/ESP8266. We’ll use sockets and the Python socket API.
Prerequisites
To program the ESP32 and ESP8266 with MicroPython, we use uPyCraft IDE as a programming environment. Follow the next tutorials to install uPyCraft IDE and flash MicroPython firmware on your board:
- Install uPyCraft IDE: Windows PC, MacOS X, or Linux Ubuntu
- Flash/Upload MicroPython Firmware to ESP32 and ESP8266
If this is your first time dealing with MicroPython you may find these next tutorials useful:
- Getting Started with MicroPython on ESP32 and ESP8266
- MicroPython Programming Basics with ESP32 and ESP8266
- MicroPython with ESP32 and ESP8266: Interacting with GPIOs
Parts required
For this tutorial you need an ESP32 or ESP8266 board:
- ESP32 DEVKIT DOIT board – read ESP32 Development Boards Review and Comparison
- ESP8266-12E NodeMCU Kit – read Best ESP8266 Wi-Fi Development Board
You can use the preceding links or go directly to MakerAdvisor.com/tools to find all the parts for your projects at the best price!
Preparing the Files
Connect the ESP32 or ESP8266 board to your computer. Open uPyCraft IDE, and go to Tools > Serial and select the serial port.
You should see the files on the ESP32/ESP8266 board on the device folder. By default, when you burn MicroPython firmware, a boot.py file is created.
For this project you’ll need a boot.py file and a main.py file. The boot.py file has the code that only needs to run once on boot. This includes importing libraries, network credentials, instantiating pins, connecting to your network, and other configurations.
The main.py file will contain the code that runs the web server to serve files and perform tasks based on the requests received by the client.
Creating the main.py file on your board
1. Press the “New file” button to create a new file.
2. Press the “Save file” button to save the file in your computer.
3. A new window opens, name your file main.py and save it in your computer:
4. After that, you should see the following in your uPyCraft IDE (the boot.py file in your device and a new tab with the main.py file):
5. Click the “Download and run” button to upload the file to your ESP board:
6. The device directory should now load the main.py file. Your ESP has the file main.py stored.
boot.py
Copy the following code to the ESP32/ESP8266 boot.py file.
# Complete project details at https://RandomNerdTutorials.com
try:
import usocket as socket
except:
import socket
from machine import Pin
import network
import esp
esp.osdebug(None)
import gc
gc.collect()
ssid = 'REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_SSID'
password = 'REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_PASSWORD'
station = network.WLAN(network.STA_IF)
station.active(True)
station.connect(ssid, password)
while station.isconnected() == False:
pass
print('Connection successful')
print(station.ifconfig())
led = Pin(2, Pin.OUT)
As mentioned previously, we create our web server using sockets and the Python socket API. The official documentation imports the socket library as follows:
try:
import usocket as socket
except:
import socketWe need to import the Pin class from the machine module to be able to interact with the GPIOs.
from machine import PinAfter importing the socket library, we need to import the network library. The network library allows us to connect the ESP32 or ESP8266 to a Wi-Fi network.
import networkThe following lines turn off vendor OS debugging messages:
import esp
esp.osdebug(None)Then, we run a garbage collector:
import gc
gc.collect()A garbage collector is a form of automatic memory management. This is a way to reclaim memory occupied by objects that are no longer in used by the program. This is useful to save space in the flash memory.
The following variables hold your network credentials:
ssid = 'REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_SSID'
password = 'replace_with_your_password'You should replace the words highlighted in red with your network SSID and password, so that the ESP is able to connect to your router.
Then, set the ESP32 or ESP8266 as a Wi-Fi station:
station = network.WLAN(network.STA_IF)After that, activate the station:
station.active(True)Finally, the ESP32/ESP8266 connects to your router using the SSID and password defined earlier:
station.connect(ssid, password)The following statement ensures that the code doesn’t proceed while the ESP is not connected to your network.
while station.isconnected() == False:
passAfter a successful connection, print network interface parameters like the ESP32/ESP8266 IP address – use the ifconfig() method on the station object.
print('Connection successful')
print(station.ifconfig())Create a Pin object called led that is an output, that refers to the ESP32/ESP8266 GPIO2:
led = Pin(2, Pin.OUT)main.py
Copy the following code to the ESP32/ESP8266 main.py file.
