STM32Cube for VS Code – What’s new in July 2025

[Maxime_MARCHETTO]

STM32Cube for VS Code deployment: a developer-centric approach

This July update marks the first incremental update since the pre-release was published in May. STM32Cube for VS Code will follow an agile development approach with frequent, small updates. This strategy minimizes update risks and enables ST to respond to developer feedback rapidly, ensuring continuous improvement. 

STM32Cube for VS Code is currently delivered as a pre-release. The pre-release version will soon be merged into the stable track. 

To install it, select: Install pre-release version

 

What’s new in the July 2025 update 

#1 Live data watch 

This feature is one of the most appreciated in STM32CubeIDE. The latest update of STM32Cube for VS Code provides a first version of the live data watch capability, which allows users to: 

• monitor any type of data object in real-time. 

• keep monitored variables across debug sessions. 
  

 

The live expression feature is set up inside launch.json by adding the following lines:  

#2 Introduction of ST Arm Clang, a Clang/LLVM based toolchain

As part of our commitment to helping STM32 developers achieve better code density and execution speed, we provide ST Arm Clang, a Clang/LLVM-based toolchain available in two variants: 

• the hybrid ST Arm Clang toolchain, an LLVM-based toolchain that uses the GNU Linker and Newlib. This variant is ideal for developers looking to experiment with ST Arm Clang while maintaining compatibility with existing GCC projects. 

• the full ST Arm Clang toolchain, a fully LLVM-based toolchain that uses the LLVM Linker and Picolibc. Although it may require linker script porting and uses a smaller C standard library, this option offers the best code density and execution speed. 

This is an initial ST Arm Clang delivery. We will provide additional updates and documentation soon. 

 

#3 Build analyzer improvements 

This release offers two main updates to the build analyzer feature. 

• Clickable memory elements 
  Memory elements in the tree view now hyperlink directly to the corresponding source file and line number for faster navigation. 
• Clang/LLVM binary support  
  You can now visualize binaries produced by the Clang/LLVM toolchains. 

 

What’s next  

The next development sprint is already planned.  

Your feedback is essential in shaping the future of STM32Cube for VS Code as it allows us to tailor it precisely to your requirements. We look forward to reading your ideas and questions on our community forum! 

 

Additional resource

• New STM32Cube for Visual Studio Code extenstion released (3.5.1)
  

First published Jul 07, 2025

[capting]

(Machine Translation Apology）

I've noticed that ST has recently developed a large number of VS Code extensions and uploaded them to the VS Code Marketplace. This is excellent and demonstrates ST's strong commitment to building a free development toolchain centered around VS Code.

 

However, this abundance of extensions has also created some confusion for me. I'm unsure which extensions are actually necessary for my needs. I hope your company can consolidate these extensions once they mature and stabilize.

 

Furthermore, I hope ST can integrate the ST ARM Clang toolchain into STM32CubeCLT. This integration could potentially enhance the development experience for ST products within CLion.

I also can't help but imagine the future – perhaps your company could integrate VS Code and STM32CubeMX to create a comprehensive development environment similar to TI's Code Composer Studio (CCS).

[BMcDo.3]

@capting

Re: "I hope ST can integrate the ST ARM Clang toolchain into STM32CubeCLT."

See STM32Cube further facilitates code development wit... - STMicroelectronics Community

[DBERG.1]

A migration guide from CubeIDE to VS Code would be very helpful.

Seems like CubeIDE is a few years behind as far as IDE trends and technologies has advanced, but some projects still rely on CubeIDE project files.

[mattias norlander]

@capting ,

Thanks for your feedback!

Multiple extensions: Yes, today we offer multiple extensions on the marketplace. We recommend most of our users to just select our extension pack which will automatically install all other extensions.

But, we also don't want to force developers to install extensions they don't need. We will sooner or later provide an extra installation guide showing users which extensions users need in case they only want to debug only work with CMake or only makefiles etc...

 

ST Arm Clang: CubeCLT will be deprecated sooner or later. JetBrains are informed. They will instad rely on the new cube bundle manager to source build tools like ST Arm Clang. This new approach is superior to CubeCLT.

 

CubeMX inside VS Code: Sorry, we neither can nor want to move in this "integrated" direction. The fact is that we will soon remove CubeMX from CubeIDE too. MX and IDE will only be delivered as stand-alone tools. There are several reasons behind this move and they are described and discussed in this forum thread: https://community.st.com/t5/stm32cubeide-mcus/stm32cubeide-2-0-release-early-heads-up/td-p/810967

[mattias norlander]

@DBERG.1 , work on-going on this topic. We are building a CubeIDE .cproject/.project conversion tool into CMake to faciliate the move into Cube for VS Code.

[XR.1]

Months ago I installed the plugin into VS Code (Linux Mint), but it got broken dependencies (didn't find the STM32 files), so that was my first and last time I used it, and then I needed to go back to the buggy STM32CubeIDE. Any better now?

[fase_shift]

Are there any plans to support working with Zephyr natively (with all tools, incl. west)?

I mean, probably there is a way to use CMake, but it doesn't looks obvious.