Jetson Customize Camera

NVIDIAOfficialCreated by Jetson TeamDistributed by NVIDIA

Skill
Workflow
Software development
Apache-2.0
Medium risk

From the author

Enable MIPI/GMSL camera sensors on a Jetson Thor or Orin custom carrier by rendering a kernel-DT overlay from the in-tree sensor DTSI. Do NOT use for UPHY lane allocation or ODMDATA edits.

— the description by Jetson Team

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill automates the bring-up of MIPI and GMSL camera sensors on custom Jetson Thor or Orin carrier boards. It functions by rendering a kernel-DT overlay from in-tree sensor DTSI files, ensuring correct wiring and configuration without requiring manual ODMDATA or UPHY lane adjustments. The process is agentic, utilizing a structured workflow to verify carrier and module support, generate the necessary device tree fragments, and validate the final composite overlay before compilation.

What it does

Enumerates supported sensors from in-tree DTBO files.
Cross-references carrier and module support against official documentation.
Generates and appends a single camera-tagged fragment to the composite custom overlay.
Verifies ancillary pin configurations like I2C, clocks, and GPIOs.
Validates the final device tree structure using dtc and fdtoverlay.
Automates the commit process for the hardware repository.

When to use it

When configuring a new MIPI or GMSL camera sensor on a custom Jetson carrier board.
When a camera is physically connected but fails to enumerate in v4l2-ctl.
When adding additional sensors to an existing multi-sensor Jetson platform.
When you need to ensure correct CSI port plumbing and sensor driver binding.

Advantages

Reduces manual errors by using in-tree DTSI files as the source of truth.
Prevents common pitfalls like dual-fragment conflicts or incorrect port indexing.
Maintains a clean, idempotent workflow for hardware customization.
Ensures compatibility with the existing BSP and flash-conf registration.

Usage examples

“Enable the IMX274 camera on my custom Orin carrier board.”: The agent identifies the sensor, verifies the carrier pinmap, generates the required kernel-DT overlay fragment, and commits it to the BSP source repository.
“I need to add a GMSL camera to my existing Jetson Thor setup.”: The agent performs a multi-sensor bring-up check, splices the necessary GMSL serdes configuration into the composite overlay, and validates the new endpoint connections.

Install

Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/nvidia/jetson-customize-camera/download

Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip jetson-customize-camera.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Jetson Team

Customize camera (CSI / MIPI / GMSL sensor bring-up)

Overview

Tegra264 (Thor) and Tegra234 (Orin) expose a single tegra-capture-vi controller fronted by NVCSI and a fixed set of CSI ports. Camera bring-up is:

Sensor selection — picked from the set NVIDIA ships in-tree .dtsi references for on the active platform.
Carrier + module support check — verified against the Camera Development Guide, Adaptation Guide §Camera, carrier schematic, Module TRM, and carrier pinmap.
Wiring — derived from the in-tree tegra<soc>-camera-<sensor>*.dtsi when one exists (the DTSI IS the wiring source of truth); captured per-sensor from the user when the sensor is custom.
Kernel-DT overlay — cpp-expand the in-tree DTSI, extract its fragment@N body, append into the composite custom overlay .dts for the active target (per ../../references/bsp-customization-kernel-dtb.md), verify the composite with fdtoverlay. /jetson-build-source compiles the composite and owns the carrier conf's OVERLAY_DTB_FILE+= registration.

Agentic, not table-driven — sensor list is built at runtime by globbing in-tree per-sensor dtbos. No _THOR_CAMERAS dict, no questions.json, no Python renderer in the question path.

No ODMDATA edit — cameras don't consume UPHY lanes (CSI is a separate PHY pool). The skill emits only a kernel-DT overlay; the ODMDATA line in the carrier conf is untouched by this skill.

The output is one commit:

Camera fragment@N block (plus jetson-header-name on the composite root if not already present) appended to the composite custom overlay .dts per ../../references/bsp-customization-kernel-dtb.md → committed to the bsp_sources/ hardware repo. /jetson-build-source compiles the composite to .dtbo and owns its Makefile + flash-conf registration.

When to invoke

The user says "enable camera", "configure CSI", "wire a Hawk / Owl / IMX sensor", "MIPI camera", "GMSL camera", or asks to bring up tegra-capture-vi / NVCSI on a custom carrier.
Flash boots but v4l2-ctl --list-devices shows no tegra-capture-vi channels, OR sensor enumeration on a fresh daughter-card needs to be confirmed.
A sensor was previously enabled and the user wants to add another (multi-sensor bring-up).

