ESP-IDF Installation Action

This GitHub Action automates the installation of the ESP-IDF framework on GitHub-hosted runners. It supports Windows, macOS (arm64 and Intel), and Linux (arm64 and x64) platforms, allowing you to set up ESP-IDF for your CI/CD workflows. If you just need to build the project, you can use esp-idf-ci-action. You can also use docker based solution as suggested in the installer documentetion.

Features

• Cross-platform support (Windows, macOS, Linux) thanks to EIM
• Automatic installation of required system dependencies
• Configurable ESP-IDF version and installation paths
• Sets up all necessary environment variables and tools
• Adds ESP-IDF commands (idf.py, esptool.py, etc.) to PATH

Usage

Basic usage with default settings:

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4
  - name: Install ESP-IDF
    uses: espressif/install-esp-idf-action@v1
  - name: Build your project
    run: |
      idf.py build

Advanced usage with custom configuration:

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4
  - name: Install ESP-IDF
    uses: espressif/install-esp-idf-action@v1
    with:
      version: "v5.0"
      path: "/custom/path/to/esp-idf"
      tools-path: "/custom/path/to/tools"

Inputs

Input	Description	Default
version	Version of ESP-IDF to install	Latest released version
path	Installation path for ESP-IDF	/opt/esp/idf (POSIX) or C:\esp\idf (Windows)
tools-path	Path for ESP-IDF tools	/opt/esp (POSIX) or C:\esp (Windows)
eim-version	Version of EIM to use	Latest released version

Available Commands

After installation, the following commands are available in your workflow:

• idf.py - Main ESP-IDF tool for project management
• esptool.py - Utility for flashing ESP chips
• espefuse.py - Utility for ESP chip eFuse management
• espsecure.py - Utility for ESP security features
• otatool.py - Utility for ESP OTA operations
• parttool.py - Utility for flash partitions operations

Example Workflow

Here's a complete example showing how to use this action in a workflow:

name: ESP-IDF Build

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  build:
    name: Build on ${{ matrix.os }}
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    strategy:
      matrix:
        os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest]

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Install ESP-IDF
        uses: espressif/install-esp-idf-action@v1
        with:
          version: "v5.0"

      - name: Build Project
        run: |
          idf.py set-target esp32
          idf.py build

Platform-Specific Notes

Linux

• Automatically installs required packages using apt-get
• Default installation path: /tmp/esp/idf

macOS

• Automatically installs required packages using Homebrew
• Default installation path: ~/esp/idf

Windows

• No additional dependencies required
• Default installation path: C:\esp\idf

Common Issues

Windows Environment

• Make sure to use PowerShell when running commands
• Some commands might require elevated privileges

macOS/Linux Environment

• Some operations might require sudo privileges
• Ensure Homebrew (macOS) is installed for dependency management

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

Development Setup

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/install-esp-idf-action.git
cd install-esp-idf-action

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Install development tool for bundling:

npm install -g @vercel/ncc

4. Make your changes to the action code in index.js.

5. Build the action:

ncc build index.js --license licenses.txt

This will create a single file in dist/index.js containing all the bundled code.

6. Commit both your source changes and the built dist directory:

git add .
git commit -m "your changes"
git push origin your-branch

The GitHub Actions workflow will automatically test your changes on all supported platforms.

Project Structure

• action.yml - Action metadata file
• index.js - Main action source code
• dist/ - Compiled action code (must be committed)
• .github/workflows/ - Test workflows

Release Process

1. Update version in package.json if needed
2. Build the action:

ncc build index.js --license licenses.txt

3. Commit all changes including the dist directory
4. Create and push a new tag:

git push origin v1

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Espressif Systems for ESP-IDF
• EIM for the installation tools