McLighting Is a Multi-Client NeoPixel Control System You Can Build with Just an ESP8266

WS2811 and WS2812 LEDs — made famous in Adafruit’s fantastic NeoPixel products — are so useful because they’re easy to control with just about any microcontroller, and because each LED in a chain is can be controlled individually. You can turn a practically limitless number off LEDs on and off, and even change their color, with a single data pin. But, while that’s all easy enough to program for predefined lighting, controlling them dynamically can be more cumbersome.

That’s where Tobias Blum’s McLighting project comes into play. McLighting is designed to run on the popular and affordable ESP8266, and allows you to easily control WS2811 and WS2812 LEDs using any of a few different protocols. The first is a self-hosted web interface that can be accessed by devices on the same wireless network as the ESP8266, and features a color wheel for changing RGB values.

But, the real power of McLighting is in the other protocols that are available. REST, WebSocket, and MQTT communications are all provided, which means that an ESP8266 with McLighting can be controlled by just about any device on the market. So, you could easily integrate it with clients on everything from iOS and Android, to Windows and Raspbian. Best of all, it’s free to use over on GitHub!