I just picked up one of the new Arduino brand Nano ESP32 boards primarily because the advertising talked about native debugging via the built-in USB-C cable. The board arrived yesterday and I've been messing around with it to test out the debugging feature but haven't been able to get anything to work. I haven't been able to find any sort of guide or instructions on how to do this, does anyone know what I might be missing?
Physical Board: Arduino Nano ESP32
IDE: Arduino IDE 2.1.1
Board Package: Arduino ESP32 Boards 2.0.11
Able to upload sketches and interact with the device over serial on the USB-C connection
Not sure what you're trying to communicate here? I'm aware that a product page exists. If there is some specifically page regarding debugging the Nano ESP32 then please link that one specifically because I can't find it.
If the troubles people are having with new Arduino Uno R4 are any guide, many of the advertised features of the Nano ESP32 are "preliminary" at best. I suspect you got suckered by the ads.
Despite mentions in the data sheet, (the word "debug" does appear in a couple of places) I am doubtful if the Arduino developers have done anything actually useful to users, in support of debugging on the Nano ESP32. So it is not surprising that no useful documentation can be found on the product page.
At the end of the post I state specifically that I was able to upload and run sketches on the board. And the premise of the post is that I am unable to find documentation on how to debug the board over USB-C. If you have a suggestion about how I could have been more clear I am open to suggestions.
In any case, I've been to the product page and its linked resources and have not found anything particularly useful. If you're seeing something I'm not then I'd be thrilled if you could point me to the specific location or post a screenshot.
Oof, similar issues with poor documentation on the R4 I take it? I definitely did trust the ad, I think I went looking for a how-to before actually making the purchase but just assumed they hadn't finished posting things yet.
But you're saying you think Arduino has flat out lied about the product? Or just that they misrepresented the feature or their contribution to it?
I will take a look at that Espressif page though, one of the other reasons I got the Nano ESP32 was because I assumed it would be an easy entry point into the "ecosystem" so not opposed to alternate methods.
The complete lack of documentation on the advertised debugging via the USB-C connector suggests that this is an unfinished product. It certainly would be a handy feature!
Take a look through the forum to see what sorts of troubles people are having with the R4.
Hi, I am in the same boot. I got a few Arduino Nano ESP32. Uploading goes fine. Programs are working fine.
But how do I get the Debug feature to work? If I try to debug I am getting the attached error message. I do think I might need to load a library but can't figure out which one.
Hello everyone, sorry for this miscommunication.
We have intentionally not enabled the debug features on the Nano ESP32 yet since this would not be compatible with the current IDE. Developers are already working on this; as soon as that update is publicly available, we will update the core so USB de- will be finally available to everyone!
Well, this is of course a little disappointing given the fact that I purchased the Arduino Nano ESP32 just because of this feature.
Any estimation when that feature will be available. Are we talking a few weeks or months? Before X-mas?
Sorry, I can fix boards, but can't see the future yet!
If I had to guess, I wouldn't count on weeks, considering the summer period, but I would be surprised if that takes more than a couple months. We might be able to post a "do-it-yourself" guide earlier for the adventurous!
@Iburelli, if you can't see in the future I would ask you to talk to your management. Attached is the debugging feature Arduino is advertising the Arduino Nano ESP32 on the internet. This is exactly why I bought them.
I would also recommend to add to the advertisement something like "coming soon".
@lburelli Yeah I have to second @skubeda's request that you escalate this to whoever you can. Totally understand that you personally are not likely not involved in Arduino marketing, but if the feature was intentionally not enabled, then until this feature gets released this is straight up willful false advertising which I think is illegal in most places and immoral everywhere else. I also purchased this product based on claims of a feature that Arduino have not actually included so I can't say I'm that impressed.
I was thinking to myself a few months ago how cool it was that Arduino had been releasing a lot of new boards, but if this is how things are typically handled then if seems like its a real game of quantity over quality.
Hi, I to are trying to get the Debugger to work, I bought this to do just that.
I had the same result (error message) as Post #10, I found the "arm-none-eabi-gdb.exe" in the \Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\ directory, so I copied to where it was asking for it, Got this result:
[2023-08-11T12:43:29.860Z] SERVER CONSOLE DEBUG: onBackendConnect: gdb-server session connected. You can switch to "DEBUG CONSOLE" to see GDB interactions.
"C:\\Users\\Richard\\AppData\\Local\\Arduino15\\packages\\esp32\\tools\\openocd-esp32\\v0.11.0-esp32-20221026/bin/openocd" -c "gdb_port 50000" -c "tcl_port 50001" -c "telnet_port 50002" -s "c:\\Users\\Richard\\Documents\\Arduino\\Sketches\\Blink_Esp_2" -f "C:/Users/Richard/AppData/Local/Programs/Arduino IDE/resources/app/plugins/cortex-debug/extension/support/openocd-helpers.tcl" -f debug.cfg
Open On-Chip Debugger v0.11.0-esp32-20221026 (2022-10-26-14:48)
Licensed under GNU GPL v2
For bug reports, read
http://openocd.org/doc/doxygen/bugs.html
CDRTOSConfigure
embedded:startup.tcl:28: Error: Can't find debug.cfg
in procedure 'script'
at file "embedded:startup.tcl", line 28
[2023-08-11T12:43:30.078Z] SERVER CONSOLE DEBUG: onBackendConnect: gdb-server session closed
GDB server session ended. This terminal will be reused, waiting for next session to start...
I'm going to share sincere apologies here - we realized last minute that we needed some minor extra work on the IDE side to provide a smooth debugging experience on Nano ESP32. It was actually working but it had some UX limitations that would not be aligned with the quality standards that we want for our boards, so we decided to postpone the release of that feature and make a separate announcement. We failed to update some of the marketing assets to mention that this feature would need some extra weeks.
I'm really sorry for this - we're obsessed with being always transparent and clear with the community but this time we made a little non intentional mistake. We're working on it and this feature will be enabled very soon. Thank you for your patience
will be finally available to everyone! 
