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Show HN: I'm 16 y/o and Built the only AI Agent for Hardware and Software Dev

A 16-year-old developer, Aarav, released Sprocket, an AI agent that creates hardware designs and writes code, and can autonomously purchase parts or SaaS subscriptions from any website. The tool, available via npm as @spikonado/sprocket and as a desktop app from GitHub Releases, retrieves web context for reliability and supports commands like `sprocket serve` and environment variables for customization. Sprocket aims to be the world's best platform for hardware and software development.

read3 min views1 publishedAug 2, 2026
Show HN: I'm 16 y/o and Built the only AI Agent for Hardware and Software Dev
Image: source

Goal: To make the world's best platform for developing hardware and software.

Sprocket is a lightweight agent that can create hardware designs and write code.

Sprocket retrieves best-in-class context from the web for everything it does. It is therefore incredibly reliable. In terms of hardware design, Sprocket can make beautiful schematics in React, create your BOM, and create detailed assembly instructions.

And here's the best part: Sprocket can (on its own) buy anything from any website when you tell it to do so. From hardware parts to SaaS subscriptions.

Note

You can run Sprocket using any of the ways defined below with no impact on Sprocket's capabilities or performance. The desktop app may take more RAM than using Sprocket through your browser.

npx @spikonado/sprocket

The above runs Sprocket through your browser unless you have the desktop app installed.

Install it for your OS from the latest GitHub Release Artifacts and run it.

npm i -g @spikonado/sprocket
sprocket

The above runs Sprocket through your browser unless you have the desktop app installed.

To always open a tab in your browser when using Sprocket, use the --web

flag:

sprocket --web

Pass a directory to open or reconnect that workspace in a new thread:

sprocket .
sprocket --web ../my-robot

Sprocket remembers attached workspaces and local server sessions between launches. Local state lives in $HOME/.sprocket

(or %USERPROFILE%\.sprocket

on Windows when HOME

is unset). Override with SPROCKET_DATA_DIR

.

Command Behavior
sprocket serve
Run the local server in the foreground without launching a client.
sprocket serve --api-only
Serve only /api ; intended for development (see

Run sprocket --help

or sprocket serve --help

for all options.

Common Sprocket server overrides are available as environment variables:

Variable Purpose
SPROCKET_DATA_DIR
Directory for pairing, sessions, and workspace state.
SPROCKET_PORT
Local server port; defaults to 17731 for installed use.
SPROCKET_HOST
Bind host; defaults to 127.0.0.1 .
SPROCKET_DESKTOP_EXECUTABLE
Full path to the desktop executable to be used by the Sprocket CLI.
PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL
Convex deployment used by the agent runtime.
SPROCKET_STATIC_DIR
Web build to serve instead of the bundled build.
  • Bun 1.x, version 1.3.9 or newer
  • Node.js 24.x, version 24.14 or newer
  • A current stable Rust toolchain

Install dependencies:

bun install

Start the browser development environment:

bun dev

After creating a convex deployment and configuring authkit following the instructions, configure the Convex deployment with the API key for each model provider you want to enable.

This runs Vite at http://localhost:5173

and the Rust API at http://127.0.0.1:7731

, with development state kept in .sprocket-dev

inside the repository. To develop against Electron instead, run:

bun dev:desktop
cargo test
bun run test
bun run build
prek run -a

Create a local Electron installer package with:

bun run build:release

Artifacts are written to apps/desktop/dist/

as sprocket-desktop-*

(.AppImage

/ .dmg

/ .exe

depending on the host OS). Published installers come from GitHub Releases; the sprocket

CLI is published separately on npm.

  • If 17731

is already occupied, setSPROCKET_PORT

before launching. - If sprocket

opens the browser instead of the desktop app, installsprocket-desktop

fromGitHub ReleasesontoPATH

, or setSPROCKET_DESKTOP_EXECUTABLE

. - Unsigned macOS and Windows desktop builds may need a Gatekeeper / SmartScreen override the first time you open them.

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