A user may utilize a prototyping environment to create a sequence of motion control, machine vision, and/or data acquisition (DAQ) operations, e.g., without needing to write or construct code in any programming language. For example, the environment may provide a graphical user interface (GUI) enabling the user to develop/prototype the sequence at a high level, by selecting from and configuring a sequence of operations using the GUI. The prototyping environment may provide an application programming interface (API) which enables an external caller program to invoke execution of a particular sequence by the prototyping environment.