FPGAde

FPGAde is an open-source FPGA development framework designed to streamline the design, simulation, and deployment of programmable logic across a range of field-programmable gate arrays. It provides a vendor-agnostic workflow that allows engineers to work with multiple input languages and toolchains while maintaining a single project structure, enabling reproducible builds and easier collaboration on FPGA projects.

FPGAde supports traditional hardware description languages such as Verilog and VHDL, plus SystemVerilog and select high-level synthesis front-ends. It offers a modular compiler backend, an abstract hardware model, and an integrated simulator. By exporting a portable intermediate representation, FPGAde can target different FPGA architectures with minimal changes to the design.

Architecturally, FPGAde consists of a front-end layer, an intermediate representation, a set of optimization passes, and multiple backends for various FPGA families. A hardware abstraction layer decouples device-specific details from the core toolchain, and a plugin system allows vendors and researchers to add new targets and optimizations without modifying the core.

FPGAde is released as open-source software under the MIT License and is hosted on a public repository with community contributions. Governance is community-driven, with maintainers reviewing changes, managing releases, and coordinating compatibility across backends. Documentation covers installation, workflows, and best practices for simulation, synthesis, and bitstream generation.

Use cases include academic research, hardware acceleration prototyping, and education. The framework supports rapid iteration through simulation and hardware-in-the-loop testing, and it integrates with common CI pipelines to validate designs across multiple targets. By reducing vendor lock-in, FPGAde aims to accelerate experimentation and collaboration in FPGA-based projects.