PyKit Explorer - Board Provisioning Tool

This tool fully provisions a brand-new PyKit Explorer board. It downloads the latest PyKit Explorer content from the MicrochipTech repository and writes it to the board's CIRCUITPY drive. No Python install required on your computer.

The source repository is pykit-explorer-code-modules on MicrochipTech, using the main branch.

This is a one-time setup step for a fresh board. It overwrites code.py, so don't run it on a board a student has already been coding on as it will replace their work.

It writes the following to the root of CIRCUITPY, replacing anything already there with the same name:

• Folders: API, AudioFiles, Fonts, Images, lib
• Files: README.md, code.py, pykit_explorer.py

Before running any of the scripts below, plug in the board via USB. It should show up as a drive named CIRCUITPY.

Download the ZIP file and extract it. Extracting to your Downloads folder is assumed for the instructions below.

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Windows

Open the folder that you just extracted. It will be called pykit-provisioning-tool-main

Double-click provision-board.bat.

A window opens, downloads the latest content, and asks you to confirm (type y and press Enter) before it overwrites anything. It stays open with a "Press Enter to close this window" prompt when it's done, so you can read the result.

Right-clicking provision-board.ps1 directly and choosing "Run with PowerShell" usually won't work as most Windows installs block .ps1 files from running at all unless you use the .bat, which explicitly allows this one script to run. Use provision-board.bat, not the .ps1 directly.

Command-line / advanced usage:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File provision-board.ps1
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File provision-board.ps1 -Force
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File provision-board.ps1 -Ref v1.2.0

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macOS

Terminal:

cd ~/Downloads/pykit-explorer-provisioning-tool	(press tab to complete, then press enter)   # or wherever you saved the files
bash provision-board.sh

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Linux

Terminal:

cd ~/Downloads/pykit-explorer-provisioning-tool	(press tab to complete, then press enter)   # or wherever you saved provision-board.sh
bash provision-board.sh

The script performs a shallow Git clone of the repository.

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Flags (macOS / Linux)

Flag	What it does
--yes	Skip the confirmation prompt — useful when provisioning many boards back-to-back
--ref <branch-or-tag>	Provision from a specific branch or release tag instead ofmaster

bash provision-board.sh --yes
bash provision-board.sh --ref v1.2.0

Flags (Windows)

Flag	What it does
-Force	Skip the confirmation prompt
-Ref <branch-or-tag>	Provision from a specific branch or release tag instead ofmain

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Troubleshooting

• "No CIRCUITPY drive found" — make sure the board is plugged in and shows up as a drive named CIRCUITPY before running the script.
• macOS: "unidentified developer" warning — see step 2 under macOS above. You only need to approve it once.
• Linux/macOS: "Permission denied" when running ./provision-board.sh directly — run it as bash provision-board.sh instead.
• Windows: window opens and instantly closes — use provision-board.bat, not the .ps1 file directly (see the Windows section above).
• Git, an internet connection, and Bitbucket access are required — the script clones the latest content from the master branch each time it runs.
• A PROVISION_INFO.txt file is written to the board recording which commit it was provisioned from, useful for troubleshooting later.

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Files in this package

File	Platform	Purpose
provision-board.bat	Windows	Double-click entry point
provision-board.ps1	Windows	The actual script (called by the.bat)
provision-board.command	macOS	Double-click entry point
provision-board.sh	macOS / Linux	The actual script