FBT is the entry point for firmware-related commands and utilities.
It is invoked by ./fbt
in the firmware project root directory. Internally, it is a wrapper around scons build system.
If you don't need all features of fbt
— like building the whole firmware — and only want to build and debug a single app, you can use ufbt.
To use fbt
, you only need git
installed in your system.
fbt
by default downloads and unpacks a pre-built toolchain, and then modifies environment variables for itself to use it. It does not contaminate your global system's path with the toolchain.
However, if you wish to use tools supplied with the toolchain outside
fbt
, you can open an fbt shell, with properly configured environment.
- On Windows, simply run
scripts/toolchain/fbtenv.cmd
.- On Linux & MacOS, run
source scripts/toolchain/fbtenv.sh
in a new shell.- You can also type
. `./fbt -s env`
in your shell. (Keep the "." at the beginning.)
If your system is not supported by pre-built toolchain variants or you want to use custom versions of dependencies, you can set FBT_NOENV=1
. fbt
will skip toolchain & environment configuration and will expect all tools to be available on your system's PATH
. (this option is not available on Windows)
If FBT_TOOLCHAIN_PATH
variable is set, fbt
will use that directory to unpack toolchain into. By default, it downloads toolchain into toolchain
subdirectory repo's root.
If you want to enable extra debug output for fbt
and toolchain management scripts, you can set FBT_VERBOSE=1
.
fbt
always performs git submodule update --init
on start, unless you set FBT_NO_SYNC=1
in the environment:
- On Windows, it's
set "FBT_NO_SYNC=1"
in the shell you're runningfbt
from - On *nix, it's
$ FBT_NO_SYNC=1 ./fbt ...
There are more variables controlling basic
fbt
behavior. Seefbt
&fbtenv
scripts' sources for details.
To build with FBT, call it and specify configuration options & targets to build. For example:
./fbt COMPACT=1 DEBUG=0 VERBOSE=1 updater_package copro_dist
To run cleanup (think of make clean
) for specified targets, add the -c
option.
fbt
builds updater & firmware in separate subdirectories in build
, and their names depend on optimization settings (COMPACT
& DEBUG
options). However, for ease of integration with IDEs, the latest built variant's directory is always linked as built/latest
. Additionally, compile_commands.json
is generated in that folder (it is used for code completion support in IDEs).
build/latest
symlink & compilation database are only updated upon firmware build targets — that is, when you're re-building the firmware itself. Running other tasks, like firmware flashing or building update bundles for a different debug/release configuration or hardware target, does not update built/latest
dir to point to that configuration.
fbt
includes basic development environment configuration for VS Code. Run ./fbt vscode_dist
to deploy it. That will copy the initial environment configuration to the .vscode
folder. After that, you can use that configuration by starting VS Code and choosing the firmware root folder in the "File > Open Folder" menu.
To use language servers other than the default VS Code C/C++ language server, use ./fbt vscode_dist LANG_SERVER=<language-server>
instead. Currently fbt
supports the default language server (cpptools
) and clangd
.
- On the first start, you'll be prompted to install recommended plugins. We highly recommend installing them for the best development experience. You can find a list of them in
.vscode/extensions.json
. - Basic build tasks are invoked in the Ctrl+Shift+B menu.
- Debugging requires a supported probe. That includes:
- Wi-Fi Devboard with stock firmware (blackmagic).
- ST-Link and compatible devices.
- J-Link for flashing and debugging (in VSCode only). Note that J-Link tools are not included with our toolchain and you have to download them yourself and put them on your system's PATH.
- Without a supported probe, you can install firmware on Flipper using the USB installation method.
fbt
keeps track of internal dependencies, so you only need to build the highest-level target you need, and fbt
will make sure everything they depend on is up-to-date.
fw_dist
— build & publish firmware to thedist
folder. This is a default target when no others are specified.fap_dist
— build external plugins & publish to thedist
folder.updater_package
,updater_minpackage
— build a self-update package. The minimal version only includes the firmware's DFU file; the full version also includes a radio stack & resources for the SD card.copro_dist
— bundle Core2 FUS+stack binaries for qFlipper.flash
— flash the attached device over SWD interface with supported probes. Probe is detected automatically; you can override it withSWD_TRANSPORT=...
variable. If multiple probes are attached, you can specify the serial number of the probe to use withSWD_TRANSPORT_SERIAL=...
