Quick Guide

Workflow

1. Design the schematic on the left. Add components from the library and draw wires between pins to define nets.
2. Place components on the stripboard on the right. Drag them from the unplaced tray onto the board.
3. Resolve conflicts. Place cuts to isolate strips and add wires to connect separated nets.
4. Done. When all nets are complete and there are no conflicts, you are ready to solder.

A finished project: schematic on the left, stripboard layout on the right.

Schematic Editor (left)

• Drag components from the library sidebar onto the canvas.
• Press W to enter wire drawing mode, then click pins to connect them.
• Connected pins automatically form a net. Rename or recolour nets in the sidebar.
• Click a component label to rename it. Click a pin label to rename the pin.
• Drag labels and pin labels to reposition them if they overlap with wires.
• Select one or more components and press E (or use Exclude in the floating menu) to keep them off the stripboard. Excluded parts stay in the schematic but are ignored by the board and its net checks, so you can draw a full circuit while only building part of it. Press E again to include them back.
• Use the footprint editor (on the stripboard side) to customise a component's physical layout.

Stripboard Editor (right)

• Drag components from the Unplaced tray onto the board.
• Placed parts show which way round they sit: a pin-1 notch on ICs, a flat-belly (TO-92 style) outline on 3-legged parts like transistors and voltage regulators, and the USB connector on dev boards such as the ESP32.
• Strips automatically colour to match the net of the pin sitting on them.
• Red highlighted strips indicate a conflict where two different nets share the same strip.
• Place a cut to isolate the strip into sections: click between two holes, or hold Alt and click a hole to cut the strip at the hole itself.
• Click a hole then another hole to place a wire connecting them. Click an existing wire to delete it.
• Wires may run in parallel on the same column or row, as long as they do not share a hole. They shift sideways slightly on screen so each run stays visible. To start a wire on a hole that sits under an existing wire, hold Shift while clicking: clicks then pass through wires straight to the holes underneath.
• Right-click a row or column number to insert a blank row or column, or to delete one. Inserting shifts everything past the line and stretches parts and wires spanning it. Deleting removes the wires and cuts on that line and unplaces any component with a pin or body on it; parts and wires merely spanning the line shrink to close the gap.
• A hole holds either a cut or a wire, never both. Click a hole cut to remove it (no Alt needed).
• 2-pin passive components (resistors, LEDs, etc.) have flexible leads. Drag individual pins to reshape them.
• Non-flexible components (ICs, connectors, etc.) can have their footprint edited. Select a placed component, then click Edit Footprint in the floating menu above it. You can resize the grid and move pins around to match your physical component.
• Hover over an incomplete net in the sidebar to highlight the relevant strips.

Auto-layout

Click Auto-layout in the stripboard toolbar to have the router arrange every part for you. It reads your schematic nets, places the components, picks a board size, and generates the strip cuts and link wires needed to complete the board. The router is deterministic, so the same circuit always produces the same layout, and by default it respects the physical reality of the parts (for example, it leaves a strip between two through-hole resistor bodies rather than overlapping them). If anything cannot be completed, a pop-up tells you what and why.

You stay in control of a few things:

• Lock the board size. Click the padlock next to the Rows or Cols field to fix that dimension. Auto-layout then keeps exactly that many rows or columns, so you can constrain the result to a board you already own (for example, exactly 20 columns wide). Leave a dimension unlocked and the router chooses it freely. If a locked size is too small to fit the circuit, it tells you rather than silently overflowing.
• Lock components in place. Position a part where you want it (a connector along an edge, say), select it, and press L (or use Lock in the floating menu). Auto-layout will never move a locked part; instead it designs the surrounding layout around it. Select several parts and press L to lock them all at once. Locking works, but expect a locked layout to come out somewhat larger or less tidy than an unconstrained one.
• Pin spacing and clearance. Click the gear beside the Auto-layout button to tune each flexible part type. Pin spacing sets how many holes a part may span from pin to pin, letting you keep resistors upright or stretch them flat. Clearance is the air kept around a body: the default leaves one free strip beside the part, and setting it to 0 lets parts of that type sit directly side by side for a tighter board.

Curious how it decides all this? How auto-layout works →

Printing & Assembly

• Click Print in the project toolbar to open the print / PDF dialog and generate an assembly guide.
• The component sheet shows the board from the component side. Lay it on top and push leads through the marked holes.
• The cut sheet is mirrored for the copper side and marks every track cut with an ✕.
• The BOM (bill of materials) lists quantities, values, and reference labels for sourcing parts.
• Toggle reference labels, wires, cuts, and pin labels to tailor each sheet to your build.
• Optionally add a view or edit QR code that links back to the online project.
• Print at 100% / actual size and verify the calibration ruler so hole spacing matches real stripboard.

Exporting

• Open Export in the project toolbar and pick Raw project to download the whole project as a JSON file. Bring it back any time from the Import menu.
• Pick Netlist to export a KiCad-compatible netlist. It carries your components, their reference labels and values, the pin numbers, and every net, so a circuit you prototyped here can go into an EDA tool and become a PCB.
• Most built-in parts map to real KiCad symbols and through-hole footprints, so the netlist imports straight into the PCB editor without hunting for footprints.
• Parts with no standard KiCad footprint (custom components, the dev boards, and a few generic parts) are covered by a small footprint library that downloads alongside the netlist as a zip. Unzip it and add the folder once under Preferences → Manage Footprint Libraries, using the nickname shown in the pop-up.
• A netlist describes connections rather than drawings, so your schematic layout and stripboard placement are not part of it.
• Importing a netlist is not supported yet. For now the editor reads its own project files only.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Custom Components

Click + Create Custom Component at the bottom of the library. Define the grid size, place pins, and assign names. Your custom components are saved with the project and appear in a dedicated Custom section.

Saving & Sharing

• No account is required. When you save a project for the first time, a unique link is generated. Bookmark or save this link to return to your project later.
• You can also export your project as a JSON file from the Export menu and re-import it at any time.
• Creating an account lets you access all your projects from a central dashboard without needing to save individual links.
• Logged-in users can share projects. Each project has an edit link for full access and a separate view-only link for sharing with others.
• Anyone viewing a shared project can fork it to create their own editable copy.