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ESPHome

INFRA · APIS
Velocity6.3

System for controlling ESP microcontrollers through simple YAML configuration

esphome.io ↗

ESPHome 2026.9.0 ships template climate component, OTA encryption with API key, and ESP-NOW for ESP32-P4

iothome-automationembeddedesp32firmwareota
◆Current state
ESPHome 2026.9.0 is out, capping a beta cycle that added a template climate component (a long-requested flexible HVAC control primitive), OTA encryption keyed to the device's API key (hardening the update path), and ESP-NOW over hosted shim for the ESP32-P4. The beta cycle also included a systematic RAM allocation safety pass across the codebase — heap exhaustion now returns an error instead of panicking. Monthly releases continue landing at a consistent pace.
◆Where it's heading
ESPHome is expanding in two directions simultaneously: broader hardware support (ESP32-P4, BK72xx BLE, new platform components) and more robust runtime behavior (RAMAllocator pattern, use-after-free fixes, better BLE-WiFi coexistence). The template climate component is the most user-visible addition — it brings custom HVAC logic into ESPHome's declarative model, reducing the need for external Home Assistant automations. Audio stack (i2s, resampler, mixer) reliability is also a consistent focus.
◆Prediction
The 2026.10.0 cycle will likely continue the RAMAllocator pattern across remaining allocating code paths and add more ESP32-P4-specific features. Audio (voice assistants, speakers) will stay a top area given the ongoing i2s reliability work.

◆Recent moves

  1. 20h ago

    2026.9.0

    ⚡ SPARK

    ESPHome 2026.9.0 stable ships — the monthly release that landed the template climate component, OTA encryption with the device's API key, ESP-NOW for ESP32-P4, and a codebase-wide RAMAllocator safety pass. This is the most comprehensive hardware and security update in several cycles.

    View source ↗
  2. 1d ago

    2026.9.0b5

    b5 patches a PMSA003I stack memory read, adds modbus broadcast read/write support, and marks several config options as advanced to clean up the UI. Final housekeeping before the stable release.

    View source ↗
  3. 3d ago

    2026.9.0b4

    b4 introduces RAMAllocator as a systematic pattern for heap-exhaustion safety across Nextion, OTA, Ethernet, and BLE, so allocation failures return an error rather than crashing. Also fixes WiFi scan memory overflows and resolves file paths against the declaring YAML.

    View source ↗
  4. 8d ago

    2026.9.0b3

    b3 addresses a cluster of audio stack issues — MP3 stream info changes no longer cause fatal decoder errors, start requests during speaker shutdown are preserved, and use-after-free in StaticTask deletion is fixed. Also adds codec preference lists to media sources.

    View source ↗
  5. 10d ago

    2026.9.0b2

    b2 lands three new features: the template climate component (flexible HVAC control in ESPHome config), OTA encryption with the API key, and ESP-NOW over hosted shim for the ESP32-P4. These drove the spark classification for the 2026.9.0 stable.

    View source ↗
  6. 14d ago

    ESPHome 2026.9.0 beta opens

    b1 opens the 2026.9.0 beta cycle with a link to the beta changelog. No individual changes listed.

    View source ↗