Tutorial How to make your ESP8266 WiFi device work with an Arduino using the AT Command Set
And why would one want to remote control an ESP using an Arduino? Why not use the more powerful ESP itself?
indeed, if i were to use an Arduino with an ESP these day it would only be because i need the Arduino as Extended IO for the ESP. running the AT commands firmware is a massive waste of the ESPs capabilities
@Markus_Illenseer lack of I/O. Even then, I’d use the arduino ide, not at commands.
@Steve_Spence Err. What lack of I/O? The ESP8266 has more I/O than some of the older Arduino.
And you can easily use the Arduino IDE to programm the ESP! Most of the standard programms run out of the box - plus a complete TCP/IP-Stack at your hands.
@Markus_Illenseer since when. The esp8266 has one analog input. 11 useable I/O pins. Even the arduino uno has 6 analog pins, 19 total.
Hehe, got you. 
So, lack of analog I/O is why you are using the AT-variant?
@Markus_Illenseer uh, what? got me how? I don’t use AT commands. I use the ESP8266 until I run out of i/o, then I pair it with a arduino when I need more. I use the Arduino IDE for programming both. What are you talking about?
Yeah there’s really no reason to use an Arduino. If you need more ADC, use i2c like the ads1115.
+Steve Spense @Markus_Illenseer You both have perfectly good points. However, we want to use low power Arduino boards (yes, the ESP8266 sucks a lot of power - but we can shut it off!) and honestly, the reliability of software running on an ESP8266 is a little bit suspect in our experience. The Arduino (being single threaded without a bunch of WiFi interrupts going on) is a lot more controlled and stable! That being said, we have done a lot of software on the ESP8266 using the Arduino IDE and it is a very powerful chip!
@John_Shovic Thanks for your insights! Would you like to show some of your projects?