Espressif released the ESP ZeroCode web application in the summer of 2023 to create custom Matter-certifiable firmware for ESP32 targets. However, if your application requires some more customization, but you don’t have the budget or need for a software engineering team, the company has now launched ESP LowCode Matter.
It retains most of the simplicity of ESP ZeroCode, but also provides the ability to further customize the application without having to use the ESP Matter SDK, which requires more advanced coding skills to build your own firmware.
The ESP LowCode Matter divides firmware into two components to simplify the development, maintenance, and certification process:
- System Firmware – Managed by Espressif, handling the Matter protocol, wireless stacks, OTA updates, and security management.
- Application Firmware – Developed by device makers, focusing on hardware interfacing, event and state indication, and user interaction.
Development is done right in the web browser thanks to VS Code IDE plugins integrated with GitHub Codespaces, and no other development tools are needed. That does mean you’ll need a web browser with support for WebUSB and/or WebSerial support, and for instance, Firefox is not an option. If you prefer the VS Code IDE, it’s still an option.
Since the system firmware does not need to be updated frequently, and the application firmware is quite small, the build-flash-debug cycle is extremely fast. Device makers can update the Matter data model separately from the system firmware, and they will get a test Device Attestation Certificate (DAC) during development, and then use pre-programmed ESP Matter modules with production certificates.
ESP LowCode Matter is currently implemented on the ESP32-C6 dual-core RISC-V SoC with the system firmware running on the 32-bit RISC-V core clocked at up to 160 MHz, and the application firmware running on the low-power RISC-V core clocked at 20 MHz. The application firmware does not rely on FreeRTOS and is typically about 20KB in size. While only ESP32-C6 is supported for now, the company is working on porting other ESP32 series to the LowCode platform.
You can get started with ESP LowCode Matter by following the instructions on GitHub, and a blog post on Espressif’s Developer website has more details about the announcement.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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Espressif is on a roll! Cool
firmware / application – isn’t it much easier with
Position Independent Code
Can not wait to test it out!.
This looks like a useful tool to have.
very very interesting for most matter devices, indeed.
This lowcode usually makes it more complex in my eyes, proper sdk and documentation is good enough, i wish they would put more effort in making matter mature and stable on esp32.