As our project grew, the Arduino IDE quickly became a bottleneck. Managing multiple files was clunky, testing was nonexistent, and dependency management was manual. Compilation times became slow, debugging was primitive, and switching between different boards and environments was tedious. We needed a scalable, structured development environment that supported unit testing, CI/CD integration, modular code organisation, and better collaboration.

PlatformIO solved these issues by providing:

• Multi-file support – No more massive .ino files; projects can be modular and maintainable.
• Unit testing – Supports software-only tests locally and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) tests when needed.
• GitHub Actions integration – Enables automated builds and testing on every commit.
• Better dependency management – Automatically handles libraries, ensuring consistency across different setups.
• Unified build system – The platformio.ini file acts as a single source of truth, defining configurations for a repeatable and scalable workflow.

• Faster compilation with caching – Only recompiles changed files, dramatically reducing build times.
• Built-in serial monitor & debugger – Offers real-time logging and GDB-based debugging, making firmware development significantly easier.

With pre-configured toolchains, automated testing, and structured project organization, PlatformIO transformed our workflow, allowing for faster iteration, easier debugging, and more robust firmware development. It’s a game-changer for embedded projects, bringing modern software engineering practices to microcontroller development while eliminating the inefficiencies of traditional Arduino workflows.