A board qualification matrix ran in CI on ubuntu-latest, which quietly installed KiCad 9.0.8 instead of 10. Every DRC came back unknown and every row was marked fail. The fix pins the OS and KiCad version and adds a separate 'unknown' verdict so a missing DRC no longer looks like a failed board.
Recurring agent failure issue in synth (absmach)
What engineers report
A recurring agent failure problem in synth (absmach) that mostly hits the electrical engineer.
Failure pattern: agent / false failure
Analyst note
From the Grok pain-radar digests, Nov 11-12 2026 (Nov 11 8:41 AM ET through Nov 12 5:41 AM ET digests plus the Haitch editions). Verified live 2026-11-12: issue/PR read; title and state confirmed.
What it costs a team
Modeled annual cost
$30,000
For a team of 5
Prototype delay
3 days
Modeled schedule slip per occurrence
Time lost
240 min
Per engineer per month, about 1 incidents
How the cost is modeled
240 min/month × 5 engineers × 12 months = 240 hours × $125/hour = $30,000
A modeled estimate with medium confidence. Swap in your own team size and loaded rate to size it for your team.
Engineering tools that address it
No engineering tool profile lists this error yet. Browse tools that connect to synth (absmach).
Evidence
More recurring errors in synth (absmach)
- A board can pass KiCad DRC and still fail JLCPCB's free DFM tool. Their CM4 carrier did exactly that, and their rebuilt JLC-style checks still read plated hole to trace as 0 against JLC's 3 Danger and 55 Warning. Danger findings now block release exports with no override.ECAD · impact 74
- A post-route via mover pushed four of six thermal vias out of U1's exposed pad while the README and QUALIFICATION.md still claimed six. Only a human review of docs against copper caught it, and the compaction loosened decoupling (C2 moved from 1.46 mm to 4.07 mm from VIN).ECAD · impact 74
- For a two-board BLDC stack (control plus 24 V/10 A power), the 20 board-to-board pin pairs live in one mapping file. Before this PR the multiboard tool only checked that the named board and component existed, and with the 20 real mappings it returned 20 times 'Unknown source board'.ECAD · impact 74
- synth_export over MCP reported a board fabrication-ready with no missing footprints while the CLI refused the same board on part hdc1080_rh_t, whose WSON-6 footprint is not in the library, because the footprint check lived only in the CLI.ECAD · impact 74
- An AI-generated 24 V to 3.3 V buck board is going on a public showcase page that says plainly it is not fabricated or tested, has no expert sign-off, and that synth check --fab disagrees with the published FreeRouting record. Two parts have no registry sign-off, and the board needs filled and capped via-in-pad.ECAD · impact 66
- An earlier split-ground board left two isolated DGND pours after routing, so the board moved to one GND plane. Merge conflicts were resolved by hand, and a tighter outline left an untied GND copper fragment that needed a stitching via.ECAD · impact 66
Sourced from public community reports. Costs and delays are modeled estimates, not measurements. Know a better source or a fix? Tell us at hello@productflo.io.