Scapton for VS CodeInstallationDownload the target-specific VSIX matching your VS Code host from the latest Scapton GitHub release. In VS Code, open Extensions, choose ..., select Install from VSIX, and choose the downloaded file. No Node.js, npm, KiCad installation, or manual dependency setup is required.
Windows arm64, Linux arm64, and macOS builds are not published yet. Every installer contains only the serial, Codex, and Claude native runtimes for its declared operating system and architecture. After a Marketplace release, install Scapton directly from VS Code's Extensions view to receive automatic updates. Open Scapton after installationReload VS Code if prompted, then open the folder containing the KiCad schematic and firmware:
Scapton combines the project's KiCad schematic sheets automatically. Findings
appear under Analysis and are saved locally to
AI explanations (local-first, your own model)Each finding card has Explain with AI and Copy AI prompt; the results panel has the same two for the whole scan. The AI explains findings — what the mismatch means, why it breaks bring-up, what to probe, which line to open. It is never the source of truth: the deterministic analyzer is, and the prompt says so. Scapton runs no backend. Nothing is uploaded to an Scapton server, because there is no Scapton server. Four ways to reach a model, all of them yours:
Scapton installers are target-specific for Windows or Linux x64, and contain the matching pinned provider runtimes. Note that VS Code's Language Model API has no system role, so on that path the "analyzer is the source of truth" instruction rides as a user turn; the direct Anthropic path uses a real system prompt. Set The answer streams into the assistant view as it arrives and is cancellable. Edit mode can use Codex, Claude with its runtime, or a tool-capable VS Code model. Ask mode can use any listed model; the selected model is remembered and is never silently replaced with another provider. The picker uses each provider's live model catalog. Claude subscription models are listed individually, and reasoning-effort controls show only the levels the selected model reports. Image-capable models also accept pasted PNG, JPEG, GIF, or WebP images in the composer; pasted bytes go directly to the selected model and Codex temporary image files are removed after the request. In Ask mode, the model sees Edit mode also exposes fixed Build project and Flash project actions. They use the same command and detected Zephyr virtual environment as the Device buttons, stream output into the Device console, and return an explicit verdict to the model. The model cannot supply shell text: it can only select build or flash. Flash releases Scapton's serial connection first, and concurrent build/flash processes are rejected. The prompt also lifts the analyzer's own doubts into a section the model is told not to paper over: incomplete coverage, experimental SoC adapters, unparsed pin properties, connectivity-only verification, and parser warnings. A confident explanation of a finding the analyzer could not actually verify is the worst possible output here, so the caveats are made impossible to skim past. Datasheets during bring-upThe Datasheets tool deterministically reads component part values from the schematic and considers only useful active parts such as sensors, microcontrollers, radio modules, motors, microphones, and transistors. Composite module symbols can produce separate module and underlying-SoC recommendations. Generic passives, cables, solder jumpers, connectors, test points, mounting parts, and power symbols are omitted; each recommendation identifies the component references and why the document is useful. Unresolved parts are hidden. Matching part-number documents, Markdown beside the schematic, and board-specific Markdown elsewhere in the project are shown, but never sent merely because they exist: choose Attach for each document the assistant may use. PDF text extraction is local, bounded, and query-aware; only the most relevant pages are included and the assistant is told to cite the file and page. Image-only scanned PDFs require OCR and are reported as unsupported rather than silently attaching empty context. Add files copies selected documents into Device terminalThe Terminal tool connects directly to serial devices available to the host
operating system. It discovers Auto-detect ranks likely USB serial adapters, passively samples common baud rates, and connects when the received bytes look like readable device logs. A silent device cannot reveal its baud rate, so that case selects the most likely port and keeps the baud rate manual instead of claiming a false detection. Warning, error, panic, timeout, overrun, and fault lines are also collected in a separate diagnostics panel while the complete stream remains visible. Serial traffic stays local. Port access ends when the application panel closes.
On Linux, the signed-in user must have permission to access the selected device
(commonly through the distribution's In Edit mode, Codex, a tool-capable VS Code model, or a connected Claude account
can run a narrow set of read-only Zephyr probes through the already-open
connection: Saved sessions produce adjacent Feeding the findings to an AI manuallyEvery analysis also writes Because the hardware/firmware mismatch has already been found deterministically,
a model does not need the schematic or the device tree in context to act on it:
it needs the rule, the evidence from both sides, and the Linux/Yocto boards: point at the kernel, we find the board fileFor boards whose device tree lives in a Linux kernel tree rather than the
hardware repo, use Use an external device tree file. You do not have to hunt
down the exact board Matching uses two signals. A board file's name usually carries its SoC
( Kernel trees you have used are remembered and offered first, so the common case
takes no file browsing at all. The kernel include roots ( The desktop extension uses Node and VS Code filesystem APIs only, with no shell commands or platform-specific path assumptions, and supports Windows, Linux, and macOS. LicenceScapton 0.0.11 and later are proprietary. No personal, commercial, or other
use is permitted without a separate written licence from Paulius Ragauskas.
See Versions through 0.0.10, and source revisions previously released under Apache-2.0, retain the rights granted when they were released. Bundled third-party materials remain under their respective licences. |