Introduction

The nRF Connect SDK is a modern, unified software development kit for building low-power wireless applications based on the Nordic Semiconductor nRF52, nRF53, nRF54, nRF70, and nRF91 Series wireless devices. It supports Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS for development.

The nRF Connect SDK has the following distinguishing features:

Based on Zephyr and open source

The nRF Connect SDK integrates the Zephyr™ real-time operating system (RTOS) and is compatible with most of Zephyr’s applications and samples. Just like Zephyr, the nRF Connect SDK is open source and based on proven open-source projects.

Middleware and security

The nRF Connect SDK includes middleware from Zephyr, such as MQTT or Trusted Firmware-M for security. In addition to that, the nRF Connect SDK adds extra libraries and drivers, such as CoAP, LwM2M, a secure bootloader (MCUboot), Mbed TLS, nRF 802.15.4 Radio Driver, nRF Security, nRF Profiler, nRF Remote procedure call libraries, and many more.

Pre-certified libraries

The nRF Connect SDK provides pre-certified, optimized libraries, including for SoftDevice, Matter, and Thread.

Robust connectivity support

The nRF Connect SDK supports a wide range of connectivity technologies. In addition to connectivity technologies provided by Zephyr, such as Bluetooth® Low Energy, IPv6, TCP/IP, UDP, LoRa and LoRaWAN, the nRF Connect SDK supports ANT, Bluetooth Mesh, Apple Find My, LTE-M/NB-IoT/GPS, DECT NR+, Matter, Amazon Sidewalk, Thread, and Wi-Fi®, among others.

Remote observability

The nRF Connect SDK provides remote observability support to maintain optimal device performance and reliability in ever-changing device ecosystems after devices are deployed. Once devices are in the field, you can implement device reliability best practices such as remote debug, monitoring, and FOTA support.

Scalable and extensible

The nRF Connect SDK is out-of-tree ready and can be used for projects and applications of all sizes and levels of complexity.

Third-party integrations

The nRF Connect SDK provides integrations with third-party and Nordic products within the SDK, such as AWS, nRF Cloud, Memfault (Remote Observability) and more.

Varied reference designs

The nRF Connect SDK comes with advanced hardware reference designs for different use cases, ranging from nRF Desktop for Human Interface Devices to nRF5340 Audio for audio devices based on Bluetooth LE Audio specifications.