# Complete project details at https://RandomNerdTutorials.com
def web_page():
if led.value() == 1:
gpio_state="ON"
else:
gpio_state="OFF"
html = """<html><head> <title>ESP Web Server</title> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<link rel="icon" href="data:,"> <style>html{font-family: Helvetica; display:inline-block; margin: 0px auto; text-align: center;}
h1{color: #0F3376; padding: 2vh;}p{font-size: 1.5rem;}.button{display: inline-block; background-color: #e7bd3b; border: none;
border-radius: 4px; color: white; padding: 16px 40px; text-decoration: none; font-size: 30px; margin: 2px; cursor: pointer;}
.button2{background-color: #4286f4;}</style></head><body> <h1>ESP Web Server</h1>
<p>GPIO state: <strong>""" + gpio_state + """</strong></p><p><a href="/?led=on"><button class="button">ON</button></a></p>
<p><a href="/?led=off"><button class="button button2">OFF</button></a></p></body></html>"""
return html
s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
s.bind(('', 80))
s.listen(5)
while True:
conn, addr = s.accept()
print('Got a connection from %s' % str(addr))
request = conn.recv(1024)
request = str(request)
print('Content = %s' % request)
led_on = request.find('/?led=on')
led_off = request.find('/?led=off')
if led_on == 6:
print('LED ON')
led.value(1)
if led_off == 6:
print('LED OFF')
led.value(0)
response = web_page()
conn.send('HTTP/1.1 200 OK\n')
conn.send('Content-Type: text/html\n')
conn.send('Connection: close\n\n')
conn.sendall(response)
conn.close()
The script starts by creating a function called web_page(). This function returns a variable called html that contains the HTML text to build the web page.
def web_page():The web page displays the current GPIO state. So, before generating the HTML text, we need to check the LED state. We save its state on the gpio_state variable:
if led.value() == 1:
gpio_state="ON"
else:
gpio_state="OFF"After that, the gpio_state variable is incorporated into the HTML text using “+” signs to concatenate strings.
html = """<html><head> <title>ESP Web Server</title> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<link rel="icon" href="data:,"> <style>html{font-family: Helvetica; display:inline-block; margin: 0px auto; text-align: center;}
h1{color: #0F3376; padding: 2vh;}p{font-size: 1.5rem;}.button{display: inline-block; background-color: #e7bd3b; border: none;
border-radius: 4px; color: white; padding: 16px 40px; text-decoration: none; font-size: 30px; margin: 2px; cursor: pointer;}
.button2{background-color: #4286f4;}</style></head><body> <h1>ESP Web Server</h1>
<p>GPIO state: <strong>""" + gpio_state + """</strong></p><p><a href="/?led=on"><button class="button">ON</button></a></p>
<p><a href="/?led=off"><button class="button button2">OFF</button></a></p></body></html>"""
Creating a socket server
After creating the HTML to build the web page, we need to create a listening socket to listen for incoming requests and send the HTML text in response. For a better understanding, the following figure shows a diagram on how to create sockets for server-client interaction:
Create a socket using socket.socket(), and specify the socket type. We create a new socket object called s with the given address family, and socket type. This is a STREAM TCP socket:
s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)Next, bind the socket to an address (network interface and port number) using the bind() method. The bind() method accepts a tupple variable with the ip address, and port number:
s.bind(('', 80))In our example, we are passing an empty string ‘ ‘ as an IP address and port 80. In this case, the empty string refers to the localhost IP address (this means the ESP32 or ESP8266 IP address).
The next line enables the server to accept connections; it makes a “listening” socket. The argument specifies the maximum number of queued connections. The maximum is 5.
s.listen(5)In the while loop is where we listen for requests and send responses. When a client connects, the server calls the accept() method to accept the connection. When a client connects, it saves a new socket object to accept and send data on the conn variable, and saves the client address to connect to the server on the addr variable.
conn, addr = s.accept()Then, print the address of the client saved on the addr variable.
print('Got a connection from %s' % str(addr))The data is exchanged between the client and server using the send() and recv() methods.
