1. Introduction to ESP-IDF

ESP-IDF (Espressif IoT Development Framework) is the official development framework created by Espressif Systems for its chips such as the ESP32, ESP32-S series, ESP32-C series, ESP32-H series, and ESP32-P series. It is an open-source software development toolkit based on C/C++, providing developers with comprehensive support from low-level hardware drivers to upper-level application development, and serves as the core tool for developing applications for ESP series chips.

2. ESP-IDF Environment Installation

  1. Download the ESP-IDF Tools Installer; offline installation is recommended.
    • Offline Installation: The offline installer does not require any network connection. One installer package corresponds to only one IDF version. The installation speed is slower, but the success rate is higher.
    • Online Installation: The online installer is very small and supports the installation of all ESP-IDF versions. It only downloads necessary dependency files during the installation process, but requires a stable network connection. Installation may fail if the network is poor.

2.1 Offline Installation

  1. After successful download, right-click the installer and select Run as administrator.
  2. Select the language for installation -> Accept the license agreement.
  3. On the environment verification page, if the "[Error] Enable Long Paths" message appears, click Apply Fix. If no error occurs, click Next.

  1. Choose the installation location (due to the large size of components, it is recommended to install it on a drive other than the C: drive), then click Next.
  2. Select the components to install (some chips are not checked by default; it is recommended to verify the selection), then click Next.

  1. After confirming that the installation information is correct, click Install.
  2. After the installation is complete, click Finish to launch ESP-IDF PowerShell and ESP-IDF CMD.

2.2 Online Installation

  1. After successful download, right-click the installer and select Run as administrator.
  2. Select the language for installation -> Accept the license agreement.
  3. On the environment verification page, if the "[Error] Enable Long Paths" message appears, click Apply Fix. If no error occurs, click Next.

  1. Select Download ESP-IDF, then click Next.

  1. Choose the ESP-IDF version to install and the installation directory (due to the large size of components, it is recommended to install it on a drive other than the C: drive).

  1. Select the installation directory for ESP-IDF Tools, then click Next.

  2. Select the components to install (some chips are not checked by default; it is recommended to verify the selection), then click Next.

  3. Confirm the installation information, then click Install.

  4. After the installation is complete, click Finish to launch ESP-IDF PowerShell and ESP-IDF CMD.

3. Common ESP-IDF Commands

3.1 Compilation and Flashing Process & Example

The process of compiling and flashing a project’s code typically involves:
Navigate to the project folder -> Set the chip model -> Configure the project (optional) -> Compile the project -> Flash the code.

The following demonstrates how to compile and flash the "hello_world" example:

  1. Open ESP-IDF CMD.
  2. Locate the hello_world folder in the ESP-IDF installation directory and navigate to it using the cd command.
# Please modify the project path
cd H:\IDFD\Espressif\frameworks\esp-idf-v5.5\examples\get-started\hello_world
  1. Set the chip model.
# Set the chip model to ESP32-S3
idf.py set-target esp32s3
  1. Compile the project.
# Compile the project
idf.py build
  1. Flash the code and start the serial monitor.
# Flash the code
idf.py flash monitor

3.2 Common Commands

# Navigate to a folder
cd xxxx
# Go back to the parent directory
cd ..
# List files and folders in the current directory
dir

# Set the target ESP32 chip model
idf.py set-target esp32           # Set the chip model to ESP32
idf.py set-target esp32s3         # Set the chip model to ESP32-S3
# Access project configuration
idf.py menuconfig
# Compile the project
idf.py build
# Flash the project
idf.py flash                      # Attempt to flash the project using an available serial port
idf.py -p PORT flash              # Flash the project using a specified serial port (replace PORT with the serial port name of your ESP32 development board)
idf.py flash monitor              # Attempt to flash the project using an available serial port and print output via the serial port
idf.py -p PORT flash monitor      # Flash the project using a specified serial port and print output via the serial port
# Clean compiled files
idf.py clean                      # Clean the compiled output files of the current project; suitable for recompiling after modifying a small amount of code to quickly clean intermediate files
idf.py fullclean                  # Completely clean all compiled files; suitable for after switching chip models or when encountering unusual compilation errors
# Erase flash memory
idf.py -p PORT erase-flash        # Erase the entire flash memory
idf.py -p PORT erase-otadata      # Erase OTA (Over-The-Air) data

4. Introduction to ESP-IDF Components

4.1 Component Overview

In addition to ESP-IDF, Espressif provides a wealth of solutions, components, and libraries, greatly facilitating developers. Examples include:

Solutions

  • ESP-Insights: ESP Insights is a remote diagnostics solution that allows users to remotely monitor the health status of on-site ESP devices.
  • ESP-IoT-Solution: ESP-IoT-Solution includes device drivers and code frameworks for developing IoT systems. As an additional component of ESP-IDF, it enables faster project initiation.
  • ESP-NOW: A connectionless Wi-Fi communication protocol.
  • ESP-SR: ESP-SR (Speech Recognition) provides basic algorithms for speech recognition applications.
  • ESP-Mesh-Lite: ESP-MESH-LITE is a Wi-Fi networking application for IoT-Bridge. Based on SoftAP + Station mode, it is a Mesh solution built on top of the Wi-Fi protocol.
  • ESP-WHO: ESP-WHO is an image processing development platform based on Espressif chips, containing practical development examples.

Components and Libraries

  • ESP-DL: ESP-DL is a high-performance deep learning library.
  • ESP-DSP: ESP-DSP (Digital Signal Processing) is the official DSP library for ESP32 and ESP32S3 chips.
  • ESP-MQTT: ESP-MQTT is a Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol library for Espressif chipsets.
  • ESP-NN: ESP-NN (Neural Networks) is a library containing neural network functions optimized for various Espressif chipsets.
  • ESP-Modbus: The Espressif ESP-Modbus library (esp-modbus) supports Modbus communication in networks based on RS485, WiFi, and Ethernet interfaces.
  • Open AI component: An OpenAI library compatible with ESP-IDF.

For more content, please visit: Espressif Development Projects

4.2 Component Installation

Note: When installing, pay attention to the IDF version requirements of the component.

The following uses "esp-iot-solution" as an example:

  1. Clone the repository.
git clone --recursive https://github.com/espressif/esp-iot-solution
  1. Compile and flash the project using the standard compilation and flashing process.

5. ESP-IDF Development Tutorials

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