Are there any pins that need to be wired in certain ways for the ESP8266 to work?
Pin 3 EN needs to be pulled to VCC for the module to boot as far as I know, other than that I think it's good.

https://components101.com/wireless/esp12e-pinout-datasheet#:~:text=ESP%2D12E%20is%20a%20miniature,connection%20for%20microcontroller%20or%20processor.&amp;text=It%20features%20ability%20to%20embed,function%20as%20a%20standalone%20application.