Developing with AI

The quickest way to get started developing for the VBOX Touch is to let an AI coding assistant do the heavy lifting. AI assistants understand MicroPython, can scaffold an application for you, explain the Racelogic libraries documented in the Programmer’s Reference, and help you debug code as you go.

We recommend Claude Code, a command-line coding assistant from Anthropic. The rest of this page describes how to get set up with it.

No development environment required

You do not need to set up a development environment to start building. Claude Code writes, edits and explains the code for you, so there is no need to install Python, configure an IDE or learn the toolchain first. Just install Claude Code, download the starter project below, and describe what you want to build – the assistant handles the development for you.

Setting up Claude Code

Installing Claude Code

Claude Code runs in a terminal and is also available as an extension for editors such as Visual Studio Code. Follow the official installation instructions here to install it and sign in with your Anthropic account.

Claude Code works on its own from the terminal, so you do not need a separate code editor to develop your application. If you would prefer to work in one, see the Development Environments page for how to install Visual Studio Code.

Downloading the starter project

To make it easy to get going, we provide a starter project that is pre-configured for VBOX Touch development with AI.

Click here to download the VBOX Touch AI starter project.

Once downloaded, extract the zip file and then open the extracted folder in Claude Code (or your editor). Do all of your work inside this folder so that the AI assistant has everything it needs to hand.

The starter project contains:

  • CLAUDE.md – a detailed project instructions file that Claude Code reads automatically. It teaches the assistant about the VBOX Touch hardware variants, the deployment model, the full MicroPython API (GUI, GNSS, CAN, serial, LEDs, sounds, logging and more) and the do’s and don’ts of writing MicroPython for the device, so the code it produces works first time.

  • DESIGN.md – the VBOX Touch screen design guide (also on this site as the Screen Design Guide). The assistant follows it for every screen, so your app has the same layout, fonts, colours and icons as the unit’s own software.

  • Assets/Fonts/ – a library of pre-rendered Racelogic display fonts (.rft files such as Bebas Neue, Roboto and Oswald in a range of sizes) ready to load onto the device, including the eight fonts the VBOX Touch software uses.

  • Assets/Icons/ – the VBOX Touch software’s own .png icons (settings, mode, OK/cancel, reset, arrows, record, SD card, GNSS, battery and many more) for your app’s interface.

  • Examples/ – 15 complete, runnable example apps (dashboards, a g-force meter, CAN and serial readouts, a piano, graphs, LED demos and more). Each is a full app the assistant can copy and adapt, and they bundle reusable helper modules (font.py, image.py, picture_button.py, screenshot.py, ui.py, utils.py) that act as a lightweight UI framework.

  • CHANGELOG.md – the starter project’s version history. To find out which version you have, ask Claude Code “which version of the AI starter is this?”

  • .claude/skills/push/ – an optional /push command that uploads and runs your app over a serial cable (see below). Folders starting with a dot may be hidden by your file browser.

Working with Claude Code

With the starter project open, start Claude Code in that folder and simply describe what you want to build in plain English – for example, “create a screen that displays the current speed from GNSS”. Because the CLAUDE.md, assets and examples are already in place, the assistant has everything it needs to write code that runs on your VBOX Touch – it will typically start from the closest example and reuse the bundled fonts, icons and helper modules.

When the assistant has written your app, it will tell you exactly which files to copy to the root of the SD card. Insert the card into your VBOX Touch and power it on, and the device runs your main.py automatically – no special tools or upload step required. See the Getting Started tutorial for more detail on running an app, and the Development Environments page if you would prefer to set up an editor with live device connection.

Optional: running your app over a serial cable

If you will be changing your app often, the starter project’s /push command saves you moving the SD card back and forth. Claude Code copies the app to the unit over a serial cable, runs it, and reads back any error so it can fix it straight away.

You will need:

  • Python 3 on your PC, with the serial library installed: python -m pip install pyserial.

  • An RLCAB001 cable from the unit’s top serial port, connected to your PC through a USB-serial adapter.

  • An SD card in the unit.

The unit must be running an app from its SD card rather than the standard VBOX Touch software, which takes the serial port for itself. If your card doesn’t already have a main.py, put it in your PC and ask Claude Code to “set up the SD card for push”; it writes a small placeholder app. Put the card back in the unit and power it on.

Then ask Claude Code to “push the app to the unit” (or type /push). The first time, it will ask which COM port the unit is on. Claude cannot see the screen, so tell it what you see on the unit.

If the unit stops responding to pushes, take out the SD card, power-cycle the unit, put the card back and push again.