The following line gets the request received on the newly created socket and saves it in the request variable.
request = conn.recv(1024)The recv() method receives the data from the client socket (remember that we’ve created a new socket object on the conn variable). The argument of the recv() method specifies the maximum data that can be received at once.
The next line simply prints the content of the request:
print('Content = %s' % str(request))Then, create a variable called response that contains the HTML text returned by the web_page() function:
response = web_page()Finally, send the response to the socket client using the send() and sendall() methods:
conn.send('HTTP/1.1 200 OK\n')
conn.send('Content-Type: text/html\n')
conn.send('Connection: close\n\n')
conn.sendall(response)In the end, close the created socket.
conn.close()Testing the Web Server
Upload the main.py and boot.py files to the ESP32/ESP8266. Your device folder should contain two files: boot.py and main.py.
After uploading the files, press the ESP EN/RST on-board button.
After a few seconds, it should establish a connection with your router and print the IP address on the Shell.
Open your browser, and type your ESP IP address you’ve just found. You should see the web server page as shown below.
When you press the ON button, you make a request on the ESP IP address followed by /?led=on. The ESP32/ESP8266 on-board LED turns on, and the GPIO state is updated on the page.
Note: some ESP8266 on-board LEDs turn on the LED with an OFF command, and turn off the LED with the ON command.
When you press the OFF button, you make a request on the ESP IP address followed by /?led=off. The LED turns off, and the GPIO state is updated.
Note: to keep this tutorial simple, we’re controlling the on-board LED that corresponds to GPIO 2. You can control any other GPIO with any other output (a relay, for example) using the same method. Also, you can modify the code to control multiple GPIOs or change the HTML text to create a different web page.
Wrapping Up
This tutorial showed you how to build a simple web server with MicroPython firmware to control the ESP32/ESP8266 GPIOs using sockets and the Python socket library. If you’re looking for a web server tutorial with Arduino IDE, you can check the following resources:
If you’re looking for more projects with the ESP32 and ESP8266 boards, you can take a look at the following:
We hope you’ve found this article about how to build a web server with MicroPython useful. To learn more about MicroPython, take a look at our eBook: MicroPython Programming with ESP32 and ESP8266.
Thanks very much for this article. This was exactly what I was looking for.
Would also appreciate an article about sending e-mail with micro python from an esp8266.
Great Rui, I stay tuned , bye Domenico
Great! Keep going on!
Hello Sara,
this explanation is pretty detailed. IMHO it is a good compromise between explaining it all from scratch and “drop a short textline”
I want to make some suggestions how to improve the explanation.
Add “ESP32” to word “server” and the words “your smartphone, tablet or PC” to the word “client” at the grafic which shows the steps what server and client are doing.
The result a webpage that can be clicked to switch on/off a LED is impressing. To achieve this a lot of code-technologies have to be used. I don’t want to suggest explain all
– server-client,
– TCP/IP,
– sockets,
– HTML
all from scratch. That would inflate the explanation much too much.
But there are a few places where a small effort gives pretty much more insight into using all these coding-technologies.
I mean find a way that the parts of the html-code that defines the buttons and the text on the buttons is very easy to find and easy to modify.
Another way could be using some kind of a website-editor, if there exists one that is easy to use. By “easy to use” I mean a software that is very very similar to an office-software or at least very very intuitive to use.
So that one hour of learning is enough to create a website-variation of your demo that has three buttons and a slider.
Then showing how the html-code-output of this software is implemented into the python-code by copy and paste.
best regards
Stefan
Hi Stefan.
Thank you for your suggestions. We’ll take those into account when writing new posts about this subject.
Also, I’ll try to improve this article when I have the chance.
Thank you.
Regards,
Sara 🙂
Thanks
Great
Philippe
Thanks 🙂
Hi Rui,
I have Linux Mint 19 based on ubuntu … uPyCraft IDE doesn’t work … Is there another way or an improvement pf uPyCraft IDE ?
Thank you
Hi Bernard.
uPyCraft should work on your system if you compile it yourself: github.com/DFRobot/uPyCraft_src
If you compile it, it should work.
Note: you don’t need to use uPycraft IDE, you can program program the board with a serial connection using REPL or webREPL.
