Install ESP8266 Filesystem Uploader in Arduino IDE

The ESP8266 contains a Serial Peripheral Interface Flash File System (SPIFFS). SPIFFS is a lightweight filesystem created for microcontrollers with a flash chip. This article shows how to easily upload files to the ESP8266 filesystem using a plugin for Arduino IDE.

Note: if you have an ESP32 board, read Install ESP32 Filesystem Uploader in Arduino IDE.

Introducing SPIFFS

SPIFFS lets you access the flash chip memory like you would do in a normal filesystem in your computer, but simpler and more limited. You can read, write, close, and delete files. SPIFFS doesn’t support directories, so everything is saved on a flat structure.

Using SPIFFS with the ESP8266 board is specially useful to:

Create configuration files with settings;
Save data permanently;
Create files to save small amounts of data instead of using a microSD card;
Save HTML and CSS files to build a web server;
Save images, figures and icons;
And much more.

In most of our web server projects, we’ve written the HTML code for the web server as a String directly on the Arduino sketch. With SPIFFS, you can write the HTML and CSS in separated files and save them on the ESP8266 filesystem.

Installing the Arduino ESP8266 Filesystem Uploader

You can create, save and write files to the ESP8266 filesystem by writing the code yourself in Arduino IDE. This is not very useful, because you’d have to type the content of your files in the Arduino sketch.

Fortunately, there is a plugin for the Arduino IDE that allows you to upload files directly to the ESP8266 filesystem from a folder in your computer. This makes it really easy and simple to work with files. Let’s install it.

First, make sure you have the latest Arduino IDE installed, and you have the ESP8266 add-on for the Arduino IDE. If you don’t, follow the next tutorial to install the add-on:

Windows, Mac and Linux instructions – Installing the ESP8266 Board in Arduino IDE

Follow the next steps to install the filesystem uploader:

1) Go to the releases page and click the ESP8266FS-X.zip file to download.

Download ESP8266 SPIFFS Filesystem fs for Arduino IDE

2) Go to the Arduino IDE directory, and open the Tools folder.

Arduino IDE Tools to Install ESP8266 SPIFFS Filesystem fs

3) Unzip the downloaded .zip folder to the Tools folder. You should have a similar folder structure:

<home_dir>/Arduino-<version>/tools/ESP8266FS/tool/esp8266fs.jar

4) Finally, restart your Arduino IDE.

To check if the plugin was successfully installed, open your Arduino IDE and select your ESP8266 board. In the Tools menu check that you have the option “ESP8266 Sketch Data Upload“.

ESP8266 Sketch Data Upload Arduino IDE SPIFFS FS Filesystem

Uploading Files using the Filesystem Uploader

To upload files to the ESP8266 filesystem follow the next instructions.

1) Create an Arduino sketch and save it. For demonstration purposes, you can save an empty sketch.

2) Then, open the sketch folder. You can go to Sketch > Show Sketch Folder. The folder where your sketch is saved should open.

Arduino IDE Show Sketch folder to create data folder

3) Inside that folder, create a new folder called data.

ESP8266 Arduino Sketch Example File Filesystem fs SPIFFS

4) Inside the data folder is where you should put the files you want to be saved into the ESP8266 filesystem. As an example, create a .txt file with some text called test_example.

ESP8266 Notepad Test Example File Filesystem fs SPIFFS

5) In the Arduino IDE, in the Tools menu, select the desired SPIFFS size (this will depend on the size of your files)

ESP8266 Select SPIFFS FS Filesystem size in Tools menu using Arduino IDE

6) Then, to upload the files, in the Arduino IDE, you just need to go to Tools > ESP8266 Sketch Data Upload.

You should get a similar message on the debugging window. The files were successfully uploaded to the ESP8266 filesystem.

SPIFFS Image Connecting to ESP8266 board

Testing the Uploader

Now, let’s just check if the file was actually saved into the ESP8266 filesystem. Simply upload the following code to your ESP8266 board.

/*********
  Rui Santos
  Complete project details at https://RandomNerdTutorials.com  
*********/

#include "FS.h"
 
void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  
  if(!SPIFFS.begin()){
    Serial.println("An Error has occurred while mounting SPIFFS");
    return;
  }
  
  File file = SPIFFS.open("/test_example.txt", "r");
  if(!file){
    Serial.println("Failed to open file for reading");
    return;
  }
  
  Serial.println();
  Serial.println("File Content:");
  while(file.available()){
    Serial.write(file.read());
  }
  file.close();
}
 
void loop() {

}

View raw code

After uploading, open the Serial Monitor at a baud rate of 115200. Press the ESP8266 “RST” button. It should print the content of your .txt file on the Serial Monitor.

ESP8266 SPIFFS FS Filesystem Example Arduino IDE Serial Monitor

You’ve successfully uploaded files to the ESP8266 filesystem using the plugin.

Wrapping Up

Using the filesystem uploader plugin is one of the easiest ways to upload files to the ESP8266 filesystem. You can save HTML and CSS files to build a web server, images or small icons, save configuration files, etc…

We have a project example in which we build a web server using HTML and CSS files saved on the filesystem. The example is for the ESP32, but it should be compatible with the ESP8266 with small changes on the code.

If you like the ESP8266, you may like the following resources:

Thanks for reading