esp-coredump

What it is and what it does

esp-coredump is a Python utility for extracting and debugging core dumps generated by ESP32 microcontrollers and related Espressif chips. It works both as a standalone command-line tool and as a Python library, offering two main analysis modes: info_corefile prints register state, call stacks, task lists, and memory contents from the dump; dbg_corefile converts the dump to an ELF file and launches an interactive GDB session for manual inspection of memory and variables.

The tool is designed to integrate with ESP-IDF but can run independently if you provide the esp-gdb toolchain separately. It depends on construct for binary parsing, pygdbmi for GDB interaction, and esptool for chip communication. Core dumps are typically provided as base64-encoded files or raw binary data, and the tool requires the original ELF binary to map memory regions and symbols.

Use it for:

• Analyze crash dumps from production ESP32 devices to identify the failing task, register state, and call stack.
• Debug memory corruption or stack overflow issues by inspecting memory contents and task control blocks stored in the core dump.
• Interactively examine variables and memory layout in GDB using a core dump as the debugging target instead of live hardware.
• Retrieve and decode base64-encoded core dumps transmitted from remote ESP32 devices over serial or network.
• Integrate core dump analysis into CI/CD pipelines to automatically inspect test failures on embedded targets.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Retrieves and analyzes core dumps from ESP32 and related microcontrollers, providing register dumps, call stacks, task lists, and memory inspection via CLI or Python API.

Yes. esp-coredump is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and solves a real problem for ESP32 developers. The low install friction and permissive license make it a straightforward addition to an embedded development workflow. Install it if you develop on ESP32 or use Espressif chips and need to debug crashes; skip it if you don't work with those platforms.

Install

esp-coredump on PyPI

pip install esp-coredump

uv add esp-coredump

poetry add esp-coredump

Installing esp-coredump

Before you install

Low friction: pure Python wheel with three straightforward dependencies (construct, pygdbmi, esptool). Actively maintained with a recent release; last commit 2026-07-06. Supports Python 3.7 through 3.12.

License in practice

Apache 2.0 permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; you may use, modify, and distribute the code provided you include the license notice.

Quickstart

pip install esp-coredump

from esp_coredump import CoreDump

coredump = CoreDump(chip='esp32', core='./coredump.b64', core_format='b64', prog='./app.elf')
coredump.info_corefile()

Standalone use outside ESP-IDF requires esp-gdb toolchain downloaded and added to PATH; version must match your ESP32 architecture and ESP-IDF version.

Verify before relying

• Whether construct, pygdbmi, and esptool versions are pinned or have known compatibility issues with specific ESP-IDF versions.
• Performance characteristics when analyzing large core dumps or memory-constrained systems.
• Whether the tool supports ESP32-C3, ESP32-S3, and other variants beyond esp32 in the chip parameter.

Package facts

Evidence: esp_coredump-1.16.0-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

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