# flashrom/flashrom

Send patches to https://review.coreboot.org: https://www.flashrom.org/Development_Guidelines#GitHub

Repository: https://github.com/flashrom/flashrom
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/flashrom
Homepage: https://review.coreboot.org/admin/repos/flashrom,general
Language: C
License: GPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: firmware-tools, firmware-updater, firmware-update, firmware-updates
Last push: 2026-09-02T15:47:24+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 77/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 100, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5652, "days_push": 0, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1171, forks 502 (observed 2026-09-03T02:15:11.987727+00:00)

## What it is
flashrom is a C utility for detecting, reading, writing, verifying, and erasing flash memory chips. It is commonly used to flash BIOS/EFI/coreboot and other firmware images in-system on supported mainboards, NICs, and external programmers.

## Use cases
- flash a coreboot or BIOS image onto a motherboard's SPI flash chip
- read and back up the current firmware from a flash chip before modifying it
- verify that a written firmware image matches the file on disk
- erase a flash chip to a clean state
- program flash chips on network cards or SATA controller cards via an external programmer
- identify the model of an unknown flash chip

## When to choose
- you need to flash or dump BIOS/UEFI/coreboot firmware on a supported mainboard
- you work with SPI, LPC, FWH, or parallel flash chips and need a reliable open-source programmer
- you want to back up your firmware before a BIOS update or modding
- you use external programmers (e.g., CH341A, Raspberry Pi) to program flash chips

## When to avoid
- you want to flash a laptop's firmware - the embedded controller may brick the machine
- you need a GUI-based flashing tool
- your flash chip or programmer is not on the supported list

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: developer-tools, embedded
- domain: hardware, developer-tools, embedded-systems
- platform: cross-platform, cli
- tags: firmware, flash-chips, bios, coreboot, spi, hardware-programming, linux

## Member repositories
- flashrom/flashrom (main) score 77

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-09-03T02:15:11.987727+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:28:36.666692+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/flashrom/flashrom (fetched 2026-09-03T02:15:11.987727+00:00, sha f37f37d22dd4)
  - homepage: https://review.coreboot.org/admin/repos/flashrom,general (fetched 2026-08-29T12:34:14.563866+00:00, sha 44136fa355b3)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.