Boards Manager

This is the suggested installation method for end users.

Prerequisites

• Arduino 1.6.5, get it from Arduino website. Arduino 1.6.6 has several issues, so we recommend to stick with 1.6.5 for now.
• Internet connection

Instructions

• Start Arduino and open Preferences window.
• Enter http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json into Additional Board Manager URLs field. You can add multiple URLs, separating them with commas.
• Open Boards Manager from Tools > Board menu and find esp8266 platform.
• Select the version you need from a drop-down box.
• Click install button.
• Don't forget to select your ESP8266 board from Tools > Board menu after installation.

You may optionally use staging boards manager package link: http://arduino.esp8266.com/staging/package_esp8266com_index.json. This may contain some new features, but at the same time, some things might be broken.

Using git version

This is the suggested installation method for contributors and library developers.

Prerequisites

• Arduino 1.6.5 (or newer, if you know what you are doing)
• git
• python 2.7
• terminal, console, or command prompt (depending on you OS)
• Internet connection

Instructions

• Open the console and go to Arduino directory. This can be either your sketchbook directory (usually <Documents>/Arduino), or the directory of Arduino application itself, the choice is up to you.

• Clone this repository into hardware/esp8266com/esp8266 directory. Alternatively, clone it elsewhere and create a symlink, if your OS supports them.

  cd hardware
  mkdir esp8266com
  cd esp8266com
  git clone https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino.git esp8266
  

  You should end up with the following directory structure:

  Arduino
  |
  --- hardware
      |
      --- esp8266com
          |
          --- esp8266
              |
              --- bootloaders
              --- cores
              --- doc
              --- libraries
              --- package
              --- tests
              --- tools
              --- variants
              --- platform.txt
              --- programmers.txt
              --- README.md
              --- boards.txt
              --- LICENSE
  

• Download binary tools

  cd esp8266/tools
  python get.py
  

• Restart Arduino