Using Directives - Using Directives - 2026.1 English - UG904

Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Implementation (UG904)

Document ID
UG904
Release Date
2026-06-23
Version
2026.1 English

Directives provide different modes of behavior for the opt_design command. Only one directive can be specified at a time. The directive option is incompatible with other options. The following directives are available:

Explore
Runs multiple passes of optimization.
ExploreArea
Runs multiple passes of optimization with emphasis on reducing combinational logic.
ExploreSequentialArea
Runs multiple passes of optimization with emphasis on reducing registers and related combinational logic.
RuntimeOptimized
Runs minimal passes of optimization, trading design performance for faster compile time.
ExploreWithRemap
Same as the Explore directive but includes the Remap optimization.
Default
Runs opt_design with default settings.
RQS
Instructs opt_design to select the directive specified by the report_qor_suggestion strategy suggestion. Requires an RQS file with a strategy suggestion to be read in prior to calling this directive.

The following table provides an overview of the optimization phase for the different directives.