Create your first app

nsx create-app writes a standalone app directory and, unless you tell it not to, clones the starter modules that board needs into it. Nothing else on your machine changes.


        $
        nsx create-app hello_ap510 --board apollo510_evb
      
        
        Created app 'hello_ap510' at: /home/you/hello_ap510
      
        
        Next steps:
      
        
          1) cd /home/you/hello_ap510
      
        
          2) Run `nsx configure --app-dir .`
      
        
          3) Run `nsx build --app-dir .`, `nsx flash --app-dir .`, or `nsx view --app-dir .`
      
        
        Cloning into '/home/you/hello_ap510/modules/nsx-ambiq-sdk'...
      
        
        Cloning into '/home/you/hello_ap510/modules/nsx-pmu-armv8m'...

Captured on macOS 26 with an Apollo510 EVB target configuration. The app path is replaced by /home/you/hello_ap510, and Git advisory output is omitted for clarity. The CLI prints your own absolute path.

--board defaults to apollo510_evb, so you can leave it off for that target. Run nsx board list for the 17 packaged boards, or read the board matrix for each board’s SoC, tier, provider and declared toolchains.

What it wrote

hello_ap510/
├── .gitignore
├── CMakeLists.txt
├── README.md
├── boards/
│   └── apollo510_evb/
├── cmake/
│   ├── nsx/
│   └── presets/
├── modules/
├── nsx.yml
└── src/
    └── main.c

Path	What it is
`nsx.yml`	The app manifest: board and SoC target, toolchain, release channel, starter profile and the module list. This is the file you edit.
`CMakeLists.txt`	An ordinary top-level CMake file. It declares `cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.24)`, includes the packaged NSX support, and links your executable against `nsx::board_apollo510_evb` and `nsx::runtime_core`.
`src/main.c`	The generated application.
`cmake/nsx/`	Packaged CMake support: module wiring, the three toolchain files, the SEGGER flash and reset templates. Regenerated by NSX rather than hand-edited.
`cmake/presets/`	`CMakePresets.json`, so editors and IDEs can open the project directly.
`boards/apollo510_evb/`	The vendored board module: `board.yaml`, plus the board, BSP, SoC, memory and debug CMake fragments.
`modules/`	Where vendored modules land. After a default `create-app` it holds the starter set, here `nsx-ambiq-sdk` and `nsx-pmu-armv8m`. Gitignored.
`README.md`	A short readme for the generated app, including the build and flash sequence.

There is no nsx.lock and no build/ yet. Both appear when you run nsx configure.

The generated src/main.c is a one-second SWO heartbeat:

#include "nsx_core.h"

int main(void)
{
    nsx_core_config_t cfg = {
        .api = &nsx_core_V1_0_0,
    };
    (void)nsx_core_init(&cfg);

    nsx_itm_printf_enable();

    while (1) {
        nsx_printf("nsx hello from generated app\r\n");
        nsx_delay_us(1000000);
    }
}

Choosing a template

--template picks the scaffold flavor.

Template	What you get
`default`	The minimal app above: a SWO printf loop.
`npu-tflm`	TFLite Micro inference on the Ethos-U85 NPU. It seeds `nsx-helia-rt` and `nsx-npu`, turns on heliaRT’s Ethos-U dispatch, and ships a Vela model harness plus a `tools/tflite_to_header.py` converter. The generated README covers the offline Vela compilation step.

The NPU template targets boards whose SoC NSX registers as carrying an Ethos-U85 NPU, which today is atomiq110_fpga_turbo:

nsx create-app pd_npu --board atomiq110_fpga_turbo --template npu-tflm

Scaffolding without the starter modules

--no-bootstrap writes the app but skips the clones, which is what you want when you plan to pick modules yourself or when you have no network. The app then has no boards/ directory and an empty modules/, and nsx.yml records baseline: none. NSX tells you what to do next:

Created app 'my_app' at: /home/you/my_app
Starter modules were not bootstrapped (--no-bootstrap).
Next steps:
  1) cd /home/you/my_app
  2) Run `nsx module list --app-dir .`
  3) Add modules with `nsx module add <module> --app-dir .`

Browse what you can add in the module catalog.

The remaining options are --soc, which overrides the SoC that the board would otherwise imply, and --force, which allows writing into a directory that is not empty. Both are documented on the nsx create-app reference page.

Configure and build the app you just created.