Signex

Open-source, AI-first electronics design automation

Features · Screenshots · Download · Building · Roadmap · User guide · 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.

Migrating from Altium? Install the optional signex-altium-import companion (Apache-2.0, clean-room). Then File › Import › Altium Project… converts a .PrjPcb, .SchDoc, .PcbDoc, .SchLib or .PcbLib into a sibling <name>-signex/ folder and opens it. The import lists everything it had to approximate or skip; review that list before you fabricate an imported board.

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 — v0.15.0 shipped — the Editor Fixes milestone: footprint- and symbol-editor correctness, an order-independent netlist derivation that ERC and BOM read from, crash-safe persistence, and a pinned Rust 1.97.0 toolchain with enforced rustfmt and god-file gates. The v0.14 Footprint Editor carries forward: the .snxfpt pad + parametric-sketch editor is enabled: place pads, draw a parametric sketch driven by an Apache-clean Newton-LM constraint solver (19 constraint kinds), and bake to pads / silk / courtyard. v0.14 completes the active-bar tooling (Align / Distribute, Move / Drag, Fill / Region, Text Frame, the selection-filter All toggle) and exposes the full constraint set. The v0.13 clean-room schematic renderer and the Symbol & Library surfaces (unified Active Bar, .snxsym TOML envelope, Library Browser, Pick Symbol / Footprint) carry forward. Join the discussion or check the roadmap.

Features

What works today (v0.1–v0.15):

• 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 to the native .snxsch / .snxprj formats (.snxsch: TOML envelope + TSV bulk blocks, line-diffable in git; .snxprj: JSON, see why)
• 7 built-in themes with customizable theme editor
• Altium-style docking panels with drag-to-undock/dock
• Active Bar — 13-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, 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
• TabPill chrome refactor (v0.8) — 3-sided shared borders, theme-aware inactive fill, drag accent from theme
• Apache-clean native formats (v0.9) — .snxsch / .snxpcb are the canonical format; KiCad I/O moved to the optional companion tool
• Component library subsystem (v0.10–v0.11) — Library Browser tab, DBLib row model, SCH Library editor, Component Preview, Pick Symbol/Footprint + auto-mount, DigiKey / Mouser / LCSC / JLCPCB distributor adapters, per-library git version control + History panel
• Clean-room schematic renderer + Symbol editor (v0.13) — renderer reimplemented against Signex-only specs (docs/RENDERING_RULES.md, IEEE-Std-91); unified Active Bar and TOML .snxsym envelope
• Multi-unit symbols (v0.14) — part_count, per-unit body geometry and graphics, unit buttons, two-click rect / line / circle + three-click arc
• Footprint & sketch editor (v0.14) — .snxfpt pad + parametric-sketch editor driven by an Apache-clean Newton-LM constraint solver (19 constraint kinds); bake to pads / silk / courtyard; Align / Distribute / Move / Fill / Text tooling; CPU 3D-body extrude preview
• Authoritative netlist contract (v0.14) — one connectivity derivation in signex-net (build_netlist / build_project_netlist) consumed by ERC, net-flood, and export; same-name labels + T-junctions merge correctly
• Configurable keyboard-shortcut profiles (v0.14) — grouped, searchable in-app editor; menu labels sourced from the command table
• GPU render alignment (v0.14) — signex-gfx aligned to iced's wgpu 27; the PCB editor draws through the shader widget. The schematic editor still draws on the CPU canvas — its GPU adapter is not mounted yet

What's next:

Version	Milestone
v1.0	Community Preview — schematic-only release
v2.0–v2.2	Community Release — full PCB editor (viewer, routing, DRC, output)
v2.3–v2.5	3D Viewer, Advanced PCB, High-Speed Design
v3.0	Pro Release — Signal AI + plugins + 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 — 7 themes built in, fully customizable

Architecture

A 17-crate Rust workspace (edition = 2024), an acyclic DAG with signex-app at the apex and signex-types as the shared foundation:

signex/
├── crates/
│   ├── signex-app/            # Main binary — iced 0.14 app (panels, dock, canvas, editors)
│   ├── signex-types/          # Domain types — schematic/PCB/layer/theme — NO rendering deps
│   ├── signex-engine/         # Command / patch / undo engine for schematic edits
│   ├── signex-net/            # Authoritative netlist + connectivity contract
│   ├── signex-erc/            # ERC rule engine (+ signex-erc-dsl)
│   ├── signex-sketch/         # Apache-clean Newton-LM constraint solver + sketch schema
│   ├── signex-bake/           # Sketch → footprint bake (pad / silk / courtyard / mask / …)
│   ├── signex-output/         # PDF / netlist / BOM export pipeline (+ signex-bom)
│   ├── signex-renderer/       # Domain types → render primitives (+ signex-gfx wgpu pipelines)
│   ├── signex-library/        # .snxlib component library — port/adapter model (+ signex-library-server)
│   ├── signex-widgets/        # Reusable iced widgets (tree view, active bar, previews)
│   └── signex-3d-model-importer/  # STEP / WRL importer for 3D body attach
└── Cargo.toml

