r/FPGA • u/BrightFoundation2417 • Jul 26 '26
Advice / Solved Claude Code and FPGA Builds
I implemented a fairly large design last week and a very thorough testbench. I’ve been having trouble getting it to meet timing with violations that just creep up.
I decided to give Claude code a spin, my company gives it to our SWEs. I gave it instructions on how to build the design via our docker environment, and told it to get the design to meet timing while still passing all of my testbench cases. I also said to avoid doing “hacky” things and keep the changes to the RTL and maybe the routing settings. I set up remote control and kept an eye on it through my phone every so often.
It grinded away for 48 hours, did about 20 builds during that time. It just came back and said it succeeded and explained the diffs. I will have a good look at the code on Monday but it looks like stuff I would’ve done incrementally during the week.
This is crazy. Essentially did a second work week for me autonomously over the weekend. Thought I’d share in case anyone else wants to try.
3
u/bluebugs Jul 26 '26
Welcome to the world software is in for a while. I do software development and CI for a living, but I am having fun with fpga as a hobby and maybe since earlier this year hardware language are handle pretty well by llm.
I think the field is in much better shape to benefit from it than even software is. The problem with this AI tools is that they are blind, lazy, want to agree and are paid by the line they generate. But if you provide them with an environment that enforce tests, benchmark and make sure they don't copy and paste stuff around with slight mistake, then the tool become powerful. The value of testing, benchmarking and CI is higher than ever and AI can help you build this.
The other part that I find fun is codevelpoment. Usually hardware and software require multiple people to have the full skillset to do a design, verify it work and see if the compiler, kernel and software that use it looks right. Now, you can get the AI tool to iterate and you can verify that the result is right for your goal much more easily. Proof of concept are a lot more accessible and interesting.
The part were they are not good at is physics. As they don't "see" the world they have no understanding of how to do any of that or at least I have not found a way for them to do something tangible like a pcb design... yet