Building Hardware Reference Bot

Ever been working on a hardware project and had to stop just to calculate a resistor value, find a datasheet, or check an MCU pinout?

That tiny “let me Google this” moment happens constantly in electronics work. So for Hack Club’s Stardance YSWS, I built Hardware Reference Bot — a FastAPI Slack slash-command bot that provides quick hardware references directly inside Slack.

Features

/dp-resistor <bands>

Calculates 4-band and 5-band resistor values from color bands.

Example:

/dp-resistor brown black red gold

Returns the resistor value and tolerance instantly.

/dp-datasheet <part_number>

Generates quick datasheet search links for:

• Octopart
• Manufacturer datasheet search
• AllDataSheet

No scraping or PDF parsing—just fast access to references.

/dp-pinout <mcu>

Returns a curated pinout/peripheral cheatsheet.

Currently supported:

• STM32G474
• ESP32-C3

MCU data is stored in JSON, making it easy to add new devices.

Project Structure

app/
├── main.py
├── config.py
├── commands/
└── data/

tests/
Dockerfile
docker-compose.yml
slack-app-manifest.yaml
.env.example

Endpoints

GET /healthz
POST /slack/events

Deployment

The app is containerized with Docker and planned for deployment via Coolify:

1. Build Docker image
2. Configure Slack secrets
3. Expose port 8000
4. Connect Cloudflare Tunnel
5. Update Slack command URLs
6. Use /healthz for health checks

Implementation Notes

Slash command handlers immediately call ack() and send responses through Bolt’s respond() helper. This satisfies Slack’s response timing requirements while keeping responses clean and formatted.

Why?

Hardware development involves dozens of tiny reference lookups every day. Instead of opening multiple tabs, Hardware Reference Bot keeps common references one command away inside the place you’re already collaborating.

Planned Features

• More MCU pinouts
• Better pinout formatting
• Capacitor code lookup
• Package reference guides
• Ohm’s law helpers
• Additional hardware utilities

Everything hardware, one command away.

ReactBeat Devlog

Built reactbeat into a full local Python TUI music visualizer. The app now opens with a Textual start screen where users
can browse folders or reopen recent audio files, then plays local audio while rendering beat-reactive braille graphics.

Implemented the core audio pipeline: WAV/FLAC/OGG loading through soundfile, callback-driven playback through
sounddevice, playback-position tracking, and a manual NumPy FFT analyzer for bass, broadband energy, intensity, and
onset detection. MP3 and external media tools were intentionally avoided to keep the app self-contained.

Built the rendering stack from scratch: a custom Unicode braille packer, Rich style spans per cell, and multiple
simulation-driven visuals rather than FFT bars. The current modes are:

• particles: vectorized particle motion with structured spawning and beat forces
• fluid: coarse Stable Fluids-style density/velocity simulation
• waves: damped 2D ripple simulation added as a third mode

Added five runtime themes: ember, aurora, voltage, prism, and ghost. Styles can be cycled during playback, and modes
cycle with m.

Improved the TUI flow: single command launch with python -m src.cli, folder picker support, recent files, visible
controls/status bar, direct audio-file launch, folder launch, diagnostics, smoke tests, and audio metadata checks. Mouse
interaction was experimented with, but removed after it caused lag and didn’t improve the experience enough.

Added project docs and validation: README.md, PRD.md, ROADMAP.md, a cross-platform python -m scripts.check command, unit
tests for core systems, smoke renders for all modes, and PyInstaller/Linux packaging notes. The latest verification
passed with:

python -m scripts.check
python -m compileall src tests scripts

Final Entry: v1.0 Development Complete

Development on Context Capsule v1.0 is finished.

The final v1.0 build delivers that core flow: select text on a Chromium page, open the extension popup, click Capture Current Page, and paste a clean markdown block with the page title, URL, timestamp, and selected text.

If no text is selected, Context Capsule uses the current clipboard as a fallback so the capture still works.The browser extension stays intentionally thin. It collects page context and talks to the local Python host through Chrome Native Messaging. Python owns the durable logic: formatting, clipboard writes, SQLite history, capsules, exports, diagnostics, and install registration.

What Shipped

• Popup-first capture flow with no browser keyboard shortcut conflicts.
• Markdown, Compact, and Prompt output presets.
• Prompt templates for summarize, debug, explain, and notes workflows.
• Capture modes for smart selection, selection only, clipboard, page metadata, visible text, and readable text.
• Local SQLite history with re-copy, pin, delete, clear history, search, filters, tags, and projects.
• Multi-source capsules for collecting several captures into one AI-ready prompt.
• Export to Markdown or JSON for visible history, all history, or the active capsule.
• Diagnostics panel for recent host events and errors.
• First-run onboarding, demo prompt action, install guide button, and improved demo page.
• Cross-platform native host registration through install.py for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• Release install guide in docs/install.md.
• Unit tests for core host, formatting, history, capsule, export, diagnostics, and native messaging framing.
• Branded Chromium extension icons.

For now, the core product is complete: Context Capsule turns a multi-step context-sharing routine into one popup click, keeps a recoverable local history, and produces clean markdown ready for an AI chat.

reactbeat

reactbeat is a local terminal music visualizer. It decodes an audio file, plays it back, analyzes short-time energy in sync with playback, and renders particle or fluid motion as packed braille graphics in a Textual TUI.The visual core is simulation-driven generative art, not FFT bars. Audio, analysis, simulation, and rendering all run locally.

Features

• TUI start screen with Browse and Recent Files choices.
• Folder browser filtered to supported audio files.
• Persistent recent-file list for reopening previously selected tracks.
• Custom braille renderer using Unicode braille cells and Rich styles.
• Numpy-vectorized particle simulation.
• Stable Fluids-style density/velocity simulation.
• Local WAV, FLAC, and OGG decode through soundfile.
• Callback-driven playback through sounddevice.
• Manual FFT energy analyzer with adaptive onset detection.
• Runtime visual styles: ember, aurora, voltage.
• One-file Linux PyInstaller build with bundled PortAudio and ALSA config.

Supported Audio

• WAV
• FLAC
• OGG/Vorbis

Built the following in my tool Context-Capsule:

Multi-Source Capsules

Use the popup’s Capsule section to collect multiple captures before pasting into an AI chat:

• Start: creates a new active capsule.
• Append Page: captures the current page and adds it to the active capsule.
• Copy: copies all capsule items as one combined markdown prompt.
• Clear: removes the active capsule.

Settings

The extension options page stores browser-side defaults in chrome.storage.local:

• default capture mode
• default format preset
• default prompt template
• popup history row count
• timestamp style
• auto-pin captures that use clipboard fallback

Projects and Tags

Use the popup Project and Tag fields before capturing. Labels are stored with history entries and capsule items, shown in entry metadata, and searchable through the project/tag filter.

Export

The popup Export controls copy generated export text to the clipboard:

• Visible: exports the currently visible filtered history rows.
• All: exports all saved history rows.
• Capsule: exports the active multi-source capsule.
• Format can be Markdown or JSON.

Diagnostics

The host stores a capped local diagnostics log for recent captures, exports, capsule actions, and errors. The popup Diagnostics section shows the latest entries so native messaging and clipboard failures are easier to debug.

Onboarding

The popup shows a first-run Quick Start card until dismissed. It links to the localhost demo page and reminds users about the capture/history hotkeys and doctor command.

Demo Prompt

The popup Demo Prompt button copies a polished prompt using the active capsule when one exists, otherwise the latest three captures. This is designed for quick hackathon demos and judge walkthroughs.

Demo Page

Serve demo.html through Python’s built-in local server for a controlled manual test page with selectable sample text and checklist prompts: python -m http.server 8765

Hey Guys, I just started a new project Context Capsule.

Context Capsule cuts the “share what I’m looking at with an AI” routine from a 5-6 step manual dance down to a single hotkey.

When you’re debugging, researching, or working with an AI assistant, you constantly need to hand it context: which page you were on, what part of it matters, plus whatever you’d already copied.

Right now that means selecting text, copying it, switching to your chat window, pasting it, going back to grab the URL, and then cleaning everything into a readable shape.

If you accidentally copy something else before you paste, the original context is gone and you have to redo the whole thing.

Context Capsule captures the active Chromium page URL, title, selected text, and a clipboard fallback, formats it as markdown, copies it to your clipboard, and keeps a small local SQLite history.