Method and apparatus for providing program-based hardware co-simulation of a circuit design

A method and apparatus for providing a program-based hardware co-simulation of a circuit design are described. In one example, a circuit design is implemented for programmable logic to establish a design under test (DUT). A co-simulation model is programmatically generated using primitives defined by an application programming interface (API). The circuit design is simulated by configuring the programmable logic with the DUT and driving a co-simulation engine to communicate with the DUT via execution of the co-simulation model.