DockFrame is a modular USB Type-C hub built around the Framework Expansion Card slot standard. It gives the cards you already own a home on your desk, and adds what no other dock can: Tool Cards that turn the slots into bench instruments, all within reach of one cable. It works with any Framework laptop or desktop, or any USB Type-C host.
Slot in the Multimeter Card and the hub reads volts, amps, and ohms, isolated from your laptop. Slot in the Power Supply Card and you get a programmable bench supply that runs off USB PD. Slot in the BreadBoard Card and you always have a dev board on hand. And the card most of you asked for, the Mini Hub Card, adds four more high-speed ports of its own.
A Dock and a Bench, in One
Keep it on the desk as your everyday dock, and reach for the same unit when a project needs measuring or powering. Your spare Framework cards come back into use, and tools stop going missing. It handles everyday docking, bench bring-up, lab work, and field repairs.
The open slot standard makes DockFrame extendable. Tool Cards talk to our custom web apps, with nothing to install, live charts, and CSV export. Design your own card, or build a host app over USB serial, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ESP-NOW, and the other protocols the onboard MCUs support. We are keeping it open source so a community can improve and expand it.
Features & Specifications
DockFrame Hub
- USB 3.2 hub with USB Type-C DisplayPort and PD passthrough up to 100 W on the downstream ports
- Injection-molded translucent case with Framework Desktop tiles and a stud grid for stacking, compatible with popular building brick sets
Cards
- Four downstream USB 3.0 ports, 5 Gbps SuperSpeed each
- 90 Ω impedance-controlled routing on a custom 4-layer board
- DC voltage to 60 V (±0.5%) and current to 3.2 A (±1%), plus resistance, capacitance, and inductance
- 5 kV isolation between USB and the measurement circuit; 4 mm banana jacks
- ESP32-S3 with Wi-Fi and BLE
- Programmable buck-boost output, 0.8 to 22 V up to 8 A, set over I²C
- USB PD input up to 100 W, with input and output current sensing
- ESP32-S3 with Wi-Fi and BLE; binding-post output
- USB Type-C carrier for the Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C5; takes the full XIAO series and any form-factor-compatible board
- Built-in USB Type-C plug plus pass-through, with 8 rows of 0.1 in headers for breadboard insertion
- Regulated 3.3 V rail with load switches, resettable fuse, and ESD protection
Each card is 60 x 30 mm (2.36 x 1.18 in), with height around 7 mm (0.28 in) depending on the card.
Open Source
We strongly believe in the right to repair, which is why DockFrame is modular, fixable, and built to last. It is developed in the open, but the design files are not public yet. Once the campaign ends, we open everything: PCB schematics and layouts, the firmware on each MCU, the browser apps, and the FreeCAD case files with STEP and STL exports, so you can print your own enclosure. The hardware will be licensed under CERN-OHL-S, the product certified through the Open Source Hardware Association, and the firmware released under the MIT license. The full release publishes on our GitHub page when the campaign ends.
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About the Team
