86Duino CLI Manual

#1. Introduction

86duino-cli is the official command-line interface for compiling and uploading Arduino-style sketches to 86Duino and QEC boards. It is bundled with the 86Duino IDE (versions 500 and 501) and shares its flag conventions with the upstream arduino-cli, making it familiar to anyone who has worked with the Arduino toolchain.

Who this manual is for

• Embedded developers automating QEC firmware builds outside the GUI IDE
• CI/CD pipelines compiling 86Duino projects in build servers
• AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Copilot, Gemini) that need to generate accurate 86duino-cli commands on behalf of users

What this manual covers

• Every approved CLI flag and its semantics
• The full FQBN list for all 13 QEC + 86Duino board variants
• Cross-platform port detection (Windows / macOS / Linux)
• Standard workflows for compile, clean rebuild, and upload
• Error handling and recovery guidance

#2. Installation

Default location convention

The 86Duino IDE installer places 86duino-cli inside a folder named 86Duino_Coding on the user’s desktop:

Where to download

Download the 86Duino IDE bundle (which includes 86duino-cli) from: https://www.qec.tw/software/.

On Windows, the bundle also requires the PL2303 USB-Serial driver for upload to work. The driver is available on the same Software page. Without it, your QEC board will appear in Device Manager with a yellow warning icon.

#3. 5-minute Quick Start

This walkthrough takes you from zero to a successfully uploaded sketch on a QEC 7-inch board.

Step 1. Verify the CLI is installed

# macOS / Linux
cd ~/Desktop/86Duino_Coding
./86duino-cli board listall

# Windows
cd %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\86Duino_Coding
86duino-cli.exe board listall

You should see a list of boards. If you see 86Duino QEC7 86duino:x86:86DuinoQEC7, the CLI is working.

Step 2. Compile your sketch

Suppose your sketch is at ~/Desktop/blink:

./86duino-cli compile --fqbn 86duino:x86:86DuinoQEC7 ~/Desktop/blink --verbose

Step 3. Plug in the board and find its port

Plug the USB cable into your QEC board, then run on macOS:

ls /dev/tty.* | grep -i PL2303

Or on Windows, open Device Manager and look under Ports (COM & LPT) for an entry starting with Prolific PL2303GC.

Step 4. Upload

./86duino-cli compile --fqbn 86duino:x86:86DuinoQEC7 \
  --port /dev/tty.PL2303G-USBtoUART1120 \
  --upload ~/Desktop/blink --verbose

The board will compile, upload, and automatically reboot. Allow approximately 40 seconds for the reboot to complete. Watch --verbose output to confirm success.

#4. Synopsis

86duino-cli <command> [arguments] [flags]

Top-level commands

86duino-cli shares many other subcommands with arduino-cli (core, config, lib, sketch, etc.). These exist but are not covered by this manual; QEC users typically only need board and compile.

#5. board Command

Used to discover what board definitions are available on this installation.

Syntax

86duino-cli board listall

Description

Outputs a two-column table of human-readable board names and their fully qualified board names (FQBNs). The FQBN is what you pass to --fqbn when compiling.

Sample output

Board Name                       FQBN
86Duino DUO                      86duino:x86:86DuinoEX2
86Duino EduCake                  86duino:x86:EduCake
86Duino ONE                      86duino:x86:86DuinoONE
86Duino QEC                      86duino:x86:86DuinoQEC
86Duino QEC7                     86duino:x86:86DuinoQEC7
... (13 entries total for 86Duino-vendor boards)

See Section 8 for the complete FQBN reference table.

#6. compile Command

The primary command. Compiles a sketch and optionally uploads it to a connected board.

Syntax

86duino-cli compile --fqbn <FQBN> <PROJECT_PATH> [--clean] [--upload --port <PORT>] [--verbose]

Required arguments

• <PROJECT_PATH> – absolute path to the sketch folder (the folder that contains the .ino file)
• --fqbn <FQBN> – fully qualified board name from Section 8

Optional arguments

• --clean – discard prior compilation artifacts and rebuild from scratch
• --upload – upload to a connected board after a successful compile (requires --port)
• --port <PORT> – serial port for upload (see Section 9 for detection)
• --verbose – emit detailed progress; always recommended

Three primary use-cases

(a) Compile only (no board attached)

86duino-cli compile --fqbn 86duino:x86:86DuinoQEC7 /path/to/sketch --verbose

Used for syntax checking, CI builds, and cloud-based AI workflows where no physical board is connected.

(b) Clean rebuild

86duino-cli compile --fqbn 86duino:x86:86DuinoQEC7 /path/to/sketch --clean --verbose

Discards any cached .o files. Use when you suspect a stale build artifact is causing issues.

(c) Compile and upload

86duino-cli compile --fqbn 86duino:x86:86DuinoQEC7 \
  --port COM6 --upload /path/to/sketch --verbose

The full pipeline: compile, upload, reboot. Allow ~40 seconds for the board to come back up.

#7. Flag Reference

The following flags are officially supported for QEC workflows. AI assistants should restrict themselves to this set unless the user explicitly approves additional flags.

