Flux Adaptive: Frontier Performance at 30% Lower Cost

Hardware engineering is not one task. A complete device needs a circuit, parts from datasheets, a schematic, a board layout, an enclosure, a design review, and fab files. Each task asks for a different skill. When one expensive model does every task, you pay frontier prices for routine work.

Adaptive is a mode of the Flux agent that uses many AI models together. It gives each task to the model that does that task best for the price. Hard design decisions go to frontier models. Routine work goes to fast, low-cost models. Tasks that do not depend on each other run at the same time. The result is frontier performance at 30% lower cost, and a complete device in less time.

One AI engineer, the right model for each task

You work with one AI engineer, in one conversation. The Flux agent reads your request, plans the job, and makes the important decisions: what to build, what an unclear requirement means, and when the result is good enough.

The agent does not do every step with the same model. It hands each task to the model that does it best for the price, from frontier models by labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic to fast, low-cost models. When a task is done, the agent checks the result against the plan and decides the next step. You do not pick models or manage any of this. Flux does it in the background.

Many tasks at the same time

A human engineer does one task at a time. Adaptive does not have to. The agent knows which tasks depend on each other. The tasks that do not depend on each other run at the same time.

For example, while the parts for the board are selected, the enclosure is modeled. While the schematic is drawn, the fab notes are written. Each task goes to its own model, and the agent brings the results together when they are done.

This changes how long a complete device takes. You do not wait for one long chain of steps. The work that can happen in parallel does, and you do not pay a frontier model to wait.

No single model wins every task

The quality of the answer is not the only thing that matters. Speed and cost matter too. On a hard design decision, a frontier model is worth the wait and the price. On a routine step, a fast model gives the same result in seconds, for a fraction of the cost. Adaptive looks at all three for each task: quality, speed, and cost.

We test models on real hardware engineering tasks. The best model is different for each type of task. The most reliable model for one type of task can cost many times more on another type, with no better result.

An agent that uses one model for everything pays too much on some tasks and gets worse results on others. Adaptive uses our test results to pick the model for each task, and we test again when new models ship.

Thinking that fits the task

The agent also changes how much it thinks. A short question gets a fast answer. A difficult design decision gets more thought. You do not choose a setting, and you do not pay for deep thinking on simple steps.

Try it

Adaptive is the default mode of the Flux agent. Open a project and describe what you need. For example:

Design a USB-C powered environmental sensor for a greenhouse. It measures temperature, humidity and CO2, sends the data over Wi-Fi, and fits in a wall-mounted enclosure that sheds water.

The agent plans the job. Then the circuit, the parts, the board, and the enclosure each go to the model that does them best, many of them at the same time.

Choose your model

Adaptive is the default, but you stay in control. The model picker in the chat box lets you choose another mode or a specific model for your conversation.

Flux is not tied to one AI provider. The picker has frontier models from labs such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Behind them, Flux also uses specialized models and engines that are built for hardware work. When a new model ships, we test it on real hardware engineering tasks. When it does well on EDA, CAD, and hardware work, we make it available in Flux. You always get the best models for hardware engineering in one place, and you do not need a separate account with each provider.

Plan in Chat mode, for free

The same picker switches between Agent mode and Chat mode. Use Chat mode to understand and plan. Ask questions about your project, brainstorm ideas, discuss trade-offs, summarize an uploaded datasheet, or write the requirements and the plan. Chat mode can read your project data, but it does not change your design.

Chat mode is free. It does not use your included AI usage, and it is never billed. When you are ready to build, switch to Agent mode. The agent then finds the parts, edits the schematic and the layout, runs simulations, and makes the fab files.

Think it through in Chat. Put it into action in Agent.