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A practical guide for using a prebuilt Docker container to build STM32 firmware on Windows with VSCode and Docker.

🐳 1. Install Docker on Windows

📦 2. Load the Prebuilt STM32 Image

Download and import the prebuilt image (provided as .tar):

docker load -i ty_stm32_v0.0.1.tar

🚀 3. Run the STM32 Build Container

docker run -it --rm ty_stm32 /bin/bash

If you’d like to keep the container running in background (for attaching from VSCode), remove --rm:

docker run -it --name ty_stm32 ty_stm32 /bin/bash

🧠 4. Set Up VSCode for Docker-Based Development

🧹 Install Extensions

  • Remote Development (ms-vscode-remote.vscode-remote-extensionpack)
  • Tasks Explorer (spmeesseman.vscode-taskexplorer)

🔗 Attach VSCode to Running Container

  • From VSCode Command Palette (Ctrl + Shift + P): 
    Dev Containers: Attach to Running Container...
  • Select your running container (e.g., ty_stm32_container)

🔐 5. Configure SSH for GitHub Access (inside container)

Inside the container terminal:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Copy the printed key and add it to your GitHub account:
GitHub → Settings → SSH and GPG Keys

(Optional: Add SSH config for convenience)

vim ~/.ssh/config

Example content:

Host github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Now you can clone private repositories:

git clone git@github.com:<your-username>/<your-repo>.git

⚙️ 6. Build Firmware from VSCode

  • Open the firmware project directory
  • Use Tasks Explorer (Ctrl + Shift + P → Tasks: Run Task)
  • Run the appropriate build task (e.g., Build Firmware)

📥 7. Retrieve Build Artifacts (e.g., .uf2)

Use the provided pull_uf2.bat script to copy build results from the container to your Windows host:

@echo off
set CONTAINER=ty_stm32_keyboard
set REMOTE_PATH=/root/TY/keyboard-h7s/firmware/baram-45k-h7s-fw/build
set LOCAL_PATH=%~dp0output

mkdir %LOCAL_PATH%
docker cp %CONTAINER%:%REMOTE_PATH% %LOCAL_PATH%
start "" %LOCAL_PATH%\build
pause

Place this script next to your working folder and run after each build.

🔌 8. Flash and Debug Locally

Use STM32CubeProgrammer on Windows:

STM32_Programmer_CLI.exe ^
  -c port=SWD reset=HWrst freq=4000 ^
  -w .\baram-qmk-8k-boot.elf -v -g

Make sure the board is connected via ST-Link and in boot mode if needed.

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