Makerchip Extension
VS Code extension for Makerchip IDE integration and AI-collaborative Verilog/TL-Verilog development, debug, and visualization.
Features
- Compile/Simulate Verilog, TL-Verilog, and Other HDLs: Compile and visualize circuit simulations directly in VS Code
- AI Agent Integration: Language Model tools enable AI agents to work interactively in Makerchip with designers and learners
- AI RAG Knowledge Base: AI Agents are upskilled for TL-Verilog and Makerchip development
Before You Begin
This extension is early, experimental software, provided as is, without warranty of any kind. Features, tools and settings may change or disappear without notice. Expect rough edges, and please report them or submit pull requests.
Makerchip is built for open-source development only. Your code is compiled on Makerchip servers and communication is insecure. Do not share proprietary code or sensitive information. Various features including third-party plugins may exchange data with third-party servers. Develop with trusted code only.
Terms. Your use of the Makerchip service is governed by the Makerchip Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The extension itself is MIT-licensed and provided as is (see License). To the fullest extent permitted by law, Redwood EDA, LLC accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from its use.
Requirements
- Desktop VS Code 1.110.0 or higher (not vscode.dev or github.dev)
- An internet connection to Makerchip (and GitHub, for agent reference data)
git, to download agent reference data- GitHub Copilot or Microsoft's Claude/Codex harness (for AI features)
VS Code also installs the companion TL-Verilog language extension, for syntax highlighting of .tlv files.
Usage
Manual Usage
Compiling, Simulating, and Debugging:
- Open a
.tlv file
- Press
Ctrl+Shift+Enter, click the Makerchip icon, or run "Makerchip: Compile/Simulate" from the command palette. (Use "Makerchip: Compile/Simulate in Panel..." to select or create named panels.)
- Explore the results in the Makerchip panel's views: Log, Diagram (a live logic diagram), Waveform, Nav-TLV (navigable, expanded source), and VIZ (custom visualizations)
With AI Agents
AI Agents can:
- Author and compile TL-Verilog files directly in Makerchip, within VS Code
- Create and debug custom visualizations (Visual Debug) that explain their work
- Layout and activate IDE views
- Author and load third-party content into Makerchip views that interacts with the IDE
- Highlight relevant signals, scopes, and pipeline stages
- Capture images and videos (GIF, MP4, WebM, APNG) of simulation visualizations, with camera pan and zoom
- Compile C, C++, or assembly through Compiler Explorer and run it on a configurable WARP-V RISC-V CPU
- Build Live Docs: extract a figure from a PDF, such as a slide or a textbook diagram, and animate it with simulation values (asking first about your rights to the document)
Example prompts:
- "Show me how a UART controller works."
- "Open my CPU in Makerchip and show the waveform and live logic diagram at the time of the first memory write, highlighting the write data signal."
- "Demonstrate a pipeline design in TL-Verilog"
- "Create a tic-tac-toe game in TL-Verilog with VIZ and show it in Makerchip"
- "I'm having trouble understanding 'when' conditions. Create a simple course with exercises to step me through it interactively in Makerchip."
Agent Resources
The extension manages ~/.vscode-makerchip/ containing reference data for AI assistants:
If Claude Code is installed, the extension also writes a Makerchip skill to ~/.claude/skills/makerchip/, so that Claude learns the rules for Makerchip tools before its first call. It is removed when the extension is uninstalled.
Contributing
Development setup, the ./launch workflow, the Copilot tool architecture and the release process are in CONTRIBUTING.md.
Contribute content to the Makerchip community, such as Plugin Views and TL-Verilog models by submitting pull requests to this repository.
License
MIT © Redwood EDA, LLC
