Arduino Extends Its MicroPython Support, Launching a New IDE, Installer, and Curated Package Index

The Arduino Team has announced that its work with support for MicroPython is continuing, bearing fruit in the form of new tools for using MicroPython on both official Arduino boards and third-party Arduino-compatible devices — albeit still in experimental form, for now.

"At the end of last year (November 2022) we announced initial support for MicroPython in the Arduino ecosystem, and continued to quietly work on the toolkit for this language," the Arduino Team explains. "We continuously expand the list of Arduino boards for which a MicroPython firmware is provided. Additionally, we are now releasing new tools to help developers use this language with Arduino boards as well as third-party ones."

MicroPython support within the traditionally-C/C++-based Arduino ecosystem dates back a little longer than November of last year, in fact. The organization first started experimenting with it back in August 2021, partnering with OpenMV to bring MicroPython to the Arduino Nano 33 BLE, Nano 33 BLE Sense, and Nano RP2040 Connect boards. Since then, support has been extended to the Arduino GIGA R1, Nicla Vision, and Portenta H7 boards, as well as the newly-launched Arduino Nano ESP32 — though the stock integrated development environment (IDE) remains C/C++ exclusive, with MicroPython support relegated to a separate tool dubbed the Arduino Lab Editor for MicroPython.

It's this separate IDE, now in version 0.8, which is the focus of the Arduino Team's announcement. Since its launch, the team explains, the IDE has received a much-improved user interface, better file management with support for sub-folders, stability improvements to its file-handling capabilities, and a better way to handle libraries and modules. A new installer is also available, which makes the installation of a MicroPython firmware on compatible boards as easy as a single click.

"Last but not least," the Arduino Team continues, "we have created an initial list of MicroPython packages that we consider useful to learn and experiment with this language. The list is published as Arduino MicroPython Package Index. You can browse the list, download the packages from their corresponding Github repository and install them via Arduino Lab Editor for MicroPython. We plan to release tools to easily search, download and install from this package index in the future."

More information on the Arduino Lab Editor for MicroPython is available on the Arduino website.