Flat shell for an accelerator card

A system, comprising:

• a processor configured to initiate operations including:
• reading a flat shell from one or more computer readable storage media, wherein the flat shell is a synthesized, unplaced, and unrouted top-level circuit design specifying platform circuitry;
• synthesizing a kernel specifying user circuitry, wherein the kernel is obtained from the one or more computer readable storage media;
• linking the synthesized kernel to the flat shell forming a unified circuit design;
• and
• placing and routing the unified circuit design to generate a placed and routed circuit design specifying the platform circuitry and the user circuitry for implementation in an integrated circuit.

A computer program product, comprising:

• one or more computer readable storage media, and program instructions collectively stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, wherein the program instructions are executable by computer hardware to initiate operations including:
• reading a flat shell from the one or more computer readable storage media, wherein the flat shell is a synthesized, unplaced, and unrouted top-level circuit design specifying platform circuitry;
• synthesizing a kernel specifying user circuitry, wherein the kernel is obtained from the one or more computer readable storage media;
• linking the synthesized kernel to the flat shell forming a unified circuit design;
• and
• placing and routing the unified circuit design to generate a placed and routed circuit design specifying the platform circuitry and the user circuitry for implementation in an integrated circuit.