ESP8266 Community Forum

I am new to ESP8266 and planning to use this module for creating mesh network and wifi access point. I have received the module from online market place.
Since I am not going to customize anything on ESP, do I need to flash the software myslef or module will be loaded with all platform functionality including Mesh, wifi access point

The ESP comes (if all's well) with the standard Espressif (the manufacturer of the ESP) AT-command firmware, which is only practical to play around with the chip, not to actually use in real life.
The AT-firmware only acts like "Sort of" an old Hayes telephone modem, but then using WiFi instead of a telephone line.

If you want to use the ESP for something specific, you'll have to flash it with custom firmware yourself.
This can be either some project from someone already available on the internet (see sites like Instructables and Hackaday) or something you'll write yourself.
Firmware can be written in a number of languages/ways like Arduino (C++), LUA, BASIC, etc. just Google for "ESP8266" and the language you're interested in; also a lot about programming yourself can be found on this very forum.

One tip: if you've bought the ESP-01 (to play with), put it in a drawer and order a development board, like a NodeMCU or Wemos, instead: a development board is almost as cheap as a single module (ESP-01..ESP-12), but you don't have to worry about power requirements and interfacing with your computer.

Later on, once you've got the hang of it, you could use a separate ESP-module in your projects.

Is Rx connected to Rx and Tx to Tx or Rx to Tx and Tx to Rx? I am using Arduino Uno. Esp 01 got hot sometimes is it burned? How can I know? I couldn't run codes even not AT commands. Please help.