There are three files that must be provided to the CoRAM backend in order to produce a working system:

1. The compute component source code file, commonly Verilog, that describes the hardware performing computation
2. The control thread source code, written in C, that coordinates data transfers and synchronization
3. The system specification file, a configuration file that describes how the system will be built, and is often standard to the output platform

In addition to these files, there may also be a memory image file containing input data.