How to use Claude to test automated PCB routing
Claude Code produced a PCB schematic but failed at routing. Human inspection found crossed traces and shorts despite clean DRC results, so no board was ordered.
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Suggested prompt
Suggested prompt written by Agents In Use, not the source author. Replace bracketed inputs and review tool permissions first.
Create a schematic and proposed EasyEDA layout from these circuit requirements. Read back intended net connectivity and inspect trace crossings and the board boundary independently of the DRC count. If geometry or silent net merging makes the circuit uncertain, report the failure and stop before ordering.
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See placements →Evidence at a glance
Sourced account- Source author
- Markus Wettstein
- Original account
- Read the source ