PICOTOOL-LOAD(1)

👑 picotool-load(1) — bestie edition ✨

okay so this is the manual page for picotool-load, a User Command, and it does exactly what it says on the tin: it takes the program / memory range that's chillin' inside a file and loads it onto the device. main character energy fr 💅

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🌸 NAME 🌸

picotool-load — load the program / memory range stored in a file onto the device. that's it, that's the vibe 🦋

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

picotool load [--ignore-partitions] [--family <family_id>] [-p
<partition>] [-n] [-N] [-u] [-v] [-x] <filename> [-t <type>] [-o
<offset>] [device-selection]

like, yes bestie, there's a Lot of little flags. we're gonna go through every single one, no skipping, no cap 🙈

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💖 OPTIONS 💖

🎀 Post load actions

these are the things that happen around the load itself, iykyk

• --ignore-partitions — when you're writing flash data, this tells picotool to ignore the partition table entirely and write into absolute space. chaotic? maybe. effective? absolutely. 💅
• --family — specify the family ID of the file to load. yes, the file, not the device. reading comprehension is the moment ✨
  • <family_id> — the family ID to use for load.
• -p, --partition — specify which partition to load into.
  • <partition> — the partition to load into.
• -n, --no-overwrite — when writing flash data, do not overwrite an existing program in flash. and here's the catch, bestie: if picotool can't figure out the size/presence of the program in flash, the command fails. like it just gives up. no vibes, no mercy 😭
• -N, --no-overwrite-unsafe — same idea: when writing flash data, don't overwrite an existing program in flash. but if picotool can't determine the size/presence of the program in flash, the load continues anyway. hence the whole "unsafe" in the name, she's not subtle 💀
• -u, --update — skip writing flash sectors that already contain identical data. efficient queen 👑
• -v, --verify — verify the data was written correctly. trust but verify, periodt ✅
• -x, --execute — attempt to execute the downloaded file as a program after the load. sending it straight to the stage 🎤

📁 File to load from

• <filename> — The file name. just... the file name. that's the whole description. iconic minimalism 🎀
• -t <type> — specify the file type (uf2 | elf | bin) explicitly, ignoring the file extension. so if your file's lying about its extension, this is your girl 🧚

🧡 BIN file options

• -o, --offset — specify the load address for a BIN file.
  • <offset> — the load offset (memory address; default 0x10000000). yes that's the default, write it down 📝

🔍 Target device selection

picking your device out of the crowd, one filter at a time 🌈

• --bus <bus> — filter devices by USB bus number.
• --address <addr> — filter devices by USB device address.
• --vid <vid> — filter by vendor id.
• --pid <pid> — filter by product id.
• --ser <ser> — filter by serial number.
• -f, --force — force a device that's not in BOOTSEL mode but is running compatible code to reset so the command can actually be executed. and then — after executing the command, unless the command itself is a reboot — the device gets rebooted back to application mode. she leaves them how she found them 🫶
• -F, --force-no-reboot — force a device that's not in BOOTSEL mode but is running compatible code to reset so the command can be executed. after executing the command (again, unless the command itself is a reboot), the device is left connected and accessible to picotool, but without the USB drive mounted. lowkey the "i'm staying over" option 😌

⚠️ heads up bestie: -n will straight up fail if picotool can't suss out the size or presence of the program in flash, while -N just sends it. pick your fighter 💀

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💜 a lil sign-off 💜

this page is from picotool 2.2.0-a4+dfsg, dated December 2025. go load something slay, bestie 💖✨🎀