Signex: AI-first EDA, KiCad-compatible schematic and PCB editor built in Rust

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Open-source, AI-first electronics design automation

Features · Screenshots · Building · Roadmap · Wiki · Contributing · License

Signex is open-source EDA tooling built in Rust with GPU-accelerated rendering and an Altium Designer-quality UI — schematic + PCB editor, 3D viewer, simulation, plugin system. Native file formats (.snxsch, .snxpcb) are line-diffable in git and ~5× smaller than the equivalent JSON.

Migrating from KiCad? The optional signex-kicad-import companion tool (GPL-3.0-or-later, distributed independently) converts .kicad_sch / .kicad_pcb / .kicad_pro files to Signex's native formats one-way. Run it once against your project; open the resulting .snxprj in Signex.

Two editions from one codebase:

Signex Community (Apache-2.0, free forever) — full schematic + PCB editor, 3D viewer, simulation, plugin system

Signex Pro (subscription) — adds Signal AI (Claude-powered design copilot), real-time collaboration, and Signex 365 cloud PLM

Status: Early development — v0.11.0 shipped — full DBLib library subsystem (rows in TSV tables + UUID-keyed primitive files, distributor adapters, Library Browser tab with master- detail layout, SCH Library / Footprint editors as standalone tabs, Pick Symbol / Footprint picker, filesystem auto-mount, per-file Git history panel, per-item tracking-scope picker on Enable Version Control, per-class filter, hardware requirements documented). The next milestone is v0.12.0 — a clean-room reimplementation of the schematic renderer + autoplace from Signex-only specifications. Join the discussion or check the roadmap.

Features

What works today (v0.1–v0.8):

Open native Signex schematics (.snxsch, .snxsym, .snxprj); migrate legacy KiCad files via the signex-kicad-import companion tool

Full schematic editing: select, move, wire (W), bus (B), label (L), component placement (P), delete, rotate (Space), mirror (X/Y)

Advanced shape tools — Line, Rectangle, Circle, Arc (3-click), Polygon (click-by-click), editable drawing Properties with live preview

Copy/paste, undo/redo (100 levels), save back to KiCad format

6 built-in themes with customizable theme editor

Altium-style docking panels with drag-to-undock/dock

Active Bar — 14-button floating toolbar with dropdown menus

Context menu, in-place text editing (F2), selection filter

Properties panel with context-aware field editing, Parameter Manager

Multi-window editing (v0.7) — undock any tab into its own OS window and edit it independently; each window keeps its own pan/zoom, selection, and undo/redo history

ERC validation (v0.7) — 11 Altium-style rules including cross-sheet hierarchy checks and net-label conflicts; Messages panel with click-to-zoom

Annotation (v0.7) — four modes, review-and-confirm dialog, lock/unlock per designator, project-wide consistency

F5 net-color palette, F8 ERC, F9 AutoFocus (dim unrelated objects)

Pin connection matrix (12×12, per-cell severity override)

Lasso + Inside/Outside/TouchingLine selection modes (Shift+S to cycle)

Native .snxsch / .snxpcb formats — TOML envelope + TSV bulk blocks, line-diffable, ~5× smaller than JSON, single file per design

60fps pan/zoom on schematics with 500+ components

Output (v0.8) — PDF export with bookmarks + theme palette, Altium-spec BOM preview with column/variant pickers and CSV/HTML/XLSX export, KiCad netlist export, unified Print Preview / Export PDF modal

Multi-project workspaces (v0.8) — multiple projects open side-by-side, per-tab project scoping, accent-tinted active project root

Altium-style dirty tracking (v0.8) — closing tabs never prompts; project-close lists every dirty file with Save All / Discard All / Cancel

Hierarchical sheet polish (v0.8) — Altium-port-style child-sheet pins, per-sheet stroke/fill colours, multisheet style preference

TabPill chrome refactor (v0.8) — 3-sided shared borders, theme-aware inactive fill, drag accent from theme

What's next:

Version Milestone

v0.9 Apache-clean cutover — native .snxsch / .snxpcb formats, KiCad I/O moved to optional signex-kicad-import companion

v0.10 Library Browser tab scaffold — read-only .snxlib table

v0.11 Library & Polish — full DBLib model, SCH Library editor, Component Preview, picker + auto-mount, distributor adapters

v1.0 Community Preview — schematic-only release

v2.0–v2.2 Community Release — full PCB editor

v3.0 Pro Release — Signal AI + collaboration

v4.0 Unified simulation view with SPICE, EM, thermal

v5.0 Signex 365 cloud PLM

Screenshots

Active Bar with dropdown menus, Selection Filter tags, Properties panel with document options

More themes

Catppuccin Mocha, GitHub Dark, Solarized Light — 6 themes built in, fully customizable

Architecture

signex/ ├── crates/ │ ├── signex-app/ # Main binary — Iced 0.14 application │ ├── signex-types/ # Domain types — NO rendering deps │ ├── signex-render/ # wgpu rendering (types → Canvas draw calls) │ ├── signex-widgets/ # Reusable Iced widgets (tree view, icon button) │ ├── kicad-parser/ # S-expression parser (.kicad_sch/.kicad_pcb/.kicad_sym) │ └── kicad-writer/ # S-expression serializer (write KiCad format) └── Cargo.toml

Design principles:

KiCad compatibility first. Open existing KiCad projects, save back losslessly. No proprietary format.

