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Getting Started Guide

This guide walks you through setting up the nRF Connect SDK development environment, building and running the Blinky sample on the nRF54L5 Connect Kit.

The nRF Connect SDK is based on the Zephyr Project, which means everything required by Zephyr’s Getting Started Guide is also suitable for the nRF Connect SDK.

Select and Update OS

Install available updates for your operating system:

Select Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. Click Check for updates and install any that are available.

On macOS Mojave or later, select System Preferences... > Software Update. Click Update Now if necessary.

On other versions, see this Apple support topic.

This guide covers Ubuntu version 20.04 LTS and later.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Install dependencies

Next, you’ll install some host dependencies using your package manager.

The current minimum required version for the main dependencies are:

Tool Min. Version
CMake 3.20.5
Python 3.10
Devicetree compiler 1.4.6

In modern version of Windows (10 and later) it is recommended to install the Windows Terminal application from the Microsoft Store. Instructions are provided for a cmd.exe or PowerShell command prompts.

These instructions rely on Windows' official package manager, winget. If using winget isn’t an option, you can install dependencies from their respective websites and ensure the command line tools are on your PATH environment variable.

  1. In modern Windows versions, winget is already pre-installed by default. You can verify that this is the case by typing winget in a terminal window. If that fails, you can then install winget.

  2. Open a Command Prompt (cmd.exe) or PowerShell terminal window. To do so, press the Windows key Win , type cmd.exe or PowerShell and click on the result.

  3. Use winget to install the required dependencies:

    winget install Kitware.CMake Ninja-build.Ninja oss-winget.gperf python Git.Git oss-winget.dtc wget 7zip.7zip
    
  4. Close the terminal window.

Note

You may need to add the 7zip installation folder to your PATH.

  1. Install Homebrew:

    /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
    
  2. After the Homebrew installation script completes, follow the on-screen instructions to add the Homebrew installation to the path.

    (echo; echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"') >> ~/.zprofile
    
    source ~/.zprofile
    
    (echo; echo 'eval "$(/usr/local/bin/brew shellenv)"') >> ~/.zprofile
    
    source ~/.zprofile
    
  3. Use brew to install the required dependencies:

    brew install cmake ninja gperf python3 python-tk ccache qemu dtc libmagic wget openocd
    
  4. Add the Homebrew Python folder to the path, in order to be able to execute python and pip as well python3 and pip3.

    (echo; echo 'export PATH="'$(brew --prefix)'/opt/python/libexec/bin:$PATH"') >> ~/.zprofile
    
    source ~/.zprofile
    

Tip

To check the versions of these dependencies installed, run the following command:

brew list --versions
  1. If using an Ubuntu version older than 22.04, it is necessary to add extra repositories to meet the minimum required versions for the main dependencies listed above. In that case, download, inspect and execute the Kitware archive script to add the Kitware APT repository to your sources list. A detailed explanation of kitware-archive.sh can be found here kitware third-party apt repository:

    wget https://apt.kitware.com/kitware-archive.sh
    
    sudo bash kitware-archive.sh
    
  2. Use apt to install the required dependencies:

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    sudo apt install --no-install-recommends git cmake ninja-build gperf \
    ccache dfu-util device-tree-compiler wget \
    python3-dev python3-pip python3-setuptools python3-tk python3-wheel xz-utils file \
    make gcc gcc-multilib g++-multilib libsdl2-dev libmagic1
    

    Note

    Due to the unavailability of gcc-multilib and g++-multilib on AArch64 (ARM64) systems, you may need to remove them from the list of packages to install.

  3. Verify the versions of the main dependencies installed on your system by entering:

    cmake --version
    
    python3 --version
    
    dtc --version
    

Get the code and install Python dependencies

To help you quickly build and run the samples on the nRF54L15 Connect Kit, the primary nrf54l15-connectkit repository contains the nRF Connect SDK manifest repositories, additional hardware drivers and tested samples, etc.

In the following instructions the name NCS-Project is used for the workspace, however in practice its name and location can be freely chosen. You’ll also install additional Python dependencies in a Python virtual environment.

