Getting Started with Atym: Arduino Portenta H7

This guide will walk you through setting up Atym on your Arduino Portenta H7 board so that you can get up and running quickly with building container-based applications.

Prerequisites

Sign up for a free trial account at atym.io to gain access to Atym to deploy containers on up to 3 devices at no cost. Your account provides access to the Atym Hub, container registry, developer resources, documentation, and more.

Hardware​

• Arduino Portenta H7
• Portenta Breakout Board
• USB-C Cable
• Ethernet Cable with access to your network

Software​

• Atym CLI: Windows (x86_64) Mac (x86_64 | arm64 ) Linux (x86_64 | arm64)
• dfu-util
• Serial Terminal application (Windows: TeraTerm, Mac: CoolTerm, Linux: Picocom)

Board Setup​

Connect your Portenta H7 to the Portenta Breakout board like so, and then plug in an Ethernet cable for Hub connectivity.

Flashing the Atym Runtime ​

This section will guide you through downloading the Atym firmware and flashing it to your Portenta H7 board using dfu-util.

Download the Atym Firmware​

First, download the latest firmware image specifically built for the Portenta H7 board from the "Code" section of this post found here.

Flash the Atym Firmware​

Next, we will flash the downloaded Atym firmware to your Portenta H7 board using dfu-util.

• Connect your USB-C cable to the Portenta H7 board and your computer.
• Press the blue button twice to put it into DFU Mode. The LED next to the USB-C port will pulse green if successful.
• Run the following command using dfu-util, replacing atym.bin with the path to your downloaded Atym firmware file:

dfu-util -a 0 -s 0x08040000:force:leave -D atym.bin

Verify Your Installation​

Let's confirm that the firmware was installed correctly:

1. Open your preferred serial terminal application with these settings:

• Port: Select your device's port
• Baud Rate: 115200
• Data Bits: 8
• Parity: None
• Flow Control: None

2. Press the blue button on your board to restart the device

3. You should see boot messages similar to this:

*** Booting Zephyr OS build v4.1.0-40-g34b526826adf ***
Copyright 2024 Atym, Inc. (build: 3151985)
Build info: dev-3151985+; 06-06-2025, 21:21Z; test.local
Platform: arduino_portenta_h7

These messages indicate that the Atym runtime has successfully started on your device.

Connecting to the Atym Hub

Setting up your device involves two main steps: first, creating a device identity in the Hub, then configuring your physical device to connect using this identity.

Log in to the Atym Hub

Before registering your device or performing most commands with the atym cli, you will need to authenticate like so:

atym login

You will then be prompted to sign in to Atym using the credentials you received earlier from when you signed up for the Atym Dev Zone.

Add the device to the Atym Hub​

This process creates a digital identity for your device in the Atym Hub. You'll perform these steps on your development computer, not on your board.

1. Create a file named device.yaml on your computer with the following content:

---
deviceName: portenta_h7             # Your desired device's name
description: "Arduino Portenta H7"  # Update with your device description
serialNumber: '1234567890'          # Replace with your actual serial number
target: armv7em 
cpu: cortex-m7 
enabled: true
aotEnabled: false 
targetAbi: eabihf 
xip: false

2. Add your device to the Atym Hub

atym add device -f device.yaml

If successful, you'll receive a response containing your deviceUUID and pskSecret. It will look similar to this:

{  
    "deviceUUID": "67c1c350-cc1c-482d-bde9-875688ff9b23",
    "pskSecret": "IEAaeWHKhYs4fAScF5ApQ0C9eGcXu123"
}

3. Copy both values to a secure location. You'll need these credentials to configure your device in the next steps.

4. Retrieve your tenant ID by running:

atym show config

From the output, locate and copy the Tenant ID field for your tenant, and copy it down

Environment: production
Scope: tenant
Access Level: editor
Environment Endpoint: https://api.prod.atym.io
Tenant Name: demo
Tenant ID: a8721ef3-5cd9-46b2-9f31-7d45b2c9ae42
Account Name: Atym
Account ID: 3efc94bd-7512-4961-895c-a5832de71fb9
User ID: auth0|****************
Device ID:
Device Name: 

Registering the device with the Atym Hub​

Now you'll configure your board with the credentials we copied down earlier, allowing it to securely connect to the Atym Hub.

The following steps must be performed ON YOUR DEVICE, not your host machine. You should see the command prompt atym:~$ if you're in the correct console

1. Set the device identity using your deviceUUID and tenantID:

atym config set device/id <deviceUUID>@<tenantID>

Replace <deviceUUID> and <tenantID> with the values you copied earlier. Make sure to include the @ symbol between them.

2. Configure the device's pre-shared key using the pskSecret:

atym config set device/psk <pskSecret>

3. Set the Atym Hub connection details:

atym config set server/endpoint coapgw.prod.atym.io
atym config set server/port 5684

4. Verify your configuration

atym config show

The output should display all four settings with their proper values:

Current configuration:
  device/id: a612baee-dd15-42cc-a0dc-a0783c186bb5@a60dbceb-270e-4b14-a93c-60809b34c123
  device/psk: ct6P/zFOHQbvrLyRFrnh22XnXQ1H8+at
  server/endpoint: coapgw.prod.atym.io
  server/port: 5684

5. Reset your device by pressing the Reset Button to apply the configuration.

6. After rebooting, your device should automatically connect to the Atym Hub. Look for the following message in your console:

Client connected successfully

It may take 5-10 seconds between the time the device reboots and when it connects to the Atym Hub.

Next Steps ​

Congratulations! You've successfully completed the setup process for your Arduino Portenta H7 with Atym. Your device is now properly configured and connected to the Atym Hub, ready for application deployment.

Ready to build your first app? Check out the Building and Deploying Your First App With Atym guide I made! It will guide you through all of the necessary steps to build and deploy your first container-based application with Atym.