6. Quick Start for Renesas RA

6.1. Supported Environments

Operating System

Windows: Windows 10 / Windows 11

Linux: Ubuntu 22.04 / Ubuntu 24.04

macOS: macOS 14 Sonoma (Apple silicon)

VS Code version

1.96.0 (minimum)

VS Code can be downloaded and installed from this page https://code.visualstudio.com/.

6.2. Installation

Windows

To utilise the Renesas VS Code extensions on Windows, it’s necessary to install “CMake” and “Ninja Build” for project build operations.

Manual Steps

You can install “CMake” and “Ninja Build” by downloading their latest installers.

Step 1: Install the latest “CMake” for Windows.

Download the latest version of CMake for Windows.

https://cmake.org/download/
Install CMake for Windows.

Important

You must add the CMake folders to the “Path” environment variable. The Windows Installer of CMake has an option to modify the system’s environment variables and add the CMake folders to the “Path” variable. Please select this option during installation. If you are not using the installer or this option is not selected during installation, please use the following notes to manually add CMake’s bin folder to the Path variable.

Step 2: Install the latest “Ninja Build” for Windows.

Download the latest version of Ninja for Windows.

https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja/releases/
Extract the downloaded zip file (ninja-win.zip) and place the ninja.exe into a folder.

(e.g.: C:\Tools\ninja-build\ninja.exe).

Step 3: Configure the “Path” environment variable.

Open the System Environment Variables configuration, and add the following variables:
1. Add the path of CMake’s bin folder if it is not defined during the CMake installation.
  
  (e.g. C:\Program Files\CMake\bin).
2. Add the path of the ninja.exe folder. (e.g. C:\Tools\ninja-build).
Guide for managing System Environment Variables
1. Use Windows Search to find and open “Edit the system environment variables”
2. In the “Advanced” tab, click on the “Environment Variables…” button to open the “Environment Variables” dialog.
3. Select to edit the “Path”.
4. Add CMake’s bin folder to the “Path” environment variable, then perform the following steps:
5. Add the path of CMake’s bin folder if it is not defined during the CMake installation. (e.g. C:\Program Files\CMake\bin).
6. Add the path of the ninja.exe folder. (e.g. C:\Tools\ninja-build).

Using “winget”

Alternatively, Windows Prerequisites can be installed with Windows Package Manager Command Line Tool winget ^(*). Please run the following commands in Windows Command Prompt:

winget install Kitware.CMake
winget install Ninja-build.Ninja

^(*) The winget is a command line tool enables users to discover, install, upgrade, remove and configure applications on Windows 10 and Windows 11 computers. This tool is the client interface to the Windows Package Manager service. It is a straightforward process if you want to use winget package manager for CMake and Ninja Build installation. For more information about winget, please visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/package-manager/winget/

Installing Python 3.10:

Install the 64-bit version of the Python 3.10 into your system.

https://www.python.org/downloads/
Add the path of the folder the Python 3.10 into the “Path” environment variable.
Guide to add Python 3.10 folder into the “Path” environment variable
1. Use Window search to find and open “Edit the system environment variables”
2. In “Advanced” tab, click on “Environment Variables…” button to open “Environment Variables” dialog
3. Select to edit “Path”
4. Add the path of Python 3.10 folder
5. Click OK to close the dialog

Installing and Configuring RA Smart Configurator:

For RA projects, it is recommended to install and configure the RA Smart Configurator before starting the development. First, download and install the latest version of RA Smart Configurator:

https://github.com/renesas/fsp/releases
Then, open the [Command Palette] (use [View] => [Command Palette] menu, or use [CTRL+SHIFT+P] keyboard combination), then click to the [Renesas: Open Renesas Support Files Manager].
Navigate to the [RA] device family.
Click the [Install] button to install the device family support files.
After the support files installation, Renesas Support Files Manager will show the installed Smart Configurators. Click the [Import Files] on your RA Smart Configurator.
If you can not see installed Smart Configurators
1. Click the [Select RA SC] button.
2. VS Code will ask for the path of the Smart Configurator binary. Navigate to the installation folder and select the [rasc.exe]. Please make sure you select the correct family of the Smart Configurator, you will be unable to register the family of the Smart Configurator not matched to the operation. Register RA Smart Configurator in RA device family.
3. Renesas Debug extension will register the Smart Configurator for use and automatically import the necessary definition files.
This process will register the Smart Configurator for use, and import the necessary device files for debugging.

