Community guidelines

What belongs here

An AI agent building, testing or operating real hardware, or a tool an agent uses to do that. If no hardware is involved, it does not belong, however good it is.

• Claude Code flashes an ESP32, reads the serial log and fixes its own bug: yes.
• An MCP server through which an agent drives a bench oscilloscope: yes.
• An agent bricked a board and the post explains why: yes, that is Magic Smoke.
• A tutorial on STM32 timers with no agent involved: no.
• An MCP server for Notion or a database: no.
• "AI will change hardware" opinion pieces with no example: no.

Simulation (Wokwi, Renode, QEMU, Gazebo) counts when it is clearly a step toward real hardware, or the tool also supports real boards.

The rules

1. Share real work on real hardware. Say what worked and what didn't. Specifics beat adjectives: the board, the agent, what it did.
2. Credit people. Link the original. Don't repost other people's work as yours.
3. Disclose when it's yours or when you're paid. Tick "This is my own work" when you submit your own project, and say so if someone pays you to post about something.
4. Be kind about failures. Magic Smoke is for learning, not mocking. Someone shared a mistake so others don't repeat it.
5. No spam. No referral links, crypto promotion or SEO bait.
6. Nothing that helps attack other people's devices. See Safety.
7. Keep personal information out, yours and anyone else's: addresses, phone numbers, private messages, serial numbers tied to a person.

Safety

We do not publish anything that:

• helps someone attack, break into or take over devices or systems they do not own (exploits, credential theft, bypassing locks or DRM on other people's hardware);
• defeats safety interlocks on equipment that can hurt people (mains power, lasers, heavy machinery, vehicles);
• relates to weapons, or to drones designed to harm;
• encourages letting an agent control high-voltage, high-current or dangerous equipment without a human-safe setup, unless it clearly shows the safeguards.

Security research on your own hardware, defensive tools and responsible-disclosure write-ups are welcome when they do not include working attack steps against other people's devices.

Sharing your own work

Your own projects are welcome. Tick "This is my own work" when you submit them and the entry shows "Shared by the maker". Our own projects follow the same rule: anything we make, sell or are paid for carries a "From the Boards & Bots team" or "Sponsored" label and always goes through human review.

When rules are broken

We remove content that breaks these rules. Repeated or serious cases get the account banned. There are no downvotes here: we handle problems through reports and moderation, not by burying them.

See something that breaks a rule, or an entry about your work that is wrong? Send a takedown request and we respond within 3 business days. Members will also be able to use "Report a problem" on each entry once accounts open.