offgrid-hardhub
Description-to-board agent loop in real KiCad with DRC and JLCPCB export, plus an MCP server.
What it does and how it connects
HardHub by OffGrid is a description-to-board agent loop in real KiCad. The user describes the hardware, the AI asks questions, picks parts, designs and routes the circuit board in KiCad, checks it, shows it in 3D, and hands over the files JLCPCB needs to build and assemble it. The model proposes; it does not decide.
Every board goes through about 90 tests before ordering: connections, copper, holes and vias, solder mask, placement, the power tree with voltage drop solved on the real copper and supply impedance simulated in ngspice, heat, part ratings against datasheets, signals, sourcing and manufacturing. The Tests tab shows each check in plain words with the number against its limit and how to fix it.
HardHub runs locally in Docker and opens in the browser, or it acts as an MCP server so the user's own AI app designs boards on their own plan. It takes an Anthropic API key, a local Ollama model, or any OpenAI-compatible provider, and it can also run on the user's Claude Code subscription.
Alternatives
Compare side by side- kicad-mcp-pro
An MCP server exposing KiCad schematic, PCB, ERC/DRC, DFM, BOM and manufacturing export workflows, rather than a full description-to-board app with about 90 board tests.
- KiCadAI
A Go CLI toolkit for AI-assisted KiCad design that generates, inspects and validates projects with an ERC/DRC feedback loop, rather than a Docker app with a board-test checklist.
- NIATOLIP
A web agent that designs PCBs in tscircuit with KiCad export and Docker-worker ERC/DRC, rather than a Docker app designing directly in KiCad.
- mcp-kicad (thalisantunes)
A KiCad 10 board-readiness MCP server with staged ERC, DRC and JLCPCB checks, rather than a description-to-board design loop.
- nia-tscript
A desktop PCB studio driven by an agent over MCP, rather than a Docker app with a web UI and an MCP server mode.
Recurring errors it addresses
Error Index entries this tool is built to reduce or work around.
- 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
- An engineer running Claude Code against KiCad found the agent kept repeating a stale claim of 19 DRC violations that lived on in prose docs. MCP tool summaries cannot be treated as live numbers; only DRC message text and actual exports are authoritative.Error Index
- KiCAD-MCP-Server's export_gerber returns success: true and lists all 24 layers as exported, but writes no .gbr files: PlotLayer draws into a plot file that was never opened with OpenPlotfile, returns False unchecked, and only the drill files (from a separate kicad-cli call) land in the folder. An agent reading the response would report the fab package ready when the folder is empty.Error Index
- On six single edits to a public KiCad 10 design, three runs each, plain Claude Code with KiCad installed got 18 of 18 right; with the mcp-server-kicad plugin it got 3 of 18. The plugin had no tool for some edits, its rule against direct file edits made the model stop and ask, and its board-sync tool rewrote nearly every footprint. The maintainer put the project in maintenance mode on these results.Error Index
- A KiCad MCP routing tool hit an obstacle-bypass failure, warned, replied "Routed 2 wire segment(s)" and saved the route anyway, shorting CC1 and USB D- to ground on a USB-C plus STM32 schematic. The MCP's own connectivity graph missed it; only a re-export of KiCad's native netlist caught it.Error Index
Sources
Not verified
- Pricing (no price stated on the repository README)
- Real user voices (recent repo activity is the maintainer's own and a contributor's pull requests)
- A named individual builder beyond the offgridevices organization
- A public release (no releases are published)
- A standalone vendor website (no homepage is set on the repository)
Last verified November 6, 2026. Listings are informational. The evidence score measures public, verifiable evidence and is not an endorsement or a compatibility claim.