Design principles:

• Native .snx* formats first. .snxsch / .snxpcb / .snxprj are the canonical formats (TOML envelope + TSV bulk blocks, line-diffable, ~5× smaller than JSON; the .snxprj project file is the one JSON exception, see docs/architecture/snxprj-format.md). One-way KiCad → Signex import is an optional, independently-distributed companion tool.
• Elm architecture (MVU). iced's state → view → Message → update cycle; view is pure, update is the only mutation site and never blocks — all IO returns as a Task. No process-global mutable state.
• Domain logic in domain crates. Types and engines below signex-app carry zero iced/wgpu deps (Cargo-enforced); connectivity is derived once in signex-net and read everywhere else, never re-derived.
• 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 — no float EPS comparisons for "same point".
• Canvas for schematic, Shader for PCB. CPU tessellation for schematics, GPU instanced rendering (signex-gfx, wgpu 27) for large PCB scenes.

Download

Before downloading, check the hardware requirements. The latest release provides these packages:

Platform	Package	Architecture	Use
Windows	signex-setup-<arch>-<version>.exe	x86_64, ARM64 (aarch64)	Run for a guided installation
Windows	signex-windows-<arch>-<version>.zip	x86_64, ARM64 (aarch64)	Extract and run without installing
macOS	signex-macos-universal-<version>.dmg	Apple silicon and Intel	Open and drag Signex to Applications
Linux	signex_<version>_<arch>.deb	x86_64 (amd64), ARM64 (arm64)	Debian or Ubuntu: sudo apt install ./signex_<version>_<arch>.deb
Linux	Signex-<version>-<arch>.AppImage	x86_64, ARM64 (aarch64)	Most distributions: make executable with chmod +x, then run
Linux	signex-linux-<arch>-<version>.tar.gz	x86_64, ARM64 (aarch64)	Extract and run without installing
All	signex-<version>.cdx.json	n/a	CycloneDX SBOM: the signex binary's dependencies for every platform (a superset of any one build), with version and licence
All	SHA256SUMS.txt	n/a	SHA-256 checksums of every file above

First launch

Until release signing is enabled (see docs/RELEASE_SIGNING.md), packages do not carry a trusted publisher or developer signature:

• Windows: Microsoft Defender SmartScreen may appear. Select More info, then Run anyway.
• macOS: after opening the DMG and moving Signex to Applications, right-click Signex and select Open on the first launch to bypass Gatekeeper's unidentified-developer warning.

These workarounds can be removed when Windows signing and macOS signing and notarization land.

Verify a download

Every release includes SHA256SUMS.txt. Download it next to the package you chose. The checksum file lists every release artifact, so the commands below select the one file you downloaded.

Linux (set file to the exact filename you downloaded):

file='Signex-<version>-x86_64.AppImage'
grep -F "  $file" SHA256SUMS.txt | sha256sum -c -

macOS (set file to the exact filename you downloaded):

file='signex-macos-universal-<version>.dmg'
grep -F "  $file" SHA256SUMS.txt | shasum -a 256 -c -

Windows PowerShell (set $file to the exact filename you downloaded):

$file = "<downloaded-package-filename>"
$expected = ((Select-String -Path .\SHA256SUMS.txt -SimpleMatch "  $file").Line -split '\s+')[0]
(Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 -Path $file).Hash.ToLowerInvariant() -eq $expected

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 1.97.0 — pinned via rust-toolchain.toml, so rustup installs it automatically; this is also the MSRV (we build and support exactly this toolchain) — 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 --all-targets --all-features -- -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	Done
Symbol & Library — clean-room schematic renderer, unified Active Bar in symbol editor, .snxsym TOML envelope	v0.13	Done
Footprint Editor — .snxfpt pad + parametric-sketch editor, Newton-LM solver (19 constraints), Align/Distribute/Move/Fill/Text tooling	v0.14	Done
Editor Fixes — footprint/symbol editor correctness, order-independent netlist, crash-safe persistence, pinned toolchain	v0.15	Done
Command Registry & Symbol Units	v0.16	In progress
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 User Guide takes you from a downloaded package to a saved schematic and an exported PDF, starting with File ▸ New Project. It lives in the repository, so it is versioned with the code and reviewed in pull requests.

In-repo reference docs live under docs/: the command reference, keyboard shortcut file format, ROADMAP.md, LICENSING.md, and REPOSITORY_AND_CODEBASE.md. The wiki is no longer the primary guide.

Contributing

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

Ways to contribute:

• Report bugs or rendering discrepancies
• Add 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