Blog

InternalGPIOPin Is the Platform Pin Class Instead of a Virtual Base

Oct 9, 2026

InternalGPIOPin is no longer an abstract class. It is now a type alias for the one pin class each platform provides (esp32::ESP32InternalGPIOPin, esp8266::ESP8266GPIOPin, rp2::RP2GPIOPin, libretiny::ArduinoInternalGPIOPin, zephyr::ZephyrGPIOPin or host::HostGPIOPin), so every call through an InternalGPIOPin * is a direct call. GPIOPin keeps its virtual interface.

This is a developer breaking change for external components in ESPHome 2026.11.0 and later.

Select Options and Light Effects Move to ConstVector

Oct 5, 2026

J. Nick Koston

ESPHome Maintainer

ESPHome 2026.10.0 stores select options and light effects in flash tables generated at build time instead of copying them onto the heap at boot. The getters now return a ConstVector view instead of a FixedVector. Code that binds the result with auto and uses the common read only members keeps working; code that names the old type, or calls front(), back(), capacity() or full(), needs a small change.

This is a breaking change for external components in ESPHome 2026.10.0 and later.

nRF52: nRF Connect SDK Projects Fetched Only When Needed

Sep 26, 2026

J. Nick Koston

ESPHome Maintainer

nRF52 builds with the native sdk-nrf toolchain now download only the nRF Connect SDK west projects a build needs, instead of all of them. External components that use an SDK module outside the default set must request it with include_west_project().

This is a breaking change for external components in ESPHome 2026.10.0 and later.

ClimateTraits Boolean Accessors Removed in Favor of Feature Flags

May 14, 2026

J. Nick Koston

ESPHome Maintainer

The ten deprecated ClimateTraits::get/set_supports_* accessors have been removed. External climate components must migrate to the add_feature_flags() / has_feature_flags() API introduced in 2025.11.0 — the 6-month deprecation window has elapsed.

This is a breaking change for external components in ESPHome 2026.5.0 and later.

Default-Constructed PollingComponent No Longer Polls

May 14, 2026

J. Nick Koston

ESPHome Maintainer

The no-argument PollingComponent() constructor now initializes the update interval to SCHEDULER_DONT_RUN (UINT32_MAX) instead of 1. External components that subclass PollingComponent, instantiate it with no constructor argument, and never call set_update_interval() will stop polling. Pass an interval to the constructor or call set_update_interval() explicitly.

This is a breaking change for external components in ESPHome 2026.5.0 and later.