Installing¶

Boards Manager¶

This is the suggested installation method for end users.

Prerequisites¶

Arduino 1.6.8, get it from Arduino website.
Internet connection

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:

https://www.arduino.cc/en/guide/cores

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 2.7 (https://python.org)
terminal, console, or command prompt (depending on your OS)
Internet connection

Instructions - Windows 10¶

First, make sure you don’t already have the ESP8266 library installed using the Board Manager (see above)
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.

cd %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Arduino\
if not exist hardware mkdir hardware
cd hardware
if not exist esp8266com mkdir esp8266com
cd esp8266com
git clone https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino.git esp8266

You should end up with the following directory structure in

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

Arduino
|
--- libraries
--- hardware
    |
    --- esp8266com
        |
        --- esp8266
            |
            --- bootloaders
            --- cores
            --- doc
            --- libraries
            --- package
            --- tests
            --- tools
            --- variants
            --- platform.txt
            --- programmers.txt
            --- README.md
            --- boards.txt
            --- LICENSE

Initialize the submodules

cd %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Arduino\hardware\esp8266com\esp8266
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
```
cd esp8266/tools
python 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

cd %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Arduino\hardware\esp8266com\esp8266
git status
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¶

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.

cd hardware
mkdir esp8266com
cd esp8266com
git clone https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino.git esp8266

You should end up with the following directory structure:

Arduino
|
--- hardware
    |
    --- esp8266com
        |
        --- esp8266
            |
            --- bootloaders
            --- cores
            --- doc
            --- libraries
            --- package
            --- tests
            --- tools
            --- variants
            --- platform.txt
            --- programmers.txt
            --- README.md
            --- boards.txt
            --- LICENSE

Initialize the submodules
```
cd esp8266
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
```
cd esp8266/tools
python get.py
```
Restart Arduino
When later updating your local library, goto the esp8266 directory and do a git pull
cd hardware\esp8266com\esp8266 git status git pull