The DeviceScript command line (CLI) allows to compile and debug programs from your favorite IDE. The CLI also also usable within containers (Docker, GitHub Codespaces, CodeSandbox, ...).

• install Node.js 18+
• install the CLI

npm install @devicescript/cli@latest --save-dev

The command tool is named devicescript or devsc for short. The full list of options for each command is available through the CLI by running devsc help <command>.

The init commands creates or updates the necessary files to get syntax completion and checking in DeviceScript project (typically from Visual Studio Code).

devsc init myproject

The command will create the files under myproject. A device script project will look as follows:

.devicescript     reserved folder for devicescript generated
    /lib          supporting runtime types and libraries, this folder is overerwritten on every build
    /bin          compilation file output
.gitignore        if you are using git, make sure to ignore .devicescript
main.ts           usual name for your entry point application
package.json      projet configuration
tsconfig.json     configure the TypeScript compiler to compile DeviceScript syntax
devsconfig.json   configure the DeviceScript compiler with additional flags. Also used by VSCode extension to activate.
...               A few additional files supporting the coding experience in VS Code

::: note

Make sure to keep the devsconfig.json file even if it is empty. It is used as a marker to activate the Visual Studio Code extension.

By default, init will not override existing tsconfig.json. Using this flag, you can override this setting and force refreshing that file.

devsc init --force

Run npm or yarn install after dropping the files.

The build command compiles a DeviceScript file (default is main.ts), using the resolution rules in tsconfig.json. It is the default command.

devsc build main.ts

or, for short,

devsc build

The command line will automatically compile markdown files under the services folder (./services/*.md) into TypeScript client definition in .devicescript/lib/services.d.ts.

The --stats flag enables printing additional debugging information about code size, and other useful metrics.

devsc build --stats

The devtools command launches the developer tool server, without trying to build a project.

devsc devtools

To automatically rebuild your program based on file changes, add the file name.

devsc devtools main.ts

When the build is run in watch mode, it also opens a developer tool web server that allows to execute the compiled program in a simulator or physical devices. Follow the console application instructions to open the web page.

stateDiagram-v2
    direction LR
    sources
    cli: CLI\n(compiler + web server)
    browser: Dev Tools\n(browser)
    sim: Simulator
    dev: Hardware Device
    cli --> sources: watch files
    cli --> browser: bytecode
    browser --> sim
    browser --> dev: WebSerial, WebUsb, ...

To access the developer tools outside localhost, add --internet

devsc devtools --internet

Command to flash the DeviceScript firmware onto a physical device. There are dedicated documentation pages to support various MCU architectures.

• ESP32
• RP2040