Hardware designs in hours,
not months.

Built to be manufactured, not just rendered.

Mechanics · circuit boards · firmware · checks

Closed beta. Request access, then try your first ideas free.

Whatever stage you're at.

From a first idea to a part you'll make a thousand of. hardcore asks what it needs to know and goes as deep as you do.

What you get back.

CAD, board files, firmware and a parts list you can order from, with every check and its result.

hardcoreagent time 0:00

I want to make a chess board that plays against me and moves its own pieces.

hardcoreA few quick questions: how big should the board be, and should it play online too?

About 45 mm squares. And yes, online games through Lichess.

  • Requirements and architecturemech · elec · fw
  • Magnet pull vs board thickness0.32 N at 7.6 mm
  • CAD: gantry, carriage, enclosureSTEP · overlaps to fix
  • 3 circuit boards routed, plus an FR4 plateDRC 0 errors
  • Firmware builds and tests29,164 checks pass
  • Felt friction under the piecesneeds physical test
Parts57 / 57 in stock
First unit, all-in~$634
Agent time3.5 h
Exploded render of the chess board design
chess_board.stepmain_board.kicad_pcbgerbers.zipbom.csvfirmware/test_plan.md
Replay of our real chess board job, sped up from about 3.5 agent-hours.
Checked by toolsSigned off by an engineerNeeds physical test

In your project, every check is marked one of these three ways. Above, ✓ means checked by tools, ✕ means a check failed and is shown to you, and ! means it needs a physical test. "Signed off by an engineer" only appears after an engineer has actually reviewed it.

What's checked: electrical and layout rules, footprints and pinouts against datasheets, firmware against the board, firmware builds and tests, trace width for current, CAD collisions, board fit in the enclosure, and parts in stock. On planted mistakes it caught 23 of 26 so far.

What it misses, and the false-pass log →

Import your project. Ask for the change. Get back a checked revision.

Bring your KiCad or Altium project and your STEP files. Every change comes back with every check shown, in files your tools open.

Bring in

KiCad, Altium and Eagle projects. STEP from SolidWorks, Fusion and Onshape. Your existing firmware and parts lists.

Take out

KiCad projects that Altium opens with its built-in importer. STEP for SolidWorks, Fusion and Onshape. Gerbers, drill files, pick-and-place and BOM for any fab, plus firmware source.

Native files, always. Nothing locked in.

Examples.

Two projects designed end to end by hardcore, with agent time next to an estimate for one engineer.

Chess board that plays you

A chess board that plays you

Senses your move, slides its own pieces with a hidden magnet. 4 boards, 1 mechanism, firmware.

3.5 hagent time
3-7 wkone engineer, est.
Five-finger robot hand

A five-finger robot hand

Six motors, the driver board and firmware in one forearm. Plays rock-paper-scissors, picks up an egg.

5.4 h+agent time, routing in progress
4-8 wkone engineer, est.

Pricing.

Planning ideas is on us. You only pay for building real design files.

Founding members: 30% off any plan for your first 12 months. Billed monthly, cancel anytime. Plus your first engineer review free.For the first members of the closed beta. Cancelling ends the founding discount. We email you before the price changes.

Request access
Your first board, until it works.

We help until your first board works: it powers up and passes the test plan we agreed, within 30 days of your boards arriving. Your first engineer review is free. If our review missed a real error, we fix it free and refund it.

Free$0No card needed to start. Beta access by request.

Your first small design, free

  • Unlimited idea plans
  • 1 small design, once you're in the beta
  • Chat, parts and cost estimates
Pro$20 /mo1x usage

3 small designs a month

  • Unlimited idea plans
  • Design files you can order from
  • Unused credits roll over a month
Pro+$100 /mo5x Pro

15 small designs, or 3 multi-board projects

  • Everything in Pro
  • Priority runs
  • Bigger, multi-board designs
Max$200 /mo10x Pro

3-4 full products a month

  • Everything in Pro+
  • Top priority
  • The largest designs

Versus a contractor (our estimate): a small design from a contractor is typically $2-5K and a few weeks. With hardcore it's $20 for a month of Pro (up to 3 small designs), or $270 with an engineer review. Doing 30-40 small boards a year? Pro covers about 36.

Teams and enterprise: shared projects, pooled credits, custom terms. Talk to us.

What a design usesA small design is one simple board with its enclosure and firmware. A multi-board project is about 5 small designs; a full product like our chess board about 8. You see the estimate before anything runs.
Need more?Top up any time: $10 for one more small design, $40 for five. Unused credits roll over for a month.
Engineer reviewBefore you order anything, an engineer checks one part of your design, like the circuit board before it goes to fab, or the CAD before you print it. $250 each, or $99 for a small hobby board. If the review misses a real error, we fix the design free and refund the review. In the beta, reviews are by Ayo Fasan (Electrical Engineering, University of Waterloo), who designs motor drives, circuit boards and firmware end to end.

Unlimited idea plans are subject to fair use. Beta allowances. As hardcore gets faster, your plan gets more, not a lower price. You own every design and file, on every plan. Projects are private, and we don't train models on your designs (how we treat your files). Review policy doesn't cover changes made after the review, assembly or manufacturing faults, or spec changes.

Request access.

We're letting people in to the closed beta in small groups. Tell us roughly what you'd make and you'll get an invite or your place in line by email.