Picodev Lab for VS Code

Program an Arduino with an AI agent, Claude Code or Copilot, on a simulated bench in your browser: Picodev Lab. No account, no board, nothing to configure: the lab's MCP server (https://lab.picodev.fr/mcp) is available to Copilot's Agent mode as soon as the extension is installed, and to Claude Code through its picodev-lab plugin.

Everything runs in simulation, in your browser, powered by Velxio (AGPLv3).

The agent fixes the sketch; the Picodev Lab view follows the session and the challenge's tests

Preview (mockup, French interface): the AI agent fixes the sketch while the Picodev Lab view shows the session and the challenge's tests.

The Lab panel beside the code: the simulated bench, the level's tests, the logic analyzer, the serial output

Preview (mockup): the Lab panel beside your code, with the simulated bench, the level's tests and the serial output.

A level passed: share the result, open the next level

Preview (mockup): a level passed in simulation, ready to share; the session's visibility from the palette.

Get started

Picodev Lab needs three things; the walkthrough Get started with Picodev Lab (Welcome page, or the link in the Picodev Lab view) takes you through them:

A folder with your sketch (an .ino file, with its .h and .cpp). No sketch yet? Picodev Lab: Create a starter sketch writes the setup's sketch or a blank one.
The bench: the lab's page in your browser, which simulates the board and the parts wired to it. Picodev Lab: Open a challenge (levels with tests) or Open a session (free mode) opens it.
An AI agent: Give the session to the AI agent (in the view, its title bar, or the palette) prefills the agent's chat with the session; send it. The agent writes the code, compiles it and drives the bench through the lab's tools. The setting picodevLab.agent picks it: auto (the default) is Claude Code when its extension is installed, else Copilot Chat in Agent mode. Claude Code reaches the lab through its MCP server, as Copilot does: the extension offers to add it (or the picodev-lab plugin, if installed, brings it). It is usually faster than Copilot.

Opening a session also opens the Lab panel beside the editor: the bench's spectator page (a private session needs a viewer link first; the panel offers it).

The Picodev Lab view (activity bar) always shows the next step on one line, and its coral button is that step.

Compiled on your machine

On each push (a save, the push button in an .ino editor's title bar, or Push the sketch), the extension compiles the sketch with arduino-cli for the setup's board and sends the program to the bench (push_program). arduino-cli is looked for in the picodevLab.arduinoCli setting, then on the PATH, then in the Arduino extension.

The lab compiles only when the toolchain is missing: no arduino-cli, or the board's core or a library not installed (the extension offers once per session to install them).
A code error is not sent: the errors go to the Problems panel and the view, with Show log and Ask the agent to fix (Claude Code or Copilot).
You always know which way your code went: compiled on your machine or compiled by the lab.

A local git repo for your sketch

When a session opens and the sketch's folder is not in a git repo, the extension offers to create one (with a .gitignore of build outputs) and then commits after each successful push. Nothing is pushed to a git host. Turn it off with picodevLab.git.

What else

Status bar: Lab · setup-a · Challenge 2/4 · tests 2/3 · 2 viewers; a click opens the view.
The view: the session and the setup (its schema, parts and probes, the last compilation), the challenge (brief, tests, hints, next level), the calls to the lab, your project, and sharing your result (LinkedIn, X). What the simulation does is in the bench, in your browser.
The Lab panel: the session's spectator page beside your code (it needs a viewer link).
Your project (its own tab): say what you want to make, and Picodev helps you formalize it. The interview (here, or by the AI agent) writes spec-projet.md; the tab follows its sections, makes the PDF and sends it to Picodev. Nothing is sent without your consent.

Settings

Setting	Default
`picodevLab.autoPush`	`true`	Push the sketch on each save, while a session is open.
`picodevLab.arduinoCli`	empty	Path of arduino-cli. Empty: the `PATH`, then the Arduino extension's.
`picodevLab.git`	`true`	Offer a local git repo for the sketch, and commit after each push.

Your data

The session (its id, the agent's token, the bench's link) is kept in VS Code's secret storage, never in your project, and forgotten when it ends. The lab never reads your disk: the extension sends it your sketch's files (8 files, 64 KiB at most) and the compiled program. Privacy policy: https://lab.picodev.fr/en/privacy

Also works in VSCodium, Cursor and Windsurf (Open VSX). In an editor that does not read the extension's MCP declaration, declare the same server in .vscode/mcp.json.

License

En français

Programmez un Arduino avec un agent IA, Claude Code ou Copilot, sur un banc simulé dans votre navigateur : Picodev Lab. Sans compte, sans carte, rien à configurer : le serveur MCP du labo est disponible pour l'agent dès l'installation, l'extension envoie votre sketch à chaque enregistrement et suit la session dans sa vue, sa barre d'état et le panneau Lab.

Pour commencer, suivez Bien démarrer avec Picodev Lab (page d'accueil, ou le lien dans la vue Picodev Lab) : ouvrez un dossier avec votre sketch (ou Créer un sketch de départ), puis Ouvrir un défi ou Ouvrir une session, et enfin Donner la session à l'agent IA. L'interface est en français quand VS Code l'est. Tout tourne en simulation.