Vibecode an Air Quality Monitor PCB with AI and Gate Checks

MakeIRL's generator treats a air quality monitor prompt as a self-contained project board. Current status: in envelope needs block.

The carrier concept can fit for cataloged low-speed sensor modules under 2 A. The current catalog has no particulate, VOC, or CO₂ block and must refuse exact sensor integration today.

MakeIRL V2 extracts a strict CarrierSpec from the prompt, applies a deterministic scope policy, resolves only cataloged blocks, composes deterministic connectivity and exact-MPN BOM data, emits KiCad artifacts, and runs the manufacturing gate. The language model does not invent pins, topology, parts, placement, routing, or substitutions.

1. Exact CO₂, VOC, particulate or other sensor MPN/module, interface, address, heater/fan current, warm-up, and lifetime
2. Airflow path, cross-sensitivity, calibration/baseline behavior, enclosure vents, temperature/humidity compensation
3. Power peaks, duty, connector, service and replacement access, contamination/coating restrictions, and outputs

Block plan:

• Cataloged controller/module carrier
• Separately verified digital air-quality sensor blocks with stated status and compensation requirements
• Cataloged power, connector, status, and service blocks within 12 V/2 A

Interfaces: I²C/UART low-speed sensors, service UART, GPIO status or alarm. Power plan: Budget sensor heaters, optical fans, radio, display, and startup simultaneously; refuse any requirement above 2 A or unsupported converter.

• Keep sensors in designed airflow and away from MCU/regulator heat, isolate vibration if a fan is used, and preserve replaceable module and cleaning access.
• Freeze the board outline, mounting holes, connector faces, component height zones, test access, and keepouts before evaluating generated placement or routing.

Gate checks:

1. S1Generated connectivity and schematic parity. Check every sensor voltage, address, connector pinout, pull-up total, heater/fan current, warm-up default, and power-headroom calculation.
2. S1Catalog and exact-MPN provenance. Every air quality monitor block, footprint, pin map, required companion, BOM line, and block-status claim must resolve to the pinned catalog version; the prompt cannot create missing hardware.
3. S2PCB DRC, fabrication profile, and release identity. Run KiCad DRC and schematic parity, compare geometry with one quoted fab profile, regenerate Gerbers/drills/BOM/CPL from the approved revision, and inspect both local and supplier previews.

• Review measurement claims, cross-sensitivity, calibration interval, enclosure airflow, contamination, regulatory interpretation, fan life, and sensor replacement.
• A reviewer must check primary datasheets, exact symbol-to-footprint mapping, power and protection, return paths, connector orientation, mechanical fit, test coverage, and every gate waiver before release.

Failure modes:

• A responding sensor can output precise-looking values while warming up, saturated, contaminated, baseline-correcting, or outside its specified environment.
• ERC and DRC can prove encoded consistency but cannot prove requirements, component source truth, analogue stability, RF/EMI, thermal margin, firmware, safety, compliance, or delivered product function.

Validation plan:

• Compare to suitable references, test airflow and self-heating in enclosure, log warm-up and drift, and exercise sensor fault, disconnect, and end-of-life indications.
• Bring up first articles with current limiting, measure every rail before fitting expensive modules, program minimal test firmware, exercise every interface and fault assumption, and retain measurements against the released revision.

• Refuse health/safety guarantees, invented gas calibration, unknown modules, mains fans, or unsupported high-current heaters.
• The generator can connect cataloged sensors; it cannot certify indoor-air accuracy or regulatory compliance.

The intended carrier envelope is 2-layer FR-4, at most 100 × 100 mm, at most 40 BOM lines, at most 12 V SELV and 2 A, with cataloged modules and low-speed I²C, UART, GPIO, slow SPI, or power-only USB-C connections. The current catalog is narrower than that intended envelope.

Deterministic policy refuses unsupported or hazardous requests, including mains, motors, lithium charging, RF design, switch-mode power, high-speed buses, excessive size/current, and unknown modules. A refusal is a safety and truthfulness result, not a failed attempt to improvise a circuit.

The current seed catalog contains ESP32-C3 carrier, USB-C power, and Qwiic/status-LED blocks at checked status. They have passed deterministic checks but are not yet physically verified through the documented two-lot bring-up ladder; pages must not call those current seeds verified.

The output is a gated design candidate for engineering review. Current placement/routing can still produce blocking or review findings, so a generated board is not automatically fab-ready, functionally validated, certified, or safe to order. MakeIRL does not autonomously place a fabrication order from a prompt. Human review, source and output inspection, gate resolution, order-specific fab confirmation, and physical bring-up remain required.