I am trying to wire the VL53L1X-SATEL breakout board to a microcontroller (ESP32) yet the pinout is not clearly defined (even in the datasheet). Is VDD supposed to be the voltage input (between 2.8V and 5V) ?

[CLE.11]

If the VDD pin on the left (breakable) part of the breakout board actually is the input voltage, then there is a problem, for the voltage drops and it even causes a brownout.

[John E KVAM]

VDD is indeed the input to the sensor - and between 2.8 and 3.3 works. 5V is too high. But if the large chip on the back side of the satellite board is stuffed it's a level shifter and this the satellite board can handle a wide voltage swing.

Enclosed is the schematic for that satellite board.