Describe what you want to build in plain English. Get working, simulated Arduino hardware in seconds.

Clover is a desktop application that bridges the gap between natural language and working hardware. Users describe Arduino projects conversationally, and an AI agent generates the code, designs the circuit, compiles the firmware, and runs everything in a visual simulator — no physical components required.

Built with Electron, React, and Claude AI (Anthropic), powered by avr8js for cycle-accurate AVR simulation and Wokwi Elements for circuit visualization.

Getting started with hardware and electronics is unnecessarily complex. Beginners and even junior engineers face steep barriers such as understanding circuit design, configuring microcontrollers, writing correct firmware, and setting up physical components before they can see any working result. This complexity leads to a high drop-off rate among people interested in hardware, slowing learning, experimentation, and innovation. There is currently no simple, unified tool that translates high-level intent into working, testable hardware systems while also guiding users through both simulation and real-world setup.

• Natural Language to Hardware — Describe your project in plain English ("blink an LED every 500ms", "build a distance sensor with an LCD display") and get working code + circuit instantly
• Live Circuit Simulation — See LEDs light up, servos rotate, displays render text, and buttons respond to clicks — all in the app, no Arduino board needed
• Zero-Click Compilation — Code generated by AI is automatically compiled and loaded into the simulator
• Auto-Debug Loop — If compilation fails, errors are automatically sent back to the AI for correction (up to 3 attempts)
• Real-Time Streaming — Watch the AI response stream in real-time as code, circuit diagrams, and explanations appear simultaneously
• Full Code Editor — Monaco Editor (the engine behind VS Code) with Arduino/C++ syntax highlighting for manual edits
• Conversation History — All chats are persisted in a local SQLite database, searchable and resumable
• Secure API Key Storage — Your Anthropic API key is encrypted using your OS keychain (macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, Linux Secret Service)
• Cross-Platform — Builds for macOS, Windows, and Linux

• Node.js 18 or higher
• npm (comes with Node.js)
• Anthropic API Key — Get one at console.anthropic.com

git clone https://github.com/your-username/clover.git
cd clover

npm install

This will also run patch-package and electron-builder install-app-deps automatically via the postinstall hook (required for native modules like better-sqlite3).

npm run dev

The app will launch in development mode with hot module replacement (HMR) enabled.

On first launch, you'll see an onboarding screen. Enter your Anthropic API key. It will be encrypted and stored securely using your operating system's credential manager.

Type a description of what you want to build in the chat panel:

"Build an LED traffic light that cycles through red, yellow, and green"

The AI will generate the Arduino code and circuit layout, compile it, and start the simulation automatically.

Simulation State Machine:

Electron's main and renderer processes communicate through a secure contextBridge preload layer. The renderer never has direct access to Node.js APIs.

Chat history is stored in a local SQLite database (chat-history.db) with WAL mode enabled for concurrent read performance:

CREATE TABLE conversations (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
    title TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
    created_at DATETIME NOT NULL DEFAULT (datetime('now'))
);

CREATE TABLE messages (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
    conversation_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
    role TEXT NOT NULL,
    content TEXT NOT NULL,
    created_at DATETIME NOT NULL DEFAULT (datetime('now')),
    FOREIGN KEY (conversation_id) REFERENCES conversations(id) ON DELETE CASCADE
);

open-claude/
├── src/
│   ├── main/                          # Electron main process
│   │   ├── index.ts                   # Entry point, window creation
│   │   ├── services/
│   │   │   ├── claude.ts              # Anthropic SDK wrapper
│   │   │   ├── database.ts            # SQLite operations
│   │   │   └── secure-storage.ts      # OS-level API key encryption
│   │   └── ipc/
│   │       ├── claude-handlers.ts     # AI-related IPC handlers
│   │       ├── database-handlers.ts   # Database IPC handlers
│   │       └── handlers.ts            # File system, dialog, system IPC
│   │
│   ├── preload/                       # Security boundary
│   │   ├── index.ts                   # contextBridge API exposure
│   │   └── index.d.ts                 # TypeScript definitions
│   │
│   ├── renderer/src/                  # React frontend
│   │   ├── App.tsx                    # Root component (routing)
│   │   ├── features/
│   │   │   ├── chat/                  # Chat UI, streaming, message history
│   │   │   ├── simulation/            # AVR runner, circuit canvas, code editor
│   │   │   ├── orchestrator/          # Auto-compile & auto-debug pipeline
│   │   │   ├── onboarding/            # First-run API key setup
│   │   │   └── settings/              # Preferences panel
│   │   ├── components/                # Shared UI components (Shadcn)
│   │   └── hooks/                     # Shared React hooks
│   │
│   └── shared/                        # Cross-process types & utilities
│       ├── types.ts
│       └── errors.ts
│
├── electron-builder.yml               # Build & packaging configuration
├── electron.vite.config.ts            # Vite config for Electron
├── tsconfig.json                      # TypeScript project references
└── package.json

Basic LED Blink

"Make an LED blink on pin 13 every second"

Interactive Button + LED

"Wire a button to pin 2 and an LED to pin 9. When I press the button, fade the LED in and out"

Display Output

"Show 'Hello World' on an I2C LCD display"

NeoPixel Animation

"Create a rainbow animation on a strip of 8 NeoPixels"

Multi-Component Project

"Build a traffic light with three LEDs (red, yellow, green) that cycles every 3 seconds, and display the current color name on an OLED"

Learning & Explanation

"Explain how PWM works on the Arduino and show me an example with a fading LED"

Your Anthropic API key is encrypted and stored using your OS credential manager. You can update it anytime from the Settings panel within the app.

Arduino code is compiled using the Hexi cloud compiler (Wokwi build service) which returns Intel HEX binaries targeting the ATmega328P.

npm run build:mac

Produces a .dmg installer in the dist/ directory.

npm run build:win

Produces an NSIS installer (.exe) in the dist/ directory.

npm run build:linux

Produces AppImage, Snap, and DEB packages in the dist/ directory.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/my-feature)
3. Make your changes
4. Run tests (npm test)
5. Run type checking (npm run typecheck)
6. Commit and push
7. Open a pull request

MIT