hardware-splicer
Auditable hardware bring-up tool that goes from a donor design to a KiCad carrier board plus DRC and bench gates.
What it does and how it connects
Hardware Splicer is software that runs the checks a hardware engineer would run before a circuit board is built, and packages the result so anyone can rebuild and verify it. It takes a board design through KiCad electrical and design-rule checks, a bill of materials and fabrication-file check, and a staged list of what must pass before bench work begins. An AI agent can do parts of the engineering, but only through those same checks: a model's suggestion never becomes a physical instruction on its own say-so.
Interfaces are a web UI, a REST API, an MCP server and a CLI. Reproducibility is hash-bound: a packaged design rebuilds from its frozen source revision to the same published checksum. External models work through the MCP gateway, and runs are traced and audited against a fixed test set.
The reference design is an SPI flash adapter: a routed two-layer board with 18 test points, produced and checked through the workflow, with ERC, DRC and schematic-to-PCB parity clean. The README states the boundary plainly: no board has been fabricated or measured yet, and nothing here claims physical correctness. The repo description says it is seeking 3 design partners.
Alternatives
Compare side by side- kicad-review
A GitHub Actions workflow that renders visual diffs of KiCad changes on pull requests, rather than a bring-up tool from donor design to carrier board.
- KiCAD-Prism
A self-hosted web platform for browsing revisions, review comments, release sign-off and component governance, rather than a bring-up tool with bench gates.
- PCBLivingLibrary
A component librarian that finds and draws missing symbols, footprints and 3D models from a BOM, rather than a bring-up tool that checks a carrier board.
Recurring errors it addresses
Error Index entries this tool is built to reduce or work around.
- Interactive routing creates unwanted micro-segments and awkward paths that take time to clean up.Error Index
- Grid snap and move commands can disconnect items or reposition them in unwanted ways.Error Index
- GUI lag, occasional freezes, and sluggish editor switching interrupt concentration.Error Index
- Wayland/NVIDIA users report graphical glitches, flicker, or instability.Error Index
Sources
Not verified
- Pricing (none stated on the repo)
- Real user voices (the repo has no public issues)
- Standalone website (the repo homepage points to a release tag, not a product site)
Last verified November 6, 2026. Listings are informational. The evidence score measures public, verifiable evidence and is not an endorsement or a compatibility claim.