We provide the PCB design layout, at least the sizes are in there.

Error: JTAG scan chain interrogation failed: all ones

This indicates an issue between the ESP-Prog and the Xtensa core: disconnected cabling, wrong connections, speed too high, GPIOs reconfigured from JTAG to something else by the ESP32 app, etc.

The I2C peripheral, once started, can handle an I2C transmission very much by itself, so theoretically it being interrupted by WiFi or anything else should not lead to issues. Could you show us your code, ideally whittled down to the minimum program that still displays the issue?

The hard reset generally is done via a two-transistor network on the DTR/RTS pins of the USB-serial converter that pull down the EN line of the ESP32. Perhaps it can be insightful to scope out those signals while you're resetting the board? Possibly they are marginal, leading to issues with some boa...

What's your power supply (and importantly: can it deliver at least 500mA), what's your schematic?

That confirms that then: you're looking at the example in the master branch. The 4.3 example does not have that, which indicates this is probably added after v4.3. If you're good with only one certificate, you can indeed follow that example.

Looks like your issue is that you use the serial port both for your computer connection as well as the barcode reader indeed. The ESP32C3 has two serial ports, though, so you can move your barcode reader to the other one.

As far as I checked, the esp_http_client should accept that parameter... are you sure you're not using an example from a newer esp-idf against an older esp-idf version?

Yes, syncing requires a network connection.

Obviously. No way to charge anything if the pin is shorted to ground.