Regards,
Sara 🙂
Dear, I’have a lot of problem to use this app with Safari or Google Chrome for iPhone. If I use Google Chrome for mac I don’t have any problem, but when I use Safari I can’t open the page. I see the serial, and I can read the connection by computer to ESP32, but the browser don’t open the contents. Also on Android and Google Chrome all works.
Hi Giovanni.
I’m sorry to hear that.
I actually didn’t test the web server on Safari or iPhone. I’ll try to figure out what happens.
Meanwhile, if you find what causes the problem, just let us know.
Regards,
Sara 🙂
good article as usual 🙂
My question though is why or when would you use python instead of the Arduino ide? What are the benefits etc.
Also I agree with Stefan on the editor HTML thing might be helpful.
Hi Bob.
I think both are good ways to program the ESP32.
MicroPython is much simpler to program, it supports a REPL (Read-Evaluate-Print Loop). The REPL allows you to connect to a board and execute code quickly without the need to compile or upload code.
It also gives you a better overview of the files stored on the ESP32. Uploading code to the ESP32 is much faster with MicroPython.
In terms of libraries for sensors and modules, at the moment there is more support for Arduino IDE.
Regards,
Sara 🙂
Works perfect on my old laptop ( Ubuntu ) using Chromium or Firefox . Doesn’t work on my IPhone 5S ( tried Safari and Chromium ) . EFM ( electronics F…… magic) ..
Thanks anyway , great tutorial , step by step explained , Great Job !
Bob
I made a printscreen with the result of “request = conn.recv(1024)” . First logon is the laptop , 2nd one is the Phone . I can mail it if you want it . Thanks again , keep up the good job !
Bob
Hi Bob.
Thank you.
You can send your results using our contact form: https://randomnerdtutorials.com/contact/
Regards,
Sara
Hi Sara , thx for the quick reply ! How can I submit a .png file ( printscreen from a Linux screen session )?
Thx , many greetings from Belgium ,
Bob
Hi Bob.
You can upload the image using https://imgur.com/ and then paste the link.
Regards,
Sara
Did Some research and tried different browsers on my. IPhone .
Puffin browser replied : Error 102
(net:: ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED) when loading URL http://(IP-adress)
Hope this is a clue ….
Thanks a lot and keep up the good job !
Bob
I think I followed the steps correctly but when I try to run it I get error messages:
main.py:4: undefined name ‘led’
main.py:18: undefined name ‘socket’
main.py:18: undefined name ‘socket’
main.py:18: undefined name ‘socket’
main.py:32: undefined name ‘led’
main.py:35: undefined name ‘led’
Any suggestions what I’m doing wrong?
Thank you.
Hi Michael.
I think you’re getting those error because you haven’t uploaded the boot.py file to the ESP32.
https://github.com/RuiSantosdotme/Random-Nerd-Tutorials/blob/master/Projects/ESP-MicroPython/esp_web_server_boot.py
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Sara 🙂
I am getting the same problem even after using code in your book, I bought last week, and at github.
I am not sure how esp_web_server_main.py gets socket and led from esp_web_server_boot.py?
uPyCraft shows both these files only under device.
Hi Dave.
If you’re having problems with our course, I recommend that you post a question in our forum – that’s where we give support to our costumers.
The files should have the following names: main.py, and boot.py (it will not work if they are called esp_web_server_main.py or esp_web_server_boot.py using uPycraft IDE).
Can you post your doubts, problems and questions here: https://rntlab.com/forum/
Thank you
Regards,
Sara
Found a working script for the IPhone , out of the box from the official micropython site :
https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp8266/tutorial/network_tcp.html#simple-http-server
I modified boot.py a little ( removed double imports ) , works perfect 🙂
these lines ( “arduino style”) make the difference I think …
line = cl_file.readline()
if not line or line == b’\r\n’:
Anyway , thanks a lot for helping people to become decent programmers 🙂
Love you guys , lots of greetings from Belgium ,
Bob
Hi Bob.
That’s great!
Thank you so much for sharing and for supporting our work.
Regards,
Sara 🙂
Hi Rui,
I’m a complete beginner and I’m not sure why the code appears
if led_on == 6:
Why is there number 6?
Hi Jaroslav.
