CELUS has introduced an agent-based workflow for its Design Assistant, automating system architecture planning and component research before schematic capture. The beta feature is now available on the CELUS Design Platform. The workflow is intended to reduce the manual research involved in early-stage hardware development, when engineers typically evaluate system requirements, consult component datasheets and compare parts from distributors. Unlike conventional prompt-based AI tools, the new workflow develops a design plan and conducts research before presenting recommendations for engineering approval. Engineers begin by describing the intended product. The assistant then asks about requirements such as interfaces, power budgets, cost and regulatory compliance, documenting the responses in an Intent Document alongside a proposed development plan. Once approved, the system generates a block diagram and identifies suitable components, with recommendations linked to supporting datasheets or specifications. It can also review design errors, check the proposed architecture against the documented requirements and flag areas that do not meet them. The workflow also identifies alternative components, ranking substitutes according to price, lead time or preferred suppliers. Engineers can stop, modify or redirect the process at any stage. Block diagrams, reference schematics and bills of materials can be exported to Altium Designer, KiCad, Siemens EDA’s Xpedition and Autodesk Fusion. “Engineering teams are being asked to ship more product variants on shorter schedules with fewer senior engineers, and component choices now get locked in at the very start of a project,” said Tobias Pohl, founder and CEO of CELUS. “That first stage is where we built the Design Assistant. It proposes a plan, an engineer approves it before anything goes into the design, and every recommendation links to the datasheet behind it. The decision stays with the person who has to stand behind the design.” CELUS said its platform is used by more than 60,000 engineers in over 100 countries and draws on a library of more than 560,000 components. The Design Assistant entered production in May 2025. The company works with NXP Semiconductors, Würth Elektronik and Siemens EDA. NXP offers the technology through its NXP Block Diagram Designer, Powered by CELUS, which allows engineers to develop designs using NXP components from plain-language descriptions. “Every electronic product begins with an idea and the engineering decisions that turn it into reality. We want engineers designing with NXP to have an assistant grounded in the same knowledge our application engineers rely on. That’s why we built the NXP Block Diagram Designer, Powered by CELUS. Engineers can describe an idea in plain language and develop it into a design using NXP components, with clear reasoning behind each recommendation. We believe this approach will become the starting point for a growing share of the world’s electronic designs,” said Luca Difalco, Senior Vice President, Global Sales at NXP. The post CELUS Adds AI Agent Workflow for Electronics Design Planning appeared first on EE Times Asia .