November 28, 2025
Your board baby is ugly—AI says so
Show HN: An LLM-Powered Tool to Catch PCB Schematic Mistakes
Engineers beg AI to catch dumb board mistakes—old pros say “we had checklists”
TLDR: An AI tool promises to catch circuit design mistakes by reading your connection map and parts manuals, and even helps debug finished boards. Commenters are excited but skeptical—old-school checklists versus new AI, with hot debates over physical fit mistakes and even retro vacuum tube support.
Hacker News lit up over a new web tool that lets an AI sidekick read your circuit’s “map” (the netlist from KiCad or Altium) plus the parts’ manuals (datasheets) to sniff out design mistakes that normal ERC checks—those basic rule alarms—often miss. The creator confessed, “I built this because I was tired of shipping boards with avoidable mistakes,” and the crowd showed up with war stories, wishlists, and a pinch of shame. It even claims to help debug already-built boards when you describe failure symptoms. No credit card needed. Cue the drama.
Old pros arrived with a reality check: “We used pre‑flight checklists back in the day and killed dumb errors.” Translation: discipline first, AI second. Meanwhile, tinkerers bragged that modern chatbots can read our spaghetti, with one commenter shoving a cryptic schematic file into Gemini 2.5 and getting a cheerful “I understand.” The spiciest thread asked if this bot can catch real‑world fit issues—like parts colliding or connectors flipping the wrong way—backed by a horror tale of a multimillion‑dollar module that literally couldn’t plug in. Then the retro crowd crashed in: “Will it do vacuum tubes?” Feature fever exploded: supply chain smarts, alternate parts, EMC (electromagnetic noise) advice. Mood check: hopeful, chaotic, and slightly roasted—engineers want a bot that stops embarrassment, but they’re not ditching their checklists without a fight.
Key Points
- •The tool is LLM-powered to catch PCB schematic mistakes.
- •It performs AI-driven electrical design checks.
- •It ingests component datasheets and netlists for analysis.
- •It supports netlists from KiCad and Altium.
- •It is available to try without requiring a credit card.