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Networking

scrollkit.network provides WiFi connection management and a cross-platform HTTP client.

WiFiManager

scrollkit.network.wifi_manager.WiFiManager handles CircuitPython WiFi: connecting (with retries), reconnecting, scanning networks, and a web-based first-run setup flow (access-point mode + a config page) so a user can enter credentials without editing files. It creates the adafruit_requests session the HTTP client uses.

HttpClient

scrollkit.network.http_client.HttpClient exposes one API across platforms:

from scrollkit.network.http_client import HttpClient

http = HttpClient()
resp = await http.get("https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?...")
data = resp.json()
  • CircuitPython → adafruit_requests (synchronous, behind await).
  • Desktop → urllib fallback when no session is supplied.

It supports retries with backoff and a pluggable mock provider for tests.

Blocking I/O is real on CircuitPython

adafruit_requests is synchronous — a request blocks the event loop until it returns, pausing the scroll. ScrollKit does not pretend this is transparently async. Design around it:

  • Render a static/loading frame before a known-slow fetch.
  • For lots of data, chunk the requests and await asyncio.sleep(0) between chunks so the display keeps moving. See the hard tutorial for the full pattern.

mDNS: reach the device by name

scrollkit.network.mdns.advertise() advertises <hostname>.local plus a service record, so the config web UI is reachable by name without knowing the IP. It is CircuitPython-only — a no-op returning None on desktop / when there's no radio — and never raises, so it can't block boot:

from scrollkit.network import mdns

# Keep the returned server alive for the app's lifetime!
self._mdns = mdns.advertise(self.settings.get("hostname", "scrollkit"))

Retain the server

You must hold a reference to the returned mdns.Server. If it is garbage-collected the responder stops and .local resolution dies after the first cached query expires — an intermittent failure that's painful to debug.