Data checked 2026-08-13. Data may be stale - beyond the review cycle.
Review cycles are documented on the Methodology page. Methodology
rtlopez/esp-fc
Flight Stack Tier A flight_control MIT
Flight controller software for hobbyist - build your own flight controller.
Engineering Snapshot
Use cases & tasks 6
- Best suited for
-
- DIY flight controller builds
- ESP32-based drone projects
- Hobbyist experimentation with flight control algorithms
- Primary tasks
-
- Custom flight controller hardware development
- Learning flight control software architecture
- Low-cost drone prototyping
Stack & ecosystem
- Resource type
- Flight Stack
- Ecosystem
- drone · dshot · dynamic-notch · elrs · esp-now · esp32
License & compliance
- License
-
MIT(Inferred)
Lifecycle & freshness Show
- Maintenance
- Active
- Latest version
- Not recorded
- Last activity
- 2026-08-12
- Last checked
- 2026-08-13
- Verification
- Official confirmed
What It Solves
Enables hobbyists to build custom flight controllers using ESP32 microcontrollers with support for modern protocols like DShot, ELRS, and dynamic notch filtering.
Primary use cases
- Custom flight controller hardware development
- Learning flight control software architecture
- Low-cost drone prototyping
Secondary use cases
- Research platform for novel control algorithms
- Educational tool for embedded flight systems
When to Use
Consider when
- Need ESP32-specific implementation
- Want open-source MIT-licensed flight stack
- Require DShot/ELRS/ESP-NOW support
- Building custom hardware with MPU6050/MPU9250
Verify before adopting
- Real-world flight testing results
- Community support and documentation completeness
- Compatibility with specific ESP32 board variants
- Long-term maintenance commitment
Where It Fits
Stack layer flight_control
Start Here
Adoption Checklist
- Needs verification Real-world flight testing results
- Needs verification Community support and documentation completeness
- Needs verification Compatibility with specific ESP32 board variants
- Needs verification Long-term maintenance commitment
Each check stays "needs verification" until an official source confirms it; unconfirmed items are never marked verified.
Known Limitations & Unknowns
Known limitations
- Limited to ESP32 platform
- Hobby-grade, not safety-certified
- Documentation may be sparse
- No official hardware reference design
Not publicly verified
- Flight performance benchmarks
- Maximum supported airframe types
- Real-time scheduling guarantees
- Power consumption profiles
Alternatives & Related Tools
Alternatives
- betaflight — Alternative to
How is it used?
Start from the recorded entry points below, then validate against the technical checklist.
- Official site https://github.com/rtlopez/esp-fc
- Repository https://github.com/rtlopez/esp-fc
- Documentation https://github.com/rtlopez/esp-fc
Technical checklist
- OK License identified Recorded: MIT
- OK Maintenance signal Active
- OK Verification status Official confirmed
- OK Source evidence attached 1 source record(s)
- NEEDS REVIEW Latest version recorded Not recorded
Official Links
Metadata & Governance
| License | MIT — Inferred |
|---|---|
| Commercial model | Unknown |
| Maintenance status | Active |
| Verification status | Official confirmed — Confirmed via the official repository API responses in SourceRefs below. |
| Latest version | Not recorded |
| Latest release | Not recorded |
| Last activity | 2026-08-12 |
| Last checked | 2026-08-13 |
| First seen | Not recorded |
Related Resources & Dependencies
- betaflight — alternative to (confirmed)
Recent Activity
New resource: esp-fc
New repository resource added by the sprint promote pipeline.
Related Knowledge
Collections
- Open-Source Flight Control Stacks — Open-source autopilot firmware repositories for building or evaluating a flight stack.
- Evaluating Open-Source Flight Stacks — A structured path for comparing candidate open-source flight stacks on evidence, not marketing.