Main and contextual actions

The following list includes all actions available in the Actions View:

Action	Keyboard shortcut	Description
Build	Ctrl-Alt-B	Builds the active context by regenerating only artifacts that are dependent on your changes to the source code. When the build is ongoing, any interaction with the configuration is frozen and most of the Views are unavailable.
Pristine Build	Ctrl-Shift-Alt-B	Reruns the entire build configuration (with all its application contexts, both active and not) and regenerates all artifacts. Using this option removes all the data from the previous build, includes any previously set Kconfig menu settings, and generates a new build. When the build is ongoing, any interaction with the configuration is frozen and most of the Views are unavailable. You will only need to manually run Pristine Build when your build goes stale. Hover over the Build action to see the Pristine Build icon appear to the right.
Debug	None	Flashes the board target on the connected device with the active build configuration and then starts a debug session. If the build configuration includes several images or domains (contexts), the extension asks you to select the ones to debug. This action is only shown when the active build configuration or the active context has an ELF file defined in its runner configuration. When triggered from the Command Palette, the build picker shows only configurations that meet this requirement. This action features a More Actions... menu with the following actions: - Attach Debugger to Target - Start the debugger for a running application without having to reflash it. - Debug without Flashing - Start the application and the debugging process on the target device without flashing it. - Bind to Launch Configuration - Select the launch configuration for debugging. You can reset the binding using the Reset Configuration action that appears in this menu after you bind the configuration.
Configure Debugging	None	Opens the launch configuration file for customization and automatically binds it to the launch configuration. You can reset this setting using the Reset Configuration action that appears in the More Actions... menu after you bind the configuration. Hover over the Debug action to see the Configure Debugging button appear to the right.
Flash	Ctrl-Alt-P	Flashes the application binary of the active build configuration to the associated board target on the connected device. This action is only shown when the active context has a west runner configured or when the top build configuration is selected. When triggered from the Command Palette, the build picker shows only configurations that have a runner set up. If you have multiple devices connected, the extension opens a picker where you can select a device (or devices) to which you want to flash the active build configuration. See How to flash multiple boards for more information. The picker also mentions the compatibility of connected devices and can also notify you about a new debug firmware version available. If the build system considers the build incomplete, this action can also build before flashing (unless you set nrf-connect.applicationOptions to skip building at this stage). This action features a More Actions... menu with task binding actions. Read more about task binding actions on the Customizing build configuration page.
Erase and Flash to Board	Ctrl-Alt-E	Removes any binary currently on the connected device, such as file system data or any other memory on the chip, and then flashes the selected application binary. Hover your mouse to the right of Flash, and click on the icon to complete this action. Only use Erase and Flash to Board if you are sure you want to remove all previous binaries on the selected board. These binaries cannot be recovered once the action has been done. Erase and Flash to Board is recommended in cases where you want to flash files onto the board that conflict with each other.
Devicetree	None	Opens the Devicetree Visual Editor for the devicetree file associated with the application. Read more about what you can do in the editor on the How to work with Devicetree Visual Editor page. This action features a More Actions... menu with actions that allow you to open the devicetree file in the Editor (Open in Text Editor) and to create an overlay file (Create Overlay, available only if you work with a *.dts board file), respectively.
nRF Kconfig GUI	None	Opens a graphical representation of the Kconfig options tree structure in the editor area, known as the nRF Kconfig GUI. This action features a More Actions... menu with an action that allows you to open the menuconfig interactive Kconfig interface supported by Zephyr and the nRF Connect SDK. This action corresponds to the nRF Kconfig: Kconfig: Show Config GUI command in the Command Palette. Clicking this action can also trigger the rebuilding of your application if the Kconfig language server cannot be started.
Memory report	None	Creates and opens a memory report for the active build configuration. If the build configuration includes several images or domains (contexts), the extension asks you to select for which one you want to create the report. Memory report details are also available in the Details View under the Memory report section (only partitions are listed there until you generate the report).
Bind Task to Action, Remove Task Binding, Manage Task Bindings, Open Tasks File	None	All these actions are related to binding custom tasks to actions. Manage Task Bindings appears only after you add a binding.