Designing a class that implements arbitrary HTTPS requests in a secure way, without the need to manually add any certificates or fingerprints to the code.

A configuration manager for the ESP8266 is developed which provides a method to modify parameters from the browser that can be accessed from the application.

A WiFi manager for the ESP8266 is developed to connect to previously stored WiFi details. If a network can not be found a captive portal will be opened.

The ESP8266 IoT framework web server presents an API and React web interface from PROGMEM to configure WiFi details and other settings from the browser.

In this introduction I describe the reasons why I will develop a custom framework for the ESP8266, and what my requirements and needs are for the end product.