Installing

Boards Manager

This is the suggested installation method for end users.

Prerequisites

  • Arduino 1.6.8, get it from Arduino website.
  • Internet connection
  • Python 3 interpreter (Mac/Linux only, Windows installation supplies its own)

Instructions

  • Start Arduino and open Preferences window.
  • Enter https://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json into Additional Board Manager URLs field. You can add multiple URLs, separating them with commas.
  • Open Boards Manager from Tools > Board menu and find esp8266 platform.
  • Select the version you need from a drop-down box.
  • Click install button.
  • Don’t forget to select your ESP8266 board from Tools > Board menu after installation.

For more information on the Arduino Board Manager, see:

Using git version

This is the suggested installation method for contributors and library developers.

Prerequisites

  • Arduino 1.6.8 (or newer, current working version is 1.8.5)
  • git
  • Python 3.x (https://python.org)
  • terminal, console, or command prompt (depending on your OS)
  • Internet connection
  • Uninstalling any core version installed via Board Manager

Instructions - Windows 10

  • First, make sure you don’t already have an ESP8266 core version installed using the Board Manager (see above). If you do, uninstall it from the Board Manager before proceeding. It is also advisable to erase the Arduino15 contents.

  • Install git for Windows (if not already; see https://git-scm.com/download/win)

  • Open a command prompt (cmd) and go to Arduino default directory. This is typically the sketchbook directory (usually C:\users\{username}\Documents\Arduino where the environment variable %USERPROFILE% usually contains C:\users\{username})

  • Clone this repository into hardware/esp8266com/esp8266 directory.

    1. cd %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Arduino\
    2. if not exist hardware mkdir hardware
    3. cd hardware
    4. if not exist esp8266com mkdir esp8266com
    5. cd esp8266com
    6. git clone https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino.git esp8266

    You should end up with the following directory structure in

    C:\Users\{your username}\Documents\

    1. Arduino
    2. |
    3. --- libraries
    4. --- hardware
    5.     |
    6.     --- esp8266com
    7.         |
    8.         --- esp8266
    9.             |
    10.             --- bootloaders
    11.             --- cores
    12.             --- doc
    13.             --- libraries
    14.             --- package
    15.             --- tests
    16.             --- tools
    17.             --- variants
    18.             --- platform.txt
    19.             --- programmers.txt
    20.             --- README.md
    21.             --- boards.txt
    22.             --- LICENSE

  • Initialize the submodules

    1. cd %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Arduino\hardware\esp8266com\esp8266
    2. git submodule update --init

If error messages about missing files related to SoftwareSerial are encountered during the build process, it should be because this step was missed and is required.

  • Download binary tools

    1. cd esp8266/tools
    2. python3 get.py

  • Restart Arduino

  • If using the Arduino IDE for Visual Studio (https://www.visualmicro.com/), be sure to click Tools - Visual Micro - Rescan Toolchains and Libraries

  • When later updating your local library, goto the esp8266 directory and do a git pull

    1. cd %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Arduino\hardware\esp8266com\esp8266
    2. git status
    3. git pull

Note that you could, in theory install in C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware however this has security implications, not to mention the directory often gets blown away when re-installing Arduino IDE. It does have the benefit (or drawback, depending on your perspective) - of being available to all users on your PC that use Arduino.

Instructions - Other OS

  • First, make sure you don’t already have an ESP8266 core version installed using the Board Manager (see above). If you do, uninstall it from the Board Manager before proceeding. It is also advisable to erase the .arduino15 (Linux) or Arduino15 (MacOS) contents.

  • Open the console and go to Arduino directory. This can be either your sketchbook directory (usually <Documents>/Arduino), or the directory of Arduino application itself, the choice is up to you.

  • Clone this repository into hardware/esp8266com/esp8266 directory. Alternatively, clone it elsewhere and create a symlink, if your OS supports them.

    1. cd hardware
    2. mkdir esp8266com
    3. cd esp8266com
    4. git clone https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino.git esp8266

    You should end up with the following directory structure:

    1. Arduino
    2. |
    3. --- hardware
    4.     |
    5.     --- esp8266com
    6.         |
    7.         --- esp8266
    8.             |
    9.             --- bootloaders
    10.             --- cores
    11.             --- doc
    12.             --- libraries
    13.             --- package
    14.             --- tests
    15.             --- tools
    16.             --- variants
    17.             --- platform.txt
    18.             --- programmers.txt
    19.             --- README.md
    20.             --- boards.txt
    21.             --- LICENSE

  • Initialize the submodules

    1. cd esp8266
    2. git submodule update --init

If error messages about missing files related to SoftwareSerial are encountered during the build process, it should be because this step was missed and is required.

  • Download binary tools

    1. cd esp8266/tools
    2. python3 get.py

    If you get an error message stating that python3 is not found, you will need to install it (most modern UNIX-like OSes provide Python 3 as part of the default install). To install you will need to use sudo yum install python3, sudo apt install python3, or brew install python3 as appropriate. On the Mac you may get an error message like:

    1.    python3 get.py
    2.    Platform: x86_64-apple-darwin
    3.    Downloading python3-macosx-placeholder.tar.gz
    4.    Traceback (most recent call last):
    5.      File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/urllib/request.py", line 1317, in do_open
    6.        encode_chunked=req.has_header('Transfer-encoding'))
    7.      ...
    8.      File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/ssl.py", line 1117, in do_handshake
    9.        self._sslobj.do_handshake()
    10.    ssl.SSLCertVerificationError: [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: unable to get local issuer certificate (_ssl.c:1056)
    12. This is because Homebrew on the Mac does not always install the required SSL certificates by default.  Install them manually (adjust the Python 3.7 as needed) with:
    14. .. code:: bash
    16.     cd "/Applications/Python 3.7/" && sudo "./Install Certificates.command"

  • Restart Arduino

  • When later updating your local library, goto the esp8266 directory and do a git pull

    1. cd hardware\esp8266com\esp8266
    2. git status
    3. git pull

Using PlatformIO

PlatformIO is an open source ecosystem for IoT development with a cross-platform build system, a library manager, and full support for Espressif (ESP8266) development. It works on the following popular host operating systems: macOS, Windows, Linux 32/64, and Linux ARM (like Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, CubieBoard).