Hello World on ESP32-C3-Lyra V2.0 Using ESP-IDF

Flashing “Hello World” to an ESP32-C3-Lyra V2.0 on Linux (ESP-IDF)

This post serves as a tutorial for how to build and flash the official ESP-IDF hello_world example to an ESP32-C3-Lyra-V2.0 from a Linux machine, then verify output over UART. This tutorial works for any ESP32-C3, and is a precursor to conducting Wake-On-Word using ESP32-C3-Lyra V2.0

prerequisites:

Hardware

• ESP32-C3 development board
• USB cable
• USB-to-UART bridge presented as CP2102N (common on many ESP32 boards)

Software

• Ubuntu 22.04
• ESP-IDF v5.2.3 (installed from source)

Step 1: Verify the board appears as a serial device

Plug the board in over USB and check the kernel log:

sudo dmesg -T | tail -n 30

You should see something indicating a USB-to-UART bridge and the assigned device node, for example:

• CP2102N USB to UART Bridge Controller
• ... now attached to ttyUSB0

That means your UART port is likely /dev/ttyUSB0.

Exit the screen using Ctrl+A then K then y

Step 2: Install required packages

Install the typical ESP-IDF build dependencies:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y git python3 python3-venv python3-pip cmake ninja-build ccache libffi-dev libssl-dev dfu-util libusb-1.0-0

Step 3: Install ESP-IDF (v5.2.3) + ESP32-C3 toolchain

Clone ESP-IDF and install only what you need for ESP32-C3:

cd ~ && git clone -b v5.2.3 --recursive https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf.git && cd esp-idf && ./install.sh esp32c3

Then load the environment into your current terminal session:

. ./export.sh

From this point, idf.py should be available.

Step 4: Create a local hello_world project

Copy the example out of the ESP-IDF tree (so you can edit safely later):

cd ~ && cp -r ~/esp-idf/examples/get-started/hello_world ~/hello_world

Step 5: Set the target to ESP32-C3

cd ~/hello_world && idf.py set-target esp32c3

Step 6: Build, flash, and monitor

Flash to the detected serial port and open the monitor immediately:

idf.py -p /dev/ttyUSB0 flash monitor

If you get a permissions error on /dev/ttyUSB0, rerun with sudo:

sudo idf.py -p /dev/ttyUSB0 flash monitor

To exit the ESP-IDF monitor: press Ctrl + ].

Expected output

After flashing, the monitor should show hello_world output similar to:

Hello world!
This is esp32c3 chip with 1 CPU core(s), WiFi/BLE, silicon revision v0.3, 2MB external flash
Minimum free heap size: 328280 bytes

Troubleshooting

1) idf.py: command not found

Re-run:

. ./export.sh

2) Wrong serial port

Re-run:

sudo dmesg -T | tail -n 30

Look for ttyUSB0 vs ttyACM0, then update the -p argument accordingly.

3) Permission denied on /dev/ttyUSB0

• Use sudo as shown above, or add your user to the serial group (commonly dialout) and re-login.