Prerequisites:

Active profile with reference_devkit: + custom_carrier: blocks.
<source.root_path>/Linux_for_Tegra/.git exists (/jetson-init-source).
/jetson-derive-carrier has run — the carrier flash-conf fork is in the overlay tracker.
<source.root_path>/bsp_sources/hardware/nvidia/<chip-dir>/nv-public/overlay/ exists and contains the in-tree per-sensor .dtsi files (sourced by /jetson-init-source's Branch A archive extract).
<source.root_path>/bsp_sources/kernel/kernel-noble/include/dt-bindings/ contains the macro headers cpp needs (source_sync.sh may need to run if Branch B was used — see Step 5a.i below).
Source-of-truth docs registered or supplied at prompt: Camera Development Guide (in bsp_developer_guide mirror or separate path), Adaptation Guide §Camera, carrier schematic, SoC TRM, Module Design Guide.
dtc, cpp, fdtoverlay on PATH.

Procedure

Detailed step-by-step procedure (Steps 1–7, with all tables, code blocks, and gates) lives in references/procedure.md. Summary:

Step 1 — Resolve active target + open source-of-truth docs.
Step 2 — Enumerate supported sensors by globbing in-tree per-platform camera dtbos; classify as DPHY-direct / GMSL / custom. Never invent sensors.
Step 3 / 3a — Cross-check carrier + module support against DTSI, Camera Development Guide, Adaptation Guide §Camera, SoC TRM, Module Design Guide, schematic, and carrier pinmap. Render the wiring table FIRST, then issue the confirm-or-customize gate.
Step 4 (custom path only) — Batched per-sensor wiring questions auto-filled from the carrier pinmap.
Step 5 — Append exactly ONE /* custom-bsp: camera:<sensor> */ fragment to the composite custom overlay .dts (see ../../references/bsp-customization-kernel-dtb.md). Clone path cpp-expands the in-tree DTSI; custom path splices Step-4 answers + mode tables in-place. Idempotently set jetson-header-name on the composite root. Verify with dtc + fdtoverlay (pre-compile single-fragment gate; post-compile deep-tree uniqueness gate). Commit via the workflow's commit-message preview gate.
Step 6 — Verify ancillary CAM pin SFIOs (cam_i2c_*, extperiph<m>_clk, reset/PWDN/PWR_EN GPIOs) via pin_verifier.py; route mismatches to /jetson-customize-pinmux.
Step 7 — Atomic-write run-state JSON sidecar at <workspace>/target-platform/<profile-stem>.jetson-customize-camera.json and emit the headline, then drive the downstream next-step chain via sequential AskUserQuestion prompts per references/procedure.md Step 7. The chain is a documented workflow gate, not a clarifying question — auto-mode does NOT exempt it. Never substitute a printed "Next step: …" line for the prompts.

Gotchas

Dual-fragment trap. Contribute exactly ONE camera-tagged fragment@N to the composite. A second one carrying status overrides triggers dtc deep-merge → duplicate sibling subtrees (e.g. two tca9546@70) → runtime first-match drops the dtsi- supplied deep tree → camera silently doesn't enumerate. Gate on this skill's marker only (Step 5c).
Composite root compatible is owned globally, not by this skill. Don't widen from any in-tree per-sensor dtbo's compatible (devkit-SKU-gated). Fix the composite root if needed.
jetson-header-name from any in-tree per-sensor dtbo. Fixed, carrier-agnostic; read once, paste onto the metadata root.
DO NOT also append the in-tree per-sensor dtbo to OVERLAY_DTB_FILE. Registering both your rendered overlay AND the in-tree tegra<soc>-p3971-camera-<sensor>-overlay.dtbo produces a phantom subdev bind that bricks camera enumeration.
Stub overlay is a known footgun. Committing tegra-capture-vi { status="okay"; num-channels=<N>; } with no ports / sensor / nvcsi body bricks the camera (all channel init failed). Splice the FULL sensor body via cpp + dtc.
Sensor mode tables must be spliced, never hand-authored. mode<N>, sensor_modes, pixel_phase — copy verbatim from the closest in-tree DTSI.
camera_common_regulator_get (null) ERR: -EINVAL = missing avdd-reg / iovdd-reg / dvdd-reg strings — splice the FULL sensor body; always-on rails fall back to dummy regulator.
External &label refs must exist in base DTB's __symbols__. Use target-path = "/tegra-capture-vi" when the label is absent; fdtoverlay exits non-zero with FDT_ERR_NOTFOUND otherwise.
cpp failure on dt-bindings/gpio/gpio.h: No such file = L4T source tree isn't staged. Re-run /jetson-init-source (Branch B's source_sync.sh fetches the headers). Never fabricate the macro expansion.
No ODMDATA edit, no flash-conf edit. Camera doesn't consume UPHY lanes. The carrier conf's ODMDATA="..." is untouched. OVERLAY_DTB_FILE+= is owned by /jetson-build-source Step 5.0a — this skill never touches the carrier flash conf.
Don't touch the upstream BSP at <bsp_image.root_path>. All edits land in <source.root_path>/Linux_for_Tegra/ (overlay tracker) and <source.root_path>/bsp_sources/ (overlay .dts) under the pristine + customization commit pattern.

