Learn how to use VSCode with ESP32 & Arduino

by GalBrandwine

Hey All,

This is a short manual I made while configuring VSCode IDE to work with ESP32 and Arduino on Ubuntu.

Note: assuming VScode is already installed.

  • Download and install Arduino

    • Unzip the downloaded file (Say to ~/Downloads/ ).

    • Using terminal:

cd ~/Downloads/adruino-<version>/

# Install
sudo ./install.sh

# Allow UDEV rules
./arduino-linux-setup.sh <user-name>

  • Open VSCode & Install the Arduino plugnin.

  • Configure the Plugin to recognize the Installed Arduino application, by adding to the .vscode/settings.json:

"arduino.path": "/home/gal/Downloads/arduino-nightly", #<---------- Path to installed Arduino app
"arduino.additionalUrls": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/VSChina/azureiotdevkit_tools/master/package_azureboard_index.json, https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json, http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json",

Note: Notice that the "arduino.additionalUrls" containing three URL's. The second and the third will provide support for all the ESP boards.

  • Restart VSCode

  • Press ctrl+shift+p

    • Type 'Arduino: Board Manager' & press Enter.

    • Install the ESP board:

  • Selecting board type:

    • Press ctrl+shift+p
    • Type Arduino: Change Board Type
    • Select your ESP32 board.

  • Testing the plugin with examples:

    • Press ctrl+shift+p

    • Enter Arduino: Examples and select an example to start with (Iv'e selected the WifiClient):

    • A new window will pop-up. Connect the ESP32. Make sure the Serial configuration is set up correctly ( At the bottom right):

      • The serial is pointing to the correct port. (In my case its /dev/ttyUSB0)
      • The selected board appears correctly.

    • Now you can press the Upload button (at the top right corner of the screen).

    • In order to see the serial's output - press the pluginicon, left to the /dev/ttyUSB0 text.

    • That's it!

  • OTA support

    • Set the port field in the arduino.json file to point to the Arduino's IP (In my case it's an AccessPoint):
{
    "port": "192.168.4.1",
    "configuration": "FlashFreq=80,UploadSpeed=921600,DebugLevel=none",
    "board": "esp32:esp32:esp32doit-devkit-v1",
    "sketch": "SkyNetMaster/SkyNetMaster.ino"
}

Note

On my PC I have ubuntu 20, with python 3 only. thus I received the following error: 

exec: "python": executable file not found in $PATH  
Error compiling for board <BOARD NAME>.

I fixed It by doing:

# The esp driver is looking for hard-coded `python` everywhere in their scripts, while the system knows only `python3` reference.
# so this trick worked for me.
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/python3 /usr/bin/python

# Also I've needed to install pyserial
pip3 install pyserial

The prons of Working on VSCode & Arduino

  • IntelliSense - VSCode supplies a greater IntelliSense engine, Unlike the Arduino IDE, which has none.
  • GIT - Arduino project is a bunch of files, so it can be managed with GIT repository, but the Arduino IDE has no Plugins to ease your life.

Cheers, Gal.