Universal Arduino template for ESP32 and Pi Pico series MCUs

ArduProf template

Writing boilerplate code for different MCUs and operating systems is often a tedious, repetitive task that drains developer productivity. Each platform demands its own initialization routines, peripheral drivers, and OS-specific abstractions, forcing engineers to reinvent the wheel before they can even begin solving the real problem. This fragmentation slows down innovation and makes starting a new project unnecessarily complex. A unified framework that abstracts away these differences can dramatically simplify development, allowing engineers to focus on application logic instead of low-level setup. By standardizing common components and offering cross-platform APIs, such a framework empowers developers to spin up new projects quickly, reduces onboarding friction, and accelerates time-to-market.

Leveraging the arduprof-template brings significant benefits to embedded developers by unifying support across multiple platforms. Instead of juggling separate boilerplate setups for Arduino FreeRTOS on ESP32, Arduino Mbed/FreeRTOS on Raspberry Pi Pico/Pico2, and Zephyr on nRF52840, developers can rely on a single, consistent project structure. This reduces friction when switching between MCUs and operating systems, accelerates prototyping, and ensures portability of application logic. By abstracting away repetitive initialization and OS-specific details, the template allows engineers to focus on building features rather than reworking infrastructure. Ultimately, it streamlines cross-platform development, shortens project startup time, and fosters cleaner, more maintainable codebases.

Supported Hardware (ESP32, ESP32-S3, ESP32C3, Pi Pico/Pico2)

The following boards are supported by this project:

• ESP32-DevKitC V1
• ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1 v1.1
• ESP32C3-CORE
• XIAO ESP32C3
• Raspberry Pi Pico
• W5100S-EVB-Pico
• WizFi360-EVB-Pico
• Raspberry Pi Pico2
• Noridic nRF52840 DK
• ProMicro nRF52840

Software setup for ESP32, ESP32-S3, ESP32C3

• Install Arduino IDE 2.3.7+ for Arduino
• Install Arduino-ESP32
• Install Arduino DebugLog
• Install ArduinoJson v7+
• Install ArduProf v2.3.1+

Software setup for Raspherry Pi Pico/Pico2

• Install Arduino IDE 2.3.7+ for Arduino
• Install Arduino Mbed OS RP2040 Boards 4.0.6+
• Install Arduino Pico 5.4.1+
• Install Arduino DebugLog
• Install ArduinoJson v7+
• Install ArduProf v2.3.1+

Software setup for Nordic nRF52840

• Install nRF Connect Toolchain and SDK v3.3.0+
• Install ArduProf v2.3.1+

Pi Pico/Pico2 FreeRTOS

Build firmware

• clone this repo by "git clone https://github.com/teamprof/arduprof-template.gif"
• Launch Arduino IDE
• Open "arduino-app.ino" under "arduino-app" folder
• On Arduino IDE, click menu "Tools" -> "Board: " -> "Board Manager..." -> "Raspberry Pi Pico - Raspberry Pi Pico/RP2040/RP2350" or "Raspberry Pi Pico 2"
• On Arduino IDE, click menu "Tools" -> "Debug Port" -> "Serial"
• On Arduino IDE, click menu "Tools" -> "CPU Speed" -> "133 MHz" or "150 MHz" for Pi Pico2
• On Arduino IDE, click menu "Tools" -> "Operation System" -> "FreeRTOS SMP"
• Build the code by clicking Menu -> “Sketch” -> “Compile/Verify”If everything goes smoothly, you should see the following screen.

Pi Pico (FreeRTOS)

Pi Pico2 (FreeRTOS)

Upload firmware

• On Arduino IDE, click Menu -> “Sketch” -> “Upload”If everything goes smoothly, you should see the following screen.

Pi Pico (FreeRTOS)

Pi Pico2 (FreeRTOS)

Run firmware

• On Arduino IDE, open Serial monitor and then reset the boardIf everything goes smoothly, you should see the following screen.

Pi Pico (FreeRTOS)

Pi Pico2 (FreeRTOS)

Pi Pico Mbed OS

• Open "arduino-app.ino" under "arduino-app" folder under Arduino IDE
• On Arduino IDE, click menu "Tools" -> "Board: " -> "Board Manager..." -> "Raspberry Pi Pico - Arduino Mbed OS RP2040 Boards"
• On Arduino IDE, click menu "Tools" -> "Debug Port" -> "Serial"
• On Arduino IDE, click menu "Tools" -> "CPU Speed" -> "133 MHz"
• On Arduino IDE, click menu "Tools" -> "Operation System" -> "Mbed OS"
• Build the code by clicking Menu -> “Sketch” -> “Compile/Verify”If everything goes smoothly, you should see the following screen.

Pi Pico (Mbed OS)

Upload firmware

Note that uploading the Pi Pico Mbed firmware through the IDE may be challenging. A more robust approach is to drag the generated.uf2 file directly onto the Pi Pico board.

Run firmware

• On Arduino IDE, open Serial monitor and then reset the boardIf everything goes smoothly, you should see the following screen.

