It is meant for makers of IoT things. It is a basline implementation (C ) targeting the ESP8266 chip (Arduino Espressif8266 Framework).

The implementation out of the box supports basic sensors and actuators (DHT-22 Himidity & Temperature sensors, LEDs, RGB LED strips, relays/switches), with ability to extend.

Communcation with the device ESP_Thing device is established using the MQTT protocol over WiFi.
It can be easily connected with Smart Home platform openHAB using the MQTT addon. Since MQTT is platform agnostic it could work with other smart home platforms (HomeKit).

When doing my smart home I needed to build multiple custom hardware things running on ESP8266 and integrate that into the openHAB platform. Some of those devices are Switches running the ESP_Thing software (instead of the stock firmware). This has been running succesfully for several years now.

Use Visual Studio Code with the Platform IO IDE extension.

To build simply do Platform IO > Project Tasks > Build. As a result of compilation you get the firmware.bin file that can be used to flash the ESP8266 device.

Linking .pio\build\esp12e\firmware.elf
Building .pio\build\esp12e\firmware.bin
Retrieving maximum program size .pio\build\esp12e\firmware.elf
Checking size .pio\build\esp12e\firmware.elf
Advanced Memory Usage is available via "PlatformIO Home > Project Inspect"
DATA:    [====      ]  43.5% (used 35640 bytes from 81920 bytes)
PROGRAM: [====      ]  37.2% (used 388644 bytes from 1044464 bytes)

Alternatively, you can use the Over the Air Updates (OTA) to push never firmware updates.

• Smart Config
  • With first run (or after a push button is pressed and hold during boot) the device enter config mode.
  • It starts an open WiFi network you can join to from your mobile phone.
  • It displays a configuration website where you can enter basic settings (WiFi name & pass, device name).
  • This uses the WiFiManager library.
• Over the Air Updates (OTA)
  • You can send a command to the device with a URL from which it should download the latest firmware from (bin file).
• Deep sleep mode support (to lower energy usage)
• In MainApp.cpp compose what pins are used (ideally in the future this will be configured):

    if (_deviceConfig->UniqueId.startsWith("sonoff_") || _deviceConfig->UniqueId.startsWith("switch_")) {
      // Sonoff
      /*
      12 - Connected to RST (deep sleep)
      00 - push button, 0 - pressed, 1 - released
      */

      pushButton->SetPin(0);

      auto sw = new SwitchFeatureController(10, this, 12, true);
      _features.push_back(sw);
      _features.push_back(new PushButtonFeatureController(0, this, pushButton, sw));

    } else if (_deviceConfig->UniqueId.startsWith("sonoff-dual_") || _deviceConfig->UniqueId.startsWith("switch-dual_")) {
      // Sonoff Dual R2
      /*
      05 - Switch 1
      12 - Switch 2
      10 - push button, 0 - pressed, 1 - released
      13 - blue LED
      03 (RX) - DHT22
      */

      Serial.end();

      pushButton->SetPin(10);
      statusLed->SetPin(13);

      auto sw = new SwitchFeatureController(10, this, 5, true);
      _features.push_back(sw);
      _features.push_back(new PushButtonFeatureController(0, this, pushButton, sw));
      _features.push_back(new SwitchFeatureController(11, this, 12, true));
      _features.push_back(new TempFeatureController(30, 31, this, 3));
    }
  }