Meet the ESP32-S3-DevKitC
As an embedded developer, you have probably heard of the ESP32 at least once. It is affordable, capable, and easy to get. The S3 variant adds a faster dual-core CPU, native USB, and more GPIO — making it a solid choice for learning without spending much.
It also has Wi-Fi and BLE built in, which means the wireless examples later in this training need no extra hardware.
We use it here because it is practical — not because it is special. The Zephyr concepts you learn on this board apply identically on nRF52, STM32, or any other supported chip.
The board
ESP32-S3-DevKitC — entry-level development board by Espressif
Key specs
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| CPU | Dual-core Xtensa LX7, up to 240 MHz |
| RAM | 512 KB SRAM |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n + Bluetooth LE 5.0 |
| GPIO | 45 programmable GPIOs |
| Interfaces | 3× UART, 2× I2C, 2× I2S, 4× SPI |
| USB | USB Serial/JTAG + Full-speed USB OTG |
| RGB LED | 1× addressable WS2812 (GPIO48, via I2S) |
| Touch | 14 capacitive touch-sensing I/O pins |
West board target
In Zephyr, this board is identified as:
west build -b esp32s3_devkitc/esp32s3/procpu .
The qualifier /esp32s3/procpu selects the main application CPU (procpu). All examples in this training use this target.
On every Zephyr board page, scroll to the Supported Features section. At the bottom you will see a board target selector:
Use the dropdown to switch between available CPU targets, then hit the copy button to get the exact string for your west build -b command. No guessing, no typos.