Setting Up the ESP32-C3 Development Environment in VSCode

In the previous article, the setup of the ESP32 MicroPython development environment was introduced. This time, I plan to use the ESP32-C3 as the main control for a small airplane. MicroPython is not very suitable for this purpose; instead, I will use the native ESP-IDF framework. Since I usually use VS Code as my editor, I chose it as my development environment.

ESP32-C3

The ESP32-C3 SoC chip supports the following features:

• 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi
• Low-power Bluetooth
• High-performance 32-bit RISC-V single-core processor
• Various peripherals
• Built-in security hardware

The ESP32-C3 is manufactured using a 40 nm process, providing optimal power consumption, RF performance, stability, versatility, and reliability for various application scenarios and different power requirements.

Espressif provides users with complete software and hardware resources for developing ESP32-C3 hardware devices. Among them, Espressif’s software development environment, ESP-IDF, is designed to assist users in quickly developing IoT applications, meeting their requirements for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, low power consumption, and more.

Development Environment

Hardware

• ESP32-C3 Development Board
• USB Data Cable
• PC

Software

• VS Code

Install Plugins

1. Search for keywords like “esp” in the VS Code plugin marketplace:

   

2. After installing the plugin, enter “esp-idf” in the VS Code command panel (Wow, so many commands!):

   

   

   Just install with the default options. I chose the master development branch for the IDF version; for production, you can choose the stable version of the official release. If you encounter problems connecting to GitHub, try switching the download server to Espressif’s server.

   

   If you see this, it means the configuration is OK.

Blink Example

1. Create a folder named esp-test, then open VS Code in it.

2. Type “esp show” in the VS Code command panel

   

3. Select the blink example

4. Click the build button in the lower left corner to build

   

   The first build takes a long time as it compiles the entire framework; subsequent builds will not take as long.

Overall, Espressif’s set of tools is already very complete, but also quite complex. It seems I need to spend time slowly familiarizing myself with this development process.