> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hardwave.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Introduction > Hardwave is a hardware simulation and development platform. Design circuits and systems in Python before touching any hardware. Hardwave models hardware as a **dataflow graph of components**. Each component is a typed black box with input ports, output ports, and a solver that turns inputs into outputs. Connect components into a graph, run the simulation engine, and get results: from a simple voltage divider to a full robot drivetrain. ## Why Hardwave? Hardware prototyping is expensive and slow. You design something, order parts, assemble it, test it, and discover a motor draws twice the expected current. Then you iterate. Hardwave lets you close that loop in software: * **Simulate** electrical, mechanical, and thermal behaviour before buying anything * **Compose** components into systems. A resistor, a motor driver, and a microcontroller all share the same interface * **Calibrate** simulation models against real measurements from physical hardware * **Swap solvers**: start with a formula, replace it with a hosted ML model trained on real data, without changing any wiring ## Quick Start Install the Python package and import the standard library to register built-in types and components. Add component instances to a `SimulationGraph` and wire their ports together. Validate the graph, then call `SimulationEngine.run()` for steady-state or transient results. ## Core Concepts | Concept | Description | | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Type** | A named, physically-meaningful signal (e.g. `DCVoltage`, `Torque`, `Temperature`) | | **Port** | A typed input or output slot on a component; aggregating inputs accept multiple connections | | **Component** | A node in the simulation graph with ports and a solver | | **Solver** | The computation that transforms inputs to outputs (formula, ODE, lookup table, ML model) | | **Composite** | A component built from other connected sub-components; externally identical to a primitive | | **Graph** | A directed acyclic graph of connected component instances | | **Engine** | Runs the graph, propagates values through it, and returns a result | | **Health** | Runtime component state: OK, WARNING, or FAULT (see fault-aware stdlib components) | Everything is a component. A resistor is a component. An Arduino is a component. A robot arm is a component. The abstraction never breaks. ## Component health and faults Stdlib components like `DCMotor` and `LiPoCell` monitor operating limits during simulation. When a motor overheats or a battery over-discharges, the engine records structured diagnostics and can degrade component outputs, making it possible to stress-test power supplies, validate shutdown firmware, and teach failure modes before hardware breaks. Runtime warnings, fault codes, and FaultMode configuration ## What's Next? Simulate a voltage divider in under five minutes Learn types, ports, components, and solvers Warnings, faults, and degraded behaviour during simulation Wire components together and validate connections Combine multiple connections on one input port Build a complete vent controller from scratch Browse 30 signal types and 28 built-in components Use high-fidelity cloud-served models in your simulations