Installation

This Edge Impulse CLI is used to control local devices, act as a proxy to synchronise data for devices that don't have an internet connection, and to upload and convert local files. The CLI consists of seven tools:

edge-impulse-daemon - configures devices over serial, and acts as a proxy for devices that do not have an IP connection.
edge-impulse-uploader - allows uploading and signing local files.
edge-impulse-data-forwarder - a very easy way to collect data from any device over a serial connection, and forward the data to Edge Impulse.
edge-impulse-run-impulse - show the impulse running on your device.
edge-impulse-blocks - create organizational transformation, custom dsp, custom deployment and custom transfer learning blocks.
himax-flash-tool - to flash the Himax boards and microcontrollers.

Connect to devices without the CLI? Recent versions of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge can connect directly to fully-supported development boards, without the CLI. See this blog post for more information.

Installation - Windows

It is highly recommended to use the Command Prompt (CMD) vs Powershell when installing and using the Edge Impulse CLI on Windows.

During installation you may get an error about needing Visual Studio Build Tools. This is needed for some parts of the Edge Impulse CLI. Please follow the error links to get the correct version from Microsoft.

Create an Edge Impulse account.
Install Python 3 on your host computer.
Install Node.js v20 or above on your host computer.
- For Windows users, install the Additional Node.js tools (called Tools for Native Modules on newer versions) when prompted.
Install the CLI tools via:
```
npm install -g edge-impulse-cli --force
```

You should now have the tools available in your PATH.

Installation - Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

Create an Edge Impulse account.
Install WSL on your Windows machine.

To install WSL, open PowerShell as an Administrator and run:

wsl --install

You can find full instructions on how to install WSL here.

Once complete you can then enable WSL by running the following command in PowerShell as an Administrator, and follow the rest of the Linux instructions:

wsl

Then follow the linux installation instructions below.

Installation - Linux, Ubuntu, MacOS, and Raspbian OS

Important: Edge Impulse requires Node.js version 20.x or later. Using older versions may lead to installation issues or runtime errors. Please ensure you have the correct version installed before proceeding with the setup.

Create an Edge Impulse account.
Install Python 3 on your host computer.
Install Node.js v20.x+ or above on your host computer.
Alternatively, run the following commands:
```
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
node -v
```
The last command should return the node version, v20 or above.
Let's verify the node installation directory:
```
npm config get prefix
```
If it returns /usr/local/, run the following commands to change npm's default directory:
```
mkdir ~/.npm-global
npm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'
echo 'export PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.profile
```
On MacOS you might be using zsh as default, so you will want to update the correct profile
```
mkdir ~/.npm-global
npm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'
echo 'export PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.zprofile
```
Install the CLI tools via:
```
npm install -g edge-impulse-cli
```

You should now have the tools available in your PATH.

Troubleshooting

If you have issues installing the CLI you can also collect data from fully-supported development boards directly using recent versions of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. See this blog post on how to get started.

Error: Could not locate the bindings file. (Windows)

This error indicates an issue occurred when installing the edge-impulse-cli for the first time or you have not selected to install the addition tools when installing NodeJS (not selected by default).

Remove NodeJS and install it again selecting the option:

Re-install the CLI via

npm uninstall -g edge-impulse-cli
npm install -g edge-impulse-cli

Tools version "2.0" is unrecognized (Windows)

If you receive the following error: The tools version "2.0" is unrecognized. Available tools versions are "4.0", launch a new command window as administrator and run:

npm install --global --production windows-build-tools
npm config set msvs_version 2015 --global

EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules' (macOS)

This is indication that the node_modules is not owned by you, but rather by root. This is probably not what you want. To fix this, run:

sudo chown -R $USER /usr/local/lib/node_modules

EACCES user "nobody" does not have permission to access the dev dir (Linux)

Try to set the npm user to root and re-run the installation command. You can do this via:

npm config set user root

Error: Can’t find Python executable (Windows)

If you receive an error such as:

gyp ERR! stack Error: Can’t find Python executable “C:\Users\vale.windows-build-tools\python27\python.exe”, you can set the PYTHON env variable.

You're running an older version of node-gyp (a way to build binary packages). Upgrade via:

npm install node-gyp@latest -g

The module XXX was compiled against a different Node.js version

This error occurs when you have upgraded Node.js since installing the Edge Impulse CLI. Re-install the CLI via:

npm uninstall -g edge-impulse-cli
npm install -g edge-impulse-cli

Which will rebuild the dependencies.

Error: "gyp: No Xcode or CLT version detected!" (macOS)

This can happen even though you have Xcode CLT installed if you've updated macOS since your install. Follow this guide to reinstall Xcode CLT.

Failed to authenticate with Edge Impulse read ECONNRESET

If you see this error message and you're behind a proxy you will need to set your proxy settings via:

Windows

set HTTPS_PROXY=...
edge-impulse-daemon

macOS, Linux

HTTPS_PROXY=... edge-impulse-daemon

ENOENT: no such file or directory, access ‘~/.npm-global/lib/node_modules/edge-impulse-cli’ (Linux)

Manually delete the Edge Impulse directory from node_modules and reinstall:

cd ~/.npm-global/lib/node_modules
rm -rf edge-impulse-cli
npm install -g edge-impulse-cli

SELF_SIGNED_CERT_IN_CHAIN error (Windows)

If you receive an error as such:

npm error gyp http fetch GET https://nodejs.org/download/release/v24.2.0/node-v24.2.0-headers.tar.gz attempt 1 failed with SELF_SIGNED_CERT_IN_CHAIN
npm error gyp WARN install got an error, rolling back install
npm error gyp ERR! configure error
npm error gyp ERR! stack FetchError: request to https://nodejs.org/download/release/v24.2.0/node-v24.2.0-headers.tar.gz failed, reason: self-signed certificate in certificate chain

It might indicates some restrictions due to your IT policies. Try installing the CLI using the WSL method.

WSL provides an isolated environment that can be configured independently of your main Windows setup. In some cases, network and SSL/TLS configurations can be more easily managed or bypassed in a Linux environment.

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Last updated 29 days ago

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