PCB guides for you and your AI assistant

Start from a real design, give your assistant reliable context, keep the source outside the conversation and inspect it before continuing in KiCad. These guides also cover sharing work with another engineer, reviewing versions and preparing for manufacture. Each workflow names its required permissions and current limits.

Start here

New to AI-assisted PCB work? Follow the Claude and ChatGPT guide using a real public board. Already have a KiCad project? Start with the sharing and handoff guide. Reviewing an assistant's edit? Save a baseline and a changed version of the same board, then compare that exact pair. A rendered board or a confident AI answer does not establish that the circuit works.

Work with an AI assistant

KiCad with Claude or ChatGPT: inspect and review a board

Connect an assistant to real project context, ask source-grounded questions, understand saving permissions and review the result before continuing in KiCad.

How to share a KiCad project

Choose the right files, save a version, set access and hand work to another engineer through a source download, GitHub or the KiCad plugin.

How to share an Altium project

A PDF, an Altium 365 link, or a page that renders the schematic, PCB and BOM for a reader with no licence, with the original files kept.

Open a PCB design without installing the CAD tool

For the person receiving the design: what a PDF, a single-format viewer and a BoardRepo page each let you read, filter and follow.

Share a board privately

Choose public discovery, a token-bearing unlisted link, a password or identity-based private access. Learn how organization grants and assistant permissions differ.

Keep the history

Version control for PCB designs

Keep source files and change notes together, understand Git and BoardRepo history, and distinguish saved versions from available renders and comparisons.

Version control for KiCad projects

A working .gitignore, what is worth committing, and why an s-expression diff is hard to review.

How to compare two PCB revisions

Why the file diff is unreadable, and how to see parts, routing and outline changes highlighted on the board with the list of what changed.

Before you order

Check a board before you order it

What DRC and ERC catch, how to run a board against JLCPCB, PCBWay and OSH Park limits, and the failures no automated check sees.

Choosing between tools

Weighing BoardRepo against something you already use? The comparisons put it next to GitHub, Altium 365 and Hackaday.io, and say when to use both.

Reading BoardRepo from code or an assistant instead? See the developer and agent docs.