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Bolt applications in the RDK ecosystem are of two types:

  • Bolt-based Web Applications
  • Bolt-based Native Applications

...

Bolt‑Based Web Application

To build a Bolt‑based web application, you will need the following:

...

  1. Copy/SCP the .bolt package to the device, for example:
    /tmp/com.rdkcentral.app_name+0.1.0.bolt
  2. Install the app using the PackageManager.
    Code Block
    curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:9998/jsonrpc -d '{"jsonrpc":2.0,"id":1,"method":"org.rdk.PackageManagerRDKEMS.install","params":{"packageId":"com.rdkcentral.app_name+0.1.0.bolt","version":"0.1.0","fileLocator":"/tmp/com.rdkcentral.app_name+0.1.0.bolt"}}' -H "Content-Type: application/json"
  3. Launch the app using the Application Manager.
    Code Block
    curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:9998/jsonrpc -d '{"jsonrpc": "2.0","id": 1013, "method": "org.rdk.AppManager.1.launchApp", "params":{"appId":"com.rdkcentral.app_name"}}'




...

Bolt-based Native Applications

This page describes the process for creating and building native Bolt applications within the RDK ecosystem. The meta-bolt-youtube repository serves as the canonical reference implementation throughout this article.

See also: meta-bolt-distro | bolt-tools | Bolt Package Store

Overview:

A native Bolt application is a self-contained, application packaged as `.bolt` . Each application is maintained in its own Yocto meta-layer repository and follows a shared set of conventions across all RDK Bolt projects.

The overall workflow is:

  1.  Create a new application repository following the standard naming and layout.
  2. Declare all build-time dependencies in manifests/deps.xml.
  3. Add or reuse Yocto image recipes and native app recipes.
  4. Define package configs that instruct the Bolt tool how to assemble the final package.
  5. Source the build environment and run the Bolt make command.

2. Repository Setup

2.1 Naming Convention

All RDK Bolt application repositories follow this naming pattern:

Code Block
meta-bolt-<app_name>

Examples:

  • meta-bolt-youtube   (canonical reference)
  • meta-bolt-cobalt
  • meta-bolt-myapplication

2.2 Repository Structure

A new meta-bolt repository is expected to contain the following top-level layout:

Code Block
    meta-bolt-<app_name>/
    ├── README.md
    ├── CONTRIBUTING.md
    ├── LICENSE
    ├── COPYING
    ├── CHANGELOG.md
    ├── NOTICE
    ├── manifests/          # dependency declarations (see Section 3)
    ├── package-configs/    # Bolt package configuration JSON files (see Section 6)
    ├── recipes-core/       # image recipes (see Section 4)
    ├── recipes-devtools/   # host-tool recipes
    ├── recipes-extended/   # native app recipes and bbappend files (see Section 5)
    ├── conf/               # Yocto layer configuration
    └── setup-environment   # reusable environment setup script (see Section 7)


3. Dependency Management

3.1 manifests Folder

The manifests folder is the central location for declaring all components that the build system must fetch and integrate before building the native application.

To create the folder:

Code Block
 mkdir manifests

3.2 deps.xml Format

The deps.xml file inside the manifests folder acts as a dependency resolver for the Bolt application build. It declares:

  • Required repositories and their remote locations
  • Branch names or commit references to pin versions
  • Build-time dependency relationships between components

Typical entries in deps.xml cover:

  • The base Bolt distro layer
  • Core runtime components
  • Application-specific libraries
  • Development tool layers

4. Bolt Image Recipe

4.1 Purpose

An image recipe is a BitBake (.bb) file placed under recipes-core/images/. It defines the full contents of the root filesystem that will be assembled into the final Bolt package, including which packages, binaries, libraries, and supporting components are installed.

4.2 What to Include

The image recipe should declare all runtime dependencies of the native application so that the resulting Bolt package is complete and self-contained.

The following image recipes in meta-bolt-youtube can be used as templates:

Code Block
  - recipes-core/images/cobalt-bolt-image.bb
  - recipes-core/images/cobalt-exp-bolt-image.bb
  - recipes-core/images/nplb-bolt-image.bb

5. Native Application Recipes

Native application recipes are BitBake recipes that build the application binaries and libraries included in the final package. They can be sourced in one of two ways:

5.1 Reuse from Dependent Layers

If an existing recipe for the native application already exists in one of the meta-layers declared in manifests/deps.xml, that recipe can be consumed directly without duplication.

5.2 Adding New Recipes

When a suitable recipe does not exist upstream, new .bb recipe files or .bbappend overlay files can be added under the local recipes-extended tree:

Code Block
recipes-extended/<app_or_component>/

Keeping customisations in recipes-extended isolates them from upstream changes and makes future maintenance easier.

6. Package Configuration

The package-configs directory holds JSON configuration files that the Bolt tool reads to determine how to build a target image and assemble the final Bolt package.

There are two distinct config file types for each application:

6.1 <app_name>.bolt.json

This file is the primary Bolt build configuration. It instructs the Bolt tool on:

  - Which Yocto image target to build
  - Which metadata files to include in the final Bolt package

Reference examples in meta-bolt-youtube:

  - package-configs/cobalt.bolt.json
  - package-configs/youtube.bolt.json
  - package-configs/youtube-exp.bolt.json

6.2 com.rdkcentral.<app_name>.json

This file contains the native application metadata that is shipped inside the Bolt package. At runtime, the on-device application management service reads this file to determine:

  • Which dependent Bolt packages (such as base and runtime) must be mounted before launch
  • Which environment variables and configuration must be exported into the app container\
  • How the application is to be started within the Bolt runtime model

Reference examples in meta-bolt-youtube:
  - package-configs/com.rdkcentral.cobalt.json
  - package-configs/com.rdkcentral.youtube.json
  - package-configs/com.rdkcentral.youtube-exp.json

7. Setup Environment

The setup-environment and repo-sync scripts provided in meta-bolt-youtube are intentionally generic and designed to be reused in new Bolt application repositories with little to no
modification.

To adapt them for a new repository:

  1. Copy setup-environment and repo-sync into the root of the new meta-bolt-<app_name> repository.
  2. Ensure the dependency layout declared in manifests/deps.xml aligns with any path assumptions made by the scripts.
  3. Apply only minimal repo-specific changes where required, such as updating default repository names or local build directory paths.

Reusing these scripts keeps the bootstrap and workspace initialization process consistent across all native Bolt application projects.

References