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Run soft real-time IoT workloads across many microcontrollers and network stacks

OSS scale score 285.1OSS health 92Update pace 318 commits/30d
About these scores

OSS scale score is an unbounded metric that log-compresses and weights Stars, Watchers, Forks, and Contributors. Discovery score is the current OSS scale score minus the score at discovery. Update pace is commits in the last 30 days, growth momentum is the OSS scale score difference within the recent observation window, and OSS health is a 0–100 rating based on available recency, Community Health, and release data.

Stars
5,807
Primary language
C
License
LGPL-2.1
Repository last updated
Oct 3, 2026
On this page

Overview

This open-source operating system runs on microcontrollers used in IoT and embedded devices. It emphasizes a small memory footprint, energy efficiency, and soft real-time behavior while supporting 8-, 16-, and 32-bit devices and more than 200 boards. Developers can combine networking and device modules behind largely uniform APIs.

Features and best fit

Based on official documentation; not hands-on tested · Content checked:

Key features

Schedule soft real-time work on constrained microcontrollers

A priority-based, preemptive, tickless scheduler works alongside timers and flexible memory management. RIOT treats a small footprint and energy efficiency as design principles and offers hardware-independent APIs with partial POSIX compatibility.

Sources: [1]

Combine networking protocols and peripheral drivers as needed

Available networking includes IPv6, 6LoWPAN, UDP, TCP, RPL, CoAP, MQTT, BLE, and LoRaWAN. Drivers cover SPI, I2C, UART, USB, CAN, sensors, actuators, displays, and other device classes.

Sources: [1]

Best fit

Develop IoT firmware that must move across board families

It fits sensor nodes, low-power endpoints, and networked embedded products that should not be tied to one vendor. On Linux and BSD, the native board runs as a regular process for basic testing before flashing physical hardware.

Sources: [1][2]

Before adoption

Prepare the host OS, board support, and toolchain first

Linux is the recommended development host; Windows uses WSL, and native development on macOS is not officially supported. Physical boards require architecture-specific cross-compilers, flashing or debugging tools, and serial-device permissions. Most code uses LGPL-2.1, while some externally sourced files carry separate licenses.

Sources: [2][3][1][7]

Official sources

  1. [1]RIOT 2026.07 README(2026-10-04)
  2. [2]RIOT 2026.07 development environment guide(2026-10-04)
  3. [3]RIOT 2026.07 example build guide(2026-10-04)
  4. [4]RIOT 2026.07 hello-world example(2026-10-04)
  5. [5]RIOT 2026.07 release(2026-10-04)
  6. [6]RIOT GitHub repository metadata(2026-10-04)
  7. [7]RIOT 2026.07 LGPL-2.1 license(2026-10-04)
Supplemental curator note

Evaluate the complete hardware path: board, radio, sensors, and flashing probe. The native board is useful for an early check, but interrupts, power use, and real peripherals still require testing on the target device.

Try it in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Enter the fixed-release hello-world example

    On Linux or WSL, clone RIOT 2026.07 and enter its smallest bundled example.

    git clone --branch 2026.07 --depth 1 https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT.git riot-2026.07 && cd riot-2026.07/examples/basic/hello-world
  2. 2

    Build for the native board

    Build hello-world for the host-based virtual board. A 64-bit Linux host needs multilib compiler and development packages.

    make BOARD=native
  3. 3

    Run hello-world in the terminal

    Confirm the Hello World! output and stop it with Ctrl+C. For hardware, consult the official guide for the board name and flashing requirements.

    make term BOARD=native
Check the official README

Growth

Growth trends · Last 30 days

5,807 Stars

Trend data is still being collected.

Development activity

Last 90 days · weekly

Commits (last 30 days)
318
Open PRs
489

Development activity is still being collected.

Built with

Categories and tags

Categories

Tags

GitHub data

GitHub dataView detailed GitHub data
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GitHub Topics

  • c
  • iot
  • os
  • internetofthings
  • microcontrollers
  • rtos
  • riot-os
  • riotos
  • internet
  • internet-of-things
Stars
5,807
Forks
2,107
Watchers
245
Open issues
415
Contributors
289
Owner type
Organization
Primary language
C
License
LGPL-2.1
Repository last updated
Oct 3, 2026
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