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open-source microcontroller IDE

Moussa1492 
Hi everyone,

I’m building an open-source desktop IDE for microcontroller learning and prototyping, mainly focused on Arduino and STM32.

The goal is not to replace professional tools like STM32CubeIDE, PlatformIO, Keil or IAR, but to provide a simpler learning-oriented workflow for students, technicians and training centers.

Current / planned features:
- Arduino and STM32 project creation
- Build / upload workflow
- Serial monitor and serial plotter
- STM32 debug with GDB/OpenOCD
- Register / memory / stack views
- Basic SVD peripheral view
- Static analysis with cppcheck / MISRA-light
- Coverage reports
- Crash / HardFault reporting
- Power profiling demo via UART/SWO-style events
- QEMU/Renode simulation experiments

I’m looking for honest feedback:
1. Would such a tool be useful for education or training?
2. Which feature would be most valuable?
3. What would make you trust or not trust this kind of tool?
4. Would it be better as a VS Code extension, standalone IDE, or educational toolkit?
5. What pain points do you have with current embedded IDEs?

I’m not trying to promote a paid product here. I’m trying to validate whether this project should continue as an open-source educational tool or pivot toward a smaller specialized utility.

Thanks for any critical feedback.
  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    I am working on an a software that supports arduino and STM32 ( and other microcontroller )

    When finished, it would include:

    • project explorer and code editor
    • Arduino/AVR and STM32 build/upload support
    • GDB/OpenOCD debugging
    • registers, memory, stack, breakpoints, tracepoints
    • serial monitor and serial plotter
    • coverage and static analysis tools
    • QEMU/Renode simulation scenarios
    • AI-assisted explanation of compiler/debug errors
    • FaultLens: a module that explains Cortex-M HardFault/BusFault/UsageFault reports using .elf, GDB logs, fault registers and stacked PC
  • in reply to DAB

    When finished, it would include:

    • project explorer and code editor
    • Arduino/AVR and STM32 build/upload support
    • GDB/OpenOCD debugging
    • registers, memory, stack, breakpoints, tracepoints
    • serial monitor and serial plotter
    • coverage and static analysis tools
    • QEMU/Renode simulation scenarios
    • AI-assisted explanation of compiler/debug errors
    • FaultLens: a module that explains Cortex-M HardFault/BusFault/UsageFault reports using .elf, GDB logs, fault registers and stacked PC

  • moussa1492 I don't know why you want to mess with this, I has been done a long time ago. It is called Eclipse!! A lot of the IDEs are on top of it. TI, Arduino, STM shall I keep on going?  It is written in JAVA, Stable has been around for 15+ years. The IDE is minimalistic, ie Not M$ v whatever with so many buttons. Basically, it's broken down into the following: Writing the Code, Debug/Running, and the context (buttons) will change by its use. You make it what you want.. I read from left to right, so I want my function tree on the right, then Code, below Code I have console messages, and another column in the right. Look before you leap!! ~~~ Cris Harrison

  • in reply to phoenixcomm

    Personally, I never once found Eclipse helpful to learn from. All I can say is thank goodness for Arduino IDE as it forced you to think things through knowing you had rudimentary (being complementary here) debugging capability. Of course, now that I've learnt the ropes I find the Eclipse IDE very efficient but prefer VS Code, personally.

  • Could Microchip Pic be supported and try to be an alternative to Mplab X?