pico-templates

• Small C++ examples for Raspberry Pi Pico to get things going
• See more examples in https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-examples

How to init

• Clone the repo
• Recursively update submodules
  • The pico-sdk is a must and contains more submodules

How to build (Windows)

• Install Visual Studio 2026 Community Edition
  • https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/
  • Make sure Linux, Mac and embedded development with C++ is selected
• (OPTIONAL) if you do want to install Visual Studio, install CMake, make sure it is in PATH and use whatever IDE/Editor you want
  • https://cmake.org/download/
• Install Python
  • https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/
• Install ARM GNU Toolchain
  • https://developer.arm.com/downloads/-/arm-gnu-toolchain-downloads
  • Grab latest arm-gnu-toolchain-XX.X.relX-mingw-w64-x86_64-arm-none-eabi.msi
  • Add the bin folder in PATH
• Open this project folder in Visual Studio
• Select target to {project_name}.elf e.g. hello_world.uf2
• Build. Note that you may have to refresh cmake cache again and rebuild 2nd time

How to build (Linux)

• See .github/workflows/ubuntu.yml

How to run

• Press "BOOTSEL" button on the Pico
• Connect USB cable or reset Pico (short pin 30 "RUN" to GND)
• See a partition RPI-RP2 appear
• Drag & drop the {project_name}.elf in the output folder on to the partition
• The device should now boot itself

How to debug

• Use a serial monitoring tool like Putty to read the COM port where the Pico is attached to
  • In Windows this can be found in Device Manager and under Ports (COM & LPT), usually COM4
• This example uses USB and not UART so the baud rate does not matter