Hardware catalog

Select the parts on your board from the hardware catalog, and Embedder uses their documentation and matching skills when it plans, writes, or debugs your firmware. To see what’s listed, browse Supported hardware for platforms and tool integrations, or the peripheral catalog for components by category. The project and peripheral pickers always show the current catalog available to you.

Describe the hardware in your project

A project has two kinds of catalog entries:

Entry	What it covers	Where you set it
Platform	The MCU family, device, module, or development board your firmware runs on.	Choose it when you create the project. See the Quickstart.
Peripherals	Sensors, displays, radios, converters, and other parts your firmware communicates with or controls.	Run `/peripheral`, or in VS Code select Open project peripherals in the chat header. See Add and manage peripherals.

In Act or Debug mode, you can also ask in the chat, for example Add a BME280 to this project. Embedder adds the exact catalog match after you confirm. If several entries match, it asks which one you mean. Choose entries carefully:

Match the exact part number and manufacturer.
Select the specific development board when it’s listed. A board entry gives more relevant context than its MCU family alone.
Update the peripherals as the fitted parts change.

How Embedder uses your selections

Documentation and skills do different jobs. Documentation supplies device facts. Embedder searches the documentation attached to your project to answer questions about registers, interfaces, initialization, and operating limits. A catalog peripheral brings its indexed datasheet information with it. Skills supply procedures for working with the hardware. Depending on the platform you select, matching skills can cover board pinouts, jumper settings, SDK workflows, building, flashing, and debugging. Embedder loads matching skills automatically. You can also run an available skill by name. See Skills. Coverage varies by entry:

A board-specific skill loads only when that board is the selected platform. Selecting the MCU family alone may not load it.
To see which skills are available, type / in the chat. In VS Code, they’re listed under Skills.
Check that a board reference matches your board revision.

Combine the catalog with your design

The catalog identifies the parts. Your schematics show how they’re connected, and EMBEDDER.md records how to build, flash, and verify the project. Embedder uses all of these together with your source code. For example, after you select an STM32 board and add a BME280, ask:

Check the BME280 initialization in this project against its datasheet.
Use the schematic to confirm the interface and pin connections, and the
board reference to check for shared-pin constraints. Explain any changes
needed before editing the driver.

Adding hardware gives Embedder context. It doesn’t write a driver or test the board on its own; ask for those tasks.

Work with hardware outside the catalog

Situation	What to do
Unlisted part	Add a custom peripheral with its datasheet. You can also point Embedder to the datasheet PDF in the chat and ask it to add the part. It asks you to confirm before it adds the datasheet.
Custom board	Start the project with Upload schematics in the platform picker. Then point Embedder to the board’s manuals in the chat and ask it to index them. It asks you to confirm before it uploads them. Custom platforms (+ Add platform in the VS Code platform picker, Add a platform in the terminal) are available only when they’re enabled for your team. Otherwise, ask your Embedder administrator.
Procedures your team repeats	Write a project skill.

When you’re ready to run on hardware, open the guide for your probe or instrument. Catalog references and skills prepare the workflow. Flashing, debugging, and measurements also need compatible hardware, connections, and installed tools.

Get started

Core concepts

Complex workflows

Monitor and debug

Project tools

Customize

Integrations

Automation

CLI

Reference

Describe the hardware in your project

How Embedder uses your selections

Combine the catalog with your design

Work with hardware outside the catalog

​Describe the hardware in your project

​How Embedder uses your selections

​Combine the catalog with your design

​Work with hardware outside the catalog

Describe the hardware in your project

How Embedder uses your selections

Combine the catalog with your design

Work with hardware outside the catalog