designing-hardware-products - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: designing-hardware-products description: "AI-automated hardware product pipeline: from requirements to manufacturable Gerber + compiled firmware + cross-platform app. Orchestrates system design, ESP-IDF firmware, KiCad PCB, UniApp client, and release packaging in a zero-human-touch flow." user-invocable: true argument-hint: "<product-brief: MCU, sensors, features, form-factor>" allowed-tools: Read, Bash, Write, Edit, Agent, Workflow

Bash: build firmware (idf.py), generate assets (Python scripts), run uni build

Write/Edit: create design docs, firmware source, app pages, KiCad scripts

Agent: parallelize phases (firmware + hardware + app)

Workflow: orchestrate multi-phase pipeline

Designing Hardware Products

From empty directory to shippable product. Requirements in, Gerber + .bin + .apk out.

When to use

Scenario	Use	Why
New IoT / embedded product from scratch	Yes	Full pipeline
Adding BLE app to existing hardware	Partial	Phase 4 only
PCB redesign with existing firmware	Partial	Phase 3 only
One-off breadboard prototype	No	Overkill, just wire it

Pipeline phases

Phase 1: System Design    → DESIGN.md (architecture, topology, protocol)
Phase 2: Firmware          → ESP-IDF components, FreeRTOS tasks, BLE GATT
Phase 3: Hardware          → KiCad schematic → PCB → route → DRC → Gerber
Phase 4: Mobile App        → UniApp (BLE, i18n, dev mode, SVG icons)
Phase 5: Verify + Package  → build all → zip release

Each phase is independently re-runnable. Skip phases that already exist.

Key decision points

MCU selection — ESP32-C3 (BLE+WiFi, RISC-V, cheap) vs ESP32-S3 (AI, USB) vs STM32 (low power) vs nRF (BLE-only)
HV topology — if product needs high voltage (mosquito swatter, taser), see references/hv-design.md
PCB form factor — match physical product shape, not default rectangle
App framework — UniApp (WeChat+Android+iOS) vs React Native vs Flutter

Companion skills

operating-kicad-eda — Phase 3 detail, KiCad MCP tool routing
developing-software — firmware language patterns (C for ESP-IDF)
developing-mobile-apps — app framework patterns

Usage

/designing-hardware-products "BLE mosquito swatter with kill counting, ESP32-C3, 30x100mm PCB strip"

References

Topic	File
Phase execution details	pipeline-phases.md
KiCad 9 gotchas	kicad9-quirks.md
ESP-IDF patterns	esp-idf-patterns.md
HV circuit design	hv-design.md
UniApp patterns	uniapp-patterns.md

Exit criteria

idf.py build passes (firmware)
KiCad DRC = 0 violations (hardware)
npx uni build passes (app)
Release zip contains: source + binary + Gerber + BOM + docs