Nest Thermostat Firmware Setup

🏆 FULU Bounty Winner 🏆

Hack House and this project are the official winners of the FULU Bounty for Nest Learning Thermostat Gen 1/2

Hardware Alternative: If you're interested in the hardware side of things, check out https://sett.homes for a drop-in PCB replacement option.

Installation

Option 1: GUI Installer - Recommended

📖 Follow the installation guide at docs.nolongerevil.com or download the latest release directly.

The installer handles everything — flashing the firmware and walking you through setup. During setup, choose your hosting mode:

• Cloud-hosted — connects to the No Longer Evil platform; no server setup required
• Self-hosted (Home Assistant) — auto-discovers your Home Assistant instance and connects to the No Longer Evil add-on
• Self-hosted (NLE Server) — connects to a standalone No Longer Evil server at a custom IP and port

Self-hosting? You'll need to set up your server infrastructure separately before running the installer. See the Self-Hosted Guide.

Option 2: Build from Source

If you'd rather build and run the installer yourself instead of downloading a release:

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ and npm
• Docker — only needed if rebuilding firmware from source (Install Docker)
• macOS/Linux — Windows is not supported for building or flashing

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/codykociemba/NoLongerEvil-Thermostat.git
cd NoLongerEvil-Thermostat

2. Build the Firmware (optional)

The repo already includes pre-built firmware files in firmware/installer/resources/firmware/. This step is only needed if you want to customize the firmware (e.g. a different server URL).

cd firmware/builder
./docker-build.sh --generation both --enable-root-access --yes

This builds for both Nest Gen 1 and Gen 2 inside Docker. Afterwards, copy the output to the installer:

cp firmware/builder/firmware/* firmware/installer/resources/firmware/

3. Build or Run the Installer

cd firmware/installer
npm install

Run directly (no build needed):

npm run electron:dev

Or build a distributable:

npm run package:mac    # macOS
npm run package:linux  # Linux

Output is in firmware/installer/dist/. Open the built app and follow the on-screen steps.

Security Considerations

This tool provides low-level access to the device's boot process. Use responsibly:

• Only use on devices you own
• Improper firmware can brick your device (Don't sue me bro)

Credits & Acknowledgments

This project builds upon the excellent work of several security researchers and developers:

• grant-h / ajb142 - omap_loader, the USB bootloader tool used to flash OMAP devices
• exploiteers (GTVHacker) - Original research and development of the Nest DFU attack, which demonstrated the ability to flash custom firmware to Nest devices gen 1 & gen 2
• FULU and all bounty backers - For funding the Nest Learning Thermostat Gen 1/2 bounty and supporting the right-to-repair movement

Without their groundbreaking research, open-source contributions, and advocacy for device ownership rights, this work would not be possible. Thank you!

Open Source Commitment

We are committed to transparency and the right-to-repair movement. The firmware images and backend API server code will be open sourced soon, allowing the community to audit, improve, and self-host their own infrastructure.

References

• OMAP Loader by ajb142
• Nest DFU Attack by exploiteers