Arduino CLI IDE

Code Arduino sketches in plain VS Code — compile, upload, monitor, and debug right from the editor.

Arduino CLI IDE in action — compiling, uploading, and plotting serial data inside VS Code

This extension is a thin wrapper around the official arduino-cli. It doesn't reinvent anything: it spawns the arduino-cli daemon in the background and gives you buttons, menus, and tree views for the things it already does. You get a stock VS Code experience for Arduino — the editor, extensions, themes, and keybindings you already use — with none of a separate IDE on top.

Who is this for? Anyone who wants to write Arduino code in VS Code and have the build/upload toolchain a click away — without a heavyweight, all-in-one Arduino IDE. If you can install one command-line tool, you're ready.

Why you'll like it

🪶 Lightweight — a thin layer over arduino-cli. It talks to the official tool, so your builds behave exactly like the Arduino IDE's.
🧰 Everything in the editor — Compile, Upload, Serial Monitor, and Debug buttons sit right in the editor toolbar for any .ino file.
🔌 Knows your board — pick a board once; it's remembered, and it can auto-install the core you need.
📦 Manage cores & libraries visually — install, update, downgrade, and remove platforms and libraries from a sidebar — no memorizing commands.
📈 Serial monitor and plotter — read text from your board, or graph live numbers as they stream in.
🐞 Real debugging — set breakpoints and step through code on supported boards.
🧩 Plays nicely with Blocks Editor — its drag-and-drop blocks can use this extension's buttons to build and upload. See Works great with Blocks Editor.

Getting started

Step 1 — Install `arduino-cli` (required)

This extension does not bundle the Arduino toolchain — that's what keeps it thin. You install the official arduino-cli once, and the extension drives it.

macOS (Homebrew): brew install arduino-cli
Windows (winget): winget install ArduinoSA.CLI
Linux / manual: follow the official installation guide.

Already have the Arduino IDE 2.x? It ships arduino-cli under the hood, but the extension needs it on your PATH. The simplest path is to install arduino-cli separately as above, or point the arduinoCli.path setting at the executable.

To check it worked, open a terminal and run arduino-cli version.

Step 2 — Install this extension

Search for "Arduino CLI IDE" in the VS Code Extensions view, or install from Open VSX on VSCodium / Cursor / Windsurf.

Step 3 — Build your first sketch

Open a folder containing a sketch — an .ino file inside a folder of the same name (e.g. Blink/Blink.ino). Don't have one? Run Arduino CLI: New Sketch… from the Command Palette (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P).
Open the .ino file. You'll see Compile, Upload, Serial Monitor, and Debug buttons in the top-right editor toolbar.
Click Select Board (Command Palette → Arduino CLI: Select Board) and pick your board. If its core isn't installed yet, the extension offers to install it for you.
Plug in your board and click Upload (the ⬆ button). Watch progress in the output panel.
Click the Serial Monitor (🔌) button to see what your board prints back.

That's it — no project wizard, no IDE switch. Just VS Code.

Click the circuit board icon in the Activity Bar to open Arduino Platforms & Libraries, with up to three tree views:

Installed Platforms — every core you have, with inline buttons to upgrade, change version, or uninstall. Toolbar buttons install a new platform, refresh, or upgrade them all.
Installed Libraries — every library you have, with the same inline controls. Toolbar buttons add a library, refresh, or upgrade all. You can also install from a ZIP file or a Git URL.
Profile Libraries — appears when your sketch uses a sketch.yaml build profile; lists the libraries pinned to the active profile.

What you can do

Everything below is available from the Command Palette (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P), the editor toolbar, or the sidebar.

Build & run

Command	What it does
Arduino CLI: Select Board	Choose the board (FQBN) for the current sketch
Arduino CLI: Compile	Compile the active sketch
Arduino CLI: Upload	Upload the compiled sketch to the board
Arduino CLI: Upload Using Programmer	Upload via a hardware programmer
Arduino CLI: Burn Bootloader	Write the bootloader to the board
Arduino CLI: Board Details	Show the selected board's capabilities

Serial

Command	What it does
Arduino CLI: Open Serial Monitor	Read text from the board's serial port
Arduino CLI: Open Serial Plotter	Graph live numeric data streaming over serial
Arduino CLI: Save Serial Log…	Save the captured serial output to a file

Platforms / cores

Command	What it does
Arduino CLI: Install / Uninstall / Upgrade Platform	Manage a single core
Arduino CLI: Upgrade All Platforms	Update every installed core
Arduino CLI: Download Platform (cache only)…	Pre-download a core without installing
Arduino CLI: Update Package Index	Refresh the list of available cores

Libraries

Command	What it does
Arduino CLI: Add Library…	Search and install a library
Arduino CLI: Install Library from ZIP… / from Git URL…	Install from a local archive or a repository
Arduino CLI: Download Library Archive (cache only)…	Pre-download a library without installing
Arduino CLI: Upgrade All Libraries	Update every installed library
Arduino CLI: Update Libraries Index	Refresh the list of available libraries

Build profiles (sketch.yaml)

Command	What it does
Arduino CLI: Create Build Profile…	Create a reproducible build profile
Arduino CLI: Set Default Profile…	Choose the profile used by default
Arduino CLI: Add / Remove Library to Profile…	Pin libraries to a profile
Arduino CLI: List Profile Libraries	Show the active profile's libraries

Debug & IntelliSense

Command	What it does
Arduino CLI: Debug	Start a debug session on a supported board
Arduino CLI: Show Debug Configuration	Inspect the generated debug config
Arduino CLI: Configure IntelliSense	Regenerate `c_cpp_properties.json` for the current board

Sketch & maintenance

Command	What it does
Arduino CLI: New Sketch…	Scaffold a new sketch
Arduino CLI: Archive Sketch…	Zip up the sketch for sharing
Arduino CLI: Check for CLI Updates	See if a newer `arduino-cli` is available
Arduino CLI: Clean Download Cache	Free up cached downloads
Arduino CLI: Show Daemon Version / Restart Daemon	Diagnose the background daemon

IntelliSense (code completion)

When you select a board, the extension can generate VS Code's c_cpp_properties.json with the right include paths and defines for that board — so go-to-definition, hover docs, and autocompletion work for the Arduino core and your libraries. Install Microsoft's C/C++ extension to get the most out of it. This stays on automatically (arduinoCli.intellisense.autoConfigure) and refreshes when the board or libraries change.

Debugging

On boards with debug support (and an installed debug adapter such as Cortex-Debug), the Debug button starts a real debug session: breakpoints, stepping, and variable inspection. The extension auto-detects the adapter; you can override everything via the arduinoCli.debug.* settings. The Debug button only appears for boards that support it.

Settings

You can leave everything at its defaults. To tweak, open Settings and search for "Arduino CLI":

Setting	Default	What it does
`arduinoCli.path`	`arduino-cli`	Path to the `arduino-cli` executable
`arduinoCli.daemonPort`	`50051`	Local TCP port for the background daemon
`arduinoCli.monitor.autoReconnect`	`true`	Reopen the serial monitor after an upload
`arduinoCli.autoInstallPlatform`	`true`	Offer to install a missing core before compiling
`arduinoCli.boardManagerUrls`	`[]`	Extra Board Manager URLs (e.g. for ESP32, STM32)
`arduinoCli.alwaysExportBinaries`	`false`	Always export compiled binaries next to the sketch
`arduinoCli.unsafeLibraryInstall`	`false`	Allow installing libraries from untrusted ZIP/Git sources
`arduinoCli.updateNotifications`	`true`	Check for `arduino-cli` updates on startup
`arduinoCli.verbose`	`false`	Verbose output for compile, upload, and bootloader
`arduinoCli.intellisense.autoConfigure`	`true`	Keep the C/C++ IntelliSense config in sync automatically
`arduinoCli.debug.adapter`	`auto`	Debug adapter: `auto`, `cortex-debug`, `cppdbg`, or `custom`
`arduinoCli.debug.adapterConfig`	`{}`	Fields merged into the generated debug configuration
`arduinoCli.debug.interpreter`	`""`	GDB command interpreter (e.g. `mi`, `mi2`)

Works great with Blocks Editor

If you'd rather build programs by dragging blocks than typing C++, install the sister extension Blocks Editor (linucs.blocks-editor). It's a visual, Scratch-like editor that generates real Arduino code — and it uses this extension's Compile and Upload buttons to build and flash your board. The two are designed to work side by side, but each is fully standalone: use one, the other, or both.

Requirements

VS Code 1.120 or newer
arduino-cli installed and on your PATH (or set arduinoCli.path) — see Step 1.
For debugging: a board with debug support and a debug adapter (e.g. the Cortex-Debug extension).
For IntelliSense: Microsoft's C/C++ extension.

Good to know

Nothing runs until you need it. The extension doesn't spawn the daemon on startup — it starts on the first command that needs it. If arduino-cli isn't installed, you'll get one clear message instead of a noisy error, and you pay nothing if you never use it.
It stays out of your way. This is a thin wrapper: it pushes defaults and policy into arduino-cli's own configuration rather than reimplementing them. Your builds match what arduino-cli (and the Arduino IDE) produce.
On Apple Silicon Macs, some classic AVR toolchains are x86-only and need Rosetta 2 (softwareupdate --install-rosetta) to compile/upload.

For developers

npm install
./scripts/fetch-protos.sh    # vendor the arduino-cli proto definitions (already included)
npm run compile              # typecheck + lint
npm run build                # bundle to dist/extension.js

Press F5 in VS Code to launch an Extension Development Host. The extension loads the vendored arduino-cli .proto files at runtime via @grpc/proto-loader (no codegen step). See CLAUDE.md for architecture notes and PUBLISHING.md for the release process.

Community

Questions, ideas, or just want to show what you built? Join the GitHub Discussions.

Contributing

Contributions and bug reports are welcome — open an issue or pull request on the repository.

License

MIT

Arduino CLI IDE

Lino Moretto

Arduino CLI IDE

Why you'll like it

Getting started

Step 1 — Install `arduino-cli` (required)

Step 2 — Install this extension

Step 3 — Build your first sketch

The Arduino sidebar

What you can do

IntelliSense (code completion)

Debugging

Settings

Works great with Blocks Editor

Requirements

Good to know

For developers

Community

Contributing

License

Arduino CLI IDE

Lino Moretto

Arduino CLI IDE

Why you'll like it

Getting started

Step 1 — Install arduino-cli (required)

Step 2 — Install this extension

Step 3 — Build your first sketch

The Arduino sidebar

What you can do

IntelliSense (code completion)

Debugging

Settings

Works great with Blocks Editor

Requirements

Good to know

For developers

Community

Contributing

License

Step 1 — Install `arduino-cli` (required)