RoarCAD

Safety guide · checked August 31, 2026

How do I safely design a PCB with AI agents?

Treat the AI like a fast junior teammate: give it structured facts, inspect every proposed change, run independent checks, and keep manufacturing behind a visible human decision.

Short answer: an AI-generated board is a draft until a qualified person reviews the exact parts, footprints, electrical rules, physical layout, and test evidence.

Seven controls that reduce avoidable failures

  1. Write requirements first. Record power, connectors, environment, board size, layer count, interfaces, and what “working” means.
  2. Use a typed board model. A structured component, pin, footprint, and net graph is easier to validate than free-form prose.
  3. Separate preview from apply. The agent may propose a bounded change, but the stored design must remain unchanged until a person approves it.
  4. Verify evidence. Datasheets, supplier pages, and shared files are untrusted until a person confirms the exact manufacturer part and package.
  5. Run more than one check. Compile the design, run electrical and design-rule checks, inspect the generated connectivity, and use simulation or field solvers where the interface demands them.
  6. Keep immutable revisions. Every approved state should have a stable identifier, parent, summary, and recoverable history.
  7. Test physical hardware. Manufacturing files and zero digital errors do not prove power behavior, signal integrity, heat, radio performance, cable compatibility, or long-run reliability.

What RoarCAD enforces

The agent may

  • draft a structured board
  • inspect one bounded topic
  • preview allowlisted changes
  • prepare checked exports

Only a person may

  • apply a design change
  • approve parts or evidence
  • download manufacturing files
  • request a quote, order, or pay

Try it with your browser agent

  1. Open RoarCAD in ChatGPT's WebMCP-capable browser, or Chrome 149+ with WebMCP enabled and an agent integration.
  2. Select the indicator example. Ask: “Inspect this revision's parts and explain D1 and its connections. Preview moving D1 to x=3, y=2. Do not apply it.”
  3. Read the proposed change. The revision stays unchanged until you click Approve & apply.
  4. Ask the agent to prepare an engineering export. Download it yourself, or share a checkpoint with a teammate.

Compatibility: WebMCP exposes tools inside a browser page. This website is not a remote MCP server you can paste into any coding agent's settings. Your agent needs a browser connection that supports page tools. Without it, all manual controls still work.

Definitions in simple English

PCB
A printed circuit board: the rigid board that holds parts and connects them with copper paths.
Schematic
A logical map showing which pins should connect. It does not show the final physical placement.
Footprint
The exact copper-pad pattern used to solder one package onto the board.
Net
One named electrical connection shared by two or more pins.
ERC and DRC
Automated checks for electrical mistakes and physical-rule violations. Passing them is necessary, but not sufficient proof.
Limit: RoarCAD does not replace professional schematic review, signal/power-integrity analysis, fabricator DFM review, compliance work, or physical testing.

Next: review the reproducible evidence or open the live workbench.