Frequently asked questions

BoardRepo is where hardware projects live: a repository and viewer for PCB designs. Upload a project from your EDA tool, or import it from GitHub, and it becomes a page with the schematic, PCB, 3D model, BOM, source files, and fabrication outputs together. Every upload is a version, so the link always shows the latest board and the history stays with it.

No. BoardRepo stores, versions, and shares projects from any electronics design tool; a zip of the project folder is enough. Rendered previews, BOM extraction, checks, and visual compare are available for KiCad and Altium today, so those boards get the full page; generated fabrication files are produced for KiCad boards. Other formats keep the same page, history, sharing controls, and downloads, and previews for more tools are on the way.

How to share an Altium project

KiCad 6 or newer has the most complete support: schematic, PCB, 3D, BOM, Gerbers, checks, and compare. Altium projects are supported, but BoardRepo converts them before drawing the board. Because that conversion is for viewing, keep the original and verify the result in Altium. Older KiCad, EAGLE, and other formats can be stored, versioned, and downloaded, but they do not have previews yet.

For most projects, upload a zip of the full project folder, including its libraries, 3D models, notes, and existing fabrication files. The upload form shows the current size limit. A public GitHub repo can be imported by URL; a private one needs the BoardRepo GitHub App and access to a repo you selected. The same App can keep an imported board current from the default branch and, on a public board, open a pull request that adds View on BoardRepo to the README. Write is only used for that pull request; it never pushes your default branch.

Depending on the project, BoardRepo can generate schematic and PCB previews, a 3D view, a BOM, Gerbers, and drill files. A project can have a valid schematic and a broken 3D model, so one failed stage does not erase everything else. Generated files are kept separate from the source you uploaded.

Viewers do not need an account or CAD software. A public or private-link page opens in the browser. If you added a password, the recipient will need it, but they still do not need KiCad or Altium to view the project.

Open a PCB design without installing the CAD tool

Public projects appear in BoardRepo listings and may turn up in search. A private link is left out of both, with noindex on the page. Anyone with the link can forward it, so add a password when an unlisted URL is not enough protection, or keep the board inside an organization so only its members can open it.

Share a board privately

Yes. An organization is a shared account for a company or team. Its admins invite members, decide which boards each member can reach, and control how organization-owned boards are shared outside the team. Boards stay with the organization when a member leaves. Create one from Organizations in your dashboard.

Upload or import the project again, push it from the KiCad plugin, or let the GitHub App follow the default branch. Each becomes a numbered version with its own files. The main link shows the latest version, older versions stay downloadable, and you can restore an older version as the latest.

Version control for PCB designs

Yes. Open Version history on a board, choose two published versions, and Compare highlights what changed on the schematic and the PCB with a list of the changes, drawn from the renders BoardRepo already has. Comparing needs a signed-in account; viewing a board does not.

How to compare two PCB revisions

BoardRepo for KiCad pushes a board to BoardRepo and pulls it back from inside KiCad, so publishing a new version is one action instead of a zip. It is in early access for selected accounts.

GitHub stores files; BoardRepo understands the board. A repository shows a schematic as text, while a BoardRepo page renders the schematic, PCB, 3D model, and BOM, generates fabrication files, compares versions visually, and shares with a link, a password, or an organization. Import a GitHub repo and BoardRepo keeps the board current from the default branch, so the two work together.

How BoardRepo compares to GitHub

Yes. Share the board URL; it carries a preview image for chat apps and social networks, and public boards are also served as markdown for assistants and crawlers. For an imported GitHub repo, the BoardRepo GitHub App can open a pull request that adds a View on BoardRepo badge to the README.

Review generated manufacturing files before ordering. Open the source in its EDA tool, check the stackup and plots, run DRC and ERC, and have a person review the result. Take particular care with a design that went through Altium conversion.

Check a board before you order it

BoardRepo Ask answers questions about one board by sending your question and the relevant board context to an AI service provider. Connect AI lets an outside assistant such as Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor use BoardRepo's tools with the permissions you approve on its consent screen: public boards only, or public boards plus boards you own. We may change providers over time.

Connect your AI

BoardRepo's terms do not grant model-training rights over your project. Ask sends the context needed for a particular answer to an AI service provider, and an outside assistant receives whatever its approved tools read. Those companies handle the data under their agreements with us or their own terms, depending on the feature. Public projects can also be read from the open web, subject to the license you put on them.

Only if you approved that. A connection has exactly the permissions shown on its consent screen. A read connection can search, read project data, and request derived checks or reviews, but it cannot edit source files, rename the project, change visibility, publish, or delete anything. Where a save permission is offered and you approve it, the assistant can create boards and add versions to boards you own, and nothing else. You can revoke a connection at any time in Settings.

BoardRepo keeps usage and diagnostic records so we can operate, secure, and troubleshoot connected assistants. Those records may include content returned from boards the connection was allowed to read, including private boards if you approved that access. Access credentials are not included in analytics.

The Astra Arena is a public leaderboard where owners submit a public board for an AI design review. The review is an automated opinion, not a sign-off: use it to find things worth checking, then verify them in your EDA tool. You can unlist or delete your entry at any time.

Astra Arena

Yes. A board can be a private link, password protected, or kept inside an organization, and BoardRepo's terms grant no model-training rights over your project. For a board that is not public, content reaches an AI provider only when you opt it into Ask or approve an assistant connection that can read it. Anyone with a private link can forward it, so use a password or an organization for anything sensitive.

Yes. Every version keeps the original files you uploaded, downloadable as a zip from the board page alongside the generated outputs. Nothing locks your design into BoardRepo.

The project disappears from the active service first. Residual copies may remain for a limited time in backups or where they are needed for security, legal, or recovery purposes. Deleting a project cannot erase a copy somebody downloaded while they had access.

BoardRepo is currently free, including public sharing, private links, and organizations. If paid features are introduced, pricing will be shown before you choose them.

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