Blog

Select Options and Light Effects Move to ConstVector

Oct 5, 2026

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.

FloatOutput Power Scaling Fields Gated Behind USE_OUTPUT_FLOAT_POWER_SCALING

May 14, 2026

J. Nick Koston

ESPHome Maintainer

The min_power_ / max_power_ / zero_means_zero_ fields and their setters on FloatOutput are now gated behind a new USE_OUTPUT_FLOAT_POWER_SCALING build flag. The codegen turns the flag on automatically whenever a YAML config references the feature. Lambdas that call id(out).set_min_power(...) / set_max_power(...) / set_zero_means_zero(...) without any matching YAML key or action will now fail to compile with a clear static_assert pointing at the one-line YAML fix.

This is a breaking change for external components and YAML configs that drive power scaling exclusively from lambdas in ESPHome 2026.5.0 and later.