You know what the board should do
Makers, hardware founders and firmware developers who are not PCB engineers. Describe the board in plain words; every decision is explained well enough for you to make it.
about
Boards you can defend, part by part.
Provenboard is an autonomous hardware engineer in a desktop app. It takes a printed circuit board from a plain-language idea to files a factory can build, while you stay in charge of every decision that matters.
what it is for
The labour goes to the agent. The judgement stays with you.
The agent picks parts that are really in stock, writes the schematic, places and routes the board, and runs the checks again after every change. You say what the board must do, choose at the moments that change the design, and sign off on what only a person can judge, such as whether the pin map is right.
Whenever you want more, ask. The exact values, the source behind each one and who decided are one click away. Success is a board that passes independent checks and that you can defend part by part, without having done the work by hand.
who it is for
Two kinds of people, equally.
It is written for a smart newcomer. An expert can always ask for more and see the exact values.
You already design boards
Hardware engineers who want to hand off the repetitive work and keep control. The exact values, the sources and the record are one click away.
the name
Proven, and provenance.
The name stands for the two things the product is built on: a board’s verdict comes from independent checks, and every decision on it carries its provenance.
It is not a promise that every board passes. Nothing on this site, in the app or in any message says a board passes unless the checks said so.
the decision record
Every part can say why it is there. And name its source.
Click any part, value, placement or rule. Behind each one is a real source: a datasheet section, the brief, a checkpoint or your own words, kept in an append-only record.
Parts come only from verified sources. Footprints are never hand-drawn and pinouts are never guessed.
The board must work with the car off, and a regulator drawing 15 µA keeps it from draining the battery.
CheckpointArchitecture checkpoint, your choice
Sleep budget < 200 µA (brief.yaml power.sleep_budget_ua). No switching noise near the inputs.
aboutU2
change sets
Keep the change, or roll it back.
Everything one turn of the agent changed arrives as one change set: what moved and why, and the checks run again after it. Keep all of it, part of it, or none.
your files
Your project is a folder you own. Leave with it and lose nothing.
Every project is plain files in a git repository on your computer: the source, the KiCad board, the brief, the decision record and the factory files. Open the board in KiCad whenever you like.
This website stores your account and nothing about your designs. The agent talks only to the model provider you chose, with your key.
what it never breaks
Six rules behind every screen.
- 01
Verdicts come from checks, never from the agent.
Separate checks the agent cannot write to or overrule decide whether a board passes. The ones a machine cannot answer honestly pass only with your sign-off.
- 02
Everything answers “why is this here?”
Every part, value, placement and rule points to a real source: a datasheet section, the brief, a checkpoint, a document you attached or your own words.
- 03
You make decisions. The agent does the labour.
It stops at the moments that change the design and asks. Whatever the tools can do, it does.
- 04
Your edits are law.
What you lock, edit or route by hand becomes a constraint. Nothing undoes it silently.
- 05
Honest numbers.
Costs are shown as billed. Estimates say they are estimates. When something was not measured, it says so.
- 06
The order is always yours.
Provenboard hands you the factory files. It never places the order, not even at full autonomy.
where it stands
Early access, on macOS and Windows.
Provenboard is in early access for macOS and Windows. Linux comes later. The interface is in English.
There are no customers, testimonials or benchmarks to show yet, so this site shows none. Every figure on it is a real board’s own number.
Questions go to [email protected]. The common ones are answered in Q&A.
What should the board do?
Early access for macOS and Windows. Tell us where to send the invite.