vim-arduino

Vim plugin for compiling, uploading, and debugging arduino sketches. It uses arduino-cli when available (recommended), and falls back to using the Arduino IDE's commandline interface (new in 1.5.x).

Installation

vim-arduino works with all the usual plugin managers

Packer (Neovim only)

require('packer').startup(function()
    use {'stevearc/vim-arduino'}
end)

Paq (Neovim only)

require "paq" {
    {'stevearc/vim-arduino'};
}

vim-plug

Plug 'stevearc/vim-arduino'

dein

call dein#add('stevearc/vim-arduino')

Pathogen

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/stevearc/vim-arduino.git ~/.vim/bundle/

Neovim native package

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/stevearc/vim-arduino.git \
  "${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}"/nvim/site/pack/vim-arduino/start/vim-arduino

Vim8 native package

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/stevearc/vim-arduino.git \
  "$HOME"/.vim/pack/vim-arduino/start/vim-arduino

Requirements

Linux and Mac are tested and functioning. I have not tested on Windows, but have heard that it works via WSL. See this issue for discussion.

It is recommended to use arduino-cli, installation instructions here: https://arduino.github.io/arduino-cli/latest/installation/

However it is also possible to use the arduino IDE directly. Download Arduino IDE (version 1.5 or newer). Linux users make sure the arduino command is in your PATH.

Commands

Command	arg	description
ArduinoAttach	[port]	Automatically attach to your board (see arduino-cli board attach -h)
ArduinoChooseBoard	[board]	Select the type of board. With no arg, will present a choice dialog.
ArduinoChooseProgrammer	[programmer]	Select the programmer. With no arg, will present a choice dialog.
ArduinoChoosePort	[port]	Select the serial port. With no arg, will present a choice dialog.
ArduinoVerify		Build the sketch.
ArduinoUpload		Build and upload the sketch.
ArduinoSerial		Connect to the board for debugging over a serial port.
ArduinoUploadAndSerial		Build, upload, and connect for debugging.
ArduinoInfo		Display internal information. Useful for debugging issues with vim-arduino.

To make easy use of these, you may want to bind them to a key combination. You can put them in ftplugin/arduino.vim:

" Change these as desired
nnoremap <buffer> <leader>aa <cmd>ArduinoAttach<CR>
nnoremap <buffer> <leader>av <cmd>ArduinoVerify<CR>
nnoremap <buffer> <leader>au <cmd>ArduinoUpload<CR>
nnoremap <buffer> <leader>aus <cmd>ArduinoUploadAndSerial<CR>
nnoremap <buffer> <leader>as <cmd>ArduinoSerial<CR>
nnoremap <buffer> <leader>ab <cmd>ArduinoChooseBoard<CR>
nnoremap <buffer> <leader>ap <cmd>ArduinoChooseProgrammer<CR>

Configuration

By default you should not need to set any options for vim-arduino to work (especially if you're using arduino-cli, which tends to behave better). If you want to see what's available for customization, there is detailed information in the vim docs.

Integrations

Dialog / picker plugins

The built-in mechanism for choosing items (e.g. :ArduinoChooseBoard) uses inputlist() and is not very pretty or ergonomic. If you would like to improve the UI, there are two approaches:

• Neovim: override vim.ui.select (e.g. by using a plugin like dressing.nvim)
• Vim8: install ctrlp or fzf. They will automatically be detected and used

Tmux / screen

If you want to run the arduino commands in a separate tmux or screen pane, use vim-slime. By setting let g:arduino_use_slime = 1 vim-arduino will send the commands via slime#send() instead of running them inside a vim terminal.

Status Line

You may want to display the arduino state in your status line. There are four pieces of data you may find interesting:

• g:arduino_board - the currently selected board
• g:arduino_programmer - the currently selected programmer
• g:arduino_serial_baud - the baud rate that will be used for Serial commands
• arduino#GetPort() - returns the port that will be used for communication

An example with vanilla vim or nvim, added to ftplugin/arduino.vim:

" my_file.ino [arduino:avr:uno] [arduino:usbtinyisp] (/dev/ttyACM0:9600)
function! ArduinoStatusLine()
  let port = arduino#GetPort()
  let line = '[' . g:arduino_board . '] [' . g:arduino_programmer . ']'
  if !empty(port)
    let line = line . ' (' . port . ':' . g:arduino_serial_baud . ')'
  endif
  return line
endfunction
augroup ArduinoStatusLine
  autocmd! * <buffer>
  autocmd BufWinEnter <buffer> setlocal stl=%f\ %h%w%m%r\ %{ArduinoStatusLine()}\ %=\ %(%l,%c%V\ %=\ %P%)
augroup END

To do the same thing with vim-airline:

autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead *.ino let g:airline_section_x='%{MyStatusLine()}'

For lualine (Neovim only) I use the following function:

local function arduino_status()
  if vim.bo.filetype ~= "arduino" then
    return ""
  end
  local port = vim.fn["arduino#GetPort"]()
  local line = string.format("[%s]", vim.g.arduino_board)
  if vim.g.arduino_programmer ~= "" then
    line = line .. string.format(" [%s]", vim.g.arduino_programmer)
  end
  if port ~= 0 then
    line = line .. string.format(" (%s:%s)", port, vim.g.arduino_serial_baud)
  end
  return line
end

License

Everything is under the MIT License except for the wonderful syntax file, which was created by Johannes Hoff and copied from vim.org and is under the Vim License.