Elm architecture. Iced's Message -> update -> view cycle. No interior mutability.

Multi-window by default. Built on iced::daemon; every undocked tab gets its own engine + canvas keyed by window id, so two schematics can be edited in parallel without cross-talk.

Nanometer coordinates. i64 nanometers internally; exact in both metric and imperial.

Canvas for schematic, Shader for PCB. CPU tessellation for schematics, GPU instanced rendering for 100K+ PCB elements.

Types crate has zero rendering deps. Clean separation between domain and display.

Hardware Requirements

Signex uses wgpu for hardware-accelerated rendering and expects a modern GPU with effective Vulkan 1.1 (Linux), DirectX 12 (Windows), or Metal (macOS) support. In practice this means a GPU released around 2014 or later — Intel HD Graphics 4400+, NVIDIA GeForce 600-series and newer, AMD Radeon HD 7000-series and newer, or any Apple Silicon Mac.

Older GPUs that only expose legacy OpenGL may still launch the app via the fallback path, but expect rendering glitches such as overlapping panels and broken layout — these GPUs are not supported.

Building

Prerequisites: Rust 1.80+ and a GPU supporting Vulkan, Metal, or DX12.

git clone https://github.com/alplabai/signex.git cd signex cargo run -p signex-app # Run cargo test --workspace # Test cargo clippy --workspace -- -D warnings # Lint

Roadmap

Milestone Version Status

Scaffold — Iced shell, panels, themes, dock system v0.1 Done

Parser — KiCad format read/write, domain types v0.2 Done

Canvas — wgpu pan/zoom/grid, Altium-style camera v0.3 Done

Schematic Viewer — render all elements, multi-sheet nav v0.4 Done

Schematic Editor — select, move, wire, undo/redo, save v0.5 Done

Full SCH Editor — copy/paste, labels, components, Active Bar v0.6 Done

Validation + Multi-Window — ERC, annotation, pin matrix, undockable tabs v0.7 Done

Output — PDF, BOM, netlist, multi-project workspaces, dirty tracking v0.8 Done

Native file formats — .snxsch / .snxpcb TOML+TSV; KiCad I/O via signex-kicad-import companion v0.9 Done

Library Browser tab — read-only .snxlib table v0.10 Done

Library & Polish — full DBLib model, SCH Library editor, Component Preview, picker + auto-mount, distributor adapters v0.11 In flight

Community Preview — schematic-only editor v1.0

PCB Viewer — GPU rendering, layers, cross-probe v2.0

PCB Routing + DRC + Output v2.1–v2.2

Community Release — full schematic + PCB editor v2.2

3D Viewer, Advanced PCB, High-Speed Design v2.3–v2.5

Pro Release — Signal AI + plugins + collaboration v3.0

Simulation — SPICE, EM, thermal, simulation wizards v4.0–v4.1

Signex 365 — cloud PLM, BOM Studio, ERP bridge v5.0

See docs/ROADMAP.md for the detailed version plan.

Documentation

The Signex Wiki is the user guide — installation, quick start, keyboard shortcuts, feature-by-feature walkthroughs for every v0.1–v0.7 capability (ERC, annotation, multi-window editing, hierarchical sheets, net-color pen, themes, and more), plus an FAQ and roadmap.

Start with Quick Start to open your first KiCad project, or jump straight to Keyboard Shortcuts for the full Altium-compatible reference.

Contributing

Signex is open source and we welcome contributions from everyone — whether you're an EDA professional, a Rust developer, a KiCad user, or someone who just wants to help build a better design tool.

Ways to contribute:

Report bugs or rendering discrepancies vs KiCad

Add KiCad test fixtures from real projects

Implement a feature from the roadmap

Fix an open issue

Improve documentation

Quick start:

git clone https://github.com/alplabai/signex.git cd signex cargo build --workspace cargo run -p signex-app

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full guide: branching workflow, crate map, code style, and good first issues.

License

Signex Community Edition is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. The main repository contains no GPL-derived code; Apache consumers (anyone embedding or linking against Signex) get a clean Apache codebase with no GPL aggregation in their build closure.

KiCad migration is provided via the optional signex-kicad-import companion tool, which is GPL-3.0-or-later because it implements KiCad's file format with structure derived from KiCad's GPL-3.0 source. The two projects are distributed independently. See docs/LICENSING.md for the full rationale and the audit trail behind the two-repo split.

Copyright 2026 Alp Lab AI

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Open-source, AI-first EDA tool — KiCad-compatible schematic and PCB editor built in Rust

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