Run Arduino locally

Wokwi is a platform that helps you design and run Ardunio in the cloud (free for Open Source projects).

To run it locally, the following steps can be used :

1. Install VSCode
2. Ctrl Shift X
3. Install the Wokwi Simulator extension
4. Ctrl Shift P
5. Wokwi: Request a New License
6. Install the Wokwi license (free for trial period)
7. Install the Arduino CLI
8. Install the Arduino model (Arduino UNO in my case): arduino-cli.exe core install arduino:avr
9. If needed, rename the .ino file (eg: sketch.ino ) to foldername.ino
10. Install additional needed libraries. Eg for Servo : arduino-cli.exe lib install servo
11. Compile the local project : arduino-cli.exe compile -e --fqbn arduino:avr:uno
12. Compiling generates a build folder containing.
    • arduino.avr.uno
      • .ino.eep
      • .ino.elf
      • .ino.hex
      • .ino.with_bootloader.bin
      • .ino.with_bootloader.hex

13. Create wokwi.toml file with the following content
    

    [wokwi]
    version=1
    firmware='build/arduino.avr.uno/<projectname>.ino.hex'
    

14. firmware must have the local path to the .ino.hex file. Use forward slashes even for Windows.

15. Open the local project in VSCode as a folder, if you haven't already

16. Ctrl Shift P

17. Wokwi: Start Simulator

18. After each change to the .ino (C++ code), it's enough to recomplile.

19. The simulator will reflect the changes, without being restarted.

Comments

[Raknaos]

Two things that bit me after following a walkthrough exactly like this one. The filename rule — the .ino has to match its parent folder — is the one everyone hits, because VSCode is happy and the compile is not, and the error never points at the folder name. And forward slashes in wokwi.toml even on Windows: backslashes parse and then resolve to nothing.

What I would add for the next reader: build to a fixed output directory instead of whatever arduino-cli prints under build/. My first setup pointed firmware at a path that still existed from the previous run, so the simulator kept running the old hex and every recompile looked like it had no effect. The recompile-and-reload loop is otherwise genuinely the part that makes this worth setting up locally.