What problem does it solve?
Setting up ChipAgent for hardware development requires manually verifying that all required tools (Java, sbt, Verilator, Yosys, etc.) are installed and correctly configured, which is time-consuming and often leads to avoidable pipeline failures later in the workflow.
Core Features & Use Cases
- Automated Toolchain Detection: Runs a detection script to check installed versions of all required and optional hardware development tools, including Java, sbt, Scala, Verilator, Yosys, OpenROAD, KLayout, Chipyard, and the RISCV toolchain.
- Capability Flag Generation: Creates a machine-readable .chipagent/env.json file that defines which ChipAgent operations (compilation, linting, simulation, synthesis, place-and-route, etc.) are possible on the local machine.
- Auto-Update Project Documentation: Modifies the CLAUDE.md Tech Stack table to reflect detected local versions of core tools, giving users an at-a-glance view of their setup.
- Use Case: A hardware engineer setting up ChipAgent for the first time can run this skill to immediately identify missing tools, understand what workflows they can run, and get direct install instructions for any missing dependencies.
Quick Start
Use the initialize skill to automatically detect your local hardware development toolchain, generate the required environment configuration file, and update the project's tech stack documentation with your installed tool versions.