S32CT DCA - Headless Facade

Thin per-tool facade over the generic s32ct-cli skill that exposes only the flags relevant to the DCA (Device Configuration Area) tool of S32 Configuration Tools. This skill fronts the nxp_s32ct_configure MCP tool with action="dca". All shared launcher plumbing, validation, and auto-retry behavior is inherited from s32ct-cli.

How DCA relates to DCD

DCA is not a standalone headless tool. The S32CT DCD plugin registers a single headless tool (id="DCD", commandline_app=CmdApplication) whose command-line application drives DCD, DCF and DCA. At runtime the active variant is chosen automatically from the loaded processor (DCDUtils.getActiveToolAndController -> isDCDProcessorSelected / isDCFProcessorSelected / isDCAProcessorSelected).

Consequences:

• The dca action pre-fills tool_name="DCD" under the hood - the launcher is invoked with -HeadlessTool DCD, and the tool responds as DCA when the .mex targets a DCA-capable SoC.
• The CLI grammar is identical to DCD: -ImportBin, -ValidateConfiguration (surfaced as validate=True), and the export verbs -ExportBin, -ExportC, -ExportAll (which also emits -ExportMEX in the framework).
• DCA authentication is CMAC with a fixed 192-byte structure; there are no DCA-only CLI flags beyond the shared import / validate / export verbs.

When to use

Use this skill when, on a DCA-capable SoC, you need to:

• Import a binary DCA image into a .mex via -ImportBin.
• Validate a DCA configuration.
• Export DCA artifacts: binary, C source, or all.

Migration note: There has never been a standalone dca MCP tool. Use the unified nxp_s32ct_configure dispatcher's dca action (or action="dcd" directly, which is equivalent since both map to -HeadlessTool DCD).

Do not use this skill for:

• Cross-tool operations combining flags from multiple tools -> use s32ct-cli (action="cli").
• DCD command (write/check/nop) or DCF record configuration - use s32ct-dcd-facade / s32ct-dcf-facade.
• IVT / QuadSPI / eFUSE binary handling - use the matching facade.

Available Capabilities

Type	Name	Invocation
MCP tool	nxp_s32ct_configure	nxp_s32ct_configure(action="dca", ...)
Resource	skill://nxp_s32ct/s32ct-dca-facade	Auto-loaded on trigger

Quickstart

1. Load or bootstrap a .mex

Tool:    nxp_s32ct_configure
Action:  dca
Input:   project_path="<path>.mex"   # OR empty_config=True + mcu + sdk_version
Output:  {exit_code, command, stdout_tail, stderr_tail, values, summary}

2. Apply DCA-specific modifications and export

nxp_s32ct_configure(
    action="dca",
    project_path="<path>.mex",
    import_bin="<dca>.bin",        # -ImportBin
    validate=True,                 # -ValidateConfiguration
    export_kind="ExportBin",       # or ExportAll|ExportC|ExportMEX
    output_dir="<output-dir>",
)

3. Verify the export

Check that output_dir contains the expected artifacts (e.g. dcaBinaryImage, dcaCImage.c) and exit_code == 0.

Inputs

Mode (mutually exclusive)

• project_path - existing .mex to load via -Load.
• empty_config - if True, -EmptyConfig; requires mcu + sdk_version.
• config_name - -ConfigName <...>.

Tool-specific

• import_bin - DCA binary via -ImportBin.
• validate - run -ValidateConfiguration on the configuration.

Export

• export_kind in {ExportAll, ExportBin, ExportC, ExportMEX}.
• output_dir - required when export_kind is set.

Launcher / plumbing (shared with s32ct-cli)

• data_dir (-data <workspace>), extra_args, s32ct_launcher, launcher_ini, timeout_s (default 600).

Output

Same as s32ct-cli: { exit_code, command, stdout_tail, stderr_tail, values, summary }.

Guardrails

Scope

• Only drives the dca action of nxp_s32ct_configure (which maps to -HeadlessTool DCD). For cross-tool workflows use s32ct-cli (action="cli") instead.
• Applies only to SoCs that provide the DCA variant. On a DCD/DCF SoC the same launcher call operates on DCD/DCF instead - confirm the target SoC.
• Does not modify hardware or program devices.

Destructive actions

• Exports overwrite files in output_dir. Confirm the target directory is safe or empty before invoking with export_kind set.

Refuse-and-escalate

• Missing project_path AND missing empty_config/mcu/sdk_version combination -> ask the user which mode they want.
• Unknown export_kind value -> list the allowed enum values and ask.
• Retryable IllegalStateException -> auto-retry once, then escalate.

Validation loop

1. exit_code == 0.
2. output_dir contains the expected artifacts for the chosen export_kind.
3. If validate=True, check stdout_tail / summary for validation OK ("No problems found").

Out of scope

• Interactive GUI operations - use S32 Configuration Tools directly.
• Cross-tool operations combining multiple tools' flags - use s32ct-cli.
• Distribution portability (desktop vs integrated_s32ds) - handled transparently by the MCP; see s32ct-distributions.

See Also

• s32ct-cli - generic dispatcher with the full ~50-parameter surface.
• s32ct-dcd-facade, s32ct-dcf-facade - sibling Device-Configuration tool facades that share the same DCD CmdApplication and CLI grammar.
• s32ct-distributions - launcher selection.