Announcing: Apio FPGA for Visual Studio Code

[zapta]

Apio FPGA is a Visual Studio Code extension that simplifies FPGA development using the open-source FPGA toolchain. With a single extension installation, it provides one-click operations such as build, lint, test, simulate, and program FPGA boards, while automatically installing all required tools.

To get started, install Apio FPGA (extension ID: fpgawars.apio) from within Visual Studio Code, then, open the extension and select TOOLS → Examples → Demo Project to generate a demo project. You can then explore the available project commands from the extension sidebar and the status bar.

Apio supports 3 FPGA architects, Verilog and System Verilog, tens of FPGA boards, and an easy way to add definitions of custom boards.

Resources:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=fpgawars.apio
https://fpgawars.github.io/apio/docs/quick-start

[iMo]

Yep, took aprox 2 minutes to install into VScode in Win11 25H2..
PS: for the absolute beginners a short YT video would be nice to have..

[zapta]

Great!

We are working on a demo video, will post it here once ready.

Now that you have it installed, you can fetch project examples using TOOLS > examples > get example, and if you like also command line access, you can use TOOLS > misc > apio shell.

[tggzzz]

PS: for the absolute beginners a short YT video would be nice to have..

What would moving pictures add?

In what way would the video be more than a talking head? If nothing, then write the text and don't speak it.

Videos will subtract more time from my (and probably your) remaining life than text plus pictures.

[iMo]

..Videos will subtract more time from my (and probably your) remaining life than text plus pictures.

Sure, but we both are not the "absolute beginners".. 

[tggzzz]

..Videos will subtract more time from my (and probably your) remaining life than text plus pictures.

Sure, but we both are not the "absolute beginners".. 

So what? The points are valid for everybody, no matter their experience in the subject.

[nctnico]

Where is the VHDL support?

[zapta]

Where is the VHDL support?

It's on our watch list but we are waiting for the open VHDL tool chain to be more mature.

We recently added System Verilog and you can mix verilog and system verilog in same project.

[dobsonr741]

Would be helpful if you link the page that lists the supported FPGAs, and tells the limits what can be added and what can not be added.

[zapta]

dobsonr741, these are the boards and FPGAas that come with definitions out of the box:

https://fpgawars.github.io/apio/docs/supported-boards/

https://fpgawars.github.io/apio/docs/supported-fpgas/

You can also get that list by the commands 'apio fpgas' and 'apio boards', available by the Apio CLI and Apio IDE.

Users can also add definitions for other FPGAs that are supported by the open source tool chain and for boards that use them.  The guide is here https://fpgawars.github.io/apio/docs/custom-boards/

Personally I like the Upduino3.1 and the Tang Nano 9k because they plug into a solderless breadboard and are easy to play with.

[mark03]

How do you decide which FPGA architectures are mature enough [in the underlying tools] to support?  I sometimes check the pages for yosys, etc. to see how support is coming for Xilinx 7 series or Lattice NX, but I am never sure how to tell.  And 98+% of users only care about playing with FPGAs in the generic sense, so ice40 is sufficient, and it's hard to get a feel for when or if other archs will be usable.

[zapta]

How do you decide which FPGA architectures are mature enough [in the underlying tools] to support?  I sometimes check the pages for yosys, etc. to see how support is coming for Xilinx 7 series or Lattice NX, but I am never sure how to tell.  And 98+% of users only care about playing with FPGAs in the generic sense, so ice40 is sufficient, and it's hard to get a feel for when or if other archs will be usable.

By asking around and asking AI. This is for example what Grok says

https://grok.com/share/bGVnYWN5LWNvcHk_d27cd0b3-568b-485e-8a72-5d145f4bd92d

The Xilix boards are also tend to be more expensive which make it challenging to makers and students.

For larger designs and speed I would with with ECP5 boards, but for small designs I like small boards such as upduino3.1 or Tang Nano 9k that can be plugged in a solderless breadboard.

[iMo]

The Apio is based on the IceStorm project which reverse-engineered the ice40 fpgas (fpgas with pretty simple architecture) some 8-9y back. Gowin is a clone of them too.
The Xilinx fpags are much more complex stuff, my guess would be Apio will not support Xilinxes..

