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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-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-blocks - create organizational transformation, custom dsp, custom deployment and custom transfer learning blocks.
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.
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- For Windows users, install the Additional Node.js tools (called Tools for Native Modules on newer versions) when prompted.
- 4.Install the CLI tools via:npm install -g edge-impulse-cli --force
You should now have the tools available in your PATH.
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- 3.Alternatively, run the following commands:curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_16.x | sudo -E bash -sudo apt-get install -y nodejsnode -vThe last command should return the node version, v16 or above.Let's verify the node installation directory:npm config get prefixIf it returns /usr/local/, run the following commands to change npm's default directory:mkdir ~/.npm-globalnpm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'echo 'export PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.profileOn MacOS you might be using zsh as default, so you will want to update the correct profilemkdir ~/.npm-globalnpm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'echo 'export PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.zprofile
- 4.Install the CLI tools via:npm install -g edge-impulse-cli
You should now have the tools available in your PATH.
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.
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
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
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
Try to set the npm user to root and re-run the installation command. You can do this via:
npm config set user root
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
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.
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.
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
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
Last modified 22d ago