As well as the [esp-idf-template](https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf-template) project mentioned in Getting Started, ESP-IDF comes with some example projects in the [examples](examples) directory.
To start your own project based on an example, copy the example project directory outside of the ESP-IDF directory.
# Quick Reference
See the Getting Started guide links above for a detailed setup guide. This is a quick reference for common commands when working with ESP-IDF projects:
NOTE: The `-j4` option causes `make` to run 4 parallel jobs. This is much faster than the default single job. The recommended number to pass to this option is `-j(number of CPUs + 1)`.
This will flash the entire project (app, bootloader and partition table) to a new chip. The settings for serial port flashing can be configured with `make menuconfig`.
The `make monitor` target uses the [idf_monitor tool](https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/get-started/idf-monitor.html) to display serial output from the ESP32. idf_monitor also has a range of features to decode crash output and interact with the device. [Check the documentation page for details](https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/get-started/idf-monitor.html).
ESP-IDF supports compiling multiple files in parallel, so all of the above commands can be run as `make -jN` where `N` is the number of parallel make processes to run (generally N should be equal to the number of CPU cores in your system, plus one.)
Multiple make functions can be combined into one. For example: to build the app & bootloader using 5 jobs in parallel, then flash everything, and then display serial output from the ESP32 run:
Once you've compiled your project, the "build" directory will contain a binary file with a name like "my_app.bin". This is an ESP32 image binary that can be loaded by the bootloader.
A single ESP32's flash can contain multiple apps, as well as many different kinds of data (calibration data, filesystems, parameter storage, etc). For this reason a partition table is flashed to offset 0x8000 in the flash.
Each entry in the partition table has a name (label), type (app, data, or something else), subtype and the offset in flash where the partition is loaded.
The simplest way to use the partition table is to `make menuconfig` and choose one of the simple predefined partition tables:
* "Single factory app, no OTA"
* "Factory app, two OTA definitions"
In both cases the factory app is flashed at offset 0x10000. If you `make partition_table` then it will print a summary of the partition table.
For more details about partition tables and how to create custom variations, view the [`docs/en/api-guides/partition-tables.rst`](docs/en/api-guides/partition-tables.rst) file.
The `make flash` target does not erase the entire flash contents. However it is sometimes useful to set the device back to a totally erased state, particularly when making partition table changes or OTA app updates. To erase the entire flash, run `make erase_flash`.
This can be combined with other targets, ie `make erase_flash flash` will erase everything and then re-flash the new app, bootloader and partition table.
* Documentation for the latest version: https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/. This documentation is built from the [docs directory](docs) of this repository.
* [Check the Issues section on github](https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf/issues) if you find a bug or have a feature request. Please check existing Issues before opening a new one.
* If you're interested in contributing to ESP-IDF, please check the [Contributions Guide](https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/contribute/index.html).
