What is Visual Micro?

Visual Micro is an extension (plugin/add-on) for Microsoft Visual Studio 2017,2019 and 2022 and for Atmel Studio 7, that allows any Arduino project to be developed, compiled, and then uploaded to any Arduino board, while taking benefit of the powerful features of Visual Studio and Atmel Studio.

Visual Micro is not currently compatible with VSCode or Visual Studio Blend products.

Visual Micro works alongside, and is compatible with, the Arduino development environment, using the same libraries, source code, and development tools. The difference lies in Visual Micro's user interface which provides an advanced and professional development environment, and allows for more advanced development than the existing Arduino IDE.

What does the term "IDE" mean?

In this documentation, you will often find the term "IDE". This is an industry standard term meaning Integrated Development Environment, which is a software application that incorporates a source code editor, build tools such as a compiler and often a debugging system. The IDE is used to write, edit, build, and test your software. Whilst Arduino's IDE provides a basic starter level IDE, Visual Micro in conjunction with Microsoft Visual Studio IDE or Atmel Studio IDE provides an enhanced and more functional IDE.