ESP32 Forum

Running on a Windows 11 Home laptop,

Espressif-IDE is an Integrated Development Environment(IDE) based on Eclipse CDT for developing IoT Applications using ESP-IDF framework.

Version: 4.1.0
Build id: 20260205-1151

Copyright (c) 2025 Espressif Systems. All rights reserved

Using IDF 5.5.3 with openocd-esp32,

v0.12.0-esp32-20251215 (2025-12-15-18:70)

There is only one copy of openocd.exe installed on the computer and it's in the toolpath.

1. execute openocd.exe -c program_esp_bins {some valid filepath to the hello_world binaries}

C:\Users\keith\workspace\hello_world\build> openocd "-c program_esp_bins C:/Users/keith/workspace/hello_world/build"
Open On-Chip Debugger v0.12.0-esp32-20251215 (2025-12-15-18:17)
Licensed under GNU GPL v2
For bug reports, read
http://openocd.org/doc/doxygen/bugs.html
invalid command name "program_esp_bins"

2. Now let's try with openocd "-c program C:/Users/keith/workspace/hello_world/build"

C:\Users\keith\workspace\hello_world\build> openocd "-c program C:/Users/keith/workspace/hello_world/build"
Open On-Chip Debugger v0.12.0-esp32-20251215 (2025-12-15-18:17)
Licensed under GNU GPL v2
For bug reports, read
http://openocd.org/doc/doxygen/bugs.html
Error: Debug Adapter has to be specified, see "adapter driver" command
** OpenOCD init failed **
shutdown command invoked
embedded:startup.tcl Error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "embedded:startup.tcl", line 1928, in program
program_error {** OpenOCD init failed **} 1
File "embedded:startup.tcl", line 1893, in program_error
shutdown error

Now I know this was no adpter driver supplied or flash args, etc., BUT THE POINT IS THAT "-c program" IS A VALID COMMAND AND "-c program_esp_bins" IS NOT!!!!! PERIOD, MIKE DROP, etc.!!!

I think it's fine to add your own Espressif commands to openocd, just try to make sure they continue to get submitted to github or that your proprietary version of openocd is built correctly.

3. See attachment with my configuration from Espressif Eclipse IDE:

Hi,
I encountered the same issue after updating my Eclipse-based ESP-IDE.
I my case the definition of the target was missing. So, not only the debug-interface has to be specified with e.g. -f interface/ftdi/esp_ftdi.cfg
but also the device itself, e.g. -f target/esp32s3.cfg
That worked for me.