---
id: smpclient
version: "7.3.0"
license: Apache-2.0
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# smpclient — Simple Management Protocol (SMP) Client for remotely managing MCU firmware

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 319.4K/mo

## What it is and what it does

smpclient is a Python library that implements the transport layer for the Simple Management Protocol, a specification for remotely managing embedded devices. It handles the low-level communication details needed to send SMP commands and receive responses over multiple connection types: serial ports (UART, USB, CAN), Bluetooth Low Energy, and UDP. The library abstracts away protocol-specific framing, encoding, and fragmentation so that applications can focus on higher-level device management tasks.

The library is built on async/await patterns and provides transport classes for each connection type, along with helper abstractions for common operations like firmware upgrades. It manages the complexity of serial fragmentation (base64 encoding, line splitting, reassembly buffer sizing) and negotiates MTU parameters for BLE and UDP. If you need just the SMP message protocol without transport implementation, the underlying smp dependency is available separately; if you prefer a command-line tool instead of a library, smpmgr is the alternative.

Use it for:

- Automate firmware updates on embedded devices connected via serial port or USB during manufacturing or field deployment
- Build a device management dashboard that communicates with multiple MCUs over BLE from a central Python service
- Implement remote diagnostics and configuration changes on deployed IoT devices via UDP or serial
- Integrate SMP protocol support into a Python-based embedded systems test harness or CI/CD pipeline
- Develop a cross-platform tool to query device parameters and logs from MCUs running Zephyr or mcuboot

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Implements the transport layer for the Simple Management Protocol (SMP), enabling remote management of MCU firmware over serial (UART, USB, CAN), Bluetooth Low Energy, or UDP connections.

Yes. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, low install friction, and fills a clear niche for Python developers needing to manage MCU devices via SMP. The permissive Apache-2.0 license poses no restrictions. Install with smpclient[all] if you need all transports, or smpclient[serial] / smpclient[ble] for specific connection types.

## Install

pip install smpclient
uv add smpclient
poetry add smpclient

## Installing smpclient

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-wheel distribution. Actively maintained with a recent release; no known vulnerabilities. Runtime dependencies are minimal and well-established (async-timeout, intelhex, smp).

License in practice: Licensed under Apache-2.0 (permissive), allowing use in commercial and proprietary projects with minimal restrictions beyond attribution and liability disclaimers.

Quickstart:

pip install smpclient

from smpclient.transport.serial import SMPSerialTransport
import asyncio

async def upgrade_firmware(port, image_path):
    transport = SMPSerialTransport(port)
    await transport.open()
    # Use transport to send SMP commands
    await transport.close()

Requires Python 3.10 or later. Optional transports (serial, BLE) require additional system dependencies; install with smpclient[serial] or smpclient[ble] to include them.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the library's async-timeout dependency version constraints are compatible with current asyncio best practices
- Real-world performance characteristics when handling large firmware images across different transport types

## Package facts

- License: Apache-2.0 (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 319.4K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

MCU firmware management protocol, SMP transport layer client, device firmware upgrade over serial, BLE device management, embedded device remote management, UART firmware update, simple management protocol library, embedded-systems, firmware-management, async-io

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