Pluto-IDE is a Visual Studio Code extension built for seamless firmware development and deployment on the Pluto Drone by Drona Aviation. It provides an all-in-one environment for building, flashing (USB/Wi-Fi), monitoring, and configuring STM32-based projects — with automated toolchain setup and C/C++ IntelliSense integration.
✨ Key Features
⚙️ Status Bar Commands: Quick-access buttons to build, clean, flash via USB/WiFi, monitor, and trigger DFU actions directly from the status bar.
🎯 Target Selection Menu: Friendly target selector for choosing the appropriate hardware platform before building or flashing.
🛠 Automatic Toolchain Setup: Automatically downloads and configures CYGWIN and the ARM GNU Toolchain.
🧠 C/C++ Configuration Generator: Automatically sets up IntelliSense and build paths for the Pluto firmware.
📥 STM32 Bootloader Installer: Installs the STM32 DFU driver with a single click, simplifying USB firmware deployment.
📡 WiFi Firmware Flashing & Monitoring: Flash and monitor the Pluto device over Wi-Fi with enhanced logging and robust error handling.
📊 Progress Notifications: See real-time progress updates during tool download, extraction, and firmware flashing in the VS Code status bar.
🔧 Build & Clean Buttons: Execute make build and clean commands instantly via status bar UI.
🔌 DFU Mode Detection: Automatically detects STM32 devices connected in DFU mode using USB vendor and product IDs.
🔍 Dynamic Firmware Path Detection: Automatically resolves the correct .hex firmware file to flash based on the version defined in the Makefile, reducing static path setup errors.
🚀 Installation
Launch Visual Studio Code
Open the Extensions View (Ctrl+Shift+X)
Search for Pluto-IDE-Beta
Click Install
On first run, Pluto IDE will check for required dependencies:
C/C++ by Microsoft (ms-vscode.cpptools)
Teleplot by Alex Nesnes (alexnesnes.teleplot)
If these extensions are not already installed, VS Code will prompt you to install them. Pluto IDE will not function correctly without these dependencies.
⚙️ Usage Guide
Access all features through:
Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
Status Bar Buttons at the bottom of VS Code
Commands Overview:
🧱 Build Project – PlutoIDE > Build or click on the Build icon
🧹 Clean Project – PlutoIDE > Clean or click on the Clean icon
🔌 USB Flash – PlutoIDE > USB Flash or click on the USB Flash icon
📶 WiFi Flash – PlutoIDE > WiFi Flash or click on the WiFi Flash icon
📥 Install Bootloader Driver – PlutoIDE > STM32 Install Bootloader or click on the Install STM32 Bootloader icon
🎯 Select Target – PlutoIDE > Select Target or click on the Select Target icon
📟 Monitor Pluto – PlutoIDE > Monitor or click on the Monitor icon
🧑💻 Acknowledgments
Development and ongoing updates are actively maintained by:
