Makers, students & professionals have been using the classic Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment) ever since Arduino was born.
The Arduino IDE 2 is an improvement of the classic IDE, with increased performance, improved user interface and many new features, such as autocompletion, a built-in debugger and syncing sketches with Arduino Cloud.
In this guide, we will cover the basics of the Arduino IDE 2, where you will find links to more detailed resources on how to use specific features!
You can download the IDE 2 from the Arduino Software page.
You can also follow the downloading and installing the Arduino IDE 2 tutorial for more detailed guide on how to install the editor.
The Arduino IDE 2 features a new sidebar, making the most commonly used tools more accessible.
Arduino SAMD Boards
package installed.The Arduino IDE 2 is a versatile editor with many features. You can install libraries directly, sync your sketches with Arduino Cloud, debug your sketches and much more. In this section, some of the core features are listed, along with a link to a more detailed article.
Your sketchbook is where your code files are stored. Arduino sketches are saved as
.ino
files, and must be stored in a folder of the exact name. For example, a sketch named my_sketch.ino
must be stored in a folder named my_sketch
.Typically, your sketches are saved in a folder named
Arduino
in your Documents
folder. To access your sketchbook, click on the folder icon located in the sidebar.
With the Boards Manager, you can browse and install packages, or "cores" for your boards. A core is always required when compiling and uploading code for your board.
There are several Arduino cores available, such as avr, samd, megaavr and more.
To learn more about the Boards Manager, visit the Installing new boards tutorial.
With the library manager you can browse and install thousands of libraries. Libraries are extensions of the Arduino API, and makes it easier to for example control a servo motor, read specific sensors, or use a Wi-Fi module.
To learn more about the library manager, visit the Installing libraries tutorial.
The Serial Monitor is a tool that allows you to view data streaming from your board, via for example the
Serial.print()
command. Historically, this tool has been located in a separate window, but is now integrated with the editor. This makes it easy to have multiple instances running at the same time on your computer.
To learn more about the Serial Monitor, visit the Serial Monitor tutorial.
The Serial Plotter tool is great for visualizing data using graphs, and to monitor for example peaks in voltage.
You can monitor several variables simultaneously, with options to enable only certain types.
To learn more about the Serial Plotter, visit the Serial Plotter tutorial.
An important part of the Arduino Documentation are the example sketches that come bundled with libraries. They will show examples of the functions used in practice, illustrating the intended use and features of a library.
Libraries that come bundled as a part of a boards package may also include libraries, and those libraries often include example sketches.
To open the example sketches bundled in either the libraries you have installed manually or that come bundled in core packages, navigate to File > Examples and find the library you're searching for in the list that appears.
In the image above, you can see what the examples list looks like when a UNO R4 WiFi board is connected to your computer.
From here, you can for example navigate to File > Examples > LED_Matrix > MatrixIntro and upload the sketch to your board to show the Tetris animation that came pre-loaded on your UNO R4 WiFi when you first took it out of its box.
The debugger tool is used to test and debug programs, hence the name. It can be used to navigate through a program's execution in a controlled manner.
To learn more about the debugger tool, visit the Debugging tutorial.
Autocompletion is a must-have for code editors, and the 2 version comes well equipped. When writing code, this is useful to understand more about the elements of the Arduino API.
Note that you always need to select your board for autocompletion to work.
To learn more about the Autocompletion tool, visit the Autocompletion tutorial.
The Remote Sketchbook feature lets you sync sketches from your Arduino Cloud sketchbook with your local computer. To enable this feature, you will need to login to your Arduino Cloud account.
You can also create a new cloud sketch directly in the IDE.
To learn more about the Remote Sketchbook feature, visit the Synchronizing Sketches tutorial.
You can upgrade and downgrade the firmware version for your Wi-Fi boards (with a NINA module), and upload SSL Root Certificates directly in the IDE.
To learn more, visit the Firmware & Certificate Uploader tutorial.
The Arduino IDE 2 is an open-source project that is free for anyone to download. You can contribute to the project through donations, or by reporting issues to our GitHub repository.
In this guide, we have presented a series of features & more detailed articles to follow, so that you can enjoy each and every one of the features included in the IDE 2.