diff --git a/tools/ci/test_build_system_cmake.sh b/tools/ci/test_build_system_cmake.sh
index ea88b479a9..43f4d3270e 100755
--- a/tools/ci/test_build_system_cmake.sh
+++ b/tools/ci/test_build_system_cmake.sh
@@ -395,6 +395,17 @@ function run_tests()
     (grep '"command"' build/compile_commands.json | grep -v mfix-esp32-psram-cache-issue) && failure "All commands in compile_commands.json should use PSRAM cache workaround"
     rm -r build
 
+    print_status "Cleaning Python bytecode"
+    idf.py clean > /dev/null
+    idf.py fullclean > /dev/null
+    if [ "$(find $IDF_PATH -name "*.py[co]" | wc -l)" -eq 0 ]; then
+        failure "No Python bytecode in IDF!"
+    fi
+    idf.py python-clean
+    if [ "$(find $IDF_PATH -name "*.py[co]" | wc -l)" -gt 0 ]; then
+        failure "Python bytecode isn't working!"
+    fi
+
     print_status "Displays partition table when executing target partition_table"
     idf.py partition_table | grep -E "# Espressif .+ Partition Table"
     rm -r build
diff --git a/tools/idf.py b/tools/idf.py
index 8ccd1327ca..a09944fa09 100755
--- a/tools/idf.py
+++ b/tools/idf.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 # any external libraries here - put in external script, or import in
 # their specific function instead.
 import codecs
+import fnmatch
 import json
 import locale
 import multiprocessing
@@ -491,6 +492,21 @@ def fullclean(action, ctx, args):
             os.remove(f)
 
 
+def python_clean(action, ctx, args):
+    for root, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(os.environ["IDF_PATH"]):
+        for d in dirnames:
+            if d == "__pycache__":
+                dir_to_delete = os.path.join(root, d)
+                if args.verbose:
+                    print("Removing: %s" % dir_to_delete)
+                shutil.rmtree(dir_to_delete)
+        for filename in fnmatch.filter(filenames, '*.py[co]'):
+            file_to_delete = os.path.join(root, filename)
+            if args.verbose:
+                print("Removing: %s" % file_to_delete)
+            os.remove(file_to_delete)
+
+
 def _safe_relpath(path, start=None):
     """ Return a relative path, same as os.path.relpath, but only if this is possible.
 
@@ -1124,6 +1140,13 @@ def init_cli():
                 + "Note that this option recursively deletes all files in the build directory, so use with care."
                 + "Project configuration is not deleted.",
             },
+            "python-clean": {
+                "callback": python_clean,
+                "short_help": "Delete generated Python byte code from the IDF directory",
+                "help": ("Delete generated Python byte code from the IDF directory "
+                         "which may cause issues when switching between IDF and Python versions. "
+                         "It is advised to run this target after switching versions.")
+            },
         }
     }