How to Enable Nigel to Use Custom User VIs for Code Generation

Updated Aug 28, 2026

Environment

Software

  • Nigel AI Integration 2026 Q3
  • LabVIEW

This article explains how to make custom user VIs available to Nigel for LabVIEW Code Generation. By default, LabVIEW Code Generation requires VIs to be present in the nodes catalog before they can be used during VI generation.
 
Until direct support for user-defined VIs is added in a future release, you can use the following workaround to add user VIs to the nodes catalog.

Prerequisites

  • LabVIEW™ 2026 Q3 Patch 1 installed
  • Access to the LabVIEW installation directory
  • User VIs with meaningful names and descriptions

  1. Verify that LabVIEW 2026 Q3 Patch 1 is installed.
  2. Review the user VIs that you want Nigel to use for code generation.
    • Ensure that each VI has a clear and descriptive name.
    • Ensure that each VI contains a meaningful description.
    • Nigel uses VI names and descriptions when identifying suitable subVIs for code generation.
  3. Close LabVIEW.
  4. With LabVIEW closed, add the user VIs directly under user.lib in the LabVIEW install directory.  If you prefer to organize user VIs in a subdirectory under user.lib, continue to Step 5; otherwise, skip to Step 6
  5. (Optional) If you would like to create a subdirectory under user.lib to organize user VIs, follow these steps to ensure that Nigel is able to find the user VIs in that subdirectory: 
    1. Create the subdirectory under user.lib and add user VIs to that subdirectory.
    2. Launch LabVIEW.
    3. Go to Tools > Advanced > Edit Palette Set...
    4. In the Functions palette, open the User Libraries subpalette.
    5. Open the subpalette that is automatically created for your subdirectory.
    6. Insert an empty row in the subpalette using the Insert > Empty Row context menu item and then delete the empty row by right-clicking on the row and selecting Delete Empty Row.  This forces a .mnu file to be created for your subdirectory on saving your changes to the palette set.
    7. On the Edit Controls and Functions Palette Set dialog, ensure that "Preview changes before saving." checkbox is checked and click on the Save Changes button.  On the Preview Palette Changes dialog, verify that a .mnu file is created for your subdirectory and then click on the Continue button to proceed saving the changes to the Functions palette.
    8. Exit LabVIEW.

  6. Launch LabVIEW, open Nigel Chat, and instruct Nigel to generate a VI using the user VIs.  Providing names of exact user VIs to use in the prompt helps Nigel find and use those VIs.

After completing these steps, Nigel can discover and use the user VIs located in user.lib or in supported subdirectories when generating LabVIEW code.

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