Meet the hardware resource database you’ve been waiting for

There’s GitHub for developers, LexisNexis for researchers, and Khan Academy for students — but is there a go-to database for all things hardware and product development? There are so many amazing resources and sources of hardware-related knowledge available online, but to have them all in one database to search and sort would be incredibly useful. We know we would use it. So we made one! And you’re invited to help us grow it into a tool that makes all of our lives and jobs easier as hardware developers, engineers, designers, manufacturers, marketers, and more.

Our informal cofounders Sam Holland and Nate Padgett, alongside our collective of expert freelancers, have been building a centralized, crowdsourced hub of top-tier resources for the hardware world. We’re excited to officially share hardware-db.com! We’ve aggregated  articles, guides, templates, checklists, tools, vendors, books, podcasts, and video series from trusted folks, including Connor Bush,  Shivam Dehinwal, Benjamin Chia, Paul Vizzio, PE, William Burke and Sera Evcimen — just to name a few!

Our goal is to grow this wealth of knowledge into the definitive destination for hardware resources. You can filter by tag or topic, use the search bar, browse the growing list of resources, or tap into curated content journeys via the top-right button for a more guided experience with our Shortlists feature. And you can submit your favorite resources to share them with the community.

As a collective, we thrive on community knowledge sharing, which is especially fun when your community is full of brilliant and talented people. We’ve been dedicated to creating free resources, like our informal Hardware Handbook, packed with a wide array of knowledge divided into the four major phases of the product development cycle: foundations, design, manufacturing, and go-to-market strategy. We also included our CMF Database, which features a collection of products you can browse, click on, and view the color, material, and finish (CMF) specs of.

We’re launching with over 100 resources running the gamut from sustainable package suppliers to a sheet metal design for manufacturability resource to a PCB trace-width calculator and a tariff simulator. Go exploring below, add a resource or two, and let us know what you think!