Spec2RTL-Agent: Automated Hardware Code Generation from Complex Specifications Using LLM Agent Systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Yu, Zhongzhi, Liu, Mingjie, Zimmer, Michael, Lin, Yingyan Celine, Liu, Yong, Ren, Haoxing
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Yu, Zhongzhi
Liu, Mingjie
Zimmer, Michael
Lin, Yingyan Celine
Liu, Yong
Ren, Haoxing
author_facet Yu, Zhongzhi
Liu, Mingjie
Zimmer, Michael
Lin, Yingyan Celine
Liu, Yong
Ren, Haoxing
contents Despite recent progress in generating hardware RTL code with LLMs, existing solutions still suffer from a substantial gap between practical application scenarios and the requirements of real-world RTL code development. Prior approaches either focus on overly simplified hardware descriptions or depend on extensive human guidance to process complex specifications, limiting their scalability and automation potential. In this paper, we address this gap by proposing an LLM agent system, termed Spec2RTL-Agent, designed to directly process complex specification documentation and generate corresponding RTL code implementations, advancing LLM-based RTL code generation toward more realistic application settings. To achieve this goal, Spec2RTL-Agent introduces a novel multi-agent collaboration framework that integrates three key enablers: (1) a reasoning and understanding module that translates specifications into structured, step-by-step implementation plans; (2) a progressive coding and prompt optimization module that iteratively refines the code across multiple representations to enhance correctness and synthesisability for RTL conversion; and (3) an adaptive reflection module that identifies and traces the source of errors during generation, ensuring a more robust code generation flow. Instead of directly generating RTL from natural language, our system strategically generates synthesizable C++ code, which is then optimized for HLS. This agent-driven refinement ensures greater correctness and compatibility compared to naive direct RTL generation approaches. We evaluate Spec2RTL-Agent on three specification documents, showing it generates accurate RTL code with up to 75% fewer human interventions than existing methods. This highlights its role as the first fully automated multi-agent system for RTL generation from unstructured specs, reducing reliance on human effort in hardware design.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_13905
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Spec2RTL-Agent: Automated Hardware Code Generation from Complex Specifications Using LLM Agent Systems
Yu, Zhongzhi
Liu, Mingjie
Zimmer, Michael
Lin, Yingyan Celine
Liu, Yong
Ren, Haoxing
Hardware Architecture
Despite recent progress in generating hardware RTL code with LLMs, existing solutions still suffer from a substantial gap between practical application scenarios and the requirements of real-world RTL code development. Prior approaches either focus on overly simplified hardware descriptions or depend on extensive human guidance to process complex specifications, limiting their scalability and automation potential. In this paper, we address this gap by proposing an LLM agent system, termed Spec2RTL-Agent, designed to directly process complex specification documentation and generate corresponding RTL code implementations, advancing LLM-based RTL code generation toward more realistic application settings. To achieve this goal, Spec2RTL-Agent introduces a novel multi-agent collaboration framework that integrates three key enablers: (1) a reasoning and understanding module that translates specifications into structured, step-by-step implementation plans; (2) a progressive coding and prompt optimization module that iteratively refines the code across multiple representations to enhance correctness and synthesisability for RTL conversion; and (3) an adaptive reflection module that identifies and traces the source of errors during generation, ensuring a more robust code generation flow. Instead of directly generating RTL from natural language, our system strategically generates synthesizable C++ code, which is then optimized for HLS. This agent-driven refinement ensures greater correctness and compatibility compared to naive direct RTL generation approaches. We evaluate Spec2RTL-Agent on three specification documents, showing it generates accurate RTL code with up to 75% fewer human interventions than existing methods. This highlights its role as the first fully automated multi-agent system for RTL generation from unstructured specs, reducing reliance on human effort in hardware design.
title Spec2RTL-Agent: Automated Hardware Code Generation from Complex Specifications Using LLM Agent Systems
topic Hardware Architecture
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.13905