In the while loop, after receiving a request, we need to check if the request contains the ‘/?led=on’ or ‘/?led=on’ expressions. For that, we can apply the find() method on the request variable. the find() method returns the lowest index of the substring we are looking for.
Because the substrings we are looking for are always on index 6, we can add an if statement to detect the content of the request. If the led_on variable is equal to 6, we know we’ve received a request on the /?led=on URL and we turn the LED on.
If the led_off variable is equal to 6, we’ve received a request on the /?led=off URL and we turn the LED off.
I hope my explanation is clear.
Regards,
Sara 🙂
Hi
Many thanks for your work
Following this article works fine. But there is tow questions
The program stops at “conn, addr = s.accept()” waiting for a request, and it can wait for ever.
Is it possible just to check if there is one and if there is not continue the loop and the check again the next loop. If this is possible you can use the micro controller for other task in between the requests as in the Arduino env
When connecting with Chrome, on PC or phone, the connection are busy for ever if you do not close the browser
The server hangs printing Got a connection from (‘192.168.1.193’, 54536) and you can not use any other computer or browser untill it is closed, not just the tab but the whole browser.
Connecting the a Raspberry pi works fine.
As it works on RPi it seems to be the PC/phone or Chrome that is the problem. Is there something to do about this. It happen that you forget to close the window and then is it impossible to aces the serve from an other place
Hi Hans.
You are right.
But I don’t think it is something to do with the code. Because when we first implemented this, it worked fine supporting several clients at the same time.
It seems that google Chrome opens two connections, leaving the second one opened. So we are not able to listen requests from other clients while that connection is opened.
I don’t know why this is happening, but we’re working to find a solution.
If you know a workaround for this, please share with us.
Thank you for your comment.
Regards,
Sara
As usual, this was a great tutorial. Took me a couple of times to get it to come together. I have a Heltec wifi 32 with oled and wanted the oled to tell me what ip I was connected to. Has anyone else complained that the Upycraft ide crashes windows 10?
Hi Joseph.
If you have frequent crashes with upycraft IDE, I suggest you experiment Thonny IDE.
You can follow our tutorial and see if you like this IDE better: https://randomnerdtutorials.com/getting-started-thonny-micropython-python-ide-esp32-esp8266/
Regards,
Sara
Tried it, but like the Upycraft because you can see the files in the espxxxx. Also Thonny has updated since your tutorial and the commands under the ‘device’ are not there. It’s a lot more awkward to use for me. Been trying Rshell on a Pi to program the modules. Not too bad except I don’t have much space to set it up.
Got Thonny working, but the second time you modify a file and tried to re save it to the module, Thonny goes berserk and crashes. Actually using the Raspberry Pi is easier once it is set up.
Hi Sara,
Wonderful tutorial, thanks!
Thanks 😀
Hi Sara,
great Tutorial. Thanks.
Hi Sara, Rui
Thanks so much for this tutorial. I tried it as it out as my first project after I setup my ESP32 with micropython. The code is beautifully explained and worked first time for me
John
Hi John.
That’s great!
Regards,
Sara
Hello Sara,
I cannot connect to the server. I am using a Mobile shared connection of Android
When I type ifconfig in the Micropython Terminal I have the following error message :
NameError: name ‘ifconfig’ isn’t defined
When I add :
“print(‘Connection successful’)
print(station.ifconfig())”
to the main.py and run the code I get this message error :
NameError: name ‘station’ isn’t defined
Thanks for your help and good nob by the way the tuto is nice
Cheers
Julien
Hi Julien.
Have you uploaded the boot.py file before? The boot.py imports the required libraries and that seems to be an issue regarding not having the libraries imported.
Make sure you upload the boot.py first or that you copy all the content of the boot.py file to the main.py file to make it work.
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Sara
Hi Sarah, I have try again with the boot inside my main.py and it seems to works except that the REPL does not write any IP adresse (Once more I am on cellphone hotpost) and “connection successful” but something unwridable :
dc|{cc’ndoo#p$sl{dxnlcg|dcnn
I use a ESP8266 D1 mini and upycraft. And thanks a lot for your previous fast answer !