References

references/procedure.md — full step-by-step Steps 1–7 procedure (extracted from this SKILL.md).
references/csi-dt-bindings.md — CSI / nvcsi / vi DT binding reference notes.
references/overlay-template.md — guidance on the metadata-root + clone-body overlay shape.
references/camera-overlay-templates/ — starter .dts.tmpl templates: dphy-direct.dts.tmpl, gmsl-serdes.dts.tmpl.
../../scripts/pin_verifier.py — shared HSIO pin verifier (Step 6).
../../references/platform_template.yaml — documents: block consumed by Step 1.
../../context/bsp-customization-workflow.md — overlay edit protocol.
../jetson-customize-pinmux/SKILL.md — sibling skill auto-invoked by Step 6 to fix HSIO pin SFIO mismatches (CAM I²C, MCLK, reset GPIOs).
../jetson-derive-carrier/SKILL.md — must run first; produces the carrier base overlay (the *-dynamic.dtbo) this skill's composite stacks after.
../jetson-init-source/SKILL.md — produces the overlay tracker + bsp_sources repo (with the hardware/nvidia/<chip-dir>/ per-sensor DTSI tree) this skill reads and commits into.

Files

ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer932 B
BENCHMARK.md3.8 KiB
LICENSELicence file added by AutoGineer11.2 KiB
SKILL.md9.6 KiB
evals/evals.json5.3 KiB
references/camera-overlay-templates/README.md2.6 KiB
references/camera-overlay-templates/dphy-direct.dts.tmpl8.2 KiB
references/camera-overlay-templates/gmsl-serdes.dts.tmpl8.2 KiB
references/csi-dt-bindings.md3.6 KiB
references/overlay-template.md7.5 KiB
references/procedure.md17.0 KiB
skill-card.md3.8 KiB
skill.oms.sig6.0 KiB

