ISA workflows in Digital Design Studio
Digital Design Studio 2.0.2: ISA workflows in Digital Design Studio. Check the selected host, account permissions and current support before use.
Open ISA design in Digital Design Studio’s Flow Navigator. The 2.0.2 source supports RISC-V import and RV64, IM and A profiles. Review the selected profile and diagnostics before saving a generated artifact. Elaboration, assembly, execution, co-simulation, formal checks and model loading still depend on the operation exposed by the actual host; import support does not enable every ISA action on Windows or Cloud.
Overview
ISA design is part of Digital Design Studio, not a separate application. Open ISA design in Flow Navigator in the same project workspace used for RTL editing and analysis.
Open an ISA workflow
Open Digital Design Studio and select the intended project.
Expand ISA design in Flow Navigator.
Choose authoring, instructions, RTL generation, execution, performance or verification.
Open the required function. Its editor tab uses the function name rather than repeating a generic ISA title.
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.
In 2.0.2, Library models cannot be loaded; Library inserts CX snippets only. 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
After saving the active CX source, open Instructions. Use Declared categories for user-defined membership or Encoding width / format for structural groups. Read the table against the elaboration of that exact source.
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.
Use Add category and Add subcategory to organize declarations. New instruction and Duplicate instruction create drafts; review the name, assembly mnemonic and encoding before Apply to CX. A changed source or read-only document can disable Apply.
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 account access.
Related guides
From model to checked output
Use Verify model to request the current buffer’s elaboration. Read pending, unavailable and failed checks as shown; model-wide checks are not a separate proof for every instruction row.
Save the architecture source and choose the intended ISA configuration.
Resolve parse/elaboration diagnostics before reading the instruction and encoding views.
Generate only the outputs supported by the current host. Save generated artifacts separately from the source.
Use known instructions and expected encodings to check assembler/disassembler behavior.
Keep execution and verification results with the source revision; open compatible events through the shared Analysis Event Trace.
The alti CLI bundled with the Windows app is for project initialization. The alti isa … CLI ISA commands need the CX engine (alti-cx), which the Windows app does not include. The output format and capabilities belong to the installed CLI release.
Using Digital Design Studio 2.0.2
Decoder export requires the current elaboration and its static checks. Review the selected language and raw-field mapping, then preserve the exported file separately. Source editing invalidates the previous export; it is not an execution-equivalence proof.