How to get started with STM32CubeMX2

LED toggle example

Project creation

Device selection

From the Home view, click on Board to initiate a board-based project

Create a project from a board

• Select the board (1): For this example , we use NUCLEO-C562RE.

• Click Continue to provide the project details (2).

• Enter the project name (3): example Toggle_LED.

• Specify the project location (4): example C:\Projects.

• Click Automatically Download, Install & Create Project (5).

Project setup

After creating the project, open Project settings to display and manage the project. This tab contains the following:

• Project settings (1): Displays the project settings, including the project name, location, selected device and the software project.

• IDE project generation settings (2): Manages the IDE project. See the IDE project generation for more details.

• Left bar (3): contains quick access icons for frequently used features. See Menu bar and left bar for further details.

• Packs management (4): Manages the installed packs.

• Global services settings (5): Manages the global services settings.

  • HAL System init settings (6): Manages Code Generation parameters for common System files.

  • HAL Common definitions (7): Manages Code Generation parameters for Core Files.

For this tutorial, only the pinout configuration is required.

Project & IDE project settings

Packs management & Global services settings

HAL system init settings

HAL common definitions

Pinout assignment

• Open the pinout view (1): Click on its icon from the left bar.

• Locate PA5 (2): Use the search function to find its location. PA5 is the GPIO that is connected to the LED we want to use on this NUCLEO board.

Note

The Reset Pinout action clears reserved and GPIO signals while preserving peripheral-configured signals and user labels.

Pinout view

• Assign PA5 to GPIO (3): Right-click the pin and select Assign signal > GPIO.

Pinout configuration

Note

The table view can also be used to configure pins. See Pinout for further details.

GPIO configuration

To configure GPIO component:

• Open the configuration (1): Right-click on the pin and select Configure GPIO.

Access to GPIO configuration

• Locate the pins PA5 (2): Extend the Pins section to find the pins.

GPIO configuration

• Set PA5 mode to output (3): Extend the configuration then change the mode to output.

PA5 pin configuration

IDE project generation

Project generation

After configuring PA5 pins, follow these steps to generate the IDE project:

• Select format (1): Choose the desired format. Available formats include IAR Embedded Workbench for ARM, CMake and Open-CMSIS. The default is CMake.

• Select toolchain (2): A default toolchain is automatically created. However, the Open CMSIS format currently supports multiple toolchains. In this case, the user can explicitly choose GCC or IAR instead of the default AC6.

• Select destination (3): Browse and select the folder for the IDE project. The default path is at the root folder of the created STM32CubeMX2 project.

• Generate IDE project (4): Click the Generate button to create the IDE project.

Project settings

Note

• The Show on disk option allows you to view the generated files on your disk when the IDE project generation is completed.

• Check the IDE project generation to learn more about the advanced settings.

Unified CLI workflow

This section groups all command-line operations used in the tutorial: board-based project creation, pin assignment, GPIO configuration, and IDE project generation.

1. Create the project from a board

Use cube mx project create-from-board to create a new STM32CubeMX project based on a board CPN (Commercial Part Number).

cube mx project create-from-board \
--cpn NUCLEO-C562RE  \
--project-location /c/Workspace_MX2/MySecondCLIProject \
--project-name Toggle_LED

Arguments:

• --cpn: Board identifier (e.g. NUCLEO-C562RE).

• --project-location: Base folder where the project will be created.

• --project-name: Logical project name.

After this step, an .ioc2 file is created, for example:

/c/Projects/Toggle_LED.ioc2

2. Assign or unassign a pin signal

You can modify pin assignments using the cube mx pinout commands.

Unassign a signal from a pin

cube mx pinout unassign-signal \
  -p /c/Workspace_MX2/MySecondCLIProject/Toggle_LED.ioc2 \
  --pin PA5 \
  --signal GPIO

Arguments:

• -p: Path to the .ioc2 configuration file.

• --pin: Pin name (e.g. PA5).

• --signal: Currently assigned signal type to remove (e.g. GPIO).

Assign a signal to a pin

cube mx pinout assign-signal \
-p /c/Workspace_MX2/MySecondCLIProject/Toggle_LED.ioc2 \
--pin PA5 --signal GPIO

This assigns the GPIO function to pin PA5 in the project configuration.

3. Configure GPIO parameters

Use cube mx sw-config to set software configuration parameters, such as pin modes.

cube mx sw-config set-parameter-value \
-p /c/Workspace_MX2/MySecondCLIProject/Toggle_LED.ioc2 -r GPIO \
--parameter-path pins/0/basic/mode -v OUTPUT

Arguments:

• -r GPIO: Selects the GPIO configuration resource.

• --parameter-path: Path of the parameter in the configuration tree (for example pins/0/basic/mode).

• -v OUTPUT: Sets the parameter value (mode) to OUTPUT for that pin entry.

Note

The exact parameter-path may depend on the project structure (pin index, naming, and mode options).

4. Generate the IDE project

Generate buildable project files using cube mx ide-project generate.

cube mx ide-project generate \
-p /c/Workspace_MX2/MySecondCLIProject/Toggle_LED.ioc2 \
--format CMake --build-target .debug_GCC+NUCLEO-C562RE \
--source include-packs-from-local --destination /c/Workspace_MX2/MySecondCLIProject/Toggle_LED_cmake

Arguments:

• --format CMake: Generates a CMake-based project.

• --build-target: Name of the build configuration/target (for example .debug_GCC+NUCLEO-C562RE).

• --source include-packs-from-local: Use installed local packs as source.

• --destination: Output folder for the generated CMake project.

After this step, you can open or build the generated project from:

/c/Workspace_MX2/MySecondCLIProject/Toggle_LED_cmake

Project opening

Navigate to the project’s location:

• Project location (1): The project is located at C:\Projects.

• Project configuration file (2): This .ioc2 file is the main configuration file for the STM32CubeMX2 project.

• IDE project folder (3): Contains the IDE-specific files and folders.

Project directory

Open Toggle_LED project with STM32CubeIDE for VSCode, and edit the main.c file.

• Write the application code (1): In the main function, add the highlighted code to toggle GPIO pins with delays.

• Build the code (2): Click the Build button to compile the code.

• Run the code (3): Click the Launch button to execute the code on the target hardware.

main.c file

I²C example

Project creation

create a project by following the steps described in Create a project from a board and Project setup.

For this demonstration, pinout and clock configurations remain as default.

I²C activation

• Open the peripheral view (1): Click its icon from the left bar.

• Extend connectivity section (2).

• Enable I²C1 (3): Locate I²C1 and change its status from Disabled to I²C by selecting the option from the dropdown menu.

Note

Refer to Peripherals for more details on how to activate peripherals.

Note

The system displays a notification indicating that the peripheral I2C1 signals are assigned to specific pins.

I²C configuration

Once enabled, the user can open the software configuration following these steps:

• Open the I²C1 Settings (1).

• Update the resources allocation (2): Change the default assignment if needed.

• Update the configuration (3): Expend the different sections to list all available parameters.

Access I²C configuration

• Enable event interruption and error detection (4): Extend the system section to get the list of interruptions.

Enable I²C2 event and error interrupts

• The priority level can be modified either from the I²C configuration or from the NVIC view.

Note

The NVIC view can be accessed from the Peripheral View under the System category.

I²C2 interrupts in NVIC view

IDE project generation

Apply the same steps described in the IDE project generation section from LED toggle example.

Additional articles

How to create a new project with STM32CubeMX2