Esp32 Nat Router

ESP32 NAT Router

This is a firmware to use the ESP32 as WiFi NAT router. It routes between the network of the AP interface and the STA or ETH interface as uplink network. It can also work as a VPN router using WireGuard as uplink.

If you have a **W32-ET01 board** and you are looking for a plain ESP32 **Ethernet AP**, or correctly for an **Ethernet to WiFi Layer 2 Bridge**, check out [esp32_eth_wifi_bridge](https://github.com/martin-ger/esp32_eth_wifi_bridge). If you are looking for an ESP32 router with reverse direction, i.e. **WiFi STA as uplink** (Internet) and **Ethernet as downlink** (LAN), check out [esp32_ethernet_router](https://github.com/martin-ger/esp32_ethernet_router).

**Use cases:**

• Simple range extender for an existing WiFi network
• An additional WiFi network with different SSID/password and restricted access for guests or IoT devices
• VPN-Router using WireGuard
• Converter from a corporate (WPA2-Enterprise) network to a regular (WPA-PSK) network for simple devices
• Classic WiFi router with Ethernet uplink
• MCP-server to control your network using agentic AI
• Presence detection and network monitoring in a Home Assistant IoT network
• Debugging and monitoring of WiFi devices

Key Features

• NAT Routing: Full WiFi NAT router with IP forwarding (15+ Mbps throughput)
• WireGuard VPN: Optional VPN tunnel for upstream traffic with automatic MSS clamping and Path MTU
• DHCP Reservations: Assign fixed IPs to specific MAC addresses
• Port Forwarding: Map external ports to internal devices
• Firewall: Define ACL to restrict or monitor traffic
• PCAP Capture: Live packet capture can be streamed to Wireshark or other network tools
• WPA2-Enterprise Support: Connect to corporate networks (PEAP, TTLS, TLS) and convert them to WPA2-PSK
• 5 GHz WiFi: Dual-band support on ESP32-C5 with configurable band preference (auto/2.4 GHz/5 GHz)
• Ethernet Support: Use a W32-ET01 board with LAN8720 PHY to get Ethernet uplink