Quectel RTOS

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Quectel RTOS brings three Quectel embedded toolchains into one VS Code extension. Install it once, then switch toolchains from the SOLUTION bar at the top of the panel — no second extension and no window reload.

Only the selected product's panel, status-bar items and editor integrations are active. Switching products releases the previous product's resources, and your selection is remembered across restarts.

Contents

Use this guide to get started, understand the panel, and find the right toolchain section quickly:

• Quick start · The panel · Requirements · Settings · Companion extensions
• Solutions: UniKnect · UniRTOS · QuecPython
• Package notes · About Quectel · License

Quick start

1. Install this extension from the Marketplace, or from a .vsix file.
2. Open your project folder in VS Code.
3. Click the Quectel RTOS icon in the activity bar to open the panel.
4. Choose your toolchain from the SOLUTION bar.
5. Run the workflow from the panel buttons, for example Install SDK → Configure → Build → Flash → Debug.

Some actions download a tool the first time they run (see Downloaded on first use); that first run requires an internet connection. After that, the tools run offline.

The panel

All three products share one panel and the same interaction model, so the layout and shortcuts remain familiar when you switch products:

Buttons can be dragged into any order, and the order is remembered per product.

Switching between products

At rest, the SOLUTION bar is a single button: the current product, its name and a highlighted border. A chevron on the right shows the product count, indicating that more choices are available.

Hover over it and the other two products unfold below. The list pushes the rest of the panel down instead of floating over it, so it never covers the controls underneath. Keyboard navigation works as well: tab into the bar to unfold it, then tab through the products.

Switching products replaces the panel content, status-bar items and editor integrations in place. The view itself is not destroyed, so the sidebar does not flicker or reset.

Which language the panels are in

Every window adapts to the current VS Code display language, and the globe override applies only to that window.

1. the editor's display language — a Chinese VS Code gives Chinese panels with no configuration at all, an English one gives English panels;
2. a click on the globe, which switches for the rest of the session.

The override is deliberately not remembered, so the next window starts from the editor again and there is no setting to reset. This affects the extension's own strings only: VS Code's menus, settings page and notifications follow the editor's display language, which is a VS Code setting.

UniKnect — MCU development

The panel contains four groups, shown in the order below.

WELCOME

BUILD & DEBUG

MEMORY REPORTS

Shows the ROM and RAM usage produced by the build as two dials and refreshes automatically after each build.

AI ASSISTANT

Open Existing Project

Open shows a folder picker and opens the selected folder in the current window.

• The extension does not validate that the folder is a UniKnect project. If you pick the wrong folder, VS Code returns to the previous location and nothing is lost.

The status bar row

When UniKnect is active, the status bar shows six items to the right of VS Code's "No problems" item, in the same order as the panel:

The four action buttons use the same command IDs as the panel buttons, so their behaviour is identical. The two readouts are not clickable: they mirror the dial values in the panel so you can monitor ROM and RAM during a build. They show -- until a build report exists, because 0% would imply a binary that has not been produced.

One-click Debug

Starts cortex-debug debugging in one click, with support for breakpoints, stepping, variables, watches and the call stack.

UniRTOS — module OpenCPU development

• Windows only for now

A Commands view covers the full workflow:

AI ASSISTANT

The same group every solution carries - see UniKnect's above.

The walkthrough on the Welcome page guides toolchain, Python, Git, Quectel driver and UniRTOS CLI setup in the required order.

QuecPython — module MicroPython development

• Windows only for now

One panel with four groups.

WELCOME

QUICK ACCESS

FILE SYSTEM (USR)

The on-device file system is shown as a card beside the other two groups. Each node's context menu offers Run Script, Delete File, Export File and Delete Directory, and the group header provides Refresh.

AI ASSISTANT

The same group every solution carries - see UniKnect's above.

While a module is connected, the Command Palette also provides connect / disconnect, download file or folder to the device, format document, set terminal line terminator, toggle hex translation and clear terminal.

The extension ships .pyi stubs for the QuecPython modules, so Pylance resolves import machine and friends.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.85.0 or later.
• UniKnect needs no pre-installed tooling. Everything it uses is included with the extension or downloaded on first use: Git (the system installation when available, otherwise a portable build), the ST-Link driver and the flashing tools. It works on Windows and Linux, even on a machine with only VS Code installed.
• Git — needed by UniRTOS and QuecPython for cloning and for some CLI commands. Install it from the official site and make sure it is on your PATH (on Windows, choose "Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software"). Restart VS Code afterwards and verify with git --version.
• UniRTOS and QuecPython are Windows-only. On Linux and macOS they are visible but disabled, with the reason shown. On Linux, make sure build.sh in your project is executable (chmod +x build.sh).
• A debug probe for flashing and debugging on hardware — ST-Link for UniKnect. Its driver is installed for you; see below.
• On Linux, the first Debug or the first serial connection asks for your administrator (sudo) password once. OpenOCD needs udev permission to open the probe, and the serial console needs the same for the board's USB-UART; the extension sets both up and verifies them for you, and does not start a session or open a port when the check fails. The password goes only to sudo — it is not stored or logged. If you have already run sudo in a terminal, the cached credential is used instead.

Downloaded on first use

Six Windows tools are not bundled with the installer. Together they are about 120 MB, while the rest of the extension is under 8 MB, and each tool is used by only one action. The required tool is downloaded automatically the first time that action runs, with a progress notification showing the percentage and a progress bar:

Each tool is unpacked to the location it would have occupied in a fully bundled package, so runtime behaviour is the same. Before downloading, the extension checks whether the tool is already present and records the decision in the Quectel RTOS output channel. Existing tools are not downloaded again until the extension is updated.

UniKnect Flash and Debug check the ST-Link driver first. If the driver is missing, the extension downloads and installs it before starting the build. The check runs on every click and deliberately has no "do not ask again" option, but it recognises an installed driver from either Windows' installed-driver list or an attached probe bound to the correct driver. If the check is wrong and the probe works, Continue Anyway starts the build; dismissing the prompt cancels it. A successful driver installation passes the gate immediately, so you do not need to unplug and reconnect the board. Every decision is written to the Quectel RTOS output channel.

Settings

Companion extensions

The extension is also an extension pack, so VS Code can offer the following companion extensions during installation. None is required: each product still works without them, and each companion only adds the integration listed below.

Package notes

Building the extension needs Node.js and npm. Node.js 20.19 or later is required. npm comes with Node.js, so it needs no separate installation or version.

The same commands work on Windows and Linux:

node --version                # 20.19 or later
npm --version

npm install                   # install dependencies; run once
npm run compile               # build only
npx @vscode/vsce package      # build and package (.vsix)

• npm run compile is optional — npx @vscode/vsce package runs the production build for you before packing. Run it separately only when you want to verify the build without packaging.
• The generated .vsix excludes the large tools; they are downloaded on first use, as described above.

About Quectel

Quectel is a leading global provider of IoT solutions. This extension is part of Quectel's developer toolchain, designed to make embedded development with Quectel modules and related platforms simpler and more efficient.

• Quectel: https://www.quectel.com/
• Quectel Developer Community: https://forums.quectel.com/
• UniKnect SDK: https://github.com/quectel-develop/uniknect-c

License

Apache 2.0 — see LICENSE.

Enjoy developing with Quectel RTOS!