API Overview

The Phoenix 6 API resides in the com.ctre.phoenix6 package in Java, the ctre::phoenix6 namespace in C++, and the phoenix6 module in Python. The API is then further organized into smaller packages and namespaces that group together similar types of classes and functions:

  • configs - classes related to device configuration

  • controls - classes related to device control

  • hardware - the device hardware classes, such as TalonFX

  • signals - enumeration types for device signals

  • sim - classes related to device simulation

C++ IntelliSense

In C++, this namespace structure has the advantage of cleaning up IntelliSense when searching for classes:

// first use the ctre::phoenix6 namespace
using namespace ctre::phoenix6;

// now types are organized cleanly by namespace
hardware::TalonFX m_talonFX{0};
sim::TalonFXSimState& m_talonFXSim{m_talonFX.GetSimState()};

controls::DutyCycleOut m_talonFXOut{0};

configs::TalonFXConfiguration m_talonFXConfig{};
signals::InvertedValue m_talonFXInverted{signals::InvertedValue::CounterClockwise_Positive};

All C++ code examples in this documentation will assume the presence of using namespace ctre::phoenix6;.

Python Imports

Python also takes advantage of the module structure to improve IntelliSense:

# first import the relevant modules and types
from phoenix6 import controls, configs, hardware, signals

# now types are organized cleanly by module
self.talonfx = hardware.TalonFX(0)
self.talonfx_out = controls.DutyCycleOut(0)

talonfx_configs = configs.TalonFXConfiguration()
talonfx_inverted = signals.InvertedValue.COUNTER_CLOCKWISE_POSITIVE

All Python code examples in this documentation will assume the presence of from phoenix6 import *.

Thread Safety

The vast majority of Phoenix 6 is thread-safe with a few exceptions. Objects that are not thread-safe include:

  • StatusSignal objects

    • Calling the same device StatusSignal getter (e.g. TalonFX.getVelocity()) from multiple threads is unsafe. This is because device signal getters refresh the StatusSignal implicitly.

    • Users should clone or copy a StatusSignal object to get a unique instance for a given thread.

  • Config objects

    • Includes TalonFX.setInverted() and TalonFX.setNeutralMode()

    • However, device Configurator objects and other setters (e.g. TalonFX.setPosition()) are thread-safe.

  • Control objects

    • However, sending a control request to a device is thread-safe.