  1. Open a cmd.exe or PowerShell terminal window as a regular user

  2. Create a new virtual environment:

    cd %HOMEPATH%
    
    python -m venv NCS-Project\.venv
    
    cd $Env:HOMEPATH
    
    python -m venv NCS-Project\.venv
    
  3. Activate the virtual environment:

    NCS-Project\.venv\Scripts\activate.bat
    
    NCS-Project\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
    

    Once activated your shell will be prefixed with (.venv). The virtual environment can be deactivated at any time by running deactivate.

    Note

    Remember to activate the virtual environment every time you start working.

  4. Install west:

    pip install west
    
  5. Get the latest source code:

    west init -m https://github.com/makerdiary/nrf54l15-connectkit --mr main NCS-Project
    

    Tip

    You can initialize west with the revision of the project that you want to check out. For example, to check out the v1.0.0 release, use the following command instead:

    west init -m https://github.com/makerdiary/nrf54l15-connectkit --mr v1.0.0 NCS-Project
    
  6. Enter the following commands to clone the project repositories:

    cd NCS-Project
    
    west update
    

    After all the repositories updated, your workspace folder now looks similar to this:

    NCS-Project
    |___ .venv
    |___ .west
    |___ bootloader
    |___ modules
    |___ nrf
    |___ nrf54l15-connectkit
    |___ nrfxlib
    |___ test
    |___ tools
    |___ zephyr
    |___ ...
    
  7. Export a Zephyr CMake package. This allows CMake to automatically load boilerplate code required for building Zephyr applications.

    west zephyr-export
    
  8. The Zephyr west extension command west packages can be used to install Python dependencies.

    west packages pip --install
    
  1. Create a new virtual environment:

    python3 -m venv ~/NCS-Project/.venv
    
  2. Activate the virtual environment:

    source ~/NCS-Project/.venv/bin/activate
    

    Once activated your shell will be prefixed with (.venv). The virtual environment can be deactivated at any time by running deactivate.

    Note

    Remember to activate the virtual environment every time you start working.

  3. Install west:

    pip install west
    
  4. Get the latest source code:

    west init -m https://github.com/makerdiary/nrf54l15-connectkit --mr main NCS-Project
    

    Tip

    You can initialize west with the revision of the project that you want to check out. For example, to check out the v1.0.0 release, use the following command instead:

    west init -m https://github.com/makerdiary/nrf54l15-connectkit --mr v1.0.0 NCS-Project
    
  5. Enter the following commands to clone the project repositories:

    cd NCS-Project
    
    west update
    

    After all the repositories updated, your workspace folder now looks similar to this:

    NCS-Project
    |___ .venv
    |___ .west
    |___ bootloader
    |___ modules
    |___ nrf
    |___ nrf54l15-connectkit
    |___ nrfxlib
    |___ test
    |___ tools
    |___ zephyr
    |___ ...
    
  6. Export a Zephyr CMake package. This allows CMake to automatically load boilerplate code required for building Zephyr applications.

    west zephyr-export
    
  7. The Zephyr west extension command west packages can be used to install Python dependencies.

    west packages pip --install
    
  1. Use apt to install Python venv package:

    sudo apt install python3-venv
    
  2. Create a new virtual environment:

    python3 -m venv ~/NCS-Project/.venv
    
  3. Activate the virtual environment:

    source ~/NCS-Project/.venv/bin/activate
    

    Once activated your shell will be prefixed with (.venv). The virtual environment can be deactivated at any time by running deactivate.

    Note

    Remember to activate the virtual environment every time you start working.

  4. Install west:

    pip install west
    
  5. Get the latest source code:

    west init -m https://github.com/makerdiary/nrf54l15-connectkit --mr main NCS-Project
    

    Tip

    You can initialize west with the revision of the project that you want to check out. For example, to check out the v1.0.0 release, use the following command instead:

    west init -m https://github.com/makerdiary/nrf54l15-connectkit --mr v1.0.0 NCS-Project
    
  6. Enter the following commands to clone the project repositories:

    cd NCS-Project
    
    west update
    

    After all the repositories updated, your workspace folder now looks similar to this:

    NCS-Project
    |___ .venv
    |___ .west
    |___ bootloader
    |___ modules
    |___ nrf
    |___ nrf54l15-connectkit
    |___ nrfxlib
    |___ test
    |___ tools
    |___ zephyr
    |___ ...
    
