Raspberry Pi Pico W simulator, and what it will not pretend
The Pico W is the Raspberry Pi Pico with a CYW43439 beside it. Mokxi models the RP2040 exactly as it models a Pico (same core, same forty pins) and models that chip not at all. WiFi here is simulated instead: the Arduino API over a network of ours, with no radio and no real internet behind it. The on-board LED works, and not off GP25: on this board it hangs off the wireless chip, and the runtime drives it down the same path. This page is where both are written down.
- 8peripheral areas modeled
- 4projects ready to run
- Real timeon your own machine
What is modeled
Taken from the board's own contract document and put in plain words, with what is missing listed underneath.
Not in the model
- A radio of any kind, and Bluetooth in every form. No 802.11, no CYW43439, no LE, no GATT. WiFi is simulated instead (WiFi.h, HTTPClient.h and WebServer.h over a network written in software, with no real internet behind it), and every page that mentions it says so. A sketch that reaches for Bluetooth will not compile, because the runtime does not declare it.
- GP25 as the LED. On a Pico W it is WL_CS, and driving it high lights nothing here and nothing on a real Pico W. LED_BUILTIN is the lamp, and it goes to the wireless chip, but there is no PWM on that link, so analogWrite on it does nothing and a breathing LED wants a header pin.
- GP24 as VBUS sense and GP23 as the regulator mode pin. On this board both belong to the CYW43, so nothing drives them.
- Everything the Pico model leaves out as well: the second core, PIO, DMA, the ADC, SPI, I2C, USB and the clock tree.
Open one and press Run
Each of these opens in the editor exactly as it is drawn here.
Every built-in project on the Pico W
Each has its own page with the circuit running, the code and a parts list.
Arduino libraries that compile as they are
Paste a tutorial that includes one of these and it builds: each is written for Mokxi, on its own drivers, under the name the tutorials use. For any other library the build names the Mokxi header that does the same job.
Questions
Is it free?
Yes. Every board and every part is on the free plan, with no account needed.
Can it connect to WiFi?
To a simulated one, yes, and it says plainly that it is simulated. Your sketch uses the real Arduino calls (WiFi.begin, WiFi.status, HTTPClient, WebServer), and the board joins a network, fetches a page and serves one. Underneath there is no CYW43439, no 802.11 and no real internet: four made-up addresses under .mokxi exist and nothing a sketch does leaves this tab. Bluetooth is not simulated at all.
Why does the on-board LED never light?
Because on a Pico W GP25 is WL_CS, not the LED. The lamp is on the wireless chip’s own GPIO 0, and digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH) gets there: the runtime sends it over the same path the Arduino core uses on the real board. Writing 25 lights nothing here and nothing on a desk.
Is the firmware different from a Pico’s?
No. Same chip, same memory map, same ELF. A program built for a Pico runs here unchanged, and the editor uses the same compiler and the same runtime for both.
Which should I pick?
If your circuit does not need real wireless, either. Pick the Pico W when that is the board on your desk, so the pinout, the LED and the WiFi code match what you will find.
The other boards
Every one of these runs today, and every one is free.
Looking for the shorter introduction? See the Raspberry Pi Pico W simulator page.
Try it on your own firmware
What you build here runs on the board on your desk, unchanged. Nothing to install and no account needed.