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Rust on ESP32-C6

Prerequisites

  • Install rust via curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
  • restart restart terminal to source rust . "$HOME/.cargo/env"
  • get ESP Rust Toolchain cargo install espup
  • setup ESP Rust Toolchain espup install
  • add '. /home/robby/export-esp.sh' to bashrc
  • install the template generator cargo install esp-generate
  • cargo install espflash --locked
  • curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/probe-rs/probe-rs/releases/latest/download/probe-rs-tools-installer.sh | sh
  • cargo install esp-config --features=tui --locked

For ESP-IDF-HAL Usage

  • sudo apt-get install git wget flex bison gperf python3 python3-pip python3-venv cmake ninja-build ccache libffi-dev libssl-dev dfu-util libusb-1.0-0
  • Do not follow the whole ESP-IDF Installation and instead
  • install rust (done)
cargo install cargo-generate
cargo install ldproxy
# installed previoulsly:
# cargo install espup
# cargo install espflash
# cargo install cargo-espflash # Optional
# sudo apt-get install libudev-dev

Finally initialize the folder by executing cargo generate esp-rs/esp-idf-template cargo

VSCode Extensions

  • rust-analyzer
  • Wokwi with account and 30day license
  • dependi for crates mgmt

Setup via esp-generate

Use esp-generate --chip esp32c6 myproject and follow configuration as necessary with probe-rs

Run

cargo run build the binaries that can then be simulated via Wokwi

Useful Links

ESP-IDF

Architectural Overview of Embedded Rust via ESP-IDF

---
title: Software Stack
config:
  flowchart:
    defaultRenderer: "elk"
---

flowchart TD
    subgraph "Development Tools - IDE Layer"
        VSCODE[VSCode + rust-analyzer<br/><i>Your chosen IDE</i>]
        PIO[Platform.IO<br/><i>Alternative build system supporting</i><br/><i>both Arduino & ESP-IDF frameworks</i>]
    end
    
    subgraph "Your Application Code"
        APP[Your Rust Application<br/><i>Business logic, sensor loops, WiFi handling</i>]
    end
    
    subgraph "Board Support Layer - BSP"
        BSP_IDF[Board Support Packages C<br/><i>esp-bsp repo: pre-configured drivers for</i><br/><i>dev boards like M5Stack, ESP-BOX, etc.</i>]
        BSP_RUST[Board Support Packages Rust<br/><i>Future: xiao-esp32c6-bsp crates</i><br/><i>Board-specific pin mappings & peripherals</i>]
    end
    
    subgraph "ESP-IDF Path - std Your Choice"
        SVC[esp-idf-svc<br/><i>High-level services: WiFi, MQTT,</i><br/><i>HTTP server, NVS storage, OTA updates</i>]
        HAL_IDF[esp-idf-hal<br/><i>Safe Rust HAL: GPIO, SPI, I2C, UART,</i><br/><i>PWM, ADC, timers - wraps ESP-IDF drivers</i>]
        SYS[esp-idf-sys<br/><i>Raw unsafe FFI bindings via bindgen</i><br/><i>Direct access to all ESP-IDF C functions</i>]
    end
    
    subgraph "Bare Metal Path - no_std Not Your Focus"
        HAL_BARE[esp-hal<br/><i>Pure Rust bare-metal HAL</i><br/><i>Direct register manipulation, no C deps</i>]
        PAC[PAC - Peripheral Access Crate<br/><i>esp32c6, esp32c3, etc. crates</i><br/><i>Auto-generated from SVD files via svd2rust</i><br/><i>Type-safe register access layer</i>]
    end
    
    subgraph "Portable Abstractions - Traits"
        DRIVERS[Community Device Drivers<br/><i>embedded_aht20, dht-embedded, bme280</i><br/><i>Platform-independent sensor libraries</i>]
        EHAL[embedded-hal traits<br/><i>Standard hardware interfaces:</i><br/><i>InputPin, OutputPin, SpiDevice, I2cDevice</i><br/><i>Makes drivers portable across all MCUs</i>]
        ESVC[embedded-svc traits<br/><i>Standard service interfaces:</i><br/><i>WiFi, HTTP, MQTT abstractions</i>]
    end
    
    subgraph "C Framework Layer - Espressif Provided"
        IDF[ESP-IDF Framework<br/><i>Official C framework: peripheral drivers,</i><br/><i>WiFi/BLE stacks, power management, crypto</i>]
        ARDUINO[Arduino Framework<br/><i>Built ON TOP of ESP-IDF as component</i><br/><i>Adds digitalWrite, Serial.print API</i><br/><i>40% larger binaries, limited ESP32-C6 support</i><br/><i>Not used in your Rust setup</i>]
    end
    
