ISA workflows in Digital Design Studio#

Model, generate, execute, and verify ISA designs inside the Digital Design Studio workspace.

Overview#

ISA design is part of Digital Design Studio, not a separate application. Open ISA from the left activity rail or from Flow Navigator in the same project workspace used for RTL editing and analysis.

Open an ISA workflow#

  1. Open Digital Design Studio and select the intended project.

  2. Select ISA in the left activity rail.

  3. Search for a function, or expand a workflow stage.

  4. Open the required function. Its editor tab uses the function name rather than repeating a generic ISA title.

  5. Create or select the project’s architecture source before expecting an outline, instruction table, or encoding result.

An empty project must not be interpreted as containing a built-in architecture. A visible function is a navigation entry, not proof that its engine is enabled.

Functions in the left panel#

Stage

Functions

Model

Outline, instructions, architectural state, encoding, opcode map, assembler/disassembler, pipeline, configuration, and change comparison

Generate

RTL, instruction-set simulator, compiler-related outputs, and export

Explore

Design-space variants

Execute

Program execution and a shortcut to the shared Event Trace

Analyze

Structural profile and PPA estimates

Verify

Co-simulation, verification, formal checks, and signoff review

Workspace tools

Model library and reference material

Use the search field to narrow the list. Expand all and collapse all operate on the stage groups. Choosing an item opens that function; it does not submit a job.

Source and project settings#

ISA source, project settings, generated outputs, and verification evidence belong to the selected Digital Design Studio workspace. Save deliberate source changes before elaborating or exporting. When the host exposes source actions, the ISA panel provides Save, Elaborate, and ISA-specific project settings.

Importing a model from Library can replace the current source. Preserve unsaved work and review the model before accepting the replacement. A template is an explicit starting point, not a result from the current project.

Review instructions and encodings#

Start with a small architecture source you control. After parsing and elaboration succeed, inspect its instruction table, operand/state definitions, encoding widths, fixed fields, and collision diagnostics. When assembly and disassembly are available, compare the returned bits and decoded instruction with the source example.

Keep the source revision, selected target, engine version, input examples, and returned artifacts together. A populated table is not itself verification evidence, and an estimate is not a measured implementation result.

Event Trace is shared with Analysis#

There is one Event Trace viewer under Analysis. The ISA Event Trace entry is a shortcut to that shared viewer and the relevant run, not a second timeline. If no compatible run artifact exists, no measured trace can be shown.

Availability and migration#

ISA uses the Digital Design Studio shell, settings, tabs, and bottom panel. There is no separate ISA application to install for the integrated workflow and no separate main-editor AI chat view.

Native operations, generation, formal checks, co-simulation, and measured performance require their corresponding host capabilities. An unavailable action must remain unavailable; do not substitute sample output for execution.

Older standalone ISA installations and their application data are legacy. Preserve any existing CX source as a user-controlled file before migration. Do not copy credentials, machine licences, or hidden device-trust state into the new workspace. See Local workspaces and First launch and licence.