From 3dd60c57134eea138ed0d78d84ff5d2465670e29 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Kevin Ahrendt <kevin.ahrendt@openhomefoundation.org>
Date: Fri, 1 May 2026 08:55:08 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] [core] Support allocating ring buffer in internal memory
 (#16187)

---
 esphome/core/ring_buffer.cpp | 13 +++++++------
 esphome/core/ring_buffer.h   |  7 ++++++-
 2 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/esphome/core/ring_buffer.cpp b/esphome/core/ring_buffer.cpp
index 6a2232599f..2e0802eceb 100644
--- a/esphome/core/ring_buffer.cpp
+++ b/esphome/core/ring_buffer.cpp
@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
 #include "ring_buffer.h"
 
-#include "esphome/core/helpers.h"
-#include "esphome/core/log.h"
-
 #ifdef USE_ESP32
 
-#include "helpers.h"
+#include "esphome/core/helpers.h"
+#include "esphome/core/log.h"
 
 namespace esphome {
 
@@ -19,12 +17,15 @@ RingBuffer::~RingBuffer() {
   }
 }
 
-std::unique_ptr<RingBuffer> RingBuffer::create(size_t len) {
+std::unique_ptr<RingBuffer> RingBuffer::create(size_t len, MemoryPreference preference) {
   std::unique_ptr<RingBuffer> rb = make_unique<RingBuffer>();
 
   rb->size_ = len;
 
-  RAMAllocator<uint8_t> allocator;
+  const uint8_t type = (preference == MemoryPreference::INTERNAL_FIRST) ? RAMAllocator<uint8_t>::PREFER_INTERNAL
+                                                                        : RAMAllocator<uint8_t>::NONE;
+
+  RAMAllocator<uint8_t> allocator(type);
   rb->storage_ = allocator.allocate(rb->size_);
   if (rb->storage_ == nullptr) {
     return nullptr;
diff --git a/esphome/core/ring_buffer.h b/esphome/core/ring_buffer.h
index 98a273781f..4acd07d5b0 100644
--- a/esphome/core/ring_buffer.h
+++ b/esphome/core/ring_buffer.h
@@ -80,7 +80,12 @@ class RingBuffer {
    */
   BaseType_t reset();
 
-  static std::unique_ptr<RingBuffer> create(size_t len);
+  enum class MemoryPreference {
+    EXTERNAL_FIRST,  // External RAM preferred, fall back to internal (default)
+    INTERNAL_FIRST,  // Internal RAM preferred, fall back to external
+  };
+
+  static std::unique_ptr<RingBuffer> create(size_t len, MemoryPreference preference = MemoryPreference::EXTERNAL_FIRST);
 
  protected:
   /// @brief Discards data from the ring buffer.