Flags requiring explicit user approval

Any other arduino-cli-compatible flag (e.g., --build-property, --config-file, custom programmers, board-specific options). Before using such a flag, an AI assistant must:

1. State which flag will be used
2. Explain why it is needed
3. Obtain explicit user confirmation

#8. FQBN Reference Table

Verified output from ./86duino-cli board listall on a working 86Duino IDE installation. Arduino-vendor boards are omitted; only 86Duino-vendor boards are listed.

Voice-to-FQBN heuristics

For matching colloquial user descriptions to FQBNs (best-effort only; board listall is authoritative):

#9. Port Detection

QEC boards use the Prolific PL2303GC USB-to-Serial chip. AI assistants should look for PL2303-named devices when auto-detecting the upload port.

Windows

Identify devices in Device Manager -> Ports (COM & LPT) whose name begins with Prolific PL2303GC.

Example device name

Prolific PL2303GC USB Serial COM Port (COM6)

Extract COM6 and pass as --port COM6.

PowerShell detection

Get-PnpDevice -Class Ports | Where-Object { $_.FriendlyName -like "*PL2303*" } | Select-Object FriendlyName

macOS

ls /dev/tty.* | grep -i PL2303

Example output: /dev/tty.PL2303G-USBtoUART1120. Pass the full path as --port /dev/tty.PL2303G-USBtoUART1120.

Linux

ls /dev/ttyUSB* 2>/dev/null
dmesg | grep -i pl2303 | tail

The PL2303 driver is included in mainline kernels. Typical device node: /dev/ttyUSB0.

Handling edge cases

• Multiple PL2303 devices found: list all candidates and ask the user which to use. Do not select arbitrarily.
• No PL2303 detected: do not attempt upload. Ask the user: “I cannot find a PL2303 serial port on your system. Is the USB cable to the QEC board plugged in?” If they confirm the cable is in, suggest checking the QEC Software page for the PL2303 driver.

#10. Complete Examples

Example 1: Compile only (Windows)

86duino-cli.exe compile --fqbn 86duino:x86:86DuinoQEC7 ^
  C:\Users\RoBoard\Desktop\sketch_mar24b --verbose

Example 2: Compile + upload (Windows)

86duino-cli.exe compile --fqbn 86duino:x86:86DuinoQEC7 ^
  --port COM6 --upload ^
  C:\Users\RoBoard\Downloads\arduino_cli\sketch_mar24b --verbose

Example 3: Clean rebuild (Windows)

86duino-cli.exe compile --fqbn 86duino:x86:86DuinoQEC7 ^
  C:\Users\RoBoard\Downloads\arduino_cli\sketch_mar24b --clean --verbose

Example 4: Compile + upload to QEC M02 (Windows)

86duino-cli.exe compile --fqbn 86duino:x86:86DuinoQECM02 ^
  --port COM3 --upload ^
  C:\Users\RoBoard\Downloads\arduino_cli\sketch_mar24b --verbose

Example 5: Compile + upload on macOS

./86duino-cli compile --fqbn 86duino:x86:86DuinoQEC7 \
  --port /dev/tty.PL2303G-USBtoUART1120 --upload \
  ~/Desktop/sketch_mar24b --verbose

#11. Troubleshooting

#13. AI Behavior Rules

When an AI assistant operates 86duino-cli on behalf of a user, it must follow these rules. These exist to prevent silent failures, data loss, and incorrect commands.

Hard rules

• Always include --verbose unless the user explicitly opts out.
• Never guess an FQBN. Run board listall and match against actual output. If ambiguous, present candidates and ask.
• Never auto-create the 86Duino_Coding folder. Prompt the user instead.
• Never auto-select a port when multiple PL2303 candidates exist. List them and ask.
• Stop immediately on upload failure. Report the raw error verbatim. Do not retry, do not continue, do not minimize.
• Use the actual executable filename present on the user’s filesystem. Do not rewrite 86duino-cli to 86duino-cli.exe or vice versa based on guess.

Cloud AI vs Local AI

#14. Multilingual Terminology

QEC’s user community is multilingual (English, 繁體中文, 日本語). AI assistants should treat the following phrases as equivalent.

#15. Sources & Verification

Every technical claim in this manual derives from one of the following authoritative sources:

Related references on this site

• 86Duino Development Environment overview
• 86Duino Library Catalog (all 23 official libraries)
• EtherCAT Library API Manual
• CiA 402 Motion Profile
• 86EVA – EtherCAT-Based Virtual Arduino
• Getting Started: Set up QEC for 86Duino
• AI-readable single-file reference (/llms-full.txt)

Source documents (for tool integration)

This manual was generated from the following natural-language skill specifications. Advanced users running Claude Code, Cowork, or similar local AI agents can drop these files into their tool’s skills directory to give the assistant the same operating rules used to build this page. Most users do not need these files – the AI prompt at the top of this page covers the common case.

• hermes-86duino-cli-skill.md – main skill specification (zh-Hant)
• hermes-86duino-cli-reference.md – supplementary reference (board list, port detection examples, error templates)
• Hermes_86duino_cli.txt – legacy plain-text specification