Device Onboarding

Device onboarding is how you securely register Nordic nRF91 Series chips into nRF Cloud. Onboarding is secure by default: every device is verified against its Nordic Identity, a cryptographic identity injected into the chip during manufacturing and protected by a hardware root of trust.

Because that identity lives in silicon, you never handle private keys during production, and you can provision credentials over the air once devices are deployed in the field.

Before you begin

• Supported hardware: nRF9151 and nRF9161.
• What you need: The device's attestation token which you can get by running AT%ATTESTOKEN on a single device.

How secure onboarding works

When you onboard a device, nRF Cloud uses an attestation token derived from that identity to verify that the device is genuine Nordic silicon and create a secure chip-to-cloud connection before it adds the device to your project. You can add the device via nRF Cloud which avoids sensitive key handling on your manufacturing line.

Once you onboard a new device, it will show up in your Device Fleet page and update its details when it checks in.

How to add new devices

1. In nRF Cloud, go to Fleet → Devices.

2. Select Add devices.

3. You'll get a prompt to select which device you are adding to nRF Cloud. Select the nRF91 Series.

   

4. To add a device, you'll need to get your device credential via an attestation token. Run the AT%ATTESTOKEN command on your nRF9151 or nRF9161. This will give you your attestation token in the following format: %ATTESTOKEN: "your attestation token here". Copy the token from your device.

   

5. Paste the attestation token from your device into the Attestation token field on the Input Device credentials screen.

   

6. You'll be able to preview and confirm the token before adding it to your device fleet.

   

   

Once added, your devices will appear under Devices within a few minutes.

Edit and organize devices

• Select Bulk edit devices to change settings across many devices at once.
• Assign devices to cohorts to slice your fleet into mutually exclusive groups—for example a beta and a production cohort—so you can release new firmware to a small test group before rolling it out to everyone. See Cohorts.

Deactivate and remove devices

• Deactivate a device to block it from connecting while keeping it in your project. Use this to temporarily take a device out of service.
• Remove a device to delete it from your project entirely.

Troubleshooting

• A device does not appear after onboarding. Newly added devices can take a few minutes to appear. Wait, then reload the Devices list.
• Authentication failed. If a device continues to fail to register, or nRF Cloud does not recognize it, contact support.