Prepare the DevKit for debugging

Understand the one-time provisioning step

The Alif Secure Enclave boots processor images from a table of contents in magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM). Before the first debug session, install the configuration that points the high-performance Cortex-M55 core to the project debug stub.

You normally perform the provisioning step once. Repeat the step if another project replaces the table of contents.

Install the debug stub

Confirm that the board is connected through PRG USB and that SW4 is set to SEUART. Close any serial monitor that has the DevKit port open.

In Visual Studio Code:

1. Select Terminal.
2. Select Run Task.
3. Select Alif: Install M55_HP debug stubs (DevKit-E8, single core configuration).

Choose automatic COM port discovery with -d the first time. SETOOLS remembers the selected port for later runs.

The task performs the following operations:

1. Selects the DevKit-E8 part AE822FA0E5597LS0 with revision A0.
2. Copies the supplied device configuration and debug stub into the SETOOLS workspace.
3. Generates the application table of contents.
4. Writes the table and debug stub to MRAM.

If app-write-mram reports a different board revision and asks whether to continue, answer y. The part number determines whether the table can boot.

Switch the UART to the application

After the task completes, set SW4 to UART4. This routes the application console of the DevKit to the USB-to-UART bridge.

What you’ve accomplished and what’s next

You’ve installed the boot table and debug stub for the Cortex-M55 high-performance core, then routed the console to UART4.

Next, you’ll build the application, generate a face, and validate that both ExecuTorch methods ran on the Ethos-U85 NPU.