Prerequisites & Setup

This guide covers setting up your development environment to build simulator connectors with the Cognite Simulator Integration SDK.

System Requirements

For this tutorial, you need Windows 10 or later and Microsoft Excel. The SDK supports cross-platform deployment for non-COM integrations.

Development Tools

You need .NET 8.0 (LTS) or later. Check your version with dotnet --version and download it from dotnet.microsoft.com/download if needed.

Cognite Data Fusion (CDF) Setup

You need access to a CDF project. If you don't have one, request access from your administrator or sign up for a trial at cognite.com.

Service Account / Application Credentials

Your connector needs credentials to authenticate with CDF:

Client ID - Application/Service Principal ID
Client Secret - Application secret/key
Tenant ID - Azure AD tenant ID (for Microsoft Entra ID)
CDF Project Name - Your CDF project identifier
CDF Host - Typically https://api.cognitedata.com (or your cluster URL)
Scopes - Typically https://[cluster].cognitedata.com/.default
Data Set ID - CDF Data Set to store simulator resources

Your service account requires appropriate CDF capabilities.

Create a Data Set

In CDF, go to CDF > Data Management > Data sets and create a new data set (e.g., "Simulator Connector Data"). Note the Data Set ID for your configuration.