Cheers
Julien
Sorry, please do not consider previous comment. It works when I put on the REPL “print(station.ifconfig())” and it give me the following answer :
(‘0.0.0.0’, ‘0.0.0.0’, ‘0.0.0.0’, ‘xxx.xx.222.222’)
then I upload my code and I pres RST on board button I get the following message :
`
but no esp IP adress
Can you help me ?
thanks
Julien
Hi Julien.
I don’t know what might be wrong.
With the current code in your board, can you run the commands shown here on the shell :http://docs.micropython.org/en/v1.8.7/esp8266/esp8266/tutorial/network_basics.html#network-basics
and tell me what you get?
Regards,
Sara
Hi Julien.
Once the code is successfully uploaded, press the ESP8266 reset button and see if it prints the IP address.
Regards,
Sara
Hi Sara
An excellent tutorial. I used Thonny as the IDE as uPyCraft was causing me problems. However i did have a issue:
NameError: name ‘led’ isn’t defined
NameError: name ‘socket’ isn’t defined
This I believe is due to the boot.py and main.py are not running in the same namespace which I assume is Thonny 3.2.7 issue. Any thoughts on this?
NameError: na me ‘led’ isn’t defined
NameError: name ‘socket’ isn’t defined
I solved the problem by moving everything in the boot.py apart from
import uos, machine
import gc
gc.collect()
into the main.py
Note with Thonny you have to use “Stop” button before “run the current script” again or you get a OSError: [Errno 98] EADDRINUSE
Regards
Steve
Hi Sara
I have some problems whit the code. I’m using uPycraft v1.0 and when I teste the code in main.py, some lines are wrong. I don’t know if this problem is due the version of the program. And other problem with Testing the Web Server; when I press the EN buttom, my esp32 lose the firmware and can’t create the web server. When I check the sintax, this problems come up
*main.py:2: undefined name ‘led’
*main.py:16: undefined name ‘socket’
*main.py:16: undefined name ‘socket’
*main.py:16: undefined name ‘socket’
*main.py:30: undefined name ‘led’
*main.py:33: undefined name ‘led’
syntax finish.
Thank’s very much.
Eduardo
Hi Eduardo.
Make sure that you also uploaded the boot.py file that contains initialization for the led and socket.
Regards,
Sara
I tried, but it does not function. The message ‘ Connection successful
(‘192.168.4.1’, ‘255.255.255.0’, ‘192.168.4.1’, ‘0.0.0.0’) ‘ does not show up. When I press the EN button the firmware is deleted. I tried the MicroPython: ESP32/ESP8266 Access Point (AP) tutorial, and this got right.
Regards,
Eduardo
Was able to do it with a little hiccup but managed to run it quickly .. Thanks for the nice tutorial.
Great ;D
Great There is also a nice web server on MicroPython that also allows you to do “real-time” with WebSockets :
v1 : github.com/jczic/MicroWebSrv
v2 : github.com/jczic/MicroWebSrv2 (new)
🙂
Hi.
Thank you for sharing your libraries.
We’ll take a look at them in a near future 😀
Regards,
Sara
I’m curious about how to use usocket with a slider, to pass the value to a function. I’m looking to change the PWM duty cycle through that, to control the brightness of an LED.
Hi Ian.
At the moment, we don’t have any tutorial for that.
We have a tutorial just for PWM: https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp32-esp8266-pwm-micropython/
Regards,
Sara
I managed to work out a way of doing what I wanted. The issue I had to tackle was that the HTML button causes the page to reload, meaning that the slider resets to defaults, I wanted it to stay the same. Using a short script and ‘onclick’ for the buttons and ‘oninput’ for the slider I can get it to work without reloading. The xhttp function can then pass a value to the rest of the python script which can then be parsed to control, in my case, 4 channels of lighting with the slider working as a dimmer. Even once you have set the colour mix from the buttons, the slider will act as a simple dimmer. I can share code for this, although it’s probably a bit untidy now. I made the HTML part a separate file, also the lightcontrol function.
Hi Ian.
Thanks for your comment.
You can share your code. It might be useful for our readers.
Use pastebin preferably to share the code. You can see the instructions here: https://rntlab.com/question/need-help-using-pastebin/
Thank you 😀
Regards,
Sara