DRCY is Allspice’s AI assistant for exploring and analyzing electronics designs. DRCY Chat is a capability of DRCY that lets you ask questions about components and connectivity, investigate design concerns, and create reports using available design data and datasheet specifications. You can refine an answer through follow-up questions and ask DRCY to explain the evidence behind its conclusions.
When to use DRCY Chat
Engineers are constantly investigating designs by tracing nets, checking ratings, and researching to better understand circuit behavior. DRCY Chat brings that work into Allspice, grounded in your version-controlled design data.
Understand designs by asking about unfamiliar circuits and connectivity.
Explore design options such as available MCU pins or components to add.
Investigate concerns by checking components against stated conditions, asking what-if questions, or following up on DRCY Review findings.
Create useful outputs like structured reports, tables, and summaries. Ask DRCY to distinguish evidence, calculations, assumptions, and unknowns.
DRCY Chat works best with a specific question and real design data. Include relevant operating conditions, constraints, and the output you want.
Getting started with DRCY Chat
Navigate to your repository and select the branch you want to work with.
Open DRCY from the left-hand side panel.
The DRCY Chat prompt window will open.
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Enter your prompt in the message window. Start with a focused question that includes relevant component designators, net names, or schematic pages. For example:
Explain how the 3.3 V power rail is generated. Identify the regulator, its input supply, and the components connected to its output.
Alternatively, you could ask a broader question about design intent or purpose to give context before moving further with development. Think high-level, even as simple as:
What does this design do?
Click Send and wait for DRCY to respond.
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Ask follow-up questions to refine or narrow the analysis:
What datasheet specifications support that conclusion? Separate confirmed information from assumptions.
💡 Tips for a useful prompt:
Scope: specify the circuit, page, net, or components to examine
Goal: state the question you want answered
Constraints: include operating conditions such as supply voltages and temperature
Output: indicate the format you want (explanation, table, Markdown document, etc.)
Evidence: ask DRCY to distinguish source data, calculations, assumptions, and unknowns
DRCY can search components, nets, and attributes, inspect component pins and connections, retrieve available part specifications, and read files within the repository scope.
Creating outputs with DRCY Chat
DRCY Chat can generate structured outputs like reports, tables, and documents directly from your design data. The following example walks through creating a derating report, but the same approach applies to any output you want to generate.
Example: creating a derating report
Derating analysis is supported for capacitors, resistors, and diodes. DRCY combines available datasheet limits with schematic operating points and your derating requirements to generate the report.
Open DRCY from the left-hand side panel.
Enter a focused prompt that includes:
Specific output you want to generate (a capacitor derating report in this example).
The component group or scope to analyze
Your derating rules (e.g. maximum voltage ratio)
Any known operating conditions (supply voltages, temperature)
Instructions for how to handle unknowns
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Once DRCY has generated the report, review it from the right-hand side panel. Check the cited evidence and assumptions in the chat.
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Supply any missing inputs and ask DRCY to revise the report, then review again.
Once the output looks right, ask DRCY to format it for your needs. This could be a Markdown document, a CSV table with specific columns, or any other format you need.
Continue refining through follow-up questions. Narrow the scope, change the format, add explanations, or ask DRCY to separate confirmed data from assumptions.
💡 Tips for any output:
Be specific about format: ask for a Markdown document, CSV table, checklist, or plain explanation.
Set the scope: specify the component group, schematic page, or net you want covered.
Provide operating conditions: DRCY cannot infer non-obvious voltages or temperatures from the schematic alone.
Ask for evidence transparency: prompt DRCY to distinguish confirmed datasheet values, calculated results, and assumptions.
Revise iteratively: treat the first response as a draft and refine it through conversation.
⚠️ Outputs from DRCY Chat are engineering aids, not approvals. Always verify the cited evidence, assumptions, and source design data before acting on or sharing a generated report.
⚠️ DRCY does not simulate the circuit to determine operating points. It uses logical inference and simple DC analysis where possible. Provide non-trivial operating conditions and the operating temperature yourself.
What context does DRCY use?
Depending on the request and the data available, DRCY can use:
Design data: component attributes, pins, nets, and connectivity.
Available datasheet specifications: part limits and other information relevant to an analysis.
Repository files: supporting text, tables, and other readable files within the chat’s scope.
Files attached to the session: supported reference files and spreadsheet data.
Your conversation: questions, constraints, corrections, and follow-up instructions.
DRCY.md: optional, broadly applicable context about your design or organization. See the Give DRCY reusable design context section further down on this page for more information.
Make important operating conditions explicit. Include supply voltages, operating temperature, design intent, or other requirements that may not be apparent from the schematic. Ask DRCY to identify missing information rather than assume it.
What can I do with DRCY Chat?
DRCY Chat can be used in a few different ways to improve your workflow throughout the design process. The following example prompts can be used to help you get started.
Understand a design
Ask DRCY to explain a circuit, trace connectivity, or locate relevant components.
Trace the net connected to U4 pin 3. Which other components and schematic pages connect to it?
Explain the power-selection circuit and identify any assumptions you need to make.
These workflows use DRCY’s component, net, search, and datasheet tools.
Explore design options
Ask DRCY to investigate possibilities as you develop a design, such as checking available pins or exploring options for adding a component.
Are there available pins on this MCU that could support a speaker?
Investigate a design concern
Focus the analysis on a specific question rather than requesting an unrestricted review.
Investigate whether the capacitors on the input rail have adequate voltage ratings. Show the available evidence and flag any unknown operating voltages.
Treat the response as an engineering aid, not an approval. Check the cited evidence, assumptions, and source design before acting on a recommendation.
Create reports and tables
Ask DRCY to organize its findings into a Markdown document or CSV table. Continue the conversation to revise the draft. For example, changing columns, narrowing the scope, or adding explanations.
Create a CSV table of potential power-system issues. Include the component, concern, supporting evidence, assumptions, and recommended next check.
Give DRCY reusable design context
Add an optional DRCY.md file at either of the following locations:
./DRCY.mdin the repository root.allspice/DRCY.md
Keep it short and practical. Good content includes design intent, naming conventions, preferred parts, known exceptions, and recurring misunderstandings. The file must be in the same branch as the chat, use UTF-8 encoding, and only its first 16 KB are read. For example, this could look as follows:
# Design context
This board is a battery-powered environmental sensor.
- VMAIN is the unregulated battery rail.
- USB is used for power and diagnostics only.
- Prefer TI power components where practical.
- The unused pins on U4 are intentionally left floating.
Use DRCY.md for context that belongs in every chat, not lengthy background documents, review checklists, or instructions for a single task.
Troubleshooting
DRCY is missing important design context
Check the selected repository and branch. Provide the relevant design intent or operating conditions explicitly, and ask DRCY which data it used.
DRCY is not using DRCY.md
Check the exact filename and supported path, confirm that it exists in the chat’s branch, and verify its encoding and size.
A report contains missing or uncertain values
Supply the missing operating conditions or reference data. For derating reports, unknown values should be flagged rather than fabricated.
A result appears incorrect
Check the source data and assumptions, explain the discrepancy, and ask DRCY to reconsider. When reporting an issue to Allspice, include the prompt, design context, expected behavior, and relevant output or screenshots where permitted.