First App¶

Walk through the full NSX lifecycle — scaffold a project, resolve modules, compile firmware, flash it to an evaluation board, and watch live SWO output. The whole process takes about two minutes.

See Install and Setup if anything is missing.

If you do not have a board yet, you can still run through configure and build; the J-Link checks are needed before flash and view.

The Five-Command Workflow¶

After a one-time nsx doctor environment check, every NSX project follows the same five-command lifecycle:

flowchart LR
    A["nsx doctor"]:::pre -.-> B["nsx create-app"]
    B --> C["nsx configure"]
    C --> D["nsx build"]
    D --> E["nsx flash"]
    E --> F["nsx view"]
    classDef pre fill:#0000,stroke-dasharray:4 4;

Pre-flight — Check Your Environment¶

nsx doctor

doctor scans for Python, CMake, Ninja, the Arm toolchain, and J-Link. Fix any flagged issues before flashing or viewing on hardware. If you are only configuring and building without a board, the J-Link failures can wait.

Step 1 — Scaffold a New App¶

nsx create-app hello_ap510 --board apollo510_evb
cd hello_ap510

--board defaults to apollo510_evb, so you can omit it for that target. Run nsx board list to see every built-in board.

NSX creates a new directory called hello_ap510/ containing:

Everything is ordinary CMake — no proprietary build wrappers.

From here on, the commands are run from the app root. In that case, NSX finds the nearest nsx.yml automatically, so --app-dir is optional.

Step 2 — Resolve Modules and Generate the Build¶

nsx configure

configure reads nsx.yml, fetches any required modules from the registry (SDK provider, BSP, HAL, peripheral drivers), vendors them into modules/, and generates the CMake build tree under build/.

Step 3 — Build the Firmware¶

nsx build

CMake + Ninja compile and link the firmware. The output binary lands in build/ — typically a .bin and .axf file ready for flashing.

Step 4 — Flash the EVB (Optional)¶

nsx flash

Requires a SEGGER J-Link connected to your Apollo510 EVB. The command programs the binary over SWD and resets the target.

nsx flash --probe-serial <jlink-serial>

Step 5 — Stream SWO Output (Optional)¶

nsx view

Opens a live SWO viewer. The generated app prints a heartbeat once per second, so you should see:

nsx hello from generated app
nsx hello from generated app
nsx hello from generated app
...

Press Ctrl+C to stop the viewer.

What's in the Generated App¶

After nsx configure, the full directory looks like:

hello_ap510/
├── nsx.yml
├── CMakeLists.txt
├── src/
│   └── main.c
├── cmake/nsx/
├── boards/
├── modules/          ← vendored registry modules
└── build/            ← CMake build tree

Both modules/ and build/ are gitignored by default and regenerated automatically — your source tree stays clean.

Next Steps¶

• Examples — ten maintained apps covering FreeRTOS, BLE, CoreMark, ML inference, profiling, power measurement, audio, and USB
• App Layout — deep dive into the generated directory structure
• Modules — add or remove dependencies from your app manifest