Developer Lucas Gerads released a project on April 17, 2026, demonstrating hardware development with Claude Code by integrating real measurement tools with circuit simulation. The project received 104 points and 22 comments on Hacker News, showcasing how MCP servers can bridge the gap between simulation and physical hardware verification.
Two Custom MCP Servers Enable Real-Time Hardware Feedback
Gerads built two custom MCP servers to connect Claude Code with hardware development tools. The lecroy-mcp server enables Claude to interact with LeCroy oscilloscopes for real-time measurement data acquisition, while spicelib-mcp wraps a SPICE simulator for circuit simulation and validation.
The workflow combines SPICE simulation for circuit modeling, oscilloscope measurements for real-world verification, and Claude Code for analysis and iteration. According to Gerads, this integration allows Claude Code to get immediate feedback, making the system more effective than natural language circuit descriptions alone.
Best Practices for AI-Assisted Hardware Development
Gerads identified several best practices through the project. Developers should explicitly specify physical connections rather than letting Claude guess, maintain fresh measurement data without stale readings, and use files for raw data instead of dumping into context. Additional recommendations include providing explicit pinout maps for microcontrollers and creating Makefiles with standardized build, flash, and test functions.
The creator claims this approach scales from trivial demonstrations to complex embedded projects and real circuit validation, though manual oversight remains necessary due to Claude's occasional errors.
Community Response Highlights Verification Benefits and LLM Limitations
The Hacker News community responded with mixed reactions. Several users warned about Claude's tendency to hallucinate hardware capabilities, with one developer reporting Claude completely hallucinated capabilities and produced non-functional designs. However, commenters recognized the strength of creating feedback loops that provide objective verification.
One user explained that SPICE simulation combined with oscilloscope readout creates a verifier the model cannot talk its way past, addressing hallucination concerns. Gerads acknowledged Claude still makes mistakes, sometimes claiming it matched the simulation when it obviously did not, reinforcing the need for human oversight.
Expanding MCP Beyond Software Development
Several developers mentioned parallel projects including KiCad integration tools, Jumperless circuit reconfiguration, and educational applications. The community view positioned the project as an interesting proof-of-concept for closing simulation-to-hardware loops despite current LLM reliability limitations.
This demonstration shows MCP's potential beyond traditional software development. Enabling AI agents to interact with physical hardware and measurement instruments creates verification loops that prevent hallucination in hardware design, an area where errors have real-world consequences beyond software bugs.
Key Takeaways
- Developer Lucas Gerads released MCP servers for oscilloscopes and SPICE simulators on April 17, 2026, receiving 104 points on Hacker News
- The lecroy-mcp and spicelib-mcp servers enable Claude Code to close the loop between circuit simulation and real hardware measurements
- Best practices include explicit physical connection specifications, fresh measurement data, and standardized Makefiles for build/flash/test workflows
- Community feedback highlighted both LLM hallucination risks and the value of objective verification through hardware feedback loops
- The project demonstrates MCP's potential for hardware development, extending AI agent capabilities beyond software into physical electronics verification