Installing VS Code

By default, the ESP-IDF SDK does not include a code editing tool (though the latest ESP-IDF installer for Windows offers the option to install ESP-IDF Eclipse). You can use any text editing tool of your choice to edit the code and then compile it using terminal commands.

One popular code editing tool is VS Code (Visual Studio Code), which is a free and feature-rich code editor with a user-friendly interface. It offers various plugins that provide functionalities such as code navigation, syntax highlighting, Git version control, and terminal integration. Additionally, Espressif has developed a dedicated plugin called Espressif IDF for VS Code, which simplifies project configuration and debugging.

You can use the code command in the terminal to quickly open the current folder in VS Code. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut Ctrl+~ to open the system’s default terminal console within VS Code.

💡 Tip

It is recommended to use VS Code for ESP32-C3 code development. Download and install the latest version of VS Code at https://code.visualstudio.com/.