Visual Studio Code extension for ESP8266/ESP32 File System (SPIFFS/LITTLEFS)

Note: This extension is under development
Note: ESPFS extension is only a mod from original extension by kash4kev

Added: LittleFS pack, list and upload
Added: LittleFS pack and upload ESP32
Renamed: ESP8266FS to ESPFS
Removed: Unpack, visualize

New keywords:
espfs.mklittlefs.debugLevel
espfs.mklittlefs.executable e.g. "c:/arduino/tools/mklittlefs.exe"
espfs.littlefsImage e.g. "(path)/(Name).mklittlefs.bin"
espfs.mklittlefs.allFiles

recommended mklittlefs.exe v 3.2.0
recommended esptool.py v 4.8.1

Note: with mklittlefs version 4.0.0 an newer LittleFS has been upgraded from 2.5.1 to the latest 2.9.3 release. At release 2.6.0 the on-flash format for LittleFS changed. LittleFS >= 2.6.0 can read 2.5.0 formats but not vice-versa. In most cases, ESP8266/ESP32 users will use version 3.2.0

.vscode/settings.json

{
    ...
    //--- mklittlefs 
    "espfs.mklittlefs.executable": "C:/Arduino/tools/mklittlefs/mklittlefs.exe",
    //--- Python based esptools
    "espfs.esptool.executable": "C:/Arduino/tools/esptool/esptool.py",
    ...
}

Welcome to the Visual Studio extension for the ESP8266/ESP32 File System SPIFFS/LITTLEFS.

Whereas the Arduino IDE versions adds menu items to the IDE (Tools/ESP??? Sketch Data Updoad), VSCode provides no such mechanism. Instead, this extension implements a VSCode command (ESPFS: Upload LittleFS) to perform the same task.

While this extension really doesn't need the Arduino IDE installed - it only needs the ESP8266 or ESP32 package and tools - it's best to have it installed anyway. This extension is meant to be a companion extension for the Arduino for Visual Studio Code plugin, which relies on the Arduino IDE to compile and upload code through their toolchain.

Features

• Works with or without the Arduino for Visual Studio Code plugin installed. Just needs mkspiffs, esptool or esptool.py, and espota.py (if using OTA updating).
• Implements VSCode commands to:
  • upload,
  • pack,
  • list
• Uses settings from:
  • .vscode/arduino.json,
  • settings.json
  • or ...arduino.../preferences.txt.
• Overrides available for all toolchain settings in the settings.json file.

Requirements

The ESP8266 core for Arduino or ESP32 core for Ardiuno needs to be installed on your computer.

• For the ESP8266, it is best to use the Arduino IDE's Board Manager (Tools/Board/Board Manager...) or use the Arduino for Visual Studio Code's Arduino: Board Manager command.
• For the ESP32, follow the instructions in their README.md for the relevant OS.

If you manually install the package, you can still use this extension by setting the overrides.

ESP8266 vs. ESP32

Without getting in the differences between the two processors, their Arduino development environments are install in two different locations, through two different methods.

The toolchains for the two are similar, but slightly different. To upload files the ESP8266 uses a compile tool called esptool and ESP32 uses a python-based program called esptool.py, and the command-line arguments for the two are completely different.

Finally, the boards.txt found in both locations use different settings for the same item. The EPS32 uses a "partitions" directory with CSV files to describe the memory layouts of the flash.

Installation

Open VS Code and press F1 or Ctrl+Shift+P to open command palette, select Install Extension and type ESPFS.

You can also install directly from the Marketplace within Visual Studio Code: search for ESPFS.

Getting Started

After installing this extension, you need to:

1. Create a new VSCode Project via the Arduino for Visual Studio Code extension (Command: Arduino: Initialize) or a new sketch with the Arduino IDE (File/New).

2. Add the URL http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json to the Additional Board URL settings.

3. Either:

   a. Install the ESP8266 board from the Board Manager: (VSCode: Arduino: Board Manager, or IDE: Tools/Board/Board Manager...).

   b. Install the ESP32 board using the instructions in their README.md.

