Arduino IDE Now Supports Command Line Software Creation
Despite all its quirky attributes, the Arduino development software known as the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment) has never had a command line compilation tool. Now, with the release of Arduino IDE 1.6.6, it does.
The Arduino IDE has long been the programming environment for Arduino projects. Here you can create programs on your computer and upload them to Arduino with one click. The command line tool comes in the form of the Arduino Builder , which allows you to compile your code with much more flexibility than before. You can also run Arduino Builder as a standalone program, so advanced users should be able to pull all sorts of fun stuff out of the IDE. The Arduino Builder GitHub page covers many different uses, including everything you need to know to compile sketches, add repositories, run different modes, and more. This should make both compiling and fixing programs easier.
In addition, the update adds support for a pluggable USB core and serial plotter, as well as several other bug fixes and minor improvements.
Arduino IDE | via Arduino blog