In this tutorial, I am going to show how to program ESP8266 - 01 using an Arduino board or using FTDI parallel to serial converter through few easy steps.

Here I am providing both the circuit diagram to connect the ESP8266 with arduino or FTDI parallel to the serial converter. In both cases, the programming is in the same way.. 

Circuit diagram - ESP8266 + FTDI parallel to serial board

Visit here to see how to make a 3.3 volt regulator - 

Circuit diagram - ESP8266 + Arduino

Connection information

 - ESP8266 VCC - 3.3volt

 - ESP8266 GND - GND of arduino/FTDI

 - ESP8266 CH_PD - 3.3volt

 - ESP8266 RST ground it for reset

 - ESP8266 GPIO 0 - ground it at the time of uploading program .

RX, TX Connection for FTDI

 - ESP8266 RX -  TX of FTDI

 - ESP8266 TX -  RX of FTDI

RX, TX Connection for Arduino

 - ESP8266 RX -  RX of Arduino

 - ESP8266 TX -  TX of Arduino

After connecting ESP8266 with your computer with any of the above methods, follow the steps below - 

STEP 1 - Download and Install the Arduino IDE

STEP 2 - Add the ESP8266 to Arduino IDE

1. First you need to add the information about the ESP8266 board to the Arduino IDE by going to File > Preference

2. Paste this URL - http://arduino.esp8266.com/package_esp8266com_index.json to the field 'Additional board manager URL's

3. After that go to Sketch > Include library > Manage libraries to add the library of ESP8266.

4. In the library management window, type ESP8266. From the libraries that appear, press installs ESP8266 community.

5. Now from the Tools > Board menu > Board manager you can find the Generic ESP8266 Module. 

STEP 3 - Flash your code!

Select the COM port and upload your code. Now you can use your ESP8266 as a standalone board.

EXAMPLE PROJECT COMING SOON!

Thank you for reading!