List of available commands

All commands start with ESP-IDF:.

Command Description

Description

Add Arduino ESP32 as ESP-IDF Component

Add Arduino-ESP32 as a ESP-IDF component in your current directory (${CURRENT_DIRECTORY}/components/arduino).

Add Docker Container Configuration

Add the .devcontainer files to the currently opened project directory, necessary to use a ESP-IDF project in a Docker container with Visual Studio Code Remote - Containers extension

Add Editor coverage

Parse your project GCOV Code coverage files to add color lines representing code coverage on currently opened source code file.

Add vscode configuration folder

Add .vscode files to the currently opened project directory. These include launch.json (for debugging), settings.json and c_cpp_properties.json for syntax highlight.

Build, Flash and start a monitor on your device

Build the project, write binaries program to device and start a monitor terminal with a single command. Similar to idf.py build flash monitor

Build your project

Build your project using CMake and Ninja-build as explained in ESP-IDF Build System Using Cmake Directly. You could modify the behavior of the build task with idf.cmakeCompilerArgs for Cmake configure step and idf.ninjaArgs for Ninja step. For example, using [-j N] where N is the number of jobs run in parallel.

Clear eFuse Summary

Clear the eFuse Summary tree from ESP Explorer EFUSEEXPLORER

Clear ESP-IDF Search Results

Clear results from ESP Explorer Documentation Search Results

Clear Saved ESP-IDF Setups

Clear existing esp-idf setups saved by the extension.

Configure ESP-IDF extension

Open a window with a setup wizard to install ESP-IDF, IDF Tools and python virtual environment.

Configure Project SDKConfig for Coverage

Set required values in your project SDKConfig to enable Code Coverage

Create project from Extension Template

Create ESP-IDF using one of the extension template projects.

Create New ESP-IDF Component

Create a new component in the current directory based on ESP-IDF component template

Dispose Current SDK Configuration Editor Server Process

If you already executed the SDK Configuration editor, a cache process will remain in the background for faster re opening. This command will dispose of such cache process.

Doctor Command

Run a diagnostic of the extension setup settings and extension logs to provide a troubleshooting report.

Troubleshoot Form

Launch UI for user to send a troubleshoot report with steps to reproduce, run a diagnostic of the extension setup settings and extension logs to send to telemetry backend.

Encrypt and Flash your Project

Execute flashing the project program to device while adding –encrypt for partitions to be encrypted.

Erase Flash Memory from Device

Execute esptool.py erase_flash command to erase flash chip (set to 0xFF bytes)

Execute Custom Task

User can define a command line command or script in idf.customTask which can be executed with this command.

Flash your project

Write binary data to the ESP’s flash chip from your current ESP-IDF project. This command will use either UART, DFU or JTAG based on idf.flashType

Flash (DFU) your project

Write binary data to the ESP’s flash chip from your current ESP-IDF project using DFU. Only for ESP32-S2 and ESP32-S3.

Flash (UART) your project

Write binary data to the ESP’s flash chip from your current ESP-IDF project using esptool.py

Flash (with JTag)

Write binary data to the ESP’s flash chip from your current ESP-IDF project using OpenOCD JTAG

Full Clean Project

Delete the current ESP-IDF project build directory.

Get eFuse Summary

Get list of eFuse and values from currently serial port chip.

Get HTML Coverage Report for project

Parse your project GCOV Code coverage files to generate a HTML coverage report.

Import ESP-IDF Project

Import an existing ESP-IDF project and add .vscode and .devcontainer files to a new location and also able to rename the project.

Install ESP-ADF

Clone ESP-ADF inside the selected directory and set idf.espAdfPath (idf.espAdfPathWin in Windows) configuration setting.

Install ESP-IDF Python Packages (DEPRECATION NOTICE)

Install extension python packages. Deprecated will be removed soon.

Install ESP-MDF

Clone ESP-MDF inside the selected directory and set idf.espMdfPath (idf.espMdfPathWin in Windows) configuration setting.

Install ESP-Matter

Clone ESP-Matter and set idf.espMatterPath. The ESP-IDF: Set ESP-MATTER Device Path (ESP_MATTER_DEVICE_PATH) is used to define the device path for ESP-Matter. ESP-Matter is not supported in Windows.

Install ESP-Rainmaker

Clone ESP-Rainmaker and set idf.espRainmakerPath (idf.espRainmakerPathWin in Windows) configuration setting.