evals/evals.json

[
  {
    "id": "jetson-customize-camera-001",
    "question": "I just brought my Thor custom carrier up with /jetson-derive-carrier and now I need to enable a Hawk IMX sensor that NVIDIA already ships an in-tree DTSI for. Walk me through wiring it up.",
    "expected_skill": "jetson-customize-camera",
    "expected_script": null,
    "ground_truth": "Run /jetson-customize-camera. Step 1 resolves the active target and opens the Camera Development Guide + Adaptation Guide §Camera. Step 2 globs bsp_sources/hardware/nvidia/<chip-dir>/nv-public/overlay/ for in-tree per-sensor dtbos and classifies the Hawk as DPHY-direct or GMSL. Step 3 cross-checks carrier + module support against the DTSI, schematic, SoC TRM, Module Design Guide and pinmap, then issues the confirm-or-customize gate. Step 5 cpp-expands tegra<soc>-camera-<sensor>*.dtsi, extracts its fragment@N body, appends exactly one /* custom-bsp: camera:<sensor> */ fragment to the composite custom overlay .dts, idempotently sets jetson-header-name on the composite root, and verifies with dtc + fdtoverlay before committing. Step 6 runs pin_verifier.py over cam_i2c_*, extperiph<m>_clk and reset/PWDN/PWR_EN GPIOs and routes mismatches to /jetson-customize-pinmux. /jetson-build-source then compiles the composite to .dtbo and registers OVERLAY_DTB_FILE+= in the carrier conf — this skill never edits ODMDATA or the flash conf.",
    "expected_behavior": [
      "Read skills/jetson-customize-camera/SKILL.md",
      "Verify prerequisites: active profile with reference_devkit + custom_carrier, Linux_for_Tegra/.git exists, /jetson-derive-carrier has run, bsp_sources/hardware/nvidia/<chip-dir>/nv-public/overlay/ contains the in-tree per-sensor .dtsi files",
      "Step 2: glob in-tree per-platform camera dtbos to enumerate supported sensors and classify Hawk as DPHY-direct vs GMSL — never invent sensors",
      "Step 3: cross-check support against DTSI, Camera Development Guide, Adaptation Guide §Camera, SoC TRM, Module Design Guide, schematic and carrier pinmap; render the wiring table first then issue the confirm-or-customize gate",
      "Step 5: cpp-expand the in-tree tegra<soc>-camera-<sensor>*.dtsi, extract its fragment@N body, append exactly ONE /* custom-bsp: camera:<sensor> */ fragment to the composite custom overlay .dts, set jetson-header-name on the composite root idempotently, and verify with dtc + fdtoverlay (pre-compile single-fragment gate, post-compile deep-tree uniqueness gate)",
      "Step 6: run pin_verifier.py for cam_i2c_*, extperiph<m>_clk and reset/PWDN/PWR_EN GPIOs, route mismatches to /jetson-customize-pinmux",
      "Step 7: write the run-state JSON sidecar at <workspace>/target-platform/<profile-stem>.jetson-customize-camera.json and drive the next-step chain via sequential AskUserQuestion prompts",
      "Hand off to /jetson-build-source to compile the composite .dtbo and own OVERLAY_DTB_FILE+= registration; do not touch ODMDATA or the carrier flash conf"
    ]
  },
  {
    "id": "jetson-customize-camera-002",
    "question": "After /jetson-customize-camera my flash succeeds but v4l2-ctl --list-devices shows no tegra-capture-vi channels and dmesg has 'camera_common_regulator_get (null) ERR: -EINVAL'. What did I do wrong?",
    "expected_skill": "jetson-customize-camera",
    "expected_script": null,
    "ground_truth": "The 'camera_common_regulator_get (null) ERR: -EINVAL' error means the overlay is missing avdd-reg / iovdd-reg / dvdd-reg regulator strings — almost always because a stub overlay was committed (tegra-capture-vi { status=\"okay\"; num-channels=<N>; } with no ports/sensor/nvcsi body) instead of splicing the FULL sensor body via cpp + dtc. Re-run /jetson-customize-camera Step 5 so it cpp-expands the in-tree tegra<soc>-camera-<sensor>*.dtsi and copies its fragment@N body verbatim — sensor mode tables (mode<N>, sensor_modes, pixel_phase) must be spliced, never hand-authored. Also confirm you didn't fall into the dual-fragment trap (two camera-tagged fragment@N entries cause dtc deep-merge of duplicate sibling subtrees like two tca9546@70 and silently drop the dtsi-supplied deep tree) and that you did NOT also append the in-tree per-sensor dtbo to OVERLAY_DTB_FILE — registering both your rendered overlay AND tegra<soc>-p3971-camera-<sensor>-overlay.dtbo produces a phantom subdev bind that bricks enumeration.",
    "expected_behavior": [
      "Read skills/jetson-customize-camera/SKILL.md and consult the Gotchas section",
      "Identify camera_common_regulator_get (null) ERR: -EINVAL as missing avdd-reg / iovdd-reg / dvdd-reg strings — splice the FULL sensor body via cpp + dtc, do not commit a stub overlay",
      "Check for the dual-fragment trap: ensure exactly ONE /* custom-bsp: camera:<sensor> */ fragment@N is present in the composite custom overlay .dts",
      "Verify the in-tree per-sensor dtbo (e.g. tegra<soc>-p3971-camera-<sensor>-overlay.dtbo) was NOT also appended to OVERLAY_DTB_FILE — registering both produces a phantom subdev bind",
      "Confirm sensor mode tables (mode<N>, sensor_modes, pixel_phase) were spliced verbatim from the closest in-tree DTSI, not hand-authored",
      "If cpp failed earlier with 'dt-bindings/gpio/gpio.h: No such file', re-run /jetson-init-source so Branch B's source_sync.sh fetches the macro headers",
      "Re-run Step 5 with cpp-expansion of the in-tree DTSI, then re-verify with fdtoverlay before re-committing"
    ]
  }
]

Requirements and compatibility

Written for: Claude Code

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Names Claude Code tools

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Attribution and licence

Created by

Jetson Team

Publisher

NVIDIA (Official)

Distributed by

NVIDIA

Source

NVIDIA/skills · skills/jetson-customize-camera · commit fce3cca

Licence

Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)

LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE-APACHE)
ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)

Synced

2026-11-08

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Jetson Team or NVIDIA.

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download jetson-customize-camera.zip