IDF Component Manager

The IDF Component Manager is a tool that downloads dependencies for any ESP-IDF CMake project. The download happens automatically during a run of CMake. It can source components either from the component registry or from a Git repository.

A list of components can be found on https://components.espressif.com/.

For detailed information about the IDF Component Manager, see the IDF Component Manager and ESP Component Registry Documentation.

Using with a Project

Dependencies for each component in the project are defined in a separate manifest file named idf_component.yml placed in the root of the component. The manifest file template can be created by running idf.py create-manifest. By default, a manifest file is created for the main component. You can explicitly either specify the directory where the manifest should be created using the --path option or specify the component in your components folder using --component=my_component. The create-manifest command can be run in the following ways:

• idf.py create-manifest creates a manifest file for the main component

• idf.py create-manifest --component=my_component creates a manifest file for the component my_component in the components directory

• idf.py create-manifest --path="../../my_component" creates a manifest file for the component my_component in the my_component directory

When a new manifest is added to one of the components in the project, it is necessary to reconfigure the project manually by running idf.py reconfigure. The build will then track changes in idf_component.yml manifests and automatically trigger CMake when necessary.

To add a dependency to a component (e.g., my_component) in your ESP-IDF project, you can run the command idf.py add-dependency DEPENDENCY. The DEPENDENCY argument represents an additional component managed by the IDF Component Manager that my_component depends on. It is defined in the format namespace/name=1.0.0, where namespace/name is the name of the component and =1.0.0 is a version range of the component, see the Versioning Documentation. By default, dependencies are added to the main component. You can either explicitly specify a directory where the manifest is located using the --path option, or specify the component in your components folder using --component=my_component. The add-dependency command can be run in the following ways:

• idf.py add-dependency example/cmp adds a dependency on the most recent version of example/cmp to the main component

• idf.py add-dependency --component=my_component example/cmp<=3.3.3 adds a dependency on the version <=3.3.3 of example/cmp to the component my_component in the components directory

• idf.py add-dependency --path="../../my_component" example/cmp^3.3.3 adds a dependency on the version ^3.3.3 of example/cmp to the component my_component in the my_component directory

Note

The command add-dependency adds dependencies to your project explicitly from the Espressif Component Registry.

To update dependencies of the ESP-IDF project, you can run the command idf.py update-dependencies. You can also specify the path to the project directory using --project-dir PATH.

There is an example application build_system/cmake/component_manager that uses components installed by the component manager.

It is not necessary to have a manifest for components that do not need any managed dependencies.

When CMake configures the project (e.g., idf.py reconfigure) component manager does a few things:

• Processes idf_component.yml manifests for every component in the project and recursively solves dependencies.

• Creates a dependencies.lock file in the root of the project with a full list of dependencies.

• Downloads all dependencies to the managed_components directory.

The lock file dependencies.lock and the content of the managed_components directory are not supposed to be modified by a user. When the component manager runs, it always makes sure they are up to date. If these files were accidentally modified, it is possible to re-run the component manager by triggering CMake with idf.py reconfigure.

You may set the build property DEPENDENCIES_LOCK to specify the lock-file path in the top-level CMakeLists.txt. For example, adding idf_build_set_property(DEPENDENCIES_LOCK dependencies.lock.${IDF_TARGET}) before project(PROJECT_NAME) could help generate different lock files for different targets.

Creating a Project From an Example

Some components on the registry contain example projects. To create a new project from an example you can run the command idf.py create-project-from-example EXAMPLE. The EXAMPLE argument should be in the format namespace/name=1.0.0:example where namespace/name is the name of the component, =1.0.0 is a version range of the component (see the Versioning Documentation) and example is the example's name. You can find the list of examples for every component and the command to start a project for it in the Espressif Component Registry.

Defining Dependencies in the Manifest

You can easily define dependencies in the manifest file idf_component.yml by editing it directly in the text editor. Below are some basic examples that demonstrate how to define dependencies.

You can define a dependency from the registry by specifying the component name and the version range:

dependencies:
  # Define a dependency from the registry (https://components.espressif.com/component/example/cmp)
  example/cmp: ">=1.0.0"

To define a dependency from a Git repository, provide the path to the component within the repository and the repository's URL:

dependencies:
  # Define a dependency from a Git repository
  test_component:
    path: test_component
    git: ssh://[email protected]/user/components.git

During the development of components, you can use components from a local directory by specifying either a relative or an absolute path:

dependencies:
  # Define local dependency with relative path
  some_local_component:
    path: ../../projects/component

For detailed information about the manifest file format, see Manifest File Format Documentation.

Disabling the Component Manager

The component manager can be explicitly disabled by setting the IDF_COMPONENT_MANAGER environment variable to 0.