From 48caff13c9dc2759aafef3097375ba37c1e290ad Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Nick Koston" <nick@koston.org>
Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2025 15:33:28 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] [espnow] Initialize LwIP stack when running without WiFi
 component (#12169)

---
 esphome/components/espnow/espnow_component.cpp | 7 +++++++
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+)

diff --git a/esphome/components/espnow/espnow_component.cpp b/esphome/components/espnow/espnow_component.cpp
index d2f136d1c7..bc05833709 100644
--- a/esphome/components/espnow/espnow_component.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/espnow/espnow_component.cpp
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 #include <esp_event.h>
 #include <esp_mac.h>
+#include <esp_netif.h>
 #include <esp_now.h>
 #include <esp_random.h>
 #include <esp_wifi.h>
@@ -157,6 +158,12 @@ bool ESPNowComponent::is_wifi_enabled() {
 }
 
 void ESPNowComponent::setup() {
+#ifndef USE_WIFI
+  // Initialize LwIP stack for wake_loop_threadsafe() socket support
+  // When WiFi component is present, it handles esp_netif_init()
+  ESP_ERROR_CHECK(esp_netif_init());
+#endif
+
   if (this->enable_on_boot_) {
     this->enable_();
   } else {