ESP32 Forum

I'm looking at designing a PCB based around an ESP32-C3 IC, and I'm looking for an overview on programming the IC.

In the past I've used PIC microcontrollers with the PICKit4 in-circuit programmer/debugger. Essentially that let me connect a few pins on the PICKit to connectors on my boards, which would connect to 5 pins on the MCU, and allow me to program and debug the MCU hands-free with good integration into Microchip's IDE. Is there an analogous programmer/debugger for the ESP32-C3? I was looking at the ESP-Prog, but if it requires that I use the physical buttons to reprogram the ESP that's not ideal. If the ESP-Prog is well-integrated with some of Espressif's software, or if there are other programmers that are integrated with other software, I'm interested in those as well. What's the standard approach?

You could use the ESP-Prog and it has a circuit to put the chip into programming mode automatically; the buttons on there are just for the odd combination of software/drivers/OS where that doesn't work.

The nice thing about the C3 (and S3 as well) is that if you have the chip on hand, you already have a perfectly serviceable programmer as well: the C3 has an internal USB-serial-JTAG converter to program and debug the chip. Simply add an USB port to your design and hook up the D+ to GPIO19, the D- to GPIO18, GND to GND and optionally Vbus to whatever eats 5V on your PCB and you're done.

Some more info is here, by the way.