Waveforms Task Agent
The Waveforms Task Agent helps you inspect and debug RTL simulations by analyzing waveform files (for example, VCD and FST) through a safe, tool-backed workflow.
It is a focused task agent: it can be used directly for waveform analysis or invoked by higher-level orchestrator agents when waveform inspection is part of a larger debug flow.
Key Features
- Tool-Backed Waveform Inspection: Analyze waveforms via dedicated tools (signal listing, transitions, length, and query execution).
- Hierarchical Signal Discovery: List all signals and filter them using regex patterns.
- Transition Tracking: Detect when a signal changes value over a time range.
- Waveform Metrics: Compute the total simulation length in time steps.
- Advanced Queries with WAL: Execute expressive WAL queries for search, counting, and conditional analysis.
- Caching for Fast Iteration: Waveforms are cached and automatically reloaded when the file changes.
Supported formats
Common formats include .vcd and .fst (FST support depends on WAL capabilities in your environment).
Usage
Use the Waveforms task agent through the NEX CLI by specifying the waveform agent (for example, --agent=waveforms).
Typical flows:
- list signals, then pick the exact signal name you care about
- inspect transitions for a specific signal over a time window
- run WAL expressions to search for protocol violations, stalls, illegal states, etc.