Blinky with ESP-IDF in VS Code on ESP32-C3

Updated on 2 October 2023
dev board ESP32-C3-DevKitM-1
chip ESP32-C3-MINI-1-N4
features esp-idf blinky esp32c3 vscode
This tutorial is more than 6 months old. If the steps below do not work, then please check the latest versions and the documentations of the individual tools used.

Before starting

Dependancies

Ensure the following dependancies are downloaded and available:

Buy the components

Code

Download code blink/main/blink_example_main.c
/* Blink Example

   This example code is in the Public Domain (or CC0 licensed, at your option.)

   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, this
   software is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR
   CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
*/
#include <stdio.h>
#include "freertos/FreeRTOS.h"
#include "freertos/task.h"
#include "driver/gpio.h"
#include "esp_log.h"
#include "led_strip.h"
#include "sdkconfig.h"

static const char *TAG = "example";

/* Use project configuration menu (idf.py menuconfig) to choose the GPIO to blink,
   or you can edit the following line and set a number here.
*/
#define BLINK_GPIO CONFIG_BLINK_GPIO

static uint8_t s_led_state = 0;

#ifdef CONFIG_BLINK_LED_RMT
static led_strip_t *pStrip_a;

static void blink_led(void)
{
    /* If the addressable LED is enabled */
    if (s_led_state) {
        /* Set the LED pixel using RGB from 0 (0%) to 255 (100%) for each color */
        pStrip_a->set_pixel(pStrip_a, 0, 16, 16, 16);
        /* Refresh the strip to send data */
        pStrip_a->refresh(pStrip_a, 100);
    } else {
        /* Set all LED off to clear all pixels */
        pStrip_a->clear(pStrip_a, 50);
    }
}

static void configure_led(void)
{
    ESP_LOGI(TAG, "Example configured to blink addressable LED!");
    /* LED strip initialization with the GPIO and pixels number*/
    pStrip_a = led_strip_init(CONFIG_BLINK_LED_RMT_CHANNEL, BLINK_GPIO, 1);
    /* Set all LED off to clear all pixels */
    pStrip_a->clear(pStrip_a, 50);
}

#elif CONFIG_BLINK_LED_GPIO

static void blink_led(void)
{
    /* Set the GPIO level according to the state (LOW or HIGH)*/
    gpio_set_level(BLINK_GPIO, s_led_state);
}

static void configure_led(void)
{
    ESP_LOGI(TAG, "Example configured to blink GPIO LED!");
    gpio_reset_pin(BLINK_GPIO);
    /* Set the GPIO as a push/pull output */
    gpio_set_direction(BLINK_GPIO, GPIO_MODE_OUTPUT);
}

#endif

void app_main(void)
{

    /* Configure the peripheral according to the LED type */
    configure_led();

    while (1) {
        ESP_LOGI(TAG, "Turning the LED %s!", s_led_state == true ? "ON" : "OFF");
        blink_led();
        /* Toggle the LED state */
        s_led_state = !s_led_state;
        vTaskDelay(CONFIG_BLINK_PERIOD / portTICK_PERIOD_MS);
    }
}

Prototype

A photo of the actual setup.

Blinky with ESP-IDF in VS Code on ESP32-C3 prototype

Serial console

Serial output from the firmware.

Blinky with ESP-IDF in VS Code on ESP32-C3 serial console

Description

  1. Open VS Code IDE
  2. Plug in the dev board
  3. In the command pallette, choose ESP-IDF: Show example projects
  4. Choose blink as the example project
  5. Choose port 🔌, device target, flash method ⭐️ and then build, flash and monitor 🔥 from the bottom green status bar.
    • Choose port /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART in the bottom green status bar icon 🔌
    • Choose device target esp32c3
    • Choose debugging via ESP32-C3 chip via builtin USB-JTAG)
    • Choose UART as the flash method in the bottom green status bar icon ⭐️
  6. Build, Flash and monitor in the bottom green status bar icon 🔥
  7. Watch the serial monitor come up automatically in the terminal

References

Watch