Start simple with Thonny. Thonny typically edits files directly on the device, so you have no local copy.
To have a local copy, git integration, ... use VS Code with Pymakr Preview extension. The extension is not updated since late 2022, but works ok.
Usage is a bit obscure, after configured you basically need these 3 underlined buttons in the Explorer tree that are only shown when hovering over the line.
For syntax highlighting add the micropython-esp32-stubs to your typings folder as described here and
add this folder to py_ignore in your pymakr.conf file.
Neopixel and other functionality is already included in the standard MicroPython distribution, but some modules are LMS-ESP32 specific, so you should copy additional files into your typings folder:
| module | file |
|---|---|
| PUPRemote | pupremote.py |
| mpy_robot_tools servo | servo.py |
| mpy_robot_tools ... | ... |