Capabilities

Symbiote

Symbiote is the Mac and Windows connector for browser workflows that need access to resources on your machine. It maintains a paired connection to your workspace and advertises only the capabilities available on that machine.

Install and pair

1

Download Symbiote

Open the Symbiote download page from the web app and choose the build for your operating system.

2

Launch Symbiote

Start Symbiote. It runs in the background and opens the browser pairing flow.

3

Approve pairing

Sign in to Second Silicon, review the pairing request, and approve it for the current workspace.

4

Check status

Open Settings in the web app. The Symbiote section shows the paired device, connection state, and advertised capabilities. You can revoke the device there.

Local capabilities

Symbiote can advertise these capability families:

  • Managed file reads for tools that need selected local context.
  • Firmware target and context operations.
  • KiCad CLI operations and local ECAD ingestion.
  • Instrument capabilities supplied by installed and enabled plugins.

The app requests a capability only when a workflow needs it. If Symbiote is disconnected or does not advertise that capability, the operation returns an unavailable state instead of running on the cloud service.

PicoScope 2204A

The documented hardware integration is PicoScope 2204A. Install PicoScope 7 or the required PicoSDK components for the operating system, close any vendor app that currently owns the device, and connect the scope directly over USB.

When the PicoScope plugin is installed and active, the scope panel can discover the device, capture samples, stream a waveform, and control the built-in signal generator. Available ranges and timing depend on the driver and device.

On Apple Silicon, the PicoScope 2204A driver path uses an Intel sidecar under Rosetta because the required libps2000 library is x86_64-only. Install Rosetta if Symbiote prompts for it.

If no supported hardware is available, enter measurement results in the thread manually. Simulated scopes are development/test tools and are not a customer hardware fallback.

Connection and access

Symbiote is scoped to the user and workspace that approved it. Quitting Symbiote or revoking the paired device stops new local operations. Pairing records can persist, but active tool work does not survive a Symbiote or service restart.

For detection problems, see Troubleshooting.