    subgraph "Operating System Layer"
        RTOS[FreeRTOS<br/><i>Real-time kernel bundled with ESP-IDF</i><br/><i>Task scheduling, queues, mutexes, semaphores</i><br/><i>Much simpler than Linux - no processes/filesystems</i>]
    end
    
    subgraph "Hardware Layer"
        HW[ESP32-C6 Silicon<br/><i>Memory-mapped registers control:</i><br/><i>GPIO banks, SPI/I2C/UART controllers,</i><br/><i>WiFi 6 radio, BLE 5, ADC, DAC, timers, DMA</i>]
        SENSOR[External Devices<br/><i>XIAO sensors, displays,</i><br/><i>buttons, humidity/temp sensors, motors</i>]
    end
    
    VSCODE -.develops.-> APP
    PIO -.alternative too.-> VSCODE
    PIO -.can build.-> IDF
    PIO -.can build.-> ARDUINO
    
    APP -->|uses services| SVC
    APP -->|reads sensors via| DRIVERS
    APP -->|controls GPIO via| HAL_IDF
    APP -.bare metal route.-> HAL_BARE
    
    BSP_IDF -->|wraps| IDF
    BSP_RUST -->|wraps| HAL_IDF
    APP -.can use.-> BSP_RUST
    
    SVC -->|builds on| HAL_IDF
    SVC -->|direct access when needed| SYS
    SVC -.implements.-> ESVC
    
    DRIVERS -->|require| EHAL
    DRIVERS -->|work with any HAL implementing| HAL_IDF
    DRIVERS -->|work with any HAL implementing| HAL_BARE
    
    HAL_IDF -->|wraps via FFI| SYS
    HAL_IDF -.implements.-> EHAL
    
    HAL_BARE -->|reads/writes| PAC
    HAL_BARE -.implements.-> EHAL
    
    SYS -->|binds to| IDF
    
    PAC -->|generated from SVD| HW
    PAC -->|type-safe register access| HW
    
    IDF -->|uses| RTOS
    IDF -->|configures registers in| HW
    ARDUINO -->|wrapped as component in| IDF
    
    RTOS -->|schedules tasks on| HW
    
    HW <-->|communicates via I2C/SPI/GPIO| SENSOR
Loading

Hardware Overview

next:

  • esp32-p4
    • dual core 400MHz
    • Memory
      • 128 KB of high-performance system ROM
      • 768 KB of high-performance (HP) L2 memory (L2MEM)
      • 32 KB of low-power (LP) SRAM
      • 32 MB PSRAM stacked in the package, and the QSPI interface is connected to 16MB Nor Flash
    • additional ESP32-C6 for connectivity
    • PoE, Mipi-CSI, Mipi-DSI
    • ESP Wiki

First C6 COnnection:

# sudo dmesg
[  187.639563] usb 1-1: new full-speed USB device number 5 using xhci_hcd
[  187.767728] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=303a, idProduct=1001, bcdDevice= 1.02
[  187.767745] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[  187.767751] usb 1-1: Product: USB JTAG/serial debug unit
[  187.767755] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Espressif
[  187.767759] usb 1-1: SerialNumber: 98:A3:16:8E:C7:C0
[  187.805522] cdc_acm 1-1:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
[  187.805613] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_acm
[  187.805620] cdc_acm: USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters

After giving myself rights to access ttyACM0: sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER

# espflash board-info -c esp32c6
[2026-01-08T21:03:35Z INFO ] 🚀 A new version of espflash is available: v4.3.0
[2026-01-08T21:03:35Z INFO ] Serial port: '/dev/ttyACM0'
[2026-01-08T21:03:35Z INFO ] Connecting...
[2026-01-08T21:03:35Z INFO ] Using flash stub
Chip type:         esp32c6 (revision v0.2)
Crystal frequency: 40 MHz
Flash size:        4MB
Features:          WiFi 6, BT 5
MAC address:       98:a3:16:8e:c7:c0

Security Information:
=====================
Flags: 0x00000000 (0)
Key Purposes: [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 12]
Chip ID: 13
API Version: 0
Secure Boot: Disabled
Flash Encryption: Disabled
SPI Boot Crypt Count (SPI_BOOT_CRYPT_CNT): 0x0

For probe-rs to run, I had to set up udev rules:

curl -fsSL https://probe.rs/files/69-probe-rs.rules | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/69-probe-rs.rules > /dev/null

HW Adresses

I (589) riscnrust: Found I2C device at 0x19 -> 3-axis-accelerometer LIS3DHTR <--driver only does embedded-hal 0.2.0 I (588) riscnrust: Found I2C device at 0x3C -> OLED 0.96" ssd1316 I (598) riscnrust: Found I2C device at 0x51 -> EEPROM or RTC

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