# Standard Toolchain Setup for Linux and macOS

[中文]

## Installation Step by Step

This is a detailed roadmap to walk you through the installation process.

### Setting up Development Environment

These are the steps for setting up the ESP-IDF for your ESP32-C3.

- Step 1. Install Prerequisites

- Step 2. Get ESP-IDF

- Step 3. Set up the Tools

- Step 4. Set up the Environment Variables

- Step 5. First Steps on ESP-IDF

## Step 1. Install Prerequisites

In order to use ESP-IDF with the ESP32-C3, you need to install some software packages based on your Operating System. This setup guide helps you on getting everything installed on Linux and macOS based systems.

### For Linux Users

To compile using ESP-IDF, you need to get the following packages. The command to run depends on which distribution of Linux you are using:

- Ubuntu and Debian:

      sudo apt-get install git wget flex bison gperf python3 python3-pip python3-venv cmake ninja-build ccache libffi-dev libssl-dev dfu-util libusb-1.0-0

- CentOS 7 & 8:

      sudo yum -y update && sudo yum install git wget flex bison gperf python3 cmake ninja-build ccache dfu-util libusbx

CentOS 7 is still supported but CentOS version 8 is recommended for a better user experience.

- Arch:

      sudo pacman -S --needed gcc git make flex bison gperf python cmake ninja ccache dfu-util libusb python-pip

Note

- CMake version 3.22 or newer is required for use with ESP-IDF. Run "tools/idf_tools.py install cmake" to install a suitable version if your OS versions does not have one.

- If you do not see your Linux distribution in the above list then please check its documentation to find out which command to use for package installation.

### For macOS Users

ESP-IDF uses the version of Python installed by default on macOS.

- Install CMake & Ninja build:

  - If you have HomeBrew, you can run:

        brew install cmake ninja dfu-util

  - If you have MacPorts, you can run:

        sudo port install cmake ninja dfu-util

  - Otherwise, consult the CMake and Ninja home pages for macOS installation downloads.

- It is strongly recommended to also install ccache for faster builds. If you have HomeBrew, this can be done via `brew install ccache` or `sudo port install ccache` on MacPorts.

Note

If an error like this is shown during any step:

    xcrun: error: invalid active developer path (/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools), missing xcrun at: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/xcrun

Then you need to install the XCode command line tools to continue. You can install these by running `xcode-select --install`.

### Apple M1 Users

If you use Apple M1 platform and see an error like this:

    WARNING: directory for tool xtensa-esp32-elf version esp-2021r2-patch3-8.4.0 is present, but tool was not found
    ERROR: tool xtensa-esp32-elf has no installed versions. Please run 'install.sh' to install it.

or:

    zsh: bad CPU type in executable: ~/.espressif/tools/xtensa-esp32-elf/esp-2021r2-patch3-8.4.0/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin/xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc

Then you need to install Apple Rosetta 2 by running

    /usr/sbin/softwareupdate --install-rosetta --agree-to-license

### Installing Python 3

Ensure that you have Python 3.10 or newer installed, as this is the minimum version supported by ESP-IDF.

Note that most of the recent versions of macOS include Python 3.9 (or older) by default, which is no longer supported. You will need to install Python 3.10 or later.

To install supported Python 3 on macOS:

- With HomeBrew, run:

      brew install python3

- With MacPorts, run:

      sudo port install python313

Note

During installation, the install script will check for supported Python versions on your system and select the oldest version that meets the minimum requirement.

## Step 2. Get ESP-IDF

To build applications for the ESP32-C3, you need the software libraries provided by Espressif in ESP-IDF repository.

To get ESP-IDF, navigate to your installation directory and clone the repository with `git clone`, following instructions below specific to your operating system.

Open Terminal, and run the following commands:

    mkdir -p ~/esp
    cd ~/esp
    git clone -b v6.0-beta1 --recursive https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf.git

ESP-IDF is downloaded into `~/esp/esp-idf`.

Consult ESP-IDF Versions for information about which ESP-IDF version to use in a given situation.

