PCBEditor
PCBEditor is a free, browser-based AI circuit design tool that turns a plain-English description into a complete printed circuit board — generating the schematic, component footprints, netlist and routed traces, then running AI design rule checking and copper pour, with 3D layer stack-up and board visualisation, and exporting to KiCad or Gerber.
- Plain English to a fabricable board. AI-native, free in the browser.
- Free
- The browser — nothing to install
- Hardware engineers who want a first-pass board in minutes rather than an afternoon
- Firmware and software engineers who need a board but do not design them daily
- Makers and students without an EDA licence or the time to learn one
- Anyone prototyping who wants to reach a fabricable Gerber quickly
- AI schematic and circuit generation from a plain-English description
- AI-generated component footprints
- AI netlist extraction and trace routing
- AI design rule checking (DRC)
- AI copper pour
- 3D layer stack-up and 3D board visualisation
- Chat-based editing of an existing design
- Export to KiCad and Gerber
- Browser-based, nothing to install, free
Every stage is generated, not just the first one
Most tools that advertise AI apply it at one point in the flow — usually schematic capture or component search — and leave the rest as manual drafting. That helps least where the work is hardest, because in practice the time goes into footprints, routing and the iteration loop against design rules.
PCBEditor generates the whole pipeline. You describe the circuit in plain English; it produces the schematic and the circuit, generates the component footprints, extracts the netlist, and routes the traces. It then runs AI design rule checking over the result and handles copper pour, and renders the outcome as a 3D layer stack-up and a 3D board view.
The practical consequence is that the unit of work changes. Instead of drawing a board and checking it, you describe a board and review it.
Why routing and DRC are the hard parts
Trace routing is a constrained search problem: connect every net without crossing on the same layer, while respecting clearance, trace width, via rules and impedance targets. Classical autorouters solve it as pure geometry, which is why their output is famously correct and unpleasant — they satisfy the constraints without any sense of what the board is for.
Design rule checking is the other half of the loop. A DRC pass tells you what is wrong; it does not tell you what to do about it, so a failed check has historically meant returning to manual layout. Generating the routing and checking it within the same system closes that loop, because the thing that produced the layout is also the thing that understands why the rule failed.
Copper pour is a related case. Filling a region with copper for ground or power is mechanically simple and full of judgement — thermal relief, stitching, keep-outs, how the pour interacts with high-speed nets. It is exactly the kind of task where the rules are known and applying them well is tedious.
It exports to the tools you already use
Anything generated can leave. PCBEditor exports to KiCad for continued editing in an open-source EDA package, and to Gerber, the format fabrication houses actually accept.
That matters more than it sounds. A design tool that cannot export is a trap, and hardware people are rightly suspicious of them — a board is a commitment measured in weeks and fabrication cost. Being able to take the generated board into KiCad and finish it by hand means the AI can be wrong without the work being lost.
What it does not do
It does not remove the need to review a board. Generated output is a strong first pass, and a first pass is not a manufacturing decision — the review before you order is still yours.
It is also not a replacement for domain judgement on hard analogue, RF or high-speed digital work, where layout is inseparable from the electrical behaviour and the constraints are not fully expressible as rules.
Can AI actually design a PCB?
It can generate a complete one. PCBEditor takes a plain-English description of a circuit and produces the schematic, component footprints, netlist and routed traces, then runs design rule checking and copper pour and renders the board in 3D. The output is a fabricable board you export as Gerber. It is a first pass that you review before committing to fabrication, not a replacement for that review.
Is PCBEditor free?
Yes. It is free for makers and engineers, runs in the browser, and there is nothing to install.
Does it export to KiCad and Gerber?
Both. Export to KiCad to keep editing in an open-source EDA package, or to Gerber to send straight to a fabrication house. Nothing you generate is locked in.
Can AI route PCB traces?
PCBEditor generates the trace routing as part of the flow rather than handing off to a separate autorouter. Because the routing and the design rule checking happen in the same system, a failed rule can be addressed against the design intent instead of only as a geometry violation.
What is AI DRC?
Design rule checking validates a layout against manufacturing constraints — clearances, trace widths, via rules. A conventional DRC reports violations and stops there. Running it within the system that generated the layout means the check and the fix live in the same place.
Do I need to install anything?
No. PCBEditor runs entirely in the browser. No licence, no install, no local toolchain.
Can I edit what it generates?
Yes, by chat — describe the change and the design updates. You can also export to KiCad at any point and continue by hand.
Can I see the board in 3D before ordering?
Yes. It renders both a 3D layer stack-up, showing how the layers are composed, and a 3D view of the finished board.