PlatformIO IDE for VSCode¶

Setting Up the Project¶

1. Click on “PlatformIO Home” button on the bottom PlatformIO Toolbar

2. Click on “New Project”, select a board and create new PlatformIO Project

3. Open main.cpp file form src folder and replace its contents with the next:

/**
 * Blink
 *
 * Turns on an LED on for one second,
 * then off for one second, repeatedly.
 */
#include "Arduino.h"

// Set LED_BUILTIN if it is not defined by Arduino framework
// #define LED_BUILTIN 13

void setup()
{
  // initialize LED digital pin as an output.
  pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
  // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
  digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH);

  // wait for a second
  delay(1000);

  // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW
  digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW);

   // wait for a second
  delay(1000);
}

4. Build your project with ctrl+alt+b hotkey (see all Key Bindings in “User Guide” section below) or using “Build” button on the PlatformIO Toolbar

Further for reading:

• Tutorials and Examples (step-by-step tutorials with debugging and unit testing)

• Learn more about PlatformIO Toolbar and other commands (Upload, Clean, Serial Monitor) below.

Happy coding with PlatformIO!

Custom Build Task¶

You can override default “PlatformIO: Build” task for “Build” command which is used by “Build” button in PlatformIO Toolbar and Key Bindings. See platformio-ide.buildTask setting in Settings for more details.

Built-in PlatformIO tasks are available in “Menu > Terminal > Run Task…” list.

Task Explorer¶

PlatformIO provides access to “Project Task Explorer” where you can control the build process of the environments declared in “platformio.ini” (Project Configuration File). Project Task Explorer is located in the VSCode Activity Bar under the branded PlatformIO icon. You can also access it via “VSCode Menu > Open View… > PlatformIO”.

Task Runner¶

PlatformIO IDE provides built-in tasks through the menu Terminal > Run Task... (Build, Upload, Clean, Monitor, etc) and custom tasks per “platformio.ini” (Project Configuration File) environment ([env:***]). The default behavior is to use Terminal Panels for presentation, one panel dedicated to each unique task.

The PlatformIO IDE provides its own Problems Matcher named $platformio. You can use it later if you decide to change base task settings.

You can override existing tasks with your own presentation options. For example, let’s configure PlatformIO Task Runner to use a NEW Terminal panel for each “Build” command:

1. The menu item Terminal > Run Task... opens up a list of VSCode tasks for PlatformIO. In the line PlatformIO: Build, press the gear icon on the far right side of the list. This creates or opens the file .vscode/tasks.json with some template code.

2. Replace the template in tasks.json with this code

{
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "type": "PlatformIO",
            "task": "Monitor",
            "problemMatcher": [
                "$platformio"
            ],
            "presentation": {
                "panel": "new"
            }
        }
    ]
}

See more options in the official VSCode documentation.

Custom Tasks¶

Custom tasks can be added to tasks.json file located in the .vscode folder in the root of project. Please read the official documentation Tasks in VSCode.

This simple example demonstrates a custom monitor task which echoes input locally. There are a lot of other commands, please read more about PlatformIO Core (CLI) and its commands (CLI Guide).

{
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "platformio",
            "args": [
                "device",
                "monitor",
                "--echo"
            ],
            "problemMatcher": [
                "$platformio"
            ],
            "label": "PlatformIO: Monitor (local echo)"
        }
    ]
}

If the platformio executable file is not in your system environment “PATH”, you can provide the full path to the binary folder using the options field for the task. For example, if the platformio binary is located in the home folder “~/.platformio/penv/bin”:

{
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "platformio",
            "args": [
                "device",
                "monitor",
                "--echo"
            ],
            "problemMatcher": [
                "$platformio"
            ],
            "label": "PlatformIO: Monitor (local echo)",
            "options": {
                "env": {"PATH": "${env:HOME}/.platformio/penv/bin"}
            }
        }
    ]
}

Variable Format¶

Currently, VSCode does not provide an UI or API to change the variable format. See the related VSCode Issue #28025.

A temporary solution is to set the default numerical base in which the debugger displays numeric output in the Debug Console. (The Debug Console is visible during active debugging sessions). For example, to show variables in hexadecimal format, copy the code below and paste it into “Debug Console”:

set output-radix 16

Possible values, listed in decimal base, are: 8, 10, 16.

Watchpoints¶

Please read GDB: Setting Watchpoints first.

Currently, VSCode does not provide an API to change the value format of watchpoints. You can manually cast watchpoint expressions to display the value as specific pointer types:

• $pc, default decimal integer format

• *0x10012000, an address, default decimal integer format

• (void*)$pc, $pc register, hexadecimal format

• *(void**)0x10012000, an address, hexadecimal format

platformio-ide.activateOnlyOnPlatformIOProject¶

If true, activate the platformio ide extension only when a PlatformIO-based project (that has a “platformio.ini” (Project Configuration File)) is open in the workspace. The default value is false.

platformio-ide.autoCloseSerialMonitor¶

If true, automatically close platformio device monitor before uploading/testing. The default value is true.

platformio-ide.autoRebuildAutocompleteIndex¶

If true, automatically rebuild the C/C++ Project Index when “platformio.ini” (Project Configuration File) is changed or when new libraries are installed. The default value is true.

platformio-ide.buildTask¶

The build task (label) that is launched by the “Build” button in the PlatformIO Toolbar and Key Bindings. The default is PlatformIO: Build.

You can create custom Custom Tasks and assign one of them to platformio-ide.buildTask.

platformio-ide.customPATH¶

Custom PATH for the platformio command. Paste here the result of echo $PATH (Unix) / echo %PATH% (Windows) command by typing into your system terminal if you prefer to use a custom version of PlatformIO Core (CLI). The default value is null, meaning PlatformIO looks for the platformio command in the system path.

platformio-ide.disableToolbar¶

Disable the PlatformIO toolbar. The default value is false.

platformio-ide.forceUploadAndMonitor¶

If true, the Upload (platformio-ide.upload) command is changed to use the “Upload and Monitor” task. The default value is false.

platformio-ide.reopenSerialMonitorDelay¶

Configure the time in milliseconds before reopening the Serial Port Monitor. The default value is 0, which means to reopen instantly.

platformio-ide.updateTerminalPathConfiguration¶

If true, use a patched PATH environment for the Terminal configuration. The default value is true.

platformio-ide.useBuiltinPIOCore¶

If true, use the built-in PlatformIO Core (CLI). The default value is true.

platformio-ide.useDevelopmentPIOCore¶

If true, use the development version of PlatformIO Core (CLI). The default value is false.

platformio-ide.disablePIOHomeStartup¶

Disable showing PIO Home at startup. The default value is false.

platformio-ide.pioHomeServerHttpPort¶

PIO Home server HTTP port. The default value 0 automatically assigns a free port in the range [8010..8100]).

PackageManager is unable to install tool¶

This is a known bug in VSCode Terminal issue #61.

A temporary solution is to install packages using a system terminal (not VSCode Terminal). Please use “Solution 3: Run from Terminal” in FAQ > Package Manager > [Error 5] Access is denied. Afterwards, go back to using the VSCode Terminal.