mpremote example: run code from device memory, install missing module

I’ve installed mpremote on my Windows11 host computer.

mpremote found a microcontroller (mcu) board running micropython at serial port COM5 and automatically connected to it:

> mpremote
Connected to MicroPython at COM5
Use Ctrl-] or Ctrl-x to exit this shell

>>>

Now, I want to take a script from a local folder and run it on the mcu memory. This eliminates the need for copy/paste/upload operations, enabling rapid testing and prototyping.

The script file is located in a WSL folder. "\\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu- 24.04\home\pathto\localscript.py" and its supposed to scan for an ssd1306 OLED module connected to the mcu via I2C.

mpremote supports this using the run <path> command.

> mpremote run "\\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu-24.04\home\pathto\micropython_flag.py"
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 9, in <module>
ImportError: no module named 'ssd1306'

However, the script failed to run and we’re seeing an error because I’ve neglected to install the ssd1306 module that the script needs to import.

Luckily, mpremote makes installation of modules super-simple by using the mip install <modulename> command

> mpremote mip install ssd1306
Install ssd1306
Installing ssd1306 (latest) from https://micropython.org/pi/v2 to /lib
Installing: /lib/ssd1306.mpy
Done

After installing the missing module, the script is able to run.

mpremote run "\\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu-24.04\home\botmanager\summitpiserver\mcu\micropython_flag.py"
I2C devices found: ['0x3c']
SSD1306 initialized successfully

mpremote is such an amazing little command-line utility.