github.com/robgonnella/ardi

Ardi

Ardi is a command-line tool for compiling, uploading, and watching logs for your usb connected arduino board. Ardi allows you to develop in an environment you feel comfortable, without being forced to use arduino's web or desktop IDEs.

Ardi's --watch flag allows you to auto re-compile and upload on save, saving you time and improving efficiency.

Ardi should work for all boards and platforms supported by arduino-cli. Run ardi init to download all supported platforms and index files to ensure maximum board support. To initialize only for a specific platform, run ardi init <platform_id> or ardi init <platform_id@version>. To see a list of supported platforms and associated IDs, run ardi platform list. To see a list of all supported boards and their associated platforms and fqbns run ardi board list. (Note board fqbn will only be filled in once platform is initialized)

Once initialized run ardi go <sketch_dir> --watch --verbose and ardi will try to auto detect your board, compile your sketch, upload, watch for changes in your sketch file, and re-compile and re-upload. You can also run, ardi compile <sketch_directory> --fqbn <board_fqbn> to only compile and skip uploading.

Ardi also includes a basic library manager. Run ardi lib init in your project directory to initialize it as an ardi project directory. Once initialized, you can use ardi lib add <lib_name> to add libraries, ardi lib remove <lib_name>, ardi lib install to install missing libraries defined in ardi.json, and ardi lib search <searchFilter> to search existing libraries.

Ardi stores all its platform data in ~/.ardi/ to avoid any conflicts with existing arduino-cli installations.

Use "ardi [command] --help" for more information about a command.

Installation

Install golang: https://golang.org/doc/install

run:

go get github.com/robgonnella/ardi

Note:
This tool is based directly on a specific commit of arduino-cli. The exact commit can be found in the go.mod file of ardi. When installing via "go get" be sure to omit the "-u" flag to prevent updating dependencies as arduino-cli may have changed and could behave unpredictably with ardi.

Usage

Installing Platforms

Ardi requires certain binaries to be downloaded before it can properly compile sketches, detect connected boards, or list FQBNs (fully qualified board names) for supported boards.

# from any directory
ardi init --verbose
# or to initialize only for a specified platform
ardi init --verbose <platform_id>
# or to initialize for a specific version of a platform
ardi init --verbose <platform_id@version>
# to list the available platforms
ardi platform list <optional_search_param>

Note: Unfortunately, at this time ardi cannot provide a list of available versions for each platform. However, you can find some of the arduino platforms (aka cores) listed here. Click on your desired platform / core, then click on the "releases" tab to see a list of versions for that platform / core.

Remove Installed Platforms and Data

# from any directory
ardi clean

List Available Platforms

# list all (alias: search)
ardi platform list
# filter output based on keyword
ardi platform list mega

List Board Info

Ardi will only be able to list FQBNs for boards that have their associated platforms installed (initialized) already. Use the board list command bellow to find the desired platform for any board, then run ardi init <platform_id>, then run the board list command again to find your boards FQBN (fully qualified board name).

# list all
ardi board list
# filter output based on keyword
ardi board list mega

Uploading Sketches

Point ardi at any absolute or relative path to a sketch directory.

ardi go ~/<project_root>/<project_sub_dir>/blink/ --verbose

By default ardi will connect to the serial port and print logs. Ardi will read the sketch file and attempt to auto-detect the baud rate. To manually specify the baud rate run:

ardi go <path_to_sketch_dir> --baud <baud_rate>

Accepts the a custom build property flag - see Build Properties

Compiling Only (no upload)

Ardi allows you to compile your sketch without uploading. To do this ardi still needs to know what board to compile for though. Supply the compile command the fqbn for your board. If you don't know the fqbn of your board, run the compile command with no --fqbn argument and ardi will present you with a list of board names and their associated fqbns for each installed platform.

ardi compile <sketch_directory> --fqbn <board_fqbn> --verbose

Accepts the a custom build property flag - see Build Properties

The compile command also allows you print all build properties by using the --show-props or -s flag. When this flag is specified ardi will ONLY print the build properties, it will not actually compile your sketch.

Build Properties

You can specify custom build properties to the compile and go commands by using the --build-prop or -p flag followed by the build property and value. To specify multiple build properties just precede each property with the --build-prop or -p flag.

ardi compile <sketch_dir> -v -f <fqbn> \
-p build.extra_flags="-DSOME_OPTION" \
-p compiler.cpp.extra_flags="-std=c++11"

Using Ardi's "Watch" Feature

Ardi allows you to optionally watch a specified sketch file for changes and auto re-compile and re-upload. Just add the --watch flag to the ardi go command.

ardi go <path_to_sketch_dir> --watch

Adding Libraries

Ardi has a minimal library manager. Run ardi lib init in your project directory and ardi will create the necessary config files to create repeatable versioned local library downloads and installs for that project. Or you can use ardi's global library directory. Unfortunately, for now, a project directory must use one or the other but not both.

Available library commands

# initialize a project directory to use local libraries
# (does not use global directory at all)
ardi lib init
# add a library locally
ardi lib add <library_name>
# add a library to the global directory
ardi lib add <library_name> --global
# remove a local library
ardi lib remove <library_name>
# remove a global library
ardi lib remove <library_name> --global
# install all local library dependencies specified in ardi.json
ardi lib install
# search for available libraries (alias find, list)
ardi lib search <search_filter>