# RT-Thread/rt-thread

RT-Thread is an open source IoT Real-Time Operating System (RTOS).                                                                                                https://rt-thread.github.io/rt-thread/

Repository: https://github.com/RT-Thread/rt-thread
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/rt-thread
Homepage: https://www.rt-thread.io
Language: C
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: embedded-systems, kernel, iot, rtos, arm, cortex-m, cortex-a, risc-v, mips, microcontroller, microkernel, real-time, aiot
Last push: 2026-08-26T02:53:23+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 75/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 30, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4991, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 306, "gap_med": 112.5, "n_releases_24m": 3}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 12170, forks 5445 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:51.914748+00:00)

## What it is
RT-Thread is an open-source, community-based real-time operating system (RTOS) for IoT and embedded devices, written primarily in C. It combines a tiny real-time kernel (as small as 3KB Flash / 1.2KB RAM in Nano form) with a rich component ecosystem including file systems, network protocol stacks, device frameworks, and a software package manager.

## Use cases
- build firmware for a resource-constrained microcontroller with an RTOS
- develop an IoT device with Wi-Fi, MQTT, and OTA firmware updates
- port Linux/Unix applications to an embedded platform via POSIX APIs
- run a real-time kernel on ARM Cortex-M, RISC-V, or MIPS chips
- add a file system and shell (FinSH) to an embedded project
- implement low-power sleep and dynamic voltage/frequency scaling on an MCU
- create a smart speaker or gateway with GUI and voice interaction

## When to choose
- you need a highly tailorable RTOS for MCUs with very limited RAM/Flash
- you want a full IoT platform with file systems, protocol stacks, and package ecosystem out of the box
- you target mainstream architectures like ARM Cortex-M/R/A, RISC-V, MIPS, or Xtensa
- you want POSIX compatibility to ease porting existing Unix/Linux code
- you need broad BSP support and commercial-friendly Apache-2.0 licensing

## When to avoid
- you need a full general-purpose OS with Linux-level application ecosystems
- your project targets desktop, server, or mobile platforms rather than embedded hardware
- you require hard real-time certification guarantees out of the box
- your team is committed to another RTOS ecosystem like FreeRTOS or Zephyr with existing tooling

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: embedded, iot, concurrency, networking, file-system, cryptography, sdk, plugin-system
- domain: embedded-systems, iot, operating-systems, hardware
- platform: embedded, iot, c, cpp, cross-platform
- tags: rtos, real-time-kernel, microcontroller, bsp, posix, cortex-m, risc-v, fota, low-power, package-manager, real-time

## Member repositories
- RT-Thread/rt-thread (main) score 75

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:51.914748+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 2026-08-29T17:14:52.877672+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/RT-Thread/rt-thread (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:51.914748+00:00, sha 73a53b8e6e31)
  - homepage: https://www.rt-thread.io (fetched 2026-08-29T08:12:00.686679+00:00, sha 5418d7843aee)
  - site_page: https://www.rt-thread.io/about.html (fetched 2026-08-29T08:12:00.689732+00:00, sha 7608eb9c970f)
  - site_page: https://www.rt-thread.io/document/site/introduction/introduction (fetched 2026-08-29T08:12:00.692634+00:00, sha 5bb85c236a5f)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.