4. Select an ESP8266/ESP32 board as the target development board.

5. Create and populate a directory with the files to be uploaded to the target partition

6. Set the espfs.dataFiles setting to point the base directory of the files that will be uploaded. If the default directory ./data is used, this setting can be ignored.

7. Optionally - Set the espfs.littlefsImage setting to a filename that mklitlefs will create.

8. Done - you can now run the commands provided by this extension on the espfs.dataFiles and espfs.littlefsImage.

Commands

All of the commands send their spew to the ESP8266FS OUTPUT window. The amount of spew is dictated by the logLevel. Setting it to "debug" will send more spew back to the hosting debugger and has no effect on using the extension.

Upload

ESPFS: Upload LITTLEFS - This command sends the espfs.littlefsImage to the ESP8266 using the esptool, epstool.py or espota.py tool (depending on the output port or target chip).

Pack

ESPFS: Pack LITTLEFS - this command packs all of the files in the espfs.dataFiles subdirectory using the mkslittlefs tool into the espfs.littlefsImage file.

List

ESPFS: List LITTLEFS - this command will list the contents of the espfs.littlefsImage using the mklittlefs tool.

Options

The following Visual Studio Code settings are available for the ESPFS extension. These can be set in the global user preferences Ctrl+, or workspace settings (.vscode/settings.json). The later overrides the former. None of these settings are necessary as all have default values, or are deduced from the environment.

.vscode/settings.json

{
    ...

        //--- Python path - needed for espOTA.py

    "python.pythonPath": "C:/Python34/python.exe",

        //--- ESP8266FS for Visual Studio Code settings

    "espfs.dataFiles": "./data",
    "espfs.preferencesPath": "C:/Users/X/AppData/Local/Arduino15",
    "espfs.arduinoUserPath": "C:/Users/X/Documents/Arduino",
    "espfs.littlefsImage": "./build/littlefs.image.bin",
    "espfs.logLevel": "normal",

    "espfs.mklittlefs.executable": "C:/Users/X/AppData/Local/Arduino15/packages/esp8266/tools/mkspiffs/0.2.0/mkspiffs.exe",
    "espfs.mklittlefs.debugLevel": 0,
    "espfs.mklittlefs.allFiles": true,

    "espfs.esptool.executable": "C:/Users/X/AppData/Local/Arduino15/packages/esp8266/tools/esptool/0.4.12/esptool.exe",
    "espfs.esptool.verbosity": "vvv",

    "espfs.esptool.py.before": "default_reset",
    "espfs.esptool.py.after": "hard_reset",
    "espfs.esptool.py.no_stub": "false",
    "espfs.esptool.py.trace": "false",
    "esptool.py.spi_connection": "SPI",
    "esptool.py.compress": "true",
    "esptool.py.verify": "false",

    "espfs.espota.py": "C:/Users/X/AppData/Local/Arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware/esp8266/2.4.0/espota.py",
    "espfs.espota.esp.port": 8266,
    "espfs.espota.host.ip": "0.0.0.0",
    "espfs.espota.host.port": 12345,
    "espfs.espota.debug": true,

    ...
}

vscode

• python.pythonPath - Path to the python executable; as defined by the VSCode Python Environment. Can be set via the Python: Select Interpreter command. If not specified, then "python" will be used. Only needed if using OTA (espota.py).

ESPFS

• "espfs.dataFiles - Location of the base directory of the files to be uploaded to the ESP8266's SPIFFS. File names will be generated relative to this path. Default is "./data".

• "espfs.preferencesPath - Location of the Arduino IDE's "preferences.txt" file and installed libraries. This value does not need to be set, but exists to override the default location.

• "espfs.spiffsImage - Name of the packed SPIFFS image. Default is "./spiffs.image".

• "espfs.littlefsImage - Name of the packed LITTLEFS image. Default is "./littlefs.image".