## Step 3. Set up the Tools

Aside from the ESP-IDF, you also need to install the tools used by ESP-IDF, such as the compiler, debugger, Python packages, etc, for projects supporting ESP32-C3.

    cd ~/esp/esp-idf
    ./install.sh esp32c3

or with Fish shell

    cd ~/esp/esp-idf
    ./install.fish esp32c3

The above commands install tools for ESP32-C3 only. If you intend to develop projects for more chip targets then you should list all of them and run for example:

    cd ~/esp/esp-idf
    ./install.sh esp32,esp32s2

or with Fish shell

    cd ~/esp/esp-idf
    ./install.fish esp32,esp32s2

In order to install tools for all supported targets please run the following command:

    cd ~/esp/esp-idf
    ./install.sh all

or with Fish shell

    cd ~/esp/esp-idf
    ./install.fish all

Note

For macOS users, if an error like this is shown during any step:

    <urlopen error [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: unable to get local issuer certificate (_ssl.c:xxx)

You may run `Install Certificates.command` in the Python folder of your computer to install certificates. For details, see Download Error While Installing ESP-IDF Tools.

### Alternative File Downloads

The tools installer downloads a number of files attached to GitHub Releases. If accessing GitHub is slow then it is possible to set an environment variable to prefer Espressif's download server for GitHub asset downloads.

Note

This setting only controls individual tools downloaded from GitHub releases, it does not change the URLs used to access any Git repositories.

To prefer the Espressif download server when installing tools, use the following sequence of commands when running `install.sh`:

    cd ~/esp/esp-idf
    export IDF_GITHUB_ASSETS="dl.espressif.com/github_assets"
    ./install.sh

Note

For users in China, we recommend using our download server located in China for faster download speed.

    cd ~/esp/esp-idf
    export IDF_GITHUB_ASSETS="dl.espressif.cn/github_assets"
    ./install.sh

### Customizing the Tools Installation Path

The scripts introduced in this step install compilation tools required by ESP-IDF inside the user home directory: `$HOME/.espressif` on Linux. If you wish to install the tools into a different directory, export the environment variable IDF_TOOLS_PATH before running the installation scripts. Make sure that your user account has sufficient permissions to read and write this path.

    export IDF_TOOLS_PATH="$HOME/required_idf_tools_path"
    ./install.sh

    . ./export.sh

If changing the `IDF_TOOLS_PATH`, make sure it is exported in the environment before running any ESP-IDF tools or scripts.

Note

Using `IDF_TOOLS_PATH` in variable assignment, e.g., `IDF_TOOLS_PATH="$HOME/required_idf_tools_path" ./install.sh`, without prior exporting, will not work in most shells because the variable assignment will not affect the current execution environment, even if it's exported/changed in the sourced script.

## Step 4. Set up the Environment Variables

The installed tools are not yet added to the PATH environment variable. To make the tools usable from the command line, some environment variables must be set. ESP-IDF provides another script which does that.

In the terminal where you are going to use ESP-IDF, run:

    . $HOME/esp/esp-idf/export.sh

or for fish (supported only since fish version 3.0.0):

    . $HOME/esp/esp-idf/export.fish

Note the space between the leading dot and the path!

If you plan to use esp-idf frequently, you can create an alias for executing `export.sh`:

1. Copy and paste the following command to your shell's profile (`.profile`, `.bashrc`, `.zprofile`, etc.)

       alias get_idf='. $HOME/esp/esp-idf/export.sh'

2. Refresh the configuration by restarting the terminal session or by running `source [path to profile]`, for example, `source ~/.bashrc`.

Now you can run `get_idf` to set up or refresh the esp-idf environment in any terminal session.

Technically, you can add `export.sh` to your shell's profile directly; however, it is not recommended. Doing so activates IDF virtual environment in every terminal session (including those where IDF is not needed), defeating the purpose of the virtual environment and likely affecting other software.

## Step 5. First Steps on ESP-IDF

Now since all requirements are met, the next topic will guide you on how to start your first project.

This guide helps you on the first steps using ESP-IDF. Follow this guide to start a new project on the ESP32-C3 and build, flash, and monitor the device output.

Note

If you have not yet installed ESP-IDF, please go to Installation and follow the instruction in order to get all the software needed to use this guide.

## Start a Project

Now you are ready to prepare your application for ESP32-C3. You can start with get-started/hello_world project from examples directory in ESP-IDF.

Important

The ESP-IDF build system does not support spaces in the paths to either ESP-IDF or to projects.

Copy the project get-started/hello_world to `~/esp` directory:

    cd ~/esp
    cp -r $IDF_PATH/examples/get-started/hello_world .

Note

There is a range of example projects in the examples directory in ESP-IDF. You can copy any project in the same way as presented above and run it. It is also possible to build examples in-place without copying them first.

## Connect Your Device

Now connect your ESP32-C3 board to the computer and check under which serial port the board is visible.

Serial ports have the following naming patterns:

- Linux: starting with `/dev/tty`

- macOS: starting with `/dev/cu.`

If you are not sure how to check the serial port name, please refer to Establish Serial Connection with ESP32-C3 for full details.

Note

Keep the port name handy as it is needed in the next steps.

## Configure Your Project

Navigate to your `hello_world` directory, set ESP32-C3 as the target, and run the project configuration utility `menuconfig`.

    cd ~/esp/hello_world
    idf.py set-target esp32c3
    idf.py menuconfig

After opening a new project, you should first set the target with `idf.py set-target esp32c3`. Note that existing builds and configurations in the project, if any, are cleared and initialized in this process. The target may be saved in the environment variable to skip this step at all. See Select the Target Chip: set-target for additional information.

If the previous steps have been done correctly, the following menu appears:

Project configuration - Home window

You are using this menu to set up project specific variables, e.g., Wi-Fi network name and password, the processor speed, etc. Setting up the project with menuconfig may be skipped for "hello_world", since this example runs with default configuration.

Note

The colors of the menu could be different in your terminal. You can change the appearance with the option `--style`. Please run `idf.py menuconfig --help` for further information.

## Build the Project

Build the project by running:

    idf.py build

This command compiles the application and all ESP-IDF components, then it generates the bootloader, partition table, and application binaries.

    $ idf.py build
    Running cmake in directory /path/to/hello_world/build
    Executing "cmake -G Ninja --warn-uninitialized /path/to/hello_world"...
    Warn about uninitialized values.
    -- Found Git: /usr/bin/git (found version "2.17.0")
    -- Building empty aws_iot component due to configuration
    -- Component names: ...
    -- Component paths: ...

    ... (more lines of build system output)

    [527/527] Generating hello_world.bin
    esptool v5.0.2

    Project build complete. To flash, run:
      idf.py flash
    or
      idf.py -p PORT flash
    or
      esptool -p (PORT) -b 921600 write-flash --flash-mode dio --flash-size detect --flash-freq 40m 0x10000 build/hello_world.bin  build 0x1000 build/bootloader/bootloader.bin 0x8000 build/partition_table/partition-table.bin

If there are no errors, the build finishes by generating the firmware binary .bin files.

## Flash onto the Device

To flash the binaries that you just built for the ESP32-C3 in the previous step, you need to run the following command:

    idf.py -p PORT flash

Replace `PORT` with your ESP32-C3 board's USB port name. If the `PORT` is not defined, the idf.py will try to connect automatically using the available USB ports.

For more information on `idf.py` arguments, see idf.py.

Note

The option `flash` automatically builds and flashes the project, so running `idf.py build` is not necessary.

Encountered Issues While Flashing? See the "Additional Tips" below. You can also refer to Flashing Troubleshooting page or Establish Serial Connection with ESP32-C3 for more detailed information.

### Normal Operation

When flashing, you will see the output log similar to the following:

    ...
    esptool --chip esp32c3 -p /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 460800 --before=default-reset --after=hard-reset write-flash --flash-mode dio --flash-freq 80m --flash-size 2MB 0x0 bootloader/bootloader.bin 0x8000 partition_table/partition-table.bin 0x10000 hello_world.bin
    esptool v5.0.2
    Connected to ESP32-C3 on /dev/ttyUSB0:
    Chip type:          ESP32-C3 (QFN32) (revision v1.0)
    Features:           Wi-Fi, BT 5 (LE), Single Core, 160MHz, Embedded Flash 4MB (XMC)
    Crystal frequency:  40MHz
    MAC:                60:55:f9:f7:7d:20

    Stub flasher running.
    Changing baud rate to 460800...
    Changed.

    Configuring flash size...
    Flash will be erased from 0x00000000 to 0x00005fff...
    Flash will be erased from 0x00008000 to 0x00008fff...
    Flash will be erased from 0x00010000 to 0x00031fff...
    SHA digest in image updated.
    Wrote 21072 bytes (13320 compressed) at 0x00000000 in 0.7 seconds (232.1 kbit/s).
    Hash of data verified.
    Wrote 3072 bytes (103 compressed) at 0x00008000 in 0.1 seconds (240.8 kbit/s).
    Hash of data verified.
    Wrote 135328 bytes (74697 compressed) at 0x00010000 in 2.6 seconds (419.7 kbit/s).
    Hash of data verified.

    Hard resetting via RTS pin...

If there are no issues by the end of the flash process, the board will reboot and start up the "hello_world" application.

If you would like to use the Eclipse or VS Code IDE instead of running `idf.py`, check out Eclipse Plugin, VSCode Extension.

