Launching Run or Debug of the System Project - Launching Run or Debug of the System Project - 2026.1 English - UG1702

After you build the System Project, you can launch run or debug it with the following steps.

1. Select the System Project from the Settings folder of the project to open the Launch Configuration. You can also click Open Settings next to Run or Debug in the Flow Navigator.
   Tip: The Open Settings command is a hidden until you place your cursor in the Flow Navigator next to either Run or Debug.

   

2. Edit an existing launch configuration, or create a new one to establish the requirements for the run or debug session. You can define separate launch configurations for the three types of targets supported for the System Project. The build targets include Hardware Emulation (hw_emu) and Hardware (hw). See Selecting the Build Target in the Data Center Acceleration using Vitis (UG1700).
   Figure 1. Launch Configurations
   
   

   The System Project Launch Configuration editor has options to configure the System Project for Run or Debug.

   The System Project hardware emulation launch configuration includes the following settings.

   • Name: Name of the launch configuration.
   • Host Executable: Name of the host application in the Application Component.
   • Cmd Line Args: Arguments to pass to the host application, including the binary container (.xclbin) if necessary.
   • Target: The build target for using launch configuration.
   • Working Directory: The host application runs from this directory.
   • XRT Config File: The location of the xrt.ini file for running the application. Refer to xrt.ini File for details on the available options.
   • Stop at main: Enable checkbox to add a breakpoint at the entry point to the main application for debugging.
   • Stop at program entry: Enable checkbox to add a breakpoint at the entry point to AI Engine program.

After configuring the launch configuration, you can select Run or Debug in the Launch Configuration editor. You can also select Run or Debug from the Flow Navigator. If multiple launch configurations are available for the build target, the Vitis IDE prompts you to select one.

For hardware emulation of embedded devices or platforms, you must start the QEMU environment prior to selecting Run or Debug. Select the Emulator command from the Flow Navigator. The QEMU environment takes a few minutes to launch. You should wait to launch Run or Debug until the QEMU is up and running.

When launching hardware emulation, you can specify options for the AI Engine simulator that runs the graph application. See Reusing AI Engine Simulator Options in AI Engine Tools and Flows User Guide (UG1076). You can specify the options in the Emulator Arguments field by specifying the following command.

-aie-sim-options ${FULL_PATH}/aiesim_options.txt