• "espfs.logLevel - Changes the amount of spew produced. Set to either normal, verbose, silent, or debug. Default is normal.

mkspiffs

• "espfs.mkspiffs.executable - Path to mkspiffs executable. If not specified, then ESP8266FS will attempt to locate it through the Arduino settings.

• "espfs.mkspiffs.debugLevel - Debug spew level for mkspiffs. Default is 0.

• "espfs.mkspiffs.allFiles - Tells mkspiffs to include ignored files (.DS_Store and .git directories). Default is false.

mklittlefs

• "espfs.mklittlefs.executable - Path to mkspiffs executable. If not specified, then ESP8266FS will attempt to locate it through the Arduino settings.

• "espfs.mklittlefs.debugLevel - Debug spew level for mkspiffs. Default is 0.

• "espfs.mklittlefs.allFiles - Tells mkspiffs to include ignored files (.DS_Store and .git directories). Default is false.

esptool

• "espfs.esptool.executable - Path to esptool executable. If not specified, then ESP8266FS will attempt to locate it through the Arduino settings.

• "espfs.esptool.verbosity - esptool verbosity. Add more v's to be more verbose. Default is no v's.

esptool.py

• esptool.py.before - "What to do before connecting to the chip".

• esptool.py.after - "What to do after esptool.py is finished".

• esptool.py.no_stub - "Disable launching the flasher stub, only talk to ROM".

• esptool.py.trace - "Enable trace-level output of esptool.py interactions".

• esptool.py.spi_connection - "Override default SPI Flash connection. Value can be SPI, HSPI or a comma-separated list of 5 I/O numbers to use for SPI flash (CLK,Q,D,HD,CS)".

• esptool.py.compress - "Compress data in transfer (default "true" unless "no-stub" is specified)".

• esptool.py.verify - "Verify just-written data on flash (mostly superfluous, data is read back during flashing)".

espota

• "espfs.espota.py - Path to the espota python script. If not specified, then ESP8266FS will attempt to locate it through the Arduino settings.

• "espfs.espota.esp.port - IP port for the target ESP8266. Default is 8266.

• "espfs.espota.host.ip - IP address for the host. Default is "0.0.0.0".

• "espfs.espota.host.port - IP port for the host. Default is a random port: 10000-60000.

• "espfs.espota.auth - Authentication password for the espota python script. Default is not set.

• "espfs.espota.debug - Enables debug output from the espota python script. Default is false.

.vscode/arduino.json

The following settings are per sketch settings (*defined by the Arduino for Visual Studio Code plugin). You can find them in .vscode/arduino.json in the workspace. The .vscode/arduino.json file has "per sketch" settings.

{
    "port": "COM6",
    "board": "esp8266:esp8266:generic",
    "configuration": "...FlashSize=4M3M,...ResetMethod=ck,..."
}

• port - Name of the serial port connected to the device. Can be set by the Arduino: Select Serial Port command. Alternatively, if you specify an IP address (x.x.x.x), then the espota.py script will be executed to communicate with the ESP8266 (OTA = Over The Air).

• board - Current selected Arduino board alias. Can be set by the Arduino: Change Board Type command. Also, you can find the board list there.

• configuration - (Undocumented) A comma-delimited string of the configuration settings selected for all board "menu" items. ESP8266FS relies on four key/value pairs in the string: FlashSize, FlashMode, FlashFreq and ResetMethod.

Alternatively, if the .vscode/arduino.json file doesn't exist, or a particular setting is not defined, then the settings in the Arduino IDE's preferences.txt file will be used instead. This file is generated by the Arduino IDE and is set globally for ALL sketches.

preferences.txt

board=generic
target_package=esp8266
target_platform=esp8266

serial.port=COM6

custom_FlashSize=generic_4M3M
custom_ResetMethod=generic_ck

Known Issues

Release Notes

[0.0.1] 2025-02-06

• Initial release - out for review.

License

This extension is licensed under the MIT License.