Component Registry¶

The Component Registry enables declarative blueprint construction for FPGA accelerators:

# blueprint.yaml
design_space:
  kernels: [LayerNorm, Softmax]
  steps: [streamline, infer_kernels]

Component Types: Steps (pipeline transforms), Kernels (hardware operators), Backends (HLS/RTL code generators)

Key Benefits: Parse-time validation (fail fast via has_step()), source priority (project overrides core), automatic discovery via decorators

Component Sources¶

Source	Type	Configuration	Caching
`brainsmith`	Core framework	Automatic (direct import)	Yes
`finn` (or custom)	Entry point plugins	`setup.cfg`: `brainsmith.plugins = pkg.module:func`	Yes
`project`	Filesystem	Automatic (`kernels/`, `steps/` subdirs)	Yes
e.g. `team`	Filesystem	`component_sources.team = "/path"` in config	Yes
`custom`	Runtime registration	Programmatic (no namespace/domain)	No

Source priority (configurable): ['project', 'brainsmith', 'finn', 'custom'] - first match wins for short names

Check registered components with brainsmith registry

Registering Components¶

Using components:

from brainsmith.registry import get_step, get_kernel, list_backends_for_kernel

streamline = get_step('streamline')
LayerNorm = get_kernel('LayerNorm')
backends = list_backends_for_kernel('LayerNorm', language='hls')

Registering components via decorators:

from brainsmith.registry import kernel, backend, step

@kernel
class MyKernel(HWCustomOp):
    op_type = "MyKernel"

@backend(target_kernel='MyKernel', language='hls')
class MyKernel_hls:
    pass

@step
def my_step(model, **config):
    return model

Registering via entry points (for pip packages):

# setup.cfg
[options.entry_points]
brainsmith.plugins =
    myplugin = myplugin.registry:register_components

Discovery: Automatic on first use. Manual refresh: discover_components(force_refresh=True)

Configuration (brainsmith.yaml): cache_components (default: true), components_strict (default: true), source_priority, component_sources

API Patterns¶

All components follow get_*/has_*/list_* pattern:

get - Load component (imports module): get_step(), get_kernel(), get_backend()
has - Check existence (no import): has_step(), has_kernel()
list - Enumerate: list_steps(), list_kernels(), list_backends()

Name resolution: Short names use source priority (LayerNorm → project > brainsmith > finn). Qualified names force source (brainsmith:LayerNorm).

Special: get_kernel_infer() for ONNX transforms, list_backends_for_kernel(name, language='hls') for backend discovery, get_component_metadata() for inspection.

Advanced Patterns¶

Dynamic backend selection:

backends = list_backends_for_kernel('LayerNorm', language='hls')
backend_cls = get_backend(backends[0]) if backends else None

Plugin inventory:

for src in ['brainsmith', 'finn', 'project']:
    print(f"{src}: {len(list_kernels(source=src))} kernels")

Component introspection: Use get_component_metadata(name, type) to inspect without loading.