ESP8266 Community Forum

I have a basic noob question: I have not been able to answer for myself. What is the difference between using the Arduino IDE to program the 8266 and using AT commands? Is there anything I can do with AT commands that cannot be done with IDE?

I currently have an ESPduino running a full on humidification system with fan, I2C sensors, light, display etc and displaying on THINGSPEAK app, website, etc. Why would I need to use AT commands? Sounds like I am missing something. Is there a reason I would want to use them both? Is it just for setup?

You can not have both Arduino sketch and AT firmware at the same time.
Of course the code of your Arduino sketch can emulate some AT commands, but it is up to you to write them.
AT Firmware is pretty useless, except for those who wish to attach ESP as a slave to other MCU, but they get a lost of frustation doing the communication between both, and a lot of restriction, for example, it can not handle 2 ports at the same time.

Thanks a lot, I was wondering the same thing. My understanding now is that the ESP8266-01 (which usually comes with AT firmware) can be programmed normally using the arduino ide like any other esp version module and be used 'stand-alone' without a microcontroller OR an arduino sketch containing AT commands which will be sent via Serial can be programmed to the microcontroller (arduino) and the ESP connected to it via TX AND RX pins, this will give the arduino, wifi capabilties and still holds all the power and number of GPIO pins of the arduino!

Am i right in my understanding of how the system works and the 2 different setups it can be used in? Please correct me if not.

Thank you

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping this was the case. I am getting pretty comfortable with the IDE and, while I like learning new things, i'm not ready to dive in to another "language" quite yet. I might just play with putty just for fun thought. Again, thank you. Jeff