membrowse

What it is and what it does

MemBrowse is a command-line tool and Python library for analyzing memory consumption in embedded firmware. It reads ELF binaries and linker scripts to extract detailed memory layout information—regions, sections, and individual symbols—and maps each symbol back to its source file. The tool supports multiple architectures that produce DWARF-format ELF files and can work standalone for local analysis or integrate with the MemBrowse cloud service for historical tracking, diffs, and CI/CD gating.

The package is designed for embedded developers who need to track firmware size growth, understand memory region utilization (FLASH, RAM, etc.), and identify which symbols consume the most space. It integrates with GitHub Actions for automated PR analysis and includes Jinja2 templating for customizable memory reports. The tool can also handle overflow scenarios by comparing against inflated linker scripts while reporting against real memory limits.

Use it for:

• Track firmware binary size and memory region utilization in CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions for automated PR analysis.
• Generate human-readable or JSON memory reports locally to identify which symbols and sections consume the most space.
• Monitor memory growth over time by uploading analysis reports to MemBrowse for historical comparison and budget alerting.
• Debug memory layout issues by mapping symbols to their source files and examining section-level deltas across builds.
• Validate that firmware stays within real memory limits even when building with inflated linker scripts for overflow tracking.

Worth the install?

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

Analyzes binary size and memory footprint of embedded firmware by extracting symbol-level details from ELF files and linker scripts, with support for multiple architectures and source file mapping.

Yes, with a license caveat. The package is actively maintained, has low install friction, and solves a real problem for embedded firmware developers—memory profiling and tracking. However, verify the actual license before use, as the metadata does not specify one. If you work on embedded systems and need to monitor or optimize firmware size, this is a practical tool worth adopting.

Install

membrowse on PyPI

pip install membrowse

uv add membrowse

poetry add membrowse

Installing membrowse

Before you install

Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel and five runtime dependencies (pyelftools, requests, itanium-demangler, rust-demangler, jinja2). Active maintenance with a recent release 50 days ago and ongoing repository activity.

License in practice

License status is unclear — no SPDX identifier or raw license text is available in the package metadata. Verify the actual license before use in proprietary or copyleft-sensitive projects.

Quickstart

pip install membrowse

membrowse report build/firmware.elf "src/linker.ld src/memory.ld"

# For JSON output:
membrowse report build/firmware.elf "src/linker.ld src/memory.ld" --json

Requires an ELF file with DWARF debug format and a GNU LD, IAR ICF, or SEGGER Embedded Studio linker script; Python 3.7 or later.

Verify before relying

• Whether the package supports IAR ICF and SEGGER .emProject file formats as documented, or if those are planned features.
• Exact behavior when analyzing binaries built with toolchains other than GCC (e.g., LLVM/Clang for embedded targets).
• Whether the cloud integration with MemBrowse.com requires a paid account or if free tier analysis is available.

Package facts

Evidence: membrowse-1.2.9-py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: embedded, firmware, memory, analysis, elf, linker, dwarf, footprint, stm32, esp32, arm, risc-v

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