pip install esptool

More info.

Get a custom build from here

The driver can be downloaded from this link

Once the driver is properly installed, you can connect the board to a USB port on mac. Then find out the serial port name by running cmd ls -l /dev/tty.*

The connected port showed up as /dev/tty.wchusbserial1420

Use esptool.py to flash the binary onto the board.

# Command is written in this format
esptool.py --port <USB SERIAL PORT NAME> write_flash -fm dio -fs 32m 0x00000 <image_name>.bin

# For example
esptool.py --port /dev/tty.wchusbserial1420 write_flash -fm dio -fs 32m 0x00000 nodemcu-master-7-modules-2016-06-03-01-44-33-float.bin

screen /dev/tty.wchusbserial1420 9600

You should see the NodeMcu's lua prompt upon successful connection. Adafruit has a good tutorial for setting up the connection with local wifi.

To scan the local wifi networks:

-- print ap list
function listap(t)
      for k,v in pairs(t) do
        print(k.." : "..v)
      end
end
wifi.sta.getap(listap)

To establish connection:

wifi.sta.config("accesspointname","yourpassword")
wifi.sta.connect()
tmr.delay(1000000)   -- wait 1,000,000 us = 1 second
print(wifi.sta.status())
print(wifi.sta.getip())

exit screen by typing ctrl + a then ctrl + /

ESPlorer is the first IDE listed on NodeMcu's official document. Once you downloaded the binary, you can start the IDE by first cd into the ESPlorer folder, then run java -jar "ESPlorer.jar"

After playing around with Lua commands for 30min or so, I realized that before I can implement real IoT applications, I have to getting through a steep learning curve.