Install ESP-HomeKit-SDK

Clone ESP-HomeKit-SDK inside the selected directory and set idf.espHomeKitSdkPath (idf.espHomeKitSdkPathWin in Windows) configuration setting.

Launch IDF Monitor for CoreDump / GDB-Stub Mode

Launch ESP-IDF Monitor with websocket capabilities. If you has configured the panic handler to gdbstub or core dump, the monitor will launch a post mortem debug session of the chip.

Launch QEMU Server

As described in QEMU documentation this command will execute ESP32 QEMU from the project Dockerfile with the current project binaries.

Launch QEMU Debug Session

As described in QEMU documentation this command will start a debug session to ESP32 QEMU from the project Dockerfile with the current project binaries.

Monitor device

This command will execute idf.py monitor to start serial communication with Espressif device. Please take a look at the IDF Monitor Documentation.

Monitor QEMU Device

As described in QEMU documentation this command will start a terminal to monitor the ESP32 QEMU from the project Dockerfile with the current project binaries.

New Project

Launch UI with a ESP-IDF project creation wizard using examples templates from ESP-IDF and ESP-ADF.

NVS Partition Editor

Launch UI to create a CSV file for ESP_IDF Non Volatile Storage

Open ESP-IDF Terminal

Open a terminal with IDF_PATH and python virtual environment activated.

Partition Table Editor

Launch UI to manage custom partition table as described in ESP_IDF Partition Table

Pick a workspace folder

When using a Visual Studio Code workspace with multiple workspace folders, this command allows you to select which workspace folder to use for this extension commands. More information in working with multiple projects.

Remove editor coverage

Remove editor colored lines from Add Editor coverage command

Run idf.py reconfigure task

This command will execute idf.py reconfigure (CMake configure task). Useful when you need to generate compile_commands.json for the C/C++ language support.

Run ESP-IDF-SBOM vulnerability check

Creates Software bill of materials (SBOM) files in the Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX) format for applications generated by the Espressif IoT Development Framework (ESP-IDF).

Save Default SDKCONFIG file (save-defconfig)

Generate sdkconfig.defaults files using the project current sdkconfig file.

SDK Configuration editor

Launch a UI to configure your ESP-IDF project settings. This is equivalent to idf.py menuconfig.

Search in documentation…

Select some text from your source code file and search in ESP-IDF documentation with results right in the vscode ESP-IDF Explorer tab.

Search Error Hint

Type some text to find a matching error from ESP-IDF hints dictionary.

Select Flash Method

Select which flash method to use for Flash your project command. It can be DFU, JTAG or UART.

Select port to use

Select which serial port to use for ESP-IDF tasks like flashing or monitor your device.

Select OpenOCD Board Configuration

Select the OpenOCD configuration files that match your Espressif device target. For example if you are using DevKitC or ESP-Wrover-Kit. This is necessary for flashing with JTAG or debugging your device.

Select where to save configuration settings

In Visual Studio Code settings can be saved in 3 places: User Settings (global settings), workspace ( .code-workspace file) or workspace folder (.vscode/settings.json).

Select output and notification mode

This extension shows many notifications and output in the Output window ESP-IDF. This command allows you to set if to show notifications, show output, both or none of them.

Set Espressif device target

This will set the target for the current project (IDF_TARGET). Similar to idf.py set-target. For example if you want to use ESP32 or ESP32-C3 you need to execute this command.

Set ESP-MATTER Device Path (ESP_MATTER_DEVICE_PATH)

The ESP-IDF: Set ESP-MATTER Device Path (ESP_MATTER_DEVICE_PATH) is used to define the device path for ESP-Matter. ESP-Matter is not supported in Windows.

Show Examples Projects

Launch UI to show examples from selected framework and allow you to create a project from them. This command will show frameworks already configured in the extension so if you want to see ESP-Rainmaker examples you need to run the Install ESP-Rainmaker first (or set the equivalent setting idf.espRainmakerPath) and then execute this command to see the examples.

Show Ninja Build Summary

Execute the Chromium ninja-build-summary.py

Size analysis of the binaries

Launch UI with the ESP-IDF project binaries size information.

Unit Test: Build and flash unit test app for testing

Copy the unit test app in the current project, build the current project and flash the unit test application to the connected device. More information in Unit Testing Documentation.

Unit Test: Install ESP-IDF PyTest requirements

Install the ESP-IDF Pytest requirements packages to be able to execute ESP-IDF Unit tests. More information in Unit Testing Documentation.