Launching Vitis and Vivado

Vitis and Vivado Tools

Both Vitis and Vivado have various tools. For Vitis, the tools we will use in the classs are:

• vitis — Launches the Vitis IDE or runs Vitis workflows from the command line.
• vitis-run — Builds and runs Vitis applications, including host code and hardware kernels. We typically use a format of the form:

    vitis-run --mode hls --tcl <tclfile.tcl>

For Vivado, the tools are:

• vivado — Starts the Vivado IDE or runs synthesis/implementation scripts in batch mode.
• xvlog — Compiles Verilog/SystemVerilog source files for simulation.
• xelab — Elaborates the compiled design and creates a simulation snapshot.
• xsim — Runs the simulation using the snapshot, with optional GUI or batch execution.

Launching the Vitis or Vivado GUI in Windows

In Windows, you can run both the Vitis IDE and Vivado IDE from the Start menu by clicking the Windows button and typing “Vivado” or “vitis” into the search bar. Either operation is equivalent to running vitis or vivado from the command line.

Setting the Path for Command Line Tools

To use any command line tool, you will need to set the path. In the instructions below, I have assumed that users working locally on Linux and Windows are on version 2025.1, while users on the NYU remote machine are on the newer 2026.1. I will test the demos and labs to make sure everything works on both versions as the semester progresses.

On the NYU servers, do not use the settings64 commands below. There you load the tools with a single module load instead — see Launching Vitis and Vivado on the NYU server.

For a Vivado command line tool:

• In Windows, open a Command Shell, not a Powershell. In Linux, open any terminal.
• Find the path the Vivado for the version you want to use:
  • On Linux, it is likely in /tools/Xilinx/Vivado/2025.1
  • On the NYU remote server, the latest version is currently in /eda/xilinx/2026.1/Vivado/
  • On Windows, is is likely in c:\Xilinx\2025.1\Vivado
• Run the settings command:
  • On Linux: source <vivado_path>/settings64.sh
  • On the NYU remote server, source <vivado_path>/settings64.csh (Note that you need the .csh since the default shell is tcsh)
  • On Windows: <vivado_path>/settings64.bat
• You can now run a command like vivado -version.
  • Note: It is not vivado --version (two dashes)

The steps are similar for Vitis tools:

• Determine where the vitis tool is located:
  • In Linux: vitis and vitis-run are typically located in a directory like /tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2025.1
  • On the NYU remote server, the latest version is currently in /eda/xilinx/2026.1/Vitis/
  • In Windows: vitis and vitis-run are typically located in a directory like c:\Xilinx\2025.1\Vitis
• In that directory:
  • In Linux, run source settings64.sh
  • In Windows Command Shell (not Powershell), run: settings64.bat
• Then, in the terminal run:
  • vitis --version to get the version (Note: This command has two dashes!)
  • vitis for the Vitis GUI
  • vitis-run --mode hls --tcl <tclfile.tcl>