ESPHome Device Builder

A cross-platform desktop application that bundles ESPHome with Python and runs the ESPHome Device Builder as a background daemon with system tray integration.

Features

• System Tray Integration: Runs in the background with a system tray icon
• Single-Instance: Only one instance runs at a time; launching again opens the browser
• Auto-Updates: Checks for ESPHome (Python) updates and notifies you
• Self-Updating App: macOS DMG, Windows NSIS, and Linux AppImage installs can update themselves in-place from GitHub Releases
• Cross-Platform: Native installers for macOS (DMG), Windows (NSIS), and Linux (AppImage/deb)
• Bundled Python: Includes a full Python 3.13 runtime - no system Python required

Installation

Pre-built Installers

Download the latest release for your platform from desktop.esphome.io, or grab the files directly from the GitHub releases page.

Platform	Installer
macOS (Apple Silicon)	ESPHome.Device.Builder_x.x.x_aarch64.dmg
macOS (Intel)	ESPHome.Device.Builder_x.x.x_x64.dmg
Windows	ESPHome.Device.Builder_x.x.x_x64-setup.exe
Linux (x86_64)	ESPHome.Device.Builder_x.x.x_amd64.AppImage or .deb
Linux (aarch64)	ESPHome.Device.Builder_x.x.x_aarch64.AppImage or _arm64.deb

First Run

On first launch, ESPHome Device Builder will:

1. Install ESPHome and its dependencies
2. Start the ESPHome Device Builder
3. Open your browser to http://localhost:6052

This initial setup may take a few minutes depending on your internet connection.

Usage

Starting the App

Simply launch ESPHome Device Builder. It will:

• Start the ESPHome Device Builder in the background
• Show a system tray icon
• Open your browser to the Device Builder

Tray Menu

Right-click (or left-click on some platforms) the tray icon to access:

• Open Dashboard - Open the dashboard in your browser
• Status - Shows if the daemon is running
• Port - Shows the configured port
• Backend - Choose the ESPHome Device Builder channel (stable or beta)
• Release Channel - Choose the update channel (Stable, Beta, Dev)
• Startup - Choose whether the app launches automatically at login (on by default; see Running as a remote builder)
• Check for Updates - Check for a new ESPHome Device Builder desktop release, then new ESPHome (Python) and device-builder versions
• View Logs - Open the logs folder
• Open Config Folder - Open where your ESPHome configs are stored
• Restart Dashboard - Restart the ESPHome process
• Quit ESPHome - Stop the daemon and exit

Command Line

The tray menu's actions are also available as esphome-desktop subcommands, which control the running app (useful over SSH, in scripts, or on Linux desktops without a tray):

esphome-desktop open             # open the dashboard (starts the app if needed)
esphome-desktop status           # app/backend state, versions, ports, paths (--json for scripts)
esphome-desktop update           # update the desktop app, ESPHome, and the device builder
esphome-desktop restart          # restart the dashboard backend
esphome-desktop logs             # show recent dashboard log output (-f to follow)
esphome-desktop release-channel  # show the ESPHome channel; pass stable|beta|dev to switch
esphome-desktop backend          # show the device-builder channel; pass stable|beta to switch
esphome-desktop startup          # show launch-at-login; pass on|off to change
esphome-desktop quit             # quit the running app

Unlike the tray's confirmation dialogs, the CLI applies changes immediately; running the command is the consent. logs and status also work when the app is not running, and status prints the config and log directory paths. Running esphome-desktop with no arguments in a terminal prints this command list instead of launching another app instance; use open to start the app.