.flash_usb
,flash_usb_full
— build, upload and install the update package to the device over USB. See details onupdater_package
andupdater_minpackage
.debug
— build and flash firmware, then attach with gdb with firmware's .elf loaded.debug_other
,debug_other_blackmagic
— attach GDB without loading any.elf
. It will allow you to manually add external.elf
files withadd-symbol-file
in GDB.updater_debug
— attach GDB with the updater's.elf
loaded.devboard_flash
— Update WiFi dev board. SupportsARGS="..."
to pass extra arguments to the update script, e.g.ARGS="-c dev"
.blackmagic
— debug firmware with Blackmagic probe (WiFi dev board).openocd
— just start OpenOCD. You can pass extra arguments withARGS="..."
.get_blackmagic
— output the blackmagic address in the GDB remote format. Useful for IDE integration.get_stlink
— output serial numbers for attached STLink probes. Used for specifying an adapter withSWD_TRANSPORT_SERIAL=...
.lint
,format
— run clang-format on the C source code to check and reformat it according to the.clang-format
specs. SupportsARGS="..."
to pass extra arguments to clang-format.lint_py
,format_py
— run black on the Python source code, build system files & app manifests. SupportsARGS="..."
to pass extra arguments to black.lint_img
,format_img
— check the image assets for errors and format them. Enforces color depth and strips metadata.lint_all
,format_all
— run all linters and formatters.firmware_pvs
— generate a PVS Studio report for the firmware. Requires PVS Studio to be available on your system'sPATH
.doxygen
— generate Doxygen documentation for the firmware.doxy
target also opens web browser to view the generated documentation.cli
— start a Flipper CLI session over USB.
faps
— build all external & plugin apps as.faps
.fbt
also defines per-app targets. For example, for an app withappid=snake_game
target names are:fap_snake_game
, etc. — build single app as.fap
by its app ID.- Check out --extra-ext-apps for force adding extra apps to external build.
fap_snake_game_list
, etc — generate source + assembler listing for app's.fap
.
flash
,firmware_flash
— flash the current version to the attached device over SWD.jflash
— flash the current version to the attached device with JFlash using a J-Link probe. The JFlash executable must be on your$PATH
.firmware_all
,updater_all
— build a basic set of binaries.firmware_list
,updater_list
— generate source + assembler listing.firmware_cdb
,updater_cdb
— generate acompilation_database.json
file for external tools and IDEs. It can be created without actually building the firmware.
resources
— build resources and their manifest filesdolphin_ext
— process dolphin animations for the SD card
icons
— generate.c+.h
for icons from PNG assetsproto
— generate.pb.c+.pb.h
for.proto
sourcesproto_ver
— generate.h
with a protobuf versiondolphin_internal
,dolphin_blocking
— generate.c+.h
for corresponding dolphin assets
--options optionfile.py
(default valuefbt_options.py
) — load a file with multiple configuration values--extra-int-apps=app1,app2,appN
— force listed apps to be built as internal with thefirmware
target--extra-ext-apps=app1,app2,appN
— force listed apps to be built as external with thefirmware_extapps
target--extra-define=A --extra-define=B=C
— extra global defines that will be passed to the C/C++ compiler, can be specified multiple times--proxy-env=VAR1,VAR2
— additional environment variables to expose to subprocesses spawned byfbt
. By default,fbt
sanitizes the execution environment and doesn't forward all inherited environment variables. You can find the list of variables that are always forwarded in theenviron.scons
file.
Default configuration variables are set in the configuration file: fbt_options.py
.
Values set in the command line have higher precedence over the configuration file.
You can also create a file called fbt_options_local.py
that will be evaluated when loading default options file, enabling persistent overriding of default options without modifying default configuration.
You can find out available options with ./fbt -h
.
You can create customized firmware builds by modifying the list of apps to be included in the build. App presets are configured with the FIRMWARE_APPS
option, which is a map(configuration_name:str → application_list:tuple(str))
. To specify an app set to use in the build, set FIRMWARE_APP_SET
to its name.
For example, to build a firmware image with unit tests, run ./fbt FIRMWARE_APP_SET=unit_tests
.
Check out fbt_options.py
for details.