ESP-IDF is Espressif’s official IoT Development Framework for the ESP32 and ESP32-S series of SoCs. It provides a self-sufficient SDK for any generic application development on these platforms, using programming languages such as C and C++. ESP-IDF currently powers millions of devices in the field, and enables building a variety of network-connected products, ranging from simple light bulbs and toys to big appliances and industrial devices.
Open-Source
ESP-IDF is freely available on GitHub. The majority of the components in ESP-IDF are available in source form under the Apache 2.0 license. Third-party components are available under a compatible permissive license.
Production-Ready
ESP-IDF has a well-defined release process and a support policy which ensures that customers can choose a stable release and that they continue getting important fixes for their application. Each stable release undergoes a rigorous QA process that ensures production readiness.
Feature-Rich Software Components
ESP-IDF supports a large number of software components, including RTOS, peripheral drivers, networking stack, various protocol implementations, and helpers for common application use-cases. These components help developers to focus on the business logic, while the SDK provides most of the building blocks required for typical applications. Open-source and freely-available developer tools, as well as officially supported Eclipse and VSCode IDEs ensure ease-of-use for the developers.
Documentation and Examples
ESP-IDF comes with an extensive documentation for its software components not only at the usage level but also at the design level. This helps developers to fully understand what ESP-IDF offers, and select whatever suits their applications best. ESP-IDF contains more than 100 examples explaining the usage of its components as well as its hardware peripherals and features. These well-tested and well-maintained examples provide an excellent starting point for your applications.