Device-builder integration API

The ESPHome Device Builder dashboard (the backend the app runs) can show an "update available" banner and trigger the update itself through a stable, versioned JSON interface, separate from the human commands above so their wording can change without breaking the dashboard. The app sets ESPHOME_DESKTOP_BIN in the backend's environment, pointing at the CLI to call:

esphome-desktop api version        # {"schema_version":1} (no running app needed)
esphome-desktop api check-update   # one JSON line: per-component update availability
esphome-desktop api update         # trigger the full update; streams JSON, then a terminal line
esphome-desktop api status         # status as one JSON object

Every api command prints newline-delimited JSON only, one object per line, valid JSON even on error ({"type":"err","code":"not_running",...}). Gate on schema_version before using the others. check-update returns {"type":"update_check","any_available":bool,"app":{...},"esphome":{...},"device_builder":{...}} where each component carries available, installed, latest, and error; route on the type field, which every server reply carries (the one exception is version, a local handshake that prints only {"schema_version":N}). update is fully non-interactive; it stops and restarts the backend without any confirmation, so an unattended remote builder always comes back on its own even with no one at the keyboard. Trigger it detached (e.g. Python Popen([...], start_new_session=True)) and poll check-update/status afterward; the update completes in the app even if the caller is torn down when the backend restarts. Unlike the human status --json, api commands other than version require a running app; when it is down they emit {"type":"err","code":"not_running",...} and exit 3 rather than an offline summary (the backend only calls the API while the app is up).

On Linux the deb/rpm/AUR packages put esphome-desktop on your PATH. On macOS the app installs the command on launch, as a small launcher in /opt/homebrew/bin or /usr/local/bin when one is writable; it removes itself if you later delete the app. If neither directory is writable, call the binary inside the bundle (/Applications/ESPHome Device Builder.app/Contents/MacOS/esphome-desktop). On Windows run it from the install directory.

Running as a remote builder

To keep a machine acting as an always-on builder, leave Startup → Launch at Login enabled (the default) so the app relaunches after a reboot. It registers a per-user login item (a macOS LaunchAgent, a Windows HKCU\...\Run entry, or a Linux ~/.config/autostart entry), not a system service, so it starts when a desktop session logs in rather than at boot. For an unattended box that reboots on its own, enable your OS's automatic login so a session starts without someone at the keyboard; otherwise the builder stays offline until someone logs in. The login launch is silent (tray only, no browser).

Turn autostart off with Startup → Don't Launch at Login, not the OS's own login-items UI: the app reconciles the login item to its saved preference on every launch, so an entry removed through System Settings → Login Items (macOS), Startup Apps (Windows), or ~/.config/autostart (Linux) is re-created on the next start.

Data Locations

Application data (bundled Python, logs, settings):

Platform	Location
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/io.esphome.builder/
Windows	%APPDATA%\io.esphome.builder\
Linux	~/.local/share/io.esphome.builder/

This directory contains:

• python/ - Bundled Python runtime
• logs/ - Application logs
• settings.json - User preferences

Your ESPHome configuration files are stored at ~/esphome/ on all platforms by default (configurable via config_dir in settings.json).

On Windows, the application itself is installed to %LOCALAPPDATA%\ESPHome Device Builder\.

Windows build data (C:\esphb\<id>\). On Windows the ESPHome Device Builder backend puts its build tree and PlatformIO toolchain under a short folder nested in one C:\esphb parent, C:\esphb\<id>\ (one per config dir), instead of under your profile or config dir. This keeps deep ESP-IDF build paths under Windows' 260-character path limit and clear of spaces in your profile name (e.g. C:\Users\First Last\…), both of which otherwise break the build. This folder is not removed when you uninstall ESPHome Device Builder, so a reinstall keeps the (multi-GB) toolchain warm and avoids a long re-download. If you want to reclaim the disk space, delete the C:\esphb folder by hand after uninstalling. (Only native Windows is affected; running the backend in a Linux container uses the normal data dir.)

