skalp v0.1.1 Released

skalp v0.1.1 is out — the first release of an intent-driven hardware description language that preserves design intent from algorithm to gates, with compile-time clock domain safety and progressive refinement.

Pre-built binaries are available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Get it on GitHub.

What’s in v0.1.1

Language

• Intent-first hardware design with progressive abstraction from dataflow to cycle-accurate RTL
• Clock domains as compile-time lifetimes — CDC bugs are caught by the compiler, not discovered at 3 AM
• Modern type system with traits, generics, const generics, and pattern matching
• Trait-based polymorphism for zero-duplication hardware component reuse
• Built-in verification: assertions, assumptions, and formal properties as first-class citizens
• Power intent attributes (#[retention], #[isolation], #[level_shift], #[pdc])
• Memory configuration attributes (block RAM, distributed, UltraRAM, register files)

Compiler

• Multi-stage pipeline: Frontend → MIR → LIR → SIR → Backend
• Code generation targeting SystemVerilog, Verilog, and VHDL
• Hierarchical gate-level synthesis with per-instance optimization
• NCL asynchronous circuit support for clockless, delay-insensitive designs
• AIG-based logic optimization with configurable pass sequences
• iCE40 FPGA backend with native place-and-route and programmer support
• Clock domain crossing analysis with automatic synchronizer generation

Simulation

• Compiled CPU simulation via C++ code generation
• Gate-level CPU simulation
• GPU-accelerated simulation via Metal on macOS
• Debug breakpoints with conditions (#[breakpoint])
• Signal tracing with automatic waveform export (#[trace])

Tooling

• skalp build — compile to HDL or gate-level netlists
• skalp sim — run simulations with CPU or GPU backends
• skalp lint — hardware-aware static analysis
• skalp fmt — code formatter
• skalp new — project scaffolding with starter templates
• skalp verify — formal verification via SVA generation
• Package manager with dependency management
• LSP server for VS Code, Vim, and Emacs

Standard Library

• Bitwise operations (CLZ, CTZ, popcount, bit reversal)
• Math functions (trigonometric, exponential, logarithmic, roots)
• Vector operations (arithmetic, dot products, cross products, normalization)
• Fixed-point arithmetic with Q-format, saturation, and rounding
• Common hardware primitives (FIFO, counters, UART, I2C, SPI)

Installation

Pre-built binaries

Download the binary for your platform and add it to your PATH.

From source

cargo install --git https://github.com/girivs82/skalp --tag v0.1.1

Links

• GitHub release
• Project page
• Source code