JKI Releases Latest Version of its VI Package Manager for LabVIEW, VIPM 2026 Q3

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August 12, 2026

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JKI released its latest version of its VI Package Manager for LabVIEW, VIPM 2026 Q3, introducing a complete command-line interface (CLI) for continuous integration (CI) automation, a new vipm sbom command for generating Software Bills of Materials ahead of the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), and support for managing NI Package Manager (NIPM) dependencies alongside VIPM packages in a single configuration file.

JKI divulged the feature most requested by LabVIEW teams is the ability to run VIPM in CI to install project packages in LabVIEW. VIPM 2026 Q3 solves the issue as well as giving teams a compliance-ready path to a requirement set by EU law, documenting the components in any product with digital elements sold into the EU.

VIPM 2026 Q3 ships a full, standalone command-line interface and not just a wrapper around the desktop application. The complete program delivers its own commands, options, and built-in help. The CLI starts VIPM Desktop and LabVIEW behind the scenes only when needed and is designed to run on build servers with no screen, mouse, or operator present.

Representative commands include:

• vipm install oglib_boolean
• vipm install MyProject.vipc --labview-version 2026

Built in Rust, the CLI compiles to a single native executable with no separate runtime to install, while supporting Windows, macOS, and Linux from one codebase. Currently, JKI ships Rust-backed LabVIEW libraries for TOML parsing and high-performance HTTP.

Within the Getting Started with the CLI guide and the examples repository is a reference GitHub Actions workflow that installs a project's dependencies from a .vipc or vipm.toml file inside NI's official LabVIEW 2026 Q3 container image. Guides are also available for GitLab, Jenkins, and Azure DevOps. Every command and option is documented in the CLI Command Reference.

 The CLI includes a set of features designed specifically for unattended operation:

• Automatic CI detection - across GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, and nine other platforms, enabling non-interactive mode automatically
• Headless control via environment variables - including VIPM_NONINTERACTIVE, VIPM_ASSUME_YES, VIPM_COMMUNITY_EDITION, VIPM_TIMEOUT, VIPM_DEBUG, and NO_COLOR
• Reliable interruption - with Ctrl+C support across every command and a --timeout option for vipm sbom and vipm sync
• Progress-bounded operations - installs and downloads continue as long as they are making progress and stop only when they are actually stalled
• Machine-readable exit codes - a full catalog published via vipm help --json
• Transparent failure reporting - headless vipm install failures now printing the underlying error.

The EU Cyber Resilience Act has two compliance dates relevant to LabVIEW-based products including mandatory 24-hour reporting of actively exploited vulnerabilities and severe incidents beginning September 11, 2026, and the full application of essential requirements, such as the commitment under Annex I Part II(1) to produce a software bill of materials covering top-level dependencies, beginning December 11, 2027.

VIPM 2026 Q3 introduces vipm sbom, a new command that generates a Software Bill of Materials directly from a vipm.toml, .lvproj, .dragon, or .vipc file:

• vipm sbom --from MyProject.lvproj
• vipm sbom --from vipm.toml

Complete details are documented in the SBOM guide. Per the press release, the command produces CycloneDX 1.5, one of the two SBOM formats recognized by EU market surveillance authorities. The SBOMs cover VIPM and NI packages and include license identifiers and cryptographic hashes, record of the software producer via product-supplier, and are byte-reproducible. Components are emitted in stable, sorted order, with document timestamps that can be pinned via document-timestamp or SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH. Byte-reproducible output enables an SBOM to be checked into source control and diffed like code, so any change reflects a true shift in the supply chain rather than incidental noise.

The company states that vipm sbom can also be added directly to a CI pipeline, ensuring the SBOM regenerates, and stays current, on every commit.

Added is a "Generate SBOM" option to build specifications in the LabVIEW Application Builder, producing an SBOM along with the compiled executable with no CI, containers, or command line needed. The SBOM is scoped to the VIPM and NI packages utilized by the VIs included in that build, rather than every package installed on the development machine. This aligns with the CRA's Annex I requirement to document only the components shipped in the product. The same scoping is available from the command line via:

• vipm sbom --from MyProject.lvproj --lvproj-build-spec "My Application"

Additional Capabilities

• vipm sync - generates a vipm.toml package configuration file directly from an existing .lvproj, enabling teams without a package configuration file to create one from current projects
• vipm.lock - records the exact version of every installed package, ensuring identical installs across every machine, consistent with lock-file conventions in ecosystems such as Rust, JavaScript, and Python
• NI Package Manager (NIPM) support - allows teams to declare NIPM feeds and dependencies within [nipm.*] sections of the same vipm.toml, and manage them via vipm add --nipm, vipm remove --nipm, and vipm search, consolidating VIPM and NI dependencies into a single configuration file, lock file, and SBOM. This capability is available in Community Edition and above.

Resources:

• VIPM 2026 Q3 is available for download today
• Getting Started with the CLI guide
• SBOM guide
• Docker guide,
• GitHub Actions guide and the NI Packages (NIPM) guide are available at JKI's documentation site, along with a working examples repository.