nRF Connect SDK Essential

Software development kit for building IoT products with Bluetooth Low Energy, Wi-Fi, cellular IoT, Bluetooth Mesh, Thread, Zigbee, Matter and more

nRF Connect SDK is a unified and flexible software development kit for building products based on all of Nordic’s nRF54, nRF53, nRF52, nRF70 and nRF91 Series wireless devices. It offers a framework for developing low-power and secure IoT devices that can scale from simple implementations for constrained devices and use cases, to the most feature-rich and sophisticated applications.

It is based on the open source Zephyr project combined with Nordic proprietary software, offered as a single package optimized for Nordic’s portfolio of wireless products. This powerful and comprehensive blend provides developers with a breadth and depth of functionality available out of the box: samples, wireless stacks, networking protocols, drivers, security, and much more. This ensures that developers can focus their time and energy where it matters most, in adding value and differentiation to their application.

The nRF Connect SDK can be extended via Add-ons that provide additional components contributed by both Nordic as well as partners. Add-ons can provide a variety of functionality, from applications, samples, protocols or more complete SDKs for specific technologies and use cases.

In parallel with Zephyr-RTOS based application development, there is the additional nRF Connect SDK Bare Metal option for developing simple Bluetooth LE applications on the nRF54L Series, that do not benefit from an RTOS or advanced features. This offers developers additional flexibility to choose the software development approach that better fits their use case.

The nRF Connect SDK is supported by Nordic’s extensive and industry-leading suite of development tools, including nRF Connect for Desktop, nRF Connect for Mobile, and nRF Connect for VSCode that offers a full-fledged IDE environment to develop your next breakthrough IoT application on Nordic hardware and software.

To onboard developers on nRF Connect SDK as quickly as possible and accelerate their learning curve, Nordic offers online interactive courses through the Nordic Developer Academy, covering a variety of topics and including hands-on exercises.

Focus on your application

And Nordic handles the rest

In our increasingly digitalized and competitive world, getting an IoT product to market faster increases the chances of success. For developers, this means spending their time effectively and where it matters, the differentiation in their application, instead of reinventing the wheel or writing yet another sensor driver. That is why the nRF Connect SDK offers an extensive set of functionality that is readily available out of the box, optimized and tested for Nordic hardware.

Some of the functionality in the nRF Connect SDK includes:
  • Wireless stacks for a variety of technologies (see all supported protocols across Nordic’s portfolio)
  • Networking protocols and cloud integration (IPv6, UDP, TCP, MQTT, CoAP, LwM2M)
  • Bootloader and security (TLS, DTLS)
  • Hundreds of sensor drivers and external peripherals
  • Logging and tracing
  • Edge AI
  • Zephyr RTOS
  • Build system
  • and much more…

The best of both worlds

A match made in Nordic

The nRF Connect SDK brings together the best of open source with the Zephyr project, and the best of ultra-optimized software with Nordic’s proprietary features and technology. This powerful package offers a no-compromise solution for developers to extract the most out of Nordic’s extensive portfolio of wireless devices.

Some of the key functionality offered by Zephyr:
  • Kernel and OS services
  • Libraries, protocols and middleware
  • Build and configuration system
  • Zephyr modules
  • Tooling (west, twister)
  • Vibrant and engaging community

 

And enhancements added by Nordic:
  • Proprietary features and technology
  • Samples and applications
  • Testing and qualification
  • IDE (VS Code) integration and ease of use
  • Documentation and education
  • Technical support

Learn more

Nordic webinars

Exciting new features in nRF Connect SDK v3.0.0

Exciting new features in nRF Connect SDK 2.8.0 and 2.9.0

Future-proofing IoT development with nRF Connect SDK

Adding custom board support in nRF Connect SDK