# wled/WLED

Control WS2812B and many more types of digital RGB LEDs with an ESP32 over WiFi!

Repository: https://github.com/wled/WLED
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/wled
Homepage: https://kno.wled.ge
Language: C++
License: EUPL-1.2
License Family: copyleft
Topics: light, esp8266, led, esp32, hacktoberfest
Last push: 2026-08-24T21:49:43+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 93/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 80, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3543, "days_push": 9, "days_rel": 57, "gap_med": 81.5, "n_releases_24m": 7}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 18603, forks 4323 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:26.850051+00:00)

## What it is
WLED is a fast, feature-rich open-source firmware for ESP32 (and legacy ESP8266) microcontrollers that controls addressable RGB LED strips and matrices over WiFi. It provides a built-in web UI, 200+ effects, segments, presets, audio-reactive visuals, and integrations with Home Assistant, MQTT, E1.31/Art-Net, Alexa, and more.

## Use cases
- control WS2812B LED strips over WiFi
- build an ambilight behind my TV
- create audio-reactive LED effects
- control LED matrix panels with ESP32
- integrate addressable LEDs with Home Assistant
- sync multiple LED devices together
- run animated effects on a 2D LED matrix
- control smart lights with Alexa or MQTT

## When to choose
- You want to control addressable LED strips (WS2812B, SK6812, APA102, etc.) from an ESP32/ESP8266 without writing firmware yourself
- You need a rich web UI, presets, segments, and 200+ built-in effects out of the box
- You want integrations with Home Assistant, MQTT, E1.31/Art-Net, DDP, or voice assistants
- You want audio-reactive lighting or 2D matrix/HUB75 panel support
- You want OTA updates, network configuration, and multi-output support (up to 17 outputs on ESP32)

## When to avoid
- You need to control simple analog (non-addressable) RGB strips only — other simpler firmware may suffice
- You are not using ESP-family hardware (ESP32/ESP8266)
- You need extremely low-latency or deterministic real-time LED control without WiFi/network dependency
- You want a fully custom lighting pipeline and prefer to write your own low-level LED driver code
- You still rely on ESP8266 for new projects — support there is being phased out in favor of ESP32

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: http-server, websocket, middleware, embedded, iot, animation, gui, web-scraping
- domain: iot, embedded-systems, hardware, self-hosted
- platform: embedded, iot, cross-platform
- tags: led-control, ws2812b, neopixel, addressable-leds, esp32-firmware, smart-lighting, home-automation, audio-reactive, hub75, mqtt, e1-31, art-net, home-assistant, ambilight, wifi-control, led-matrix, firmware, automation, esp8266, web-server

## Member repositories
- wled/WLED (main) score 93

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:26.850051+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 2026-08-29T17:02:00.654988+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/wled/WLED (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:26.850051+00:00, sha ccfb3225aad1)
  - homepage: https://kno.wled.ge (fetched 2026-08-29T07:59:36.097329+00:00, sha 65c4930a4e74)
  - site_page: https://kno.wled.ge/basics/getting-started (fetched 2026-08-29T07:59:36.107005+00:00, sha 64280c4c02fa)
  - site_page: https://kno.wled.ge/features/effects (fetched 2026-08-29T07:59:36.109320+00:00, sha 3a92d84f30d2)
  - site_page: https://kno.wled.ge/about/contributors (fetched 2026-08-29T07:59:36.112176+00:00, sha 45cb4a7ba70f)
  - site_page: https://kno.wled.ge/basics/install-binary (fetched 2026-08-29T07:59:36.114057+00:00, sha 847e41431730)
  - site_page: https://kno.wled.ge/basics/install-gui (fetched 2026-08-29T07:59:36.115792+00:00, sha b21878cfa61b)
  - site_page: https://kno.wled.ge/basics/install-wled-flasher (fetched 2026-08-29T07:59:36.117498+00:00, sha 0cf739599e0d)
  - site_page: https://kno.wled.ge/features/palettes (fetched 2026-08-29T07:59:36.121677+00:00, sha 48a6e4066c7d)
  - site_page: https://kno.wled.ge/basics/faq (fetched 2026-08-29T07:59:36.119065+00:00, sha 950d90d6218f)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.