ChatPCBA

Evidence-gated PCBA engineering workflows for Codex—from product intent and circuit review through sourcing, KiCad review, manufacturing release, and a reviewed JLCPCB order.

ChatPCBA is deliberately conservative around hardware. A successful upload, clean ERC/DRC result, or lower quote is evidence, not permission to silently change a design, approve placement, submit an order, or pay.

What is included

Skill	Purpose
plan-electronic-product	Turn an idea or incomplete circuit into an engineering brief and architecture.
design-and-review-circuit	Design or audit power, logic, interfaces, protection, and component intent.
qualify-pcba-sourcing	Verify MPNs, packages, lifecycle, LCSC/JLCPCB stock, price, and substitutes.
schematic-humanizer	Improve schematic readability while preserving proven native connectivity.
simulate-pcba-design	Run pre-layout and extracted-interconnect electrical simulation.
pcb-layout-review	Review placement, routing, grounding, constraints, DRC, and DFM evidence.
silkscreen-cleanup	Audit and correct readable, manufacturable silkscreen.
release-pcba-fabrication	Build and verify a revision-locked fabrication/assembly release.
operate-jlcpcb-order	Upload, quote, match parts, audit CPL placement, and stop at approval gates.
manage-pcba-program	Coordinate the complete staged workflow and its evidence receipts.
engineering-promo-artwork	Present real engineering artifacts without fabricating proof.

flowchart LR
    A[Product brief] --> B[Circuit]
    B --> C[Sourcing]
    C --> D[Schematic]
    D --> E[Simulation]
    E --> F[PCB layout]
    F --> G[Silkscreen]
    G --> H[Release]
    H --> I[JLCPCB review]
    I --> J{Human approval}
    J -->|approved| K[Submit / pay]
    J -->|changes needed| B

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Design principles

• Keep authoritative native design files and released artifacts traceable.
• Record unknowns instead of guessing them away.
• Separate machine validation from independent human approval.
• Never accept an electrical, package, footprint, or placement substitution only because a supplier website suggests it.
• Optimize total assembled cost—including MOQ, setup, feeder, extended-part, and attrition charges—not catalog unit price alone.
• Use PASS, BLOCKED, and USER_REVIEW as evidence states, not marketing language.

Installation

See Installation for Windows, macOS, and Linux setup. The short version for an existing personal marketplace is:

git clone https://github.com/Keitark/chatpcba "$env:USERPROFILE\plugins\chatpcba"
codex plugin add chatpcba@personal

The personal marketplace entry must point to ./plugins/chatpcba; the guide includes the exact JSON for new and existing installations.

After installation, start a new Codex thread so its skills and MCP server are loaded into the new session.

Example prompts

Use ChatPCBA to turn this product idea into a decision-ready architecture.
Do not advance beyond the concept gate.

Review this KiCad schematic and PCB. Preserve the released board, report
unknowns explicitly, and do not approve your own human gate.

Check this BOM for current LCSC/JLCPCB availability. Rank exact drop-in
alternatives by total assembled-order cost, but do not modify the BOM.

Prepare this release in JLCPCB and stop immediately before final submission.
Do not approve placement or payment without my explicit confirmation.

More examples and stage boundaries are in Usage guide.

Evolution Registry

The optional MCP adapter can read human-published declarative rule bundles and submit redacted findings for later review. It never promotes or executes a rule by itself.

Set these variables before starting Codex only when registry access is needed:

• CHATPCBA_REGISTRY_URL: the deployed registry URL.
• CHATPCBA_REGISTRY_TOKEN: write token for redacted finding submission.

Read-only status and published-rule requests do not require a write token. The adapter hashes the workspace path and uploads evidence basenames only; it does not upload native design sources, absolute paths, or replay commands.

Repository layout

.codex-plugin/plugin.json  Codex plugin manifest
.mcp.json                  Codex MCP descriptor
plugin.json                Portable Agent Plugins manifest
mcp.json                   Portable MCP descriptor
mcp/server.mjs             Evolution Registry adapter
skills/                    Reusable PCBA workflows
scripts/validate_repo.py   Repository validation
docs/                      Installation and usage guides

Development

Requirements: Python 3.10+ and Node.js 18+.

python scripts/validate_repo.py
node --check mcp/server.mjs
python -m compileall -q skills scripts

See Contributing before changing a gate or accepting a new substitution rule.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.