## Monitor the Output

To check if "hello_world" is indeed running, type `idf.py -p PORT monitor` (Do not forget to replace PORT with your serial port name).

This command launches the IDF Monitor application.

    $ idf.py -p <PORT> monitor
    Running idf_monitor in directory [...]/esp/hello_world/build
    Executing "python [...]/esp-idf/tools/idf_monitor.py -b 115200 [...]/esp/hello_world/build/hello_world.elf"...
    --- idf_monitor on <PORT> 115200 ---
    --- Quit: Ctrl+] | Menu: Ctrl+T | Help: Ctrl+T followed by Ctrl+H ---
    ets Jun  8 2016 00:22:57

    rst:0x1 (POWERON_RESET),boot:0x13 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
    ets Jun  8 2016 00:22:57
    ...

After startup and diagnostic logs scroll up, you should see "Hello world!" printed out by the application.

        ...
        Hello world!
        Restarting in 10 seconds...
        This is esp32c3 chip with 1 CPU core(s), WiFi/BLE, silicon revision 0, 2 MB external flash
    Minimum free heap size: 337332 bytes
        Restarting in 9 seconds...
        Restarting in 8 seconds...
        Restarting in 7 seconds...

To exit IDF monitor use the shortcut `Ctrl+]`.

Note

You can combine building, flashing and monitoring into one step by running:

    idf.py -p PORT flash monitor

See also:

- IDF Monitor for handy shortcuts and more details on using IDF monitor.

- idf.py for a full reference of `idf.py` commands and options.

That is all that you need to get started with ESP32-C3!

Now you are ready to try some other examples, or go straight to developing your own applications.

Important

Some of examples do not support ESP32-C3 because required hardware is not included in ESP32-C3 so it cannot be supported.

If building an example, please check the README file for the `Supported Targets` table. If this is present including ESP32-C3 target, or the table does not exist at all, the example will work on ESP32-C3.

## Additional Tips

### Permission Denied Issue

With some Linux distributions, you may get the error message similar to `Could not open port <PORT>: Permission denied: '<PORT>'` when flashing the ESP32-C3. This can be solved by adding the current user to the specific group, such as `dialout` or `uucp` group.

### Python Compatibility

ESP-IDF supports Python 3.10 or newer. It is recommended to upgrade your operating system to a recent version satisfying this requirement. Other options include the installation of Python from sources or the use of a Python version management system such as pyenv.

### Flash Erase

Erasing the flash is also possible. To erase the entire flash memory you can run the following command:

    idf.py -p PORT erase-flash

For erasing the OTA data, if present, you can run this command:

    idf.py -p PORT erase-otadata

The flash erase command can take a while to be done. Do not disconnect your device while the flash erasing is in progress.

## Updating ESP-IDF and Python Packages in the ESP-IDF Environment

It is recommended to update ESP-IDF from time to time, as newer versions fix bugs and/or provide new features. Please note that each ESP-IDF major and minor release version has an associated support period, and when one release branch is approaching end of life (EOL), all users are encouraged to upgrade their projects to more recent ESP-IDF releases, to find out more about support periods, see ESP-IDF Versions.

The simplest way to do the update is to delete the existing `esp-idf` folder and clone it again, as if performing the initial installation described in Step 2. Get ESP-IDF.

Another solution is to update only what has changed. For specific instructions, please visit Updating ESP-IDF page.

After updating ESP-IDF, execute the install script again (`./install.sh` in your `$IDF_PATH`), in case the new ESP-IDF version requires different versions of tools. See instructions at Step 3. Set up the Tools.

Once all the new tools are installed, enter the ESP-IDF environment using the export script as described in Step 4. Set up the Environment Variables.

### Updating Python Packages in the ESP-IDF Environment Without Updating ESP-IDF

Some features in ESP-IDF are not included directly in the ESP-IDF repository. Instead, they are provided by Python packages such as `esp-idf-monitor` or `esptool`, which are installed in the ESP-IDF environment by the install script. These packages can be updated independently of ESP-IDF. To update them, simply re-run the install script (`./install.sh` in your `$IDF_PATH`). If the ESP-IDF environment already exists, the script will update all Python packages in it to the latest versions compatible with the current ESP-IDF version — without updating the ESP-IDF itself.

Note

If you are an advanced user and want more control over the update process, you can also check idf_tools.py Script and its `install-python-env` command, which is used by the install script and handles the creation or update of the ESP-IDF environment.

## Related Documents

> - Establish Serial Connection with ESP32-C3

> - Eclipse Plugin

> - VSCode Extension

> - IDF Monitor

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