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:

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.

  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. 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

  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

  • 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. python get.py

  • 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