Metro ESP-32

Metro-style ESP32 board with familiar layout - great for Arduino IDE users moving to dual-core IoT.

Micro-USB
Metro ESP-32 board
ESP32
MCU
240MHz
clock
4MB
flash
520KB
SRAM
9· Two 12-bit, 18 Channels ADC
GPIO
BLE 4.2+ WiFi
radio
On this page

Pinout

9 pins
View:
PinGPIOLabelsStatusCapabilitiesNotes
10KEY_BUILTINstrapping-
22LED_BUILTINPWMstrapping-
35SSPWMstrappingspi
412ADRPWMstrapping-
518SCKPWMsafespi
619MISOPWMsafespi
721SDAPWMsafei2c
822SCLPWMsafei2c
923MOSIPWMsafespi

Start with these

5 pins with no boot or system involvement
SCKPWMMISOPWMSDAPWMSCLPWMMOSIPWM

Freely assignable - no strapping, flash, USB or JTAG duties. Ideal first picks for buttons, sensors and LEDs.

Fine - with a little care

sampled at boot or shared with debug/serial
PinLabelWhat to knowRole
KEY_BUILTINGPIO0Must be HIGH during boot for normal startup; if held LOW on reset, forces flash programming mode.Strapping
LED_BUILTINGPIO2If driven HIGH on reset (while IO0 is LOW), selects an unsupported SDIO boot mode, causing boot failure.Strapping
SSGPIO5Must be HIGH during boot; if pulled LOW at reset, alters SDIO slave timing and may prevent normal boot.Strapping
ADRMTDI (GPIO12)Keep LOW during boot (internal PD); pulling HIGH at reset selects 1.8V flash mode, causing flash brownout if 3.3V flash is used.Strapping
These are recommendations, not hard rules - with the right pull-ups, timing and boot-state awareness most pins can be made to work. When in doubt, start green.
Pinout notes The Metro ESP-32 pinout brings out 9 GPIO pins - every one of them usable in your project. For peripherals, I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO21 and SCL on GPIO22,…

The Metro ESP-32 pinout brings out 9 GPIO pins - every one of them usable in your project.

For peripherals, I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO21 and SCL on GPIO22, while the SPI bus (MOSI, MISO, SCK, SS) is broken out in full.

If you want zero surprises, SCK, MISO, SDA, SCL and 1 more are free of any such role - the safest first picks. 4 of the exposed pins carry boot-time or system duties on the ESP32 (KEY_BUILTIN, LED_BUILTIN, SS and 1 more).

Getting started

flash your first firmware in ~2 minutes
Tool:
1
Connect over USB
Install your USB-serial driver (CH340 / CP210x) if no port appears. Not detected? Hold BOOT while plugging in.
2
Match & flash
Set the Tools options shown, then click Upload.
3
Verify it runs
The onboard LED on GPIO18 blinks - swap the pin if your board's LED differs.
Set these in Tools · leave everything else at default
Arduino IDE 2.x — Tools Copy
Board: "ESP32 Dev Module"
Flash Size: "4MB (32Mb)"
Flash Mode: "DIO"
Partition Scheme: "Default 4MB with spiffs (1.2MB APP / 1.5MB SPIFFS)" (default)
Upload Speed: "921600"
▸ every other Tools option — leave at default
Board: ESP32 Dev Module
Flash Size: 4MB (32Mb)
Flash Mode: DIO
Partition Scheme: Default 4MB with spiffs (1.2MB APP / 1.5MB SPIFFS)
Upload Speed: 921600
Find it: Tools ▸ Board ▸ ESP32 Arduino ▸ ESP32 Dev Module
blink.ino Copy
// blink the onboard LED
void setup() {
  pinMode(18, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
  digitalWrite(18, HIGH); delay(500);
  digitalWrite(18, LOW);  delay(500);
}
board to selectesp32dev⧉ copy
platformio.ini Copy
[env:metro_esp-32]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32dev
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
upload_speed = 921600
Find it: PlatformIO Home ▸ Boards, search esp32dev — or type it after board =.
board to selectesp32dev⧉ copy
device.yaml Copy
esp32:
  board: esp32dev
  variant: metro_esp-32
  framework:
    type: esp-idf

# blink - GPIO18
output:
  - platform: gpio
    pin: 18
    id: led_out
light:
  - platform: binary
    name: "LED"
    output: led_out
Find it: search ESPHome's board list for esp32dev (same ids as PlatformIO).
esptool doesn't pick board settings — a prebuilt .bin already has them baked in. This is just the raw flash command.
terminal Copy
esptool.py --chip esp32 --port /dev/ttyACM0 \
  --baud 921600 write_flash 0x0 firmware.bin
--port = your /dev/tty* (macOS/Linux) or COMx (Windows).
Build details: sketch space 1310720 B · data 327680 B · DIO

Specifications

ESP32
Compute
MCU
ESP32
Clock
240 MHz
SRAM · Flash
520 KB · 4MB
Radio
Wi-Fi
802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
4.2 LE
Antenna
PCB
I/O
GPIO · ADC
9 · Two 12-bit, 18 Channels
UART · I²C · SPI
3 · 2 · 4
PWM
16 channels
Power
USB
Micro-USB
Serial
-
Boot address
0x1000
Flashing
Upload · OTA
esptool_py · esp_ota
Flash · Boot mode
DIO · DIO
Sketch · Data
1.25 MB · 320 KB
The Metro ESP-32 uses esptool_py for firmware uploads, esp_ota for over-the-air (OTA) updates. Flash mode is DIO with DIO boot mode. The maximum sketch size is 1.25 MB with 320 KB available for data.

About this board

At its core is the ESP32 - a dual-core Xtensa with both Bluetooth Classic and BLE.

Only 9 GPIO are broken out, where most ESP32 boards manage about 24 - worth checking the pinout covers what you need.

Resources

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