PS:
https://prjicestorm.readthedocs.io/en/latest/overview.html#what-is-project-icestorm

[zapta]

IceStorm is one of the contributors to to the open source FPGA toolchain. Here is a summary list by Grok

https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMi1jb3B5_4880d408-17f5-4dbb-a6d0-289cb1236f35

There are also other types of utilities such as language frontends, linters, formatters, language servers, programmers, wave viewers, drivers, diagramming, dependency control, and obscure tools such as Zadig. Apio installs all of them automatically and invokes them based on a simple apio.ini project file that is platform (mac/linux/windows) and architecture (ice40/ecp5/gowin) independent.

If you are familiar with platformio, Apio is platformio for FPGAs.

[iMo]

Btw., I've tried with apio fpga under Mint 22.2 (Zara) in VSCodium, but not found the extension there..

[zapta]

Btw., I've tried with apio fpga under Mint 22.2 (Zara) in VSCodium, but not found the extension there..

I am not familiar with Mint and VSCodium. This extension was uploaded to the microsfot vscode marketplace.

1. If your mint system is similar to Linux X86-64 and VSCodium is similar to VSCode, you can try side loading the extension's .vsix file using the Install From VSIX... option in the vscode extension menu.  https://github.com/FPGAwars/apio-vscode/releases/tag/2025-12-26

2. If your mint system is similar to Linux X86, you can try installing Apio CLI (same functionality as the IDE but no IDE integration) as explained here (there are a few options) https://fpgawars.github.io/apio/docs/installing-apio-cli/#linux-x86-64

EDIT: I was able to side load the .vsix file on VSCodium on macOS and it seems to work. VSCodium gets its extensions from this market https://open-vsx.org. Added this Apio request https://github.com/FPGAwars/apio/issues/752

[maxisimonazzi]

I have designed my own iCE40-based FPGA board and would like to know if it can be added to the list of supported boards.

What is the process to be included?
This board is part of my engineering degree project, together with additional research work. I am in Argentina, and the board is conceptually similar to Kefir or EDU-CIAA, but includes additional features tailored for educational and experimental use.

The project is officially sponsored by my university, UTN-FRT.

EDIT: All schematics, PCB files, and documentation are open-source and available upon request.

[zapta]

Hi maxisimonazzi,

Apio has two options for custom boards,

1. Just add the custom definitions in your project.

2. Contribute the custom definitions to Apio if you think it will benefit other users.

I suggest to start with #1 and then. There are three kind of definitions for fpgas, boards, and progreammes, respectivly, my guess is that you will need only a custom board definition.  You can find more information here https://fpgawars.github.io/apio/docs/custom-boards/

EDIT: If you will contribute your board definition to Apio, you can also contribute examples for your board as discussed here https://fpgawars.github.io/apio/docs/contributing-examples/

Let me know if you have any questions and how this process worked for you.

[zapta]

Btw., I've tried with apio fpga under Mint 22.2 (Zara) in VSCodium, but not found the extension there..

Hi @iMo, I tried to submit a pull request for automatic replication of the Apio published for VSCode to VSCodium but they don't accept such requests from authors, just from users. If you want, you can submit a similar PR once and future versions of Apio will be replicated automatically for VSCodium.

https://github.com/EclipseFdn/publish-extensions/pull/1073

[maxisimonazzi]

Hi maxisimonazzi,

Apio has two options for custom boards,

1. Just add the custom definitions in your project.

2. Contribute the custom definitions to Apio if you think it will benefit other users.

I suggest to start with #1 and then. There are three kind of definitions for fpgas, boards, and progreammes, respectivly, my guess is that you will need only a custom board definition.  You can find more information here https://fpgawars.github.io/apio/docs/custom-boards/

EDIT: If you will contribute your board definition to Apio, you can also contribute examples for your board as discussed here https://fpgawars.github.io/apio/docs/contributing-examples/

Let me know if you have any questions and how this process worked for you.

After a few upgrades and a new board revision, I've opened a pull request to add it to Apio.

Thanks!

[jaxon]

Great to see FPGA tooling moving into VS Code!

The one-click install and built-in examples are a
huge plus — lowers the barrier for anyone wanting
to get into FPGA without wrestling with vendor toolchains.

Quick question: does it support waveform simulation
viewer directly in VS Code, or do you still need
an external tool for that?

Either way, this is a solid step forward for the
open-source FPGA community. Thanks for sharing!