In October 2014, Espressif Systems released a
software development kit (SDK) for programming the chip directly, which removed the need for a separate microcontroller. Since then, there have been many official SDK releases from Espressif; Espressif maintains two versions of the SDK — one that is based on
FreeRTOS and the other based on
callbacks. An alternative to Espressif's official SDK is the open-source ESP-Open-SDK that is based on the
GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) toolchain, maintained by Max Filippov. Another alternative is the "Unofficial Development Kit" by Mikhail Grigorev. Other SDKs, mostly open-source, include: •
Arduino — A C++-based firmware. With this core, the ESP8266 CPU and its Wi-Fi components can be programmed like any other Arduino device. The ESP8266 Arduino Core is available through GitHub. • ESP8266 BASIC — An open-source
BASIC-like interpreter specifically tailored for the
Internet of Things (IoT). Self-hosting browser-based development environment. •
ESP Easy — Developed by
home automation enthusiasts. • ESPHome — ESPHome is a system to control your ESP8266/ESP32 by simple yet powerful configuration files and control them remotely through home automation systems. • Tasmota - open-source firmware, for home automation. • ESP-Open-RTOS — Open-source FreeRTOS-based ESP8266 software framework. • ESP-Open-SDK — Free and open (as much as possible) integrated SDK for ESP8266/ESP8285 chips. •
Espruino — An actively maintained JavaScript SDK and firmware, closely emulating
Node.js. Supports a few MCUs, including the ESP8266. • ESPurna — Open-source ESP8285/ESP8266 firmware. • Forthright — Port of Jones Forth to the ESP8266 microcontroller. • MicroPython — A port of
MicroPython (an implementation of Python for embedded devices) to the ESP8266 platform. • Moddable SDK — includes JavaScript language and library support for the ESP8266 •
Mongoose OS — An open-source operating system for connected products. Supports ESP8266 and ESP32. Develop in C or JavaScript. •
NodeMCU — A
Lua-based firmware. • PlatformIO — A cross-platform IDE and unified debugger, which sits on top of Arduino code and libraries. • Punyforth — Forth-inspired programming language for the ESP8266. • Sming — An actively developed asynchronous C/C++ framework with superb performance and multiple network features. • uLisp — A version of the
Lisp programming language specifically designed to run on processors with a limited amount of RAM. • ZBasic for ESP8266 — A subset of Microsoft's widely-used Visual Basic 6, which has been adapted as a control language for the ZX microcontroller family and the ESP8266. •
Zerynth — IoT framework for programming ESP8266 and other microcontrollers in
Python. •
IOTBAH - is An operating system (OS) for Espressif ESP8266 • EspOS Webserver, easy IoT solution. == Espressif modules ==