Programming MCUs with AI (Digital Guide)

From zero to working firmware—without losing your mind

Programming microcontrollers used to be a pain in the ass.
Crashing IDEs. Copy-paste rabbit holes. Sketchy code from forums that wouldn’t compile.

But that’s changed.
With tools like Cursor, PlatformIO, and modern LLMs, you can now generate and ship firmware fast—without writing every line yourself.

Some examples of projects I've used this approach for include:

- ESP32s running full Wi-Fi mesh and PTT

- Xiao boards with OLED UIs and FPV cameras

- GPS LoRa trackers built with raw AT commands

- LTE-M nodes powered by the Walter NB-IoT board

- On-device AI with Seeed’s Vision sensors

- Optical holocube display interfaces

- Heltec V3 LoRa32 boards running Meshtastic

- Wi-Fi HaLow nodes that push real-time video

What You’ll Get

- Step-by-step video tutorials showing how to go from prompt to working firmware in minutes

- My exact workflow using LLMs with PlatformIO, Cursor, and custom boards for rapid iteration

- Debug strategies that use the model like an engineer—not a novelty chatbot

- Multiple programming approaches, from AT command scripting to full C++ firmware builds

- An interactive guide page with my favorite tools, workflows, setup configs, and actual project code used in Houdini, Haven, SkyMesh, and more

Why It Exists:

Because builders like us are done waiting on bloated SDKs, stale docs, and stackoverflow threads from 2013.
You’ve got gear to launch. Trackers to test. Drones to fly.

This is the guide I wish existed when I started.