Documentation

The Tcl Connector: a Tcl script that can parse Clash output and emit the correct commands for loading the design into Vivado (Quartus support will be added later).

Apart from parsing the clash-manifest.json files produced by Clash, the Tcl Connector also supports the so-called Clash<->Tcl API. This functionality enables Clash primitives to pass complex instructions to the Tcl Connector. Current features are instantiating IP in Vivado and passing metadata along with Vivado XDC files.

An example use of the Tcl Connector, demonstrating its basic features:

source -notrace clashConnector.tcl
# Pass it the path to "clash-manifest.json" of your top entity
clash::readMetadata vhdl/Design.topEntity
# Instantiate IP (no-op if no IP defined)
file mkdir ip
clash::createAndReadIp -dir ip
# Read all VHDL/Verilog/SystemVerilog files generated by Clash
clash::readHdl
# Handle XDC files, in correct order
clash::readXdc early
# A file containing PACKAGE_PIN and IOSTANDARD definitions (but not
# create_clock, clocks are part of the Clash-generated files)
read_xdc Arty-A7-35-Master.xdc
set_property USED_IN implementation [get_files Arty-A7-35-Master.xdc]
clash::readXdc {normal late}
synth_design -top $clash::topEntity -part xc7a35ticsg324-1L
opt_design
place_design
route_design
write_bitstream ${clash::topEntity}.bit

Clash.Xilinx.ClockGen and clash-cores:Clash.Cores.Xilinx modules make use of the IP instantiating functionality; XDC metadata functionality is not currently used as the IP is already packaged with correct constraints by Vivado.

More documentation about the Tcl Connector and the Clash<->Tcl API will be made available later.

In addition to this module, you can also write a copy of the Tcl script to a file by invoking

cabal run clash-lib:static-files -- --tcl-connector clashConnector.tcl