Pi Pico (Mbed OS)

ESP32S3/ESP32C3/ESP32 (FreeRTOS)

• Open "arduino-app.ino" under "arduino-app" folder under Arduino IDE
• On Arduino IDE, click menu "Tools" -> "Board: " -> "Board Manager..." ->"RAKwirelss RAK3112" or"ESP32S3 Dev Module" or"XIAO_ESP32C3" or"ESP32C3 Dev Module" or"DOIT ESP32 DEVKIT V1" or"ESP32 Dev Module"
• On Arduino IDE, click menu "Tools" -> "USB CDC On Boot:" -> "Enable"
• Build the code by clicking Menu -> “Sketch” -> “Compile/Verify”If everything goes smoothly, you should see the following screen.

ESP32S3 Dev Module (FreeRTOS)

ESP32C3 Dev Module (FreeRTOS)

Xiao ESP32C3 (FreeRTOS)

ESP32 Dev Module (FreeRTOS)

DOIT ESP32 DevKit v1 (FreeRTOS)

Upload firmware

• - On Arduino IDE, click Menu -> “Sketch” -> “Upload”If everything goes smoothly, you should see the following screen.

ESP32S3 Dev Module (FreeRTOS)

Xiao ESP32C3 (FreeRTOS)

DOIT ESP32 DevKit v1 (FreeRTOS)

Run firmware

• On Arduino IDE, open Serial monitor and then reset the boardIf everything goes smoothly, you should see the following screen.

ESP32S3 Dev Module (FreeRTOS)

Xiao ESP32C3 (FreeRTOS)

DOIT ESP32 DevKit v1 (FreeRTOS)

Nordic nRF52840 (Zephyr)Build firmware

• clone this repo by "git clone https://github.com/teamprof/arduprof-
• template.gif"change to "nrf" folder and download submodule

cd nrf
git submodule update --init --recursive

• Launch VS code, switch to nRF Connect panel, open existing application under "nrf" folder

Noridic nRF52840 DK

• Add or edit build config, as below

• Click "Generate and Build"If everything goes smoothly, you should see the following screen.

ProMicro nRF52840

• Add or edit build config, as below

• Click "Generate and Build"If everything goes smoothly, you should see the following screen.

Run firmwareNoridic nRF52840 DK

• Click "Debug" on nRF Connect panelIf everything goes smoothly, you should see the following screen

• Launch a serial terminal likes TeraTerm or minicom, set as 8N1 115200bpsIf everything goes smoothly, you should see the following screen if you use TeraTerm.

ProMicro nRF52840

• Double click ProMicro nRF52840 Reset pin within 0.5s to enter Bootloder mode
• Copy the "zephyr.uf2" under ""folder to the drive of the board
• Launch a Serial Terminal software likes TeraTerm, set to 115200bps and 8N1If everything goes smoothly, you should see the following screen if you use TeraTerm.

Arduino code explanation

In a typical Arduino setup(), both QueueMain and ThreadApp are initialized. QueueMain runs within the Arduino loop(), while ThreadApp executes in parallel. The purpose of QueueMain is to establish a communication channel between the Arduino loop() and other threads.

static void startTasks(void)
{
    auto ctx = getAppContext();
    if (ctx->queueMain)
    {
        static_cast<QueueMain *>(ctx->queueMain)->start(ctx);
    }
    if (ctx->threadApp)
    {
        ctx->threadApp->start(ctx);
    }
}

void loop()
{
    ...

    auto ctx = getAppContext();
    auto qMain = static_cast<QueueMain *>(ctx->queueMain);
    assert(qMain);
    qMain->messageLoop(0); // non-blocking
    // qMain->messageLoop();  // blocking until event received and proceed
    // qMain->messageLoopForever(); // never return

    // delay(1000);    // delay 1s
    delay(100); // delay 0.1s
}

Add new thread(s)

• Copy the files "ThreadApp.cpp" and "ThreadApp.h" and rename them, for example "ThreadGui"
• Edit "ThreadGui.h", modify the CLASSNAME macro as below:

#define CLASSNAME ThreadGui

• Edit "AppContext.h", modify the AppContext struct as below:

    typedef struct _AppContext
    {
        ardufreertos::MessageQueue *queueMain;
        ardufreertos::ThreadBase *threadApp;
        ardufreertos::ThreadBase *threadGui;
    } AppContext;

    typedef struct _AppContext
    {
        ardumbedos::MessageQueue *queueMain;
        ardumbedos::ThreadBase *threadApp;
        ardumbedos::ThreadBase *threadGui;  // <= add code here
    } AppContext;

• Edit "AppContext.cpp", modify the AppContext code as below:

    static AppContext appContext = {
        .queueMain = &queueMain,
        .threadApp = ThreadApp::getInstance(),
        .threadGui = ThreadGui::getInstance(),  // <= add code here
    };

• Edit "arduino-app.ino", modify the startTasks code as below:

static void startTasks(void)
{
    auto ctx = getAppContext();
    if (ctx->queueMain)
    {
        static_cast<QueueMain *>(ctx->queueMain)->start(ctx);
    }
    if (ctx->threadApp)
    {
        ctx->threadApp->start(ctx);
    }

    //////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    // add code here
    //////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    if (ctx->threadGui)
    {
        ctx->threadGui->start(ctx);
    }
}

• The new ThreadGui is added. Build the updated code, upload the new firmware, the new thread should run in parellel with ThreadApp and QueueMain.
• Please refer to ArduProf about sending and handling messages between threads

License

• The project is licensed under GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3

Copyright

• Copyright 2026 teamprof.net@gmail.com. All rights reserved.