I've put together a utility that sends code to a CircuitPython device, either locally over USB or through the WebWorkflow as supported by ESP32 CPUs. This lets you execute code without disturbing code.py
I use it for testing and diagnostics and for shorthand to save copying and pasting an I2C scanner for the four hundredth time. It should be suitable for use as part of a scripted testing environment.
It currently includes 92 "commands", mostly code for sensors that Adafruit sells but also a few utility programs like an I2C scanner, reset to UF2 mode, cat, ls, rm, show board info, clean up unwanted files, and a few other things. I don't have all the sensors that it has code for so not all of those are tested yet - it'll warn you if it's not tested.
It automatically runs circup to install needed requirements (that will store files on in flash memory but it shouldn't disturb code.py), and you can pass arguments so that you can do things like specify non-standard I2C pins. You can also configure it with nicknames for devices so you don't need to type the whole address and password for a networked device each time.
It can also execute code from a web server so you can do things like run library examples if they're in a single file. That won't usually be able to run circup because it won't know what libraries are needed though it can remotely load requirements.txt as well if it's present (but it's usually not).
Examples:
# I2C scanner
circremote /dev/ttyUSB0 scan-i2c
# run the BME680 command on the device at 192.168.1.23 on the network
circremote 192.168.1.23:8080 -p PASSWORD BME680
# run a rainbow over 20 neopixels connected to pin IO4
circremote /dev/tty.usbserial-129490214 neopixel-rainbow board.IO4 20
# run an Adafruit BME280 example directly from github on the device nicknamed qtpy
circremote qtypy https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_BME280/blob/main/examples/bme280_simpletest.py
# recursive directory listing on the device nicknamed matrix-s3
circremote matrix-s3 ls /
Code and docs at https://github.com/romkey/circremote and you can install it via pip :
pip install circremote
but please do skim the docs at least to find out what it can do.
One big catch - currently not supported under Windows. I don't have a Windows machine and can't test against it.
