PicoForge ⚡🛠️

PicoForge is a modern, browser-based visual programming environment designed specifically for the Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040). It bridges the gap between drag-and-drop simplicity and professional C++ development by generating valid, compiled Pico SDK code in real-time.

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🚀 Key Features

• Visual Logic Builder: Drag-and-drop support (using @dnd-kit) for GPIO, SPI, I2C, ADC, PWM, and Flow Control.
• Live Architecture Preview: Real-time system visualization using dynamic Mermaid diagrams.
• Dockerized Build Toolchain: Compiles C++ code for RP2040 in a containerized environment—no local toolchain installation required.
• Reusable Functions: Visually define C++ functions with steps and call them endlessly in your main loop.
• Smart Validation:
  • Prevents pin conflicts (e.g., using a pin for both SPI and GPIO).
  • Enforces hardware constraints (e.g., valid SPI0 vs SPI1 pins).
  • Auto-links config blocks to their actions.
• Production-Ready Code: Generates clean, commented main.cpp and CMakeLists.txt that auto-detects required libraries (hardware_spi, hardware_pwm, etc.).

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🏗️ Architecture & Flow

PicoForge uses a containerized microservices architecture to ensure consistent, reproducible builds across any OS.

graph LR
    User[User / Browser] -- 1. Visual Design --> React[Frontend UI]
    React -- 2. JSON Config --> Node[Node.js Backend]
    Node -- 3. Scaffolding --> Gen[Code Generator]
    Gen -- 4. C++ Source --> BuildEnv[Docker Build Container]
    BuildEnv -- 5. Compile (GCC) --> Bin[firmware.uf2]
    Bin -- 6. Download --> User

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Core Components

• Frontend (/web/frontend): A React application built with Vite and Tailwind CSS. It handles the block logic, validation, and state management.
• Backend (/web/backend): A Node.js Express API. It acts as the orchestrator, managing project files and spinning up build containers.
• Build Environment (/docker): A custom Alpine Linux Docker image pre-loaded with the official pico-sdk, cmake, and arm-none-eabi-gcc.

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📂 Project Structure

d:\apps\picoforge
├── 📂 web
│   ├── 📂 frontend       # React UI: Visual Builder, Components, Mermaid Preview
│   └── 📂 backend        # Node.js API: Scaffold Service, Project Management
├── 📂 docker             # Dockerfiles defining the dev and build environments
├── 📂 workspace          # Persistent volume for User Projects & Build Artifacts
├── 📄 docker-compose.yml # Orchestration for all services (frontend, backend, builder)
└── 📄 README.md          # Documentation

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🛠️ Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop (Ensure it is running)
• Git

Installation & Running

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/picoforge.git
   cd picoforge

2. Start the environment: This command builds the frontend, backend, and compile-toolchain containers.

   docker-compose up -d --build

3. Access PicoForge: Open your browser to http://localhost:8080.

Usage Guide

1. Create Project: Click "New Project", give it a name (e.g., blink-led).
2. Setup Hardware:
   • Drag Setup blocks (e.g., SPI CONFIG, PWM CONFIG) into the Setup section.
   • Validation checks will ensure you pick valid hardware pins.
3. Define Logic:
   • Drag Action blocks (e.g., GPIO SET, SPI WRITE, WAIT) into the Loop section.
   • Create custom functions using the Function Def block.
4. Visualize: Check the "Architecture Preview" card to see a generated diagram of your system.
5. Build: Click the Build button. The backend generates the C++ code and compiles it.
6. Flash: When the build finishes, a project.uf2 file will download. Drag this to your Pico (mounted as RPI-RP2).

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

1. Fork the repo.
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature).
3. Commit your changes.
4. Push to the branch.
5. Open a Pull Request.

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📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.