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Getting started

WLED-MM web interface

Choose the product that matches your setup. The What to use table helps if you are unsure.

You need Chrome or Edge for web-based flashing. Safari is not supported.

WLED-MM

Difficulty: Beginner, no programming required
Cost: ~€20–35 (ESP32 board + LED strip)
Time: 30–60 minutes to first lights

WLED-MM is the easiest starting point. It uses the standard WLED installer and is well documented.

What you need: An ESP32 board, a WS2812B-compatible LED strip, a USB cable that carries data (not charge-only), and a WiFi network.

  1. Wire your LED strip to the ESP32. The default data pin is GPIO16. Connect grounds together.
  2. Open the WLED web installer in Chrome or Edge. Select your board, click Install.
  3. After flashing, connect to the WLED-AP access point (password: wled1234). Open 4.3.2.1 in your browser.
  4. Go to Config → Wifi Setup, enter your network credentials, and save. The device will reboot onto your network.
  5. For WLED-MM specific features, download the latest .bin from GitHub releases and flash with the ESP flasher by srg74.

Documentation: mm.kno.wled.ge · Power calculator

MoonLight

Difficulty: Beginner to intermediate, no programming required for basic setups
Cost: ~€35–80 (ESP32-S3 board + LEDs; moving heads extra)
Time: 1–2 hours to first lights

MoonLight has its own web installer and supports more complex setups (multiple outputs, DMX, moving heads).

What you need: An ESP32-S3 or ESP32-P4 board (the QuinLED Dig-Next-2 is the simplest plug-and-play option), a USB data cable, Chrome or Edge.

  1. Open the MoonLight installer in Chrome or Edge.
  2. Select your board from the table, tick Erase on first install, and click Connect. Follow the on-screen steps. Some boards require bootloader mode: hold Boot, press Reset, release Boot.
  3. After flashing, connect to the ML-xxxx WiFi access point. Open http://4.3.2.1 in your browser.
  4. Enter your home WiFi credentials and hostname, then restart the device.
  5. Select your IO board preset, create a LED layout, add a driver and an effect, and press Save.

Documentation: moonmodules.org/MoonLight

FastLED-MM

Difficulty: Developer, C++ coding required
Cost: ~€10–20 (any ESP32 board)
Time: Varies; assumes existing FastLED familiarity

FastLED-MM is aimed at developers already familiar with FastLED who want to add a web UI and REST API without writing a server layer.

What you need: An ESP32 board, PlatformIO or Arduino IDE, basic familiarity with FastLED.

  1. Clone or download FastLED-MM from GitHub.
  2. Open the project in PlatformIO. Edit main.cpp to set your LED pin, width, and height.
  3. Flash to your ESP32.
  4. Connect to the FMML-xxxx access point. A browser control panel with live preview is immediately available at 4.3.2.1.

Documentation: GitHub README

projectMM

Difficulty: Advanced developer, platform/firmware development
Cost: ~€10–20 (any ESP32 board; also runs on Raspberry Pi and PC)
Time: Open-ended; this is a development platform

projectMM is for developers who want to build on the MoonModules runtime directly, writing their own modules or extending the platform. It will get an installer for end-users in the future

  1. Read the why projectMM page first to understand the design intent.
  2. Follow the getting started guide in the projectMM documentation.

Documentation: ewowi.github.io/projectMM

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