ailyProject/aily-blockly
AI drags-and-drops its way into Arduino development
A block-based IDE that uses large language models to generate hardware projects, convert C++ libraries, and even draw your wiring diagrams.
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What it does Aily Blockly is a desktop IDE (Electron + Angular) for programming microcontrollers—Arduino, ESP32, STM32, RP2040, and others—using Google’s Blockly visual blocks instead of raw C/C++. It wraps npm-style project management around embedded development so board packages and libraries stay isolated per-project, avoiding the dependency chaos that plagues Arduino IDE.
The interesting bit The AI features go beyond code completion. Feed it an Arduino library and it generates the corresponding blockly wrapper. Feed it a dev-board datasheet in markdown and it spits out configuration files. It will even generate pin-connection diagrams and project architecture sketches from your requirements. The project explicitly wants to dissolve the boundary between “professional” and “non-professional” embedded development.
Key highlights
- Per-project board/library management via npm; no more global package pollution
- 200+ pre-packaged extension libraries with more coming
- AI library conversion: C/C++ Arduino libraries → visual blocks via LLM
- AI board configuration generation from markdown docs (ESP32, AVR, Renesas, RP2040, STM32 supported)
- “Lightning compilation” via edge-cloud collaboration—claims 1-hour builds down to 1 minute
- Built-in serial debug tool and pin-diagram viewer
- GPL-licensed; hardware you build with it is not GPL-tainted
Caveats
- Explicitly alpha stage; authors warn against using it for mass-production firmware
- MicroPython support is listed as “mode added, but no library support yet”
- Many planned features (hardware simulation, full MicroPython support) are not yet implemented
- Future versions may break compatibility with current projects
- Board configuration generation only works for specific architectures because compilers and core SDKs must still be pre-baked into the repository
Verdict Worth a spin for educators, hobbyists, and rapid prototypers who want AI to handle the boilerplate of embedded development. Professional firmware engineers should wait for the beta—or keep their Makefile.