hw-codesign
Agentic hardware co-design from brief to KiCad board, firmware, 3D review, and explicit fabrication blockers.
What it does and how it connects
hw-codesign turns a hardware brief into a reviewable candidate: KiCad board, firmware, a 3D assembly, and an explicit fabrication-blocker report. It supports 13 board families, and it keeps missing sourcing, toolchain, manufacturing, and physical evidence visible instead of silently treating it as success.
It installs from PyPI and runs as a hw CLI, with an MCP install option. The quickstart creates and validates a typed RP2040 USB device project, and the README links an interactive 3D review of the generated RP2040 USB candidate plus a validation contract and a clean-platform reproduction report. The render is a candidate-level CAD preview, not a photo of fabricated or qualified hardware, as the README states. Python 3.11 or newer is required.
Alternatives
Compare side by side- hardware-foundry
A fifteen-agent web platform covering BOM, firmware, STL, and assembly docs, rather than a CLI and PyPI package for brief-to-board co-design.
- cursor-for-pcb
A chat-first PCB tool built on KiCad, SKiDL, and an MCP server, rather than a co-design CLI with a fabrication-blocker report.
- kicad-agent
A Pydantic AI agent that edits a real KiCad board with a live review UI, rather than a CLI that produces a reviewable candidate plus a blocker report.
- etch
A team of agents that picks real KiCad parts and routes a board in 3D, rather than a co-design CLI with explicit fabrication blockers.
- copper-mcp
A local-first MCP platform for deterministic KiCad routing, rather than a brief-to-board co-design CLI.
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
- A KiCad MCP bridge normalizes DRC, connectivity, and geometry into its own output format, and that normalized output can silently disagree with the native KiCad engine. The maintainer had to build seeded false-PASS and false-FAIL tests because the bridge layer cannot be trusted as engineering truth on its own.Error Index
Sources
Not verified
- Pricing: none stated on the repo; the documentation site was not separately read for pricing.
- Real user voices: no real linked post read for this page; open issues are maintainer planning issues.
- A named individual builder beyond the repository owner handle mrcha033
Last verified November 6, 2026. Listings are informational. The evidence score measures public, verifiable evidence and is not an endorsement or a compatibility claim.