  7. Export a Zephyr CMake package. This allows CMake to automatically load boilerplate code required for building Zephyr applications.

    west zephyr-export
    
  8. The Zephyr west extension command west packages can be used to install Python dependencies.

    west packages pip --install
    

    Note

    On Linux, permission to access USB devices from user space must be explicitly granted via udev rules. See udev rules on Linux for detailed instructions.

Install the Zephyr SDK

The Zephyr Software Development Kit (SDK) contains toolchains for each of Zephyr’s supported architectures, which include a compiler, assembler, linker and other programs required to build Zephyr applications.

For Linux, it also contains additional host tools, such as custom QEMU and OpenOCD builds that are used to emulate, flash and debug Zephyr applications.

Install the Zephyr SDK using the west sdk install.

cd %HOMEPATH%\NCS-Project\zephyr
west sdk install -t arm-zephyr-eabi
cd $Env:HOMEPATH\NCS-Project\zephyr
west sdk install -t arm-zephyr-eabi

Install the Zephyr SDK using the west sdk install.

cd ~/NCS-Project/zephyr
west sdk install -t arm-zephyr-eabi

Install the Zephyr SDK using the west sdk install.

cd ~/NCS-Project/zephyr
west sdk install -t arm-zephyr-eabi

Tip

Using the command options, you can specify the SDK installation destination and which architecture of toolchains to install. See west sdk install --help for details.

Build the Blinky sample

Now, you can build the Blinky sample with west build, specifying the board (following the -b option) as nrf54l15_connectkit/nrf54l15/cpuapp.

cd %HOMEPATH%\NCS-Project\nrf54l15-connectkit
west build -p always -b nrf54l15_connectkit/nrf54l15/cpuapp samples\blinky
cd $Env:HOMEPATH\NCS-Project\nrf54l15-connectkit
west build -p always -b nrf54l15_connectkit/nrf54l15/cpuapp samples\blinky
cd ~/NCS-Project/nrf54l15-connectkit
west build -p always -b nrf54l15_connectkit/nrf54l15/cpuapp samples/blinky
cd ~/NCS-Project/nrf54l15-connectkit
west build -p always -b nrf54l15_connectkit/nrf54l15/cpuapp samples/blinky

Tip

The -p always option forces a pristine build, and is recommended for new users. Users may also use the -p auto option, which will use heuristics to determine if a pristine build is required, such as when building another sample.

Flash and run the sample

Connect the nRF54L15 Connect Kit to the computer with a USB-C cable:

Then flash the sample using west flash:

west flash

After flashing the firmware to your board, the Green LED starts to blink.

Open up a serial terminal, specifying the primary COM port that your computer uses to communicate with the nRF54L15:

  1. Start PuTTY.
  2. Configure the correct serial port and click Open:

Open up a terminal and run:

screen <serial-port-name> 115200

Open up a terminal and run:

screen <serial-port-name> 115200

Observe the output of the terminal. You should see the output, similar to what is shown in the following:

Terminal
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*** Booting nRF Connect SDK v3.1.0-rc1-8505887182fe ***
*** Using Zephyr OS v4.1.99-797a60e8542a ***
LED state: OFF
LED state: ON
LED state: OFF
LED state: ON
LED state: OFF
...

Next steps

Explore more applications or samples running on the nRF54L15 Connect Kit:

  • Applications


    Show how to implement typical user scenarios and can be served as a starting point for developing your product.

    Learn more

  • Samples


    Show how to implement typical use cases with Nordic Semiconductor libraries and drivers.

    Learn more

  • nRF Connect SDK Documentation


    Official latest documentation for the nRF Connect SDK maintained by Nordic Semiconductor.

    Learn more

  • Zephyr Project Documentation


    Learn everything about the Zephyr Project, including architecture, features and application development, etc.

    Learn more