Services API
Nintendo provides application developers with an API, which communicate with certain services. Services, in this sense, are system processes running in the background which wait for incoming requests. When a process wants to communicate with a service, it first needs to get a handle to the named service, and then it can communicate with the service via interprocess communication. Each service has a name up to 8 characters, for example "nim:u".
Handles for services are retrieved from the service manager port, "srv:". Services are an abstraction of ports, they operate the same way except regular ports can have their handles retrieved directly from a SVC.
For a description of how commands and arguments are passed to services, see IPC Command Structure.
List of services (grouped by the process which provides them):
| Old3ds | Services | Service names | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | Filesystem services | fs:USER, fs:LDR, fs:REG | USER: normal applications and system modules, LDR: loader, REG: register |
| Yes | Process Services | ps:ps | |
| Yes | PXI Services | PxiFS0, PxiFS1, PxiFSB, PxiFSR, PxiPM, pxi:am9, pxi:dev, pxi:mc, pxi:ps9 | |
| Yes | Application Manager Services | am:app, am:net, am:u, am:sys, am:pipe | app: am for applications, net: network installation (nim), u: local installation, sys: am for system titles, pipe: not an actual port (internally used to represent the FSFile-like interface) |
| Yes | Process Manager Services | pm:app, pm:dbg | app: launching titles, dbg: launching titles with debugging enabled |
| Yes | NIM Services | nim:aoc, nim:ndm, nim:s, nim:u | aoc: DLC, ndm: for ndm, s: for eShop, u: for updater |
| Yes | Config Services | cfg:u, cfg:s, cfg:i, cfg:nor | u: for user, s: for system, i: for initialization/formatting, nor: accesses wifi SPI flash |
| Yes | NS and APT Services | ns:s, ns:p, ns:c, APT:A, APT:S, APT:U | ns:s: for system, ns:p: power (shutdown/reboot), ns:c: ?, APT:A: application, APT:S: system, APT:U: user |
| Yes | RO Services | ldr:ro | |
| Yes | NDM Services | ndm:u | |
| Yes | CSND Services | csnd:SND | |
| Yes | Camera Services | cam:u, y2r:u, cam:s, cam:c, cam:q (New3DS only) | |
| Yes | Codec Services | cdc:HID, cdc:MIC, cdc:CSN, cdc:DSP, cdc:LGY, cdc:CHK | HID: human interface device, MIC: microphone, CSN: for csnd?, DSP: for dsp?, LGY: legacy (some kind of backwards compat?), CHK: ? |
| Yes | DLP Services | dlp:CLNT, dlp:FKCL, dlp:SRVR | CLNT: client, FKCL: fake client, SRVR: server |
| Yes | DSP Services | dsp::DSP | |
| Yes | GSP Services | gsp::Lcd, gsp::Gpu | Lcd: LCD control, Gpu: GPU control |
| Yes | BOSS Services | boss:U, boss:P, boss:M | U: user, P: privileged, M: for ndm |
| Yes | CECD Services | cecd:u, cecd:s, cecd:ndm | u: user, s: system, ndm: for ndm |
| Yes | IR Services | ir:u, ir:USER, ir:rst | |
| Yes | I2C Services | i2c::MCU, i2c::CAM, i2c::LCD, i2c::DEB, i2c::HID, i2c::IR, i2c::EEP, i2c::NFC, i2c::QTM | |
| Yes | GPIO Services | gpio:CDC, gpio:MCU, gpio:HID, gpio:NWM, gpio:IR, gpio:NFC, gpio:QTM | |
| Yes | HID Services | hid:NFC, hid:QTM, hid:SPVR, hid:USER | NFC: near-field communication (amiibo), QTM: head tracking device (related to QTM Services)?, SPVR: system privileged? |
| Yes | PTM Services | ptm:gets, ptm:play, ptm:s, ptm:sets, ptm:sysm, ptm:u | gets: get system time, play: play history, s: system, sets: set system time, sysm: system menu (homemenu/testmenu), u: user |
| Yes | NWM Services | nwm::CEC, nwm::EXT, nwm::INF, nwm::SAP, nwm::SOC, nwm::TST, nwm::UDS | CEC: streetpass, EXT: ?, INF: infrastructure, SAP: ?, SOC: socket, UDS: local WLAN, TST: ? |
| Yes | HTTP Services | http:C | C: connection |
| Yes | SSL Services | ssl:C | C: connection |
| Yes | Socket Services | soc:P, soc:U | P: privileged, U: user |
| Yes | AC Services | ac:i, ac:u | i: internal, u: user |
| Yes | Friend Services | frd:a, frd:n, frd:u | a: admin, n: for ndm, u: user |
| Yes | News Services | news:s, news:u | s: system, u:user |
| Yes | PDN Services | pdn:s, pdn:d, pdn:i, pdn:g, pdn:c | |
| Yes | SPI Services | SPI::NOR, SPI::CD2, SPI::CS2, SPI::CS3, SPI::DEF | |
| Yes | Loader Services | Loader | |
| Yes | MCU Services | mcu::CAM, mcu::GPU, mcu::HID, mcu::RTC, mcu::SND, mcu::NWM, mcu::HWC, mcu::PLS, mcu::CDC | |
| Yes | MIC Services | mic:u | |
| Yes | ACT Services | act:a, act:u | a: admin, u: user |
| Yes | MP Services | mp:u | |
| Yes | NFC Services | nfc:dev, nfc:m, nfc:p, nfc:r, nfc:s, nfc:u | dev: developer, m: ? p: passthrough?, r: raw?, s: system, u: user |
| No | MVD Services | ||
| No | QTM Services |
List of PXI services:
- Filesystem services PXI
- Process Services PXI
- Application Manager Services PXI
- Process Manager Services PXI
- Development Services PXI
- Gamecard Services PXI
- Legacy FIRM PXI (TWL_FIRM/AGB_FIRM)
List of ports:
See Error codes.