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Rust (1.77.2 or later)
• Platform-specific dependencies:
  • macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools
  • Windows: Visual Studio Build Tools
  • Linux: libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libappindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev

Build Steps

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/esphome/esphome-desktop.git
   cd esphome-desktop

2. Install Tauri CLI:

   cargo install tauri-cli --locked

3. Download bundled Python for development:

   ./build-scripts/prepare_bundle.sh

4. Build:

   cargo tauri build

The installer will be in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

Development

For development with hot-reload:

cargo tauri dev

Releasing & Self-Update Signing

The desktop app uses tauri-plugin-updater to check https://github.com/esphome/esphome-desktop/releases/latest/download/latest.json for new versions and install them in-place. When a release builds via .github/workflows/build.yml, every supported installer is signed with the Tauri Ed25519 key and a latest.json manifest is uploaded to the draft release. Once the release is published, existing installs pick it up on their next update check.

Linux .deb / .rpm and AUR installs do not self-update — those users update through their system package manager.

Configuration

Settings are stored in settings.json:

{
  "port": 6052,
  "config_dir": null,
  "open_on_start": true,
  "launch_at_startup": true,
  "check_updates": true
}

• port - Dashboard port (default: 6052)
• config_dir - Custom config directory (null = use default)
• open_on_start - Open browser when app starts
• launch_at_startup - Launch the app automatically at login (default: true; see Running as a remote builder)
• check_updates - Check for ESPHome updates automatically

Translations

The app's UI (tray menu, dialogs, and notifications) is translated on Lokalise. Want to help translate the app into your language? Join the project here:

https://app.lokalise.com/public/756339856a4b2415a30c62.63256624/

The UI language is auto-detected from the system locale, falling back to English per string when a translation is missing. Set the ESPHOME_DESKTOP_LANGUAGE environment variable (e.g. fr, zh-CN) to override the detection.

How it works:

• src-tauri/translations/en.json is the in-repo source of truth for the English strings. It is the only committed translation file; edit it via normal pull requests.
• When a change to it lands on main, the Upload translations workflow pushes the keys to Lokalise so translators always see the latest strings.
• Release builds download every translated locale from Lokalise (.github/scripts/translations.py) and embed them into the binaries, so a new language added on Lokalise ships with the next release without any code change. Development builds are English-only.

Troubleshooting

macOS: "App is damaged and can't be opened"

The app is code-signed and notarized. If you still encounter this message (e.g., from a development build), run:

xattr -c "/Applications/ESPHome Device Builder.app"

Then try opening the app again.

Dashboard won't start

1. Check the logs in the logs folder (accessible via tray menu)
2. Ensure port 6052 (or your configured port) is not in use
3. Try restarting the dashboard from the tray menu

Serial ports not detected

• Linux: You may need to add your user to the dialout group:

  sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER

  Then log out and back in.

External components, packages, or builds fail

ESPHome uses Git to download external components, remote (github://) packages, dashboard imports, voice models, and other dependencies, so many configurations won't compile without it. The app bundles Python but not Git, so these builds fail on machines without Git installed. Install Git, then restart the app so it can detect it (Git is only checked at startup). The app shows a notification at startup when Git can't be found on your PATH.

Updates not working

The app uses pip to update ESPHome. If updates fail:

1. Check your internet connection
2. Check the logs for specific error messages

No system tray icon (Linux)

The tray needs a working libayatana-appindicator and a desktop that hosts the StatusNotifier protocol. The AppImage bundles the library and detects it even when it lives only inside the bundle, so trays now appear on hosts that support SNI (including KDE Plasma). If your desktop has no StatusNotifier host at all (some minimal/GNOME setups), the app detects this and falls back to opening the dashboard in your browser, and update notifications say so instead of pointing at a tray menu that isn't there.

Without a tray you can still control the app from a terminal — see Command Line: esphome-desktop update, restart, status, logs, and the rest cover the tray menu's actions.

If the tray still doesn't appear, install the deb/rpm/AUR package for your distribution — it depends on the system libayatana-appindicator3 package, so the tray and in-app updater work wherever a StatusNotifier host is present.

License

Apache License 2.0 - see LICENSE for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see the Contributing Guide for details.