`dotbot fw` - firmware artifacts#

Build, fetch, and inventory firmware without touching hardware. Flashing lives elsewhere: one cabled board → dotbot device, the fleet over the air → dotbot swarm.

You get bare apps by default. Add --sandbox for the TrustZone non-secure (NS) flavor that runs inside the swarm sandbox host.

Setup#

dotbot fw builds from a local DotBot-firmware checkout via SEGGER Embedded Studio (SES), so it needs to find both. The checkout defaults to ./DotBot-firmware/; SES is auto-detected only on macOS (a standard /Applications/SEGGER/ install), so on Linux/Windows builds fail with “SEGGER Embedded Studio … wasn’t found” until you point at it.

Your firmware checkout is per-project, so set it in the project’s ./dotbot.toml (or export DOTBOT_FIRMWARE_REPO):

# ./dotbot.toml  (per project)
[fw]
firmware_repo = "/path/to/DotBot-firmware"

Your SES install rarely changes, so set it once per machine in ~/.dotbot/config.toml:

# ~/.dotbot/config.toml  (once per machine)
[fw]
segger_dir = "/path/to/SEGGER Embedded Studio X.YY"

First SES build needs the nRF + CMSIS_5 packages. A fresh SES install has no chip headers, so the build fails with fatal error: 'nrf.h' file not found. In SES, open Tools → Package Manager and install the nRF and CMSIS_5 packages (nrf.h ships in the nRF one). One-time per SES install.

Which command do I want?#

Goal	Command
Compile an app, leave it in the SES `Output/` tree (path echoed)	`dotbot fw build`
Compile and collect a flat `<app>-<board>.hex` into `./artifacts/`	`dotbot fw artifacts`
Download a published release into `./artifacts/<version>/`	`dotbot fw fetch -f <version>`
List targets you can build	`dotbot fw targets [--sandbox]`
List what’s cached locally	`dotbot fw list`
A Makefile knob the CLI doesn’t model	`dotbot fw make <args…>`

build vs artifacts: both compile via SES. build stops once SES is done (output stays buried in the per-target Output/ tree). artifacts goes one step further and copies a flat, predictably-named <app>-<board>.hex into ./artifacts/ - which is exactly where dotbot device flash <app> and the swarm tools look. Reach for artifacts when you intend to flash; build when you only want to know it compiles.

`build` / `artifacts` flags#

Both share the same build options:

Flag	Meaning
`-a, --app <app>`	Build one app (default: every app for the target)
`-t, --target <target>`	Board/target (default: `dotbot-v3`)
`--build-config Debug\|Release`	Build configuration (default: `Release`)
`--sandbox`	TrustZone NS flavor → `sandbox-<board>`, emits `.bin`
`--rebuild`	Force a full rebuild (default: incremental)
`-v, --verbose`	Full SES output

artifacts adds --out <dir> (default ./artifacts/) and --print-path (report where the artifact would land without building). See dotbot fw <cmd> --help for the full list.

Flag mismatch to remember: fw selects a board with --target/-t, but device flash uses --board/-b.

Targets × apps#

What builds where (verified 2026-05-30). Run dotbot fw targets to list bare targets, dotbot fw targets --sandbox for the sandbox set.

Bare targets:

Target	Chip	Apps available
`dotbot-v1` / `v2` / `v3`	DotBot board (v3 = nRF5340)	`dotbot`, `lh2_calibration`, `log_dump`
`nrf52833dk`, `nrf52840dk`	nRF52833 / nRF52840 DK	`dotbot`, `dotbot_gateway`, `dotbot_gateway_lr`, `lh2_calibration`, `lh2_mini_mote_app`, `lh2_mini_mote_test`, `log_dump`, `sailbot`
`nrf5340dk-app`	nRF5340 app core	`dotbot`, `dotbot_gateway`, `dotbot_gateway_lr`, `lh2_calibration`, `log_dump`, `sailbot`, `lh2_mini_mote_*`
`nrf5340dk-net`	nRF5340 net core	`dotbot_gateway`, `dotbot_gateway_lr`, `log_dump`, `nrf5340_net`
`sailbot-v1`	SailBot	`lh2_calibration`, `log_dump`, `sailbot`
`freebot-v1.0`	FreeBot	`freebot`
`lh2-mini-mote`	LH2 mini-mote	`lh2_calibration`, `lh2_mini_mote_*`, `log_dump`
`xgo-v1` / `v2`	XGO	`xgo`

Sandbox targets (--sandbox → sandbox-dotbot-v2, sandbox-dotbot-v3, sandbox-nrf5340dk): apps dotbot, dotbot-simple, motors, move, rgbled, spin, timer. These run over the air via dotbot swarm.

Notes:

The gateway (dotbot_gateway) builds for the DK targets, not the DotBot boards - it runs on a DK plugged into your computer.
The nRF5340 radio lives on the net core, so a gateway needs two images: dotbot_gateway on nrf5340dk-app and nrf5340_net on nrf5340dk-net.

Examples#

export DOTBOT_FIRMWARE_REPO=/path/to/DotBot-firmware

# Bare DotBot app for a DotBot v3 → ./artifacts/dotbot-dotbot-v3.hex
dotbot fw artifacts --app dotbot

# Just confirm an app compiles (no collection)
dotbot fw build --app sailbot -t nrf52840dk

# Gateway for an nRF5340-DK - both cores
dotbot fw artifacts --app dotbot_gateway -t nrf5340dk-app
dotbot fw artifacts --app nrf5340_net    -t nrf5340dk-net

# Sandbox (NS) "spin" app for a DotBot v3 → .bin, for OTA via swarm
dotbot fw artifacts --app spin -t dotbot-v3 --sandbox

# Pull a published release instead of building → ./artifacts/<version>/
dotbot fw fetch -f v1.0.0

# See what's cached
dotbot fw list

`make` - the escape hatch#

dotbot fw make runs make inside your DotBot-firmware checkout with the workspace-resolved SEGGER_DIR, forwarding every argument verbatim. Use it only when build/artifacts don’t model the Makefile knob you need.

dotbot fw make list-projects

Do not run make docker - that’s the CI path and crawls under emulation on this machine.

dotbot fw - firmware artifacts#