AugmentClaude

Cardputer Buddy

Develop and deploy MicroPython apps to your Cardputer device without re-flashing.

Installation

  1. Make sure Claude is on your device and in your terminal.

    Skills load from ~/.claude/skills/ when Claude Code starts up — so you need it on your machine first. If you don't have it yet, install it once with the command below, then run claude in any terminal to verify.

    One-time setup
    npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

    Already have it? Skip ahead.

  2. Paste into Claude Code or into your terminal.

    This copies the whole skill folder into ~/.claude/skills/cardputer-buddy-anthropics/ — the SKILL.md plus any scripts, reference docs, or templates the skill ships with. Safe default: works for every skill.

    Faster alternative (instruction-only skills)

    Skips the clone and grabs only the SKILL.md file. Don't use this if the skill ships Python scripts, reference markdowns, or asset templates — they won't be downloaded and the skill will fail when it tries to load them.

    Quick install (SKILL.md only)
    Sign up to copy
  3. Restart Claude Code.

    Quit and reopen Claude Code (or any other agent that loads from ~/.claude/skills/). New skills are picked up on startup.

  4. Just ask Claude.

    Skills auto-activate when your request matches the skill's description — no slash command needed. Trigger phrases live in the skill's own frontmatter; you can read them in the “What this skill does” section above.

Prefer to read the source first? Open on GitHub.

When Claude uses it

Iterate on the Cardputer-Adv MicroPython app bundle (Claude Buddy, Snake, Hello) after the device is already provisioned via m5-onboard. Use when the user wants to add a new app, push a single changed .py without re-flashing, watch device serial logs, or run a one-shot REPL command. Trigger on "add an app", "push to the cardputer", "tail the device", "run on the device", or follow-up work after /maker-setup.

What this skill does

Cardputer Buddy app bundle

The buddy/ directory in the local build-with-claude clone is the MicroPython payload that m5-onboard installs onto /flash/. Work inside that clone.

Device layout

/flash/
├── main.py              launcher menu (replaces UIFlow's boot flow)
├── buddy_*.py           shared libs (BLE, UI, state, protocol, chars)
├── burst_frames.py      sprite frames
└── apps/
    ├── claude_buddy.py  BLE client → Claude Desktop's Hardware Buddy
    ├── hello_cardputer.py
    └── snake.py

main.py scans /flash/apps/ at boot and lists every .py as a menu entry. Drop a file into buddy/device/apps/, push it, and it appears on next boot.

Adding an app

Crib from buddy/device/apps/hello_cardputer.py — smallest example of keyboard polling, font, and exit conventions. Then push without re-flashing:

python3 onboard/scripts/install_apps.py --port <PORT> --src buddy

<PORT> is whatever detect.py reported last run (e.g. /dev/cu.usbmodem1101, /dev/ttyACM0, COM3).

Dev loop tooling (buddy/scripts/)

# Push a subset of files over USB-serial
python3 buddy/scripts/push.py --port <PORT> --files apps/snake.py

# Watch device logs
python3 buddy/scripts/tail_serial.py --port <PORT>

# One-shot REPL exec
python3 buddy/scripts/repl_run.py --port <PORT> --script "import os; print(os.listdir('/flash'))"

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