Installing ESP8266 core for Arduino IDE with Boards Manager
Starting with 1.6.4, Arduino allows installation of third-party platform packages using Boards Manager. There are packages available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux (32 and 64 bit).
- Install the current upstream Arduino IDE at the 1.8 level or later. The current version is at the Arduino website.
- Open the preferences window from the Arduino IDE. Go to File > Preferences.
- 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.
- Search for ESP8266 and install the newest version of the platform.
- Select your ESP8266 board from Tools > Board > NodeMCU 1.0 (ESP-12E Module)
- Test your ESP8266 by following the instructions here.
Documentation: https://arduino-esp8266.readthedocs.io/en/2.4.1/