Espressif Releases ESP-IDF v5.5 with Expanded SoC Support and Performance Enhancements

Shanghai, China – Espressif Systems has officially announced the release of ESP-IDF (Espressif IoT Development Framework) v5.5, a minor update to its v5.4 series. The new version introduces preview support for upcoming System-on-Chips (SoCs) like the ESP32-C5 and ESP32-C61, alongside significant improvements in performance, security, and peripheral drivers for its existing ESP32 series. This update aims to refine the development experience for IoT applications, building on the foundation of previous releases.

The ESP-IDF v5.5 brings several notable enhancements, including greatly improved support for placing IRAM code into flash, which is particularly beneficial when using CONFIG_SPI_FLASH_AUTO_SUSPEND for reduced power consumption. Security features have been bolstered with the addition of ESP-TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) support on the ESP32-C6. Furthermore, the logging system has been upgraded to Log v2, offering centralized log formatting and binary logging capabilities.

Key updates to peripheral drivers and system components are also part of this release. These include UART DMA driver support, UHS-I SDR50 and DDR50 support on ESP32-P4 for SD-Host, and new features for SPI Flash, such as software resume and customized driver support. The framework also unifies the TWAI (Two-Wire Automotive Interface) driver, supporting both TWAI and TWAI-FD peripherals, and adds support for RTC battery backup on ESP32-H2.

While largely compatible with applications written for ESP-IDF v5.4, developers should be aware of certain breaking changes. Notably, Python 3.8 support has been deprecated, with ESP-IDF now requiring Python 3.9 or newer versions. Other changes include modifications to Wi-Fi sending callback parameters and updates to MbedTLS server certificate verification, which may necessitate minor code adjustments during migration.

Developers can obtain ESP-IDF v5.5 by cloning the official Espressif GitHub repository using git clone -b v5.5 --recursive https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf.git. Espressif recommends referring to the detailed release notes and documentation for comprehensive installation instructions and migration guidance to ensure a smooth transition and leverage the full capabilities of the new framework.