Microsoft Visual Studio Code is a cross-platform, Node.js-based IDE (Integrated Development Environment). It’s been maturing into a really amazing development tool. It’s not really the tool itself as it’s all the amazing plugins or extensions that are being developed for it that are enable some really amazing functionality and development scenarios. One of these awesome extensions is the “Arduino for Visual Studio Code” extension. This extension adds the ability to program Arduino and Arduino-compatible devices using Visual Studio Code as an alternative to the Arduino IDE.

Arduino for Visual Studio Code Extension

If you search the Visual Studio Code Marketplace you will find the Arduino extension where you can easily install it into Visual Studio Code. The Arduino extension has a number of really amazing features. Here’s a short list of it’s rich feature set:

• Intellisense and syntax highlighting for Arduino sketches
• Verify and upload your sketches in Visual Studio Code
• Built-in board and library manager
• Built-in example list
• Built-in serial monitor
• Snippets for sketches
• Automatic Arduino project scaffolding
• Command Palette (F1) integration of frequently used commands (e.g. Verify, Upload…)
• Integrated Arduino Debugging

The Arduino extension does have a prerequisite of having the Arduino IDE installed in order to use it. So, consequentially, you’ll still need to have the Arduino IDE installed, but hopefully you won’t even have to use it.

It’s Open Source!

You may or may not be aware that Visual Studio Code itself is Open Source on Github and licensed under the MIT License. In this tradition of Open Sourcing Visual Studio Code and many other new development tooling SDKs and things, Microsoft has also release the Arduino for Visual Studio Code project as Open Source on Github as well.

If you wish, you can view the source code for the Arduino for Visual Studio Code Extension here:

https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-arduino

In general, not many people contribute to Open Source, but I do. And, I really encourage you to contribute to Open Source software as well! If you find a bug, report it. If you figure out a bug fix, submit a Pull Request. If you don’t have the skills to contribute code to this Open Source project, then you can contribute to another, or even just help contribute with QA Testing and Documentation as people need to do that too. There’s always room to contribute to Open Source software, and you shouldn’t forget that it’s built largely by volunteers just like yourself.

Happy coding!

About the Author

Chris Pietschmann

Chris Pietschmann is a Microsoft MVP, HashiCorp Ambassador, and Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) with 20+ years of experience designing and building Cloud & Enterprise systems. He has worked with companies of all sizes from startups to large enterprises. He has a passion for technology and sharing what he learns with others to help enable them to learn faster and be more productive.