Installing Toolchains for RA Development:

Install one of the preferred toolchains for RA Project Build. It is recommended to use either “Arm GNU Toolchain” or “LLVM Embedded Toolchain for Arm”.

Installing Emulator Drivers

You may need to download and install additional USB drivers for establishing a proper connection with the emulators and devices.

Ubuntu 22.04

Installing the Dependent Packages:

Run the following commands to refresh the package lists, and install the dependent packages:
```
sudo apt update
sudo apt install cmake ninja-build libusb-1.0-0-dev python3.10-dev
```

Installing and Configuring RA Smart Configurator:

For RA projects, it is recommended to install and configure the RA Smart Configurator before starting the development. First, download and install the latest version of RA Smart Configurator:

https://github.com/renesas/fsp/releases
Then, open the [Command Palette] (use [View] => [Command Palette] menu, or use [CTRL+SHIFT+P] keyboard combination), then click to the [Renesas: Open Renesas Support Files Manager].
Navigate to the [RA] device family.
Click the [Install] button to install the device family support files.
After the support files installation, click the [Select RA SC] button.
VS Code will ask for the path of the RA Smart Configurator binary. Navigate to the installation folder and select the [rasc] binary.
Renesas Debug extension will register the RA Smart Configurator for use and automatically import the necessary definition files.

Installing Toolchains for RA Development:

Install one of the preferred toolchains for RA Project Build. It is recommended to use either “Arm GNU Toolchain” or “LLVM Embedded Toolchain for Arm”.

Installing Emulator Drivers

You may need to download and install additional USB drivers for establishing a proper connection with the emulators and devices.

Ubuntu 24.04

Installing the Dependent Packages:

Run the following commands to refresh the package lists, and install the dependent packages:
```
sudo apt update
sudo apt install cmake ninja-build libusb-1.0-0-dev
```

Installing Python 3.10:

Install Python 3.10 libraries for debugging in device families Dialog, RA, RL78, RX and RZ. Python 3.10 is not directly accessible at the default APT repository of Ubuntu 24.04, you can use the 3rd party repository (ppa:deadsnakes/ppa) to install Python 3.10 by following the instructions below:
```
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3.10-dev
```

Installing and Configuring RA Smart Configurator:

For RA projects, it is recommended to install and configure the RA Smart Configurator before starting the development. First, download and install the latest version of RA Smart Configurator:

https://github.com/renesas/fsp/releases
Then, open the [Command Palette] (use [View] => [Command Palette] menu, or use [CTRL+SHIFT+P] keyboard combination), then click to the [Renesas: Open Renesas Support Files Manager].
Navigate to the [RA] device family.
Click the [Install] button to install the device family support files.
After the support files installation, click the [Select RA SC] button.
VS Code will ask for the path of the RA Smart Configurator binary. Navigate to the installation folder and select the [rasc] binary.
Renesas Debug extension will register the RA Smart Configurator for use and automatically import the necessary definition files.

Installing Toolchains for RA Development:

Install one of the preferred toolchains for RA Project Build. It is recommended to use either “Arm GNU Toolchain” or “LLVM Embedded Toolchain for Arm”.

Installing Emulator Drivers

You may need to download and install additional USB drivers for establishing a proper connection with the emulators and devices.

macOS

Note

Installation steps for macOS are using Homebrew (brew), which is an open-source software package management system that simplifies the installation of software for macOS. For installation and more information about Homebrew, please refer to https://brew.sh/.

To utilise the build and debug with Renesas extensions on macOS, it’s necessary to install:

CMake
Ninja Build
XZ Archive Utilities
Python 3.10: Specific version of the Python is required for debugging Dialog, RA, RL78 and RX device families on macOS

You can install these dependencies by performing the following steps:

Install the required packages by using brew install cmake ninja xz python@3.10 command.
```
$ brew install cmake ninja xz python@3.10
```
Check CMake version: You can verify the current installed version of CMake by running cmake –version command as shown below:
```
$ cmake --version
```
Check Ninja Build version: You can also verify the current installed version of Ninja Build by running ninja –version command as shown below:
```
$ ninja --version
```

Installing and Configuring RA Smart Configurator:

For RA projects, it is recommended to install and configure the RA Smart Configurator before starting the development. First, download and install the latest version of RA Smart Configurator:

https://github.com/renesas/fsp/releases/
Then, open the [Command Palette] (use [View] => [Command Palette] menu, or use [CMD+SHIFT+P] keyboard combination), then click to the [Renesas: Open Renesas Support Files Manager].
Navigate to the [RA] device family.
Click the [Install] button to install the device family support files.
After the installation, click to the [Select RA SC]. It is now asking for the path of the RA Smart Configurator binary. Leave the file dialog open (we will drag&drop the binary to this window later), and open a separate [Finder] window.
Navigate to the [Renesas RA FSP] application under the [Applications] folder.
Right click to the [Renesas RA FSP X.Y.Z] application and click to the [Show Package Contents],
Navigate to the [Contents] => [MacOS] folder inside the package, then, drag&drop the [rasc] binary back to the file dialog window.
Click to the [Select] button.
Now, VS Code is starting to import the additional device files. At the end of the import, RA Smart Configurator will be registered for use.

Installing Toolchains for RA Development:

Install one of the preferred toolchains for RA Project Build. It is recommended to use either “Arm GNU Toolchain” or “LLVM Embedded Toolchain for Arm”.

Installing Emulator Drivers

You may need to download and install additional USB drivers for establishing a proper connection with the emulators and devices.

6.3. Creating a Project

For RA device family projects, it is recommended to use RA Smart Configurator to create a project for VS Code. Smart Configurator could be directly used from VS Code command palette for creating a project for RA device family. Please follow the following instructions to create and build a project for RA device family.

Open [Command Palette] and select [Renesas: Create RA Project with Smart Configurator] from the commands.
VSCode will show installed [RA Smart Configurator] list, select a [Smart Configurator] from the list.
Note

If an RA Smart Configurator is not detected automatically, the message “No RA Smart Configurator installation found!” will be displayed in VSCode:
- For Linux and Windows operating systems, please click to the “Browse RA SC”, then select the location of the RA Smart Configurator binary (“rasc.exe” for Windows; “rasc” for Linux), when a select file dialog window appears. Extension will automatically register the location of the RA Smart Configurator for the next use.
- For macOS operating systems, please follow the instructions in installation chapter here.
Select a [Folder] to create the project.
Enter [Project name] and click [Next].
Configure your board, device type and preferred toolchain from the toolchains list, then click [Next].
Choose “No RTOS” for the sample project and click [Next].
Choose one of the project templates then click [Finish] to complete the project creation steps.
Close [RA Smart Configurator] after generation of the project files completed.

6.4. Building the Project

For building a project, which has been created with RA Smart Configurator, please follow the steps below:

When the project is opened for the first time, CMake configure and the CMake Kit selection operations must be performed. In order to do these operations, open the [Command Palette] in VSCode and select [CMake: Configure] from the commands.
Then, a kit selection menu will be shown. Select “ARM GCC - Ninja” from the menu.

Note

Missing the selection of the CMake Kit or wrong selection can cause build problems. If you missed the CMake Kit selection or selected a wrong kit, you can re-select the CMake Kit by running “CMake: Select a kit” command from the VSCode Command Palette.
Now, go to and click “Terminal” => “Run Build Task” from the menu.
Build options will be shown, select the “Build Project” option.

After the build operation, by default, build output (<project name>.elf) can be found in “build/<Build Type>/CMakeFiles/<project name>.elf.dir/” folder.

TIP: For more information about RA Smart Configurator, click here to visit RA Smart Configurator page.

6.5. Debugging the Project

A debug session can be started by selecting the created configuration and clicking the [Start Debugging] button in the [Run and Debug] tab, or pressing [F5] from the keyboard.

When VS Code starts the debug session, common debug control flow functions like resume, suspend, step into, step over, step out, restart, terminate debug session can be performed via the debug flow control buttons. Also, the [Debug Console] view will contain useful messages during the debug session.

During the debug session, details about the local variables, device registers, call stack, watched variables, states of the peripherals can be accessed at the primary sidebar of VS Code in the [Run and Debug] tab.