Evidence before confidence.
Watch the video · Try it · Slide deck · Sponsor technology · Start guide
A cheaper or substitute part can still break a board: its voltage, current, thermal limit or package has to fit the exact circuit, and chat assistants sound sure even when that evidence is missing.
PartLens is a Windows desktop app that designs small electronics boards from an idea and reviews bills of materials. A local AI model investigates; deterministic engineering checks decide compatibility. Missing evidence stays unverified, never a quiet yes.
| Event | Open Agent Hackathon 2026, 22–27 October 2026 |
| Track | Track 02 |
| Team | Cirquill (Ziad Ghanem) |
| Status | Hackathon submission. Designs are preliminary and labelled as such; nothing is marked working that you can't run. |
| Video | PartLens-demo.mp4 (2:32, 1080p, narrated): a live run of the breadboard power supply design with the local model, official JLCPCB, Zetaris and Meterless H-MEM. Narration is Windows text-to-speech. |
| Deck | docs/PartLens-deck.pdf (10 slides): problem, workflows, architecture, live demo, Zetaris, Meterless, NVIDIA, trust rules, limits |
| Download | PartLens.exe from the latest release (Windows x64, single file, 50 MB) |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 |
Quickstart (judges) · What it does · Sponsor technology · Pre-existing components · Where to look
Option A — the app (no install). Download
PartLens.exe and double-click it. It needs the Windows
WebView2 Runtime (present on Windows 11). On first launch, Add your API keys asks for your own JLCPCB and
optional Zetaris keys; Skip for now runs with clearly labelled synthetic data. A guided tour follows.
For the AI features install Ollama and run ollama pull qwen3.5:9b.
Option B — keyless check from source (about 2 minutes, no keys, no model, no network). From CMD:
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -e ".[dev]"
.venv\Scripts\python.exe -X utf8 scripts\sample_demo.pyExpected output: the banner SYNTHETIC DETERMINISTIC SAMPLE, then three candidate decisions for BOM line L1 —
Equivalence: verified, Equivalence: rejected and Equivalence: unverified (the last because the candidate
does not state its dielectric or temperature range) — followed by 7 unresolved inputs, such as the build
quantity and L4's missing part identity. Every check prints the supplier record it relied on.
Full test suite: .venv\Scripts\python.exe scripts\validate.py (392 tests; the H-MEM tests need the bridge
from DEVELOPMENT.md).
- New design from an idea. Describe the board. PartLens asks only for missing requirements: your typed words confirm a requirement, while values the AI proposes stay provisional. It picks a reference architecture, runs deterministic checks, swaps out parts that fail and keeps every failed attempt on record.
- Existing BOM review. Import a CSV, match parts to official JLCPCB records, check replacements, compare your quantity against 60 boards, and recall earlier decisions from memory — rechecked on current data.
- Engineer review and export. Accept, reject or mark proposals as needing evidence. Projects keep immutable revisions; your BOM is never modified in place.
Headline demo — dual-rail breadboard power supply (USB-C in, 3.3 V and 5 V at 500 mA, 5 boards). The first regulator, an XC6206 LDO, fails two checks: current (0.5005 A needed against its 0.25 A limit) and thermal dissipation (0.976 W against 0.25 W). PartLens switches to a TPS63031 buck-boost, which clears both. The 16-role BOM moves to the BOM workspace in one click; 14 roles match official JLCPCB parts. The 1.5 µH inductor and 2×2 rail headers stay visibly unmatched because no verified supplier code exists for them — PartLens does not invent one. Cost is reported as incomplete because JLCPCB does not document currency, minimum order or order multiple.
flowchart LR
UI[Desktop UI · WebView2] --> Bridge[Restricted Python bridge]
Bridge --> Agent[Local Qwen via Ollama · NVIDIA GPU]
Agent --> Controller[Bounded workflow controller]
Controller --> Checks[Deterministic checks · Decimal maths]
Controller --> JLC[Official JLCPCB API]
Controller --> Zetaris[Zetaris Lightning SQL]
Controller --> Memory[Meterless H-MEM]
Checks --> Records[Evidence · decisions · costs]
JLC --> Records
Zetaris --> Records
Memory --> Records
Records --> UI
Bridge --> Projects[Projects · immutable revisions · engineer review]
The model proposes; rules decide. The model chooses the next question or tool. It cannot mark a part verified, override a failed check, compute a cost or confirm a requirement for you. The controller enforces required steps and budgets, records your answers verbatim, and renders the final report from tool results.
| Technology | Role in PartLens | Status | Where / evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zetaris | Read-only Lightning SQL over supplier observations; every query is journalled (SQL, request ID, timing, rows, digest) | Working — owner-local Docker deployment | sources/zetaris.py, JLCZetarisCatalog in sources/jlcpcb.py; 88 successful SELECTs in the official-source trial (SPONSOR-ACCESS.md) |
| Meterless H-MEM | Decision memory: every verified, rejected or unverified decision is stored with provenance; recall triggers fresh checks | Working — reference engine bundled in the EXE | memory/hmem.py, integrations/hmem-bridge; reference engine tests 10/10; cold-session recall rechecked 5 decisions (3 unchanged, 2 still unverified) |
| Meterless Nightshift | — | Not used: all inference is local by design | — |
| NVIDIA | Local inference hardware: Ollama runs qwen3.5:9b (Q4_K_M, 6.1 GB) fully in the memory of an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (16 GB) |
Working — no NVIDIA cloud API or Nemotron | Settings › Local model; service check records the model and runtime |
| Cursor | — | Not used | Development tools are listed under AI and development tools |
| JLCPCB | Official authenticated component-detail lookups by exact C-code (no catalogue extraction, no ordering) | Working | sources/jlcpcb.py, JLCPCB-INTEGRATION.md |
More detail, including measured results: docs/hackathon/SUBMISSION.md.
- In the product: only the local Ollama model (
qwen3.5:9b). Paid or cloud inference is disabled and there is no silent fallback. - During development: Codex, Claude Code and Antigravity. Cursor was not used. None of these tools are in the product's runtime path.
- Video narration: Windows' built-in speech synthesis.
PartLens itself — the engineering core, deterministic checks, workflow controller, supplier adapters, memory bridge integration, desktop UI and tests — was written during the build window from 2026-10-22 00:00 UTC. Pre-existing third-party material, each under its own licence:
| Component | Use |
|---|---|
Ollama runtime and Qwen qwen3.5:9b weights |
Local inference; downloaded separately, not distributed |
Meterless H-MEM reference engine (commit 1742dec5) |
Decision memory; vendored by setup, Apache-2.0 |
| Easyduino RP2040 example BOM | Public example design, CERN-OHL-P-2.0 |
| pywebview, WebView2, Node.js and Python libraries | Runtime dependencies, see THIRD_PARTY.md |
| Official JLCPCB and Zetaris documentation | Reference only; no SDK code copied |
Full disclosure: DISCLOSURE.md.
| Criterion | Where |
|---|---|
| Impact (30) | What it does; start guide |
| Technical execution (20) | workflow.py controller, checks/, tests/ (392 tests) |
| Innovation (15) | Architecture: model proposes, rules decide; recalled memory is rechecked, never trusted |
| Demo (15) | Video, deck, Quickstart (judges) |
| Product and UX (10) | assets/desktop/: first-launch setup, guided tour, Evidence inspector |
| Sponsor technology (10) | Sponsor technology |
Source requirements: Python 3.12+ and Node 20+ for the memory bridge. From CMD:
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -e ".[dev,llm,desktop,desktop-build]"
.venv\Scripts\python.exe scripts\validate.pyInstall the pinned H-MEM bridge as described in DEVELOPMENT.md. Build the single executable
with .venv\Scripts\python.exe -X utf8 scripts\build_desktop.py; run from source with
.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m partlens.desktop. Further synthetic examples need no keys or model:
.venv\Scripts\python.exe -X utf8 scripts\new_design_demo.py
.venv\Scripts\python.exe -X utf8 scripts\breadboard_power_design.pyConfiguration keys are listed in .env.example; real keys are entered in the app and stored with Windows encryption, never in the repository. Desktop build details: docs/DESKTOP.md.
- New designs are preliminary: no validated schematic, ERC, PCB layout or manufacturing files.
- Footprints, pin assignments and complete costs may remain unresolved; unknown fees are never invented.
- The local model sometimes stalls or repeats; the controller bounds it, finishes deterministic steps itself and labels the result partial.
- Zetaris runs as an owner-local deployment; when it is down, the service check says so.
- Supplier stock is a timestamped observation, not a guarantee. PartLens never orders parts.
Original code and synthetic fixtures: Apache-2.0, with NOTICE. The Easyduino RP2040 BOM keeps its CERN-OHL-P-2.0 licence. THIRD_PARTY.md lists the memory engine, bundled runtime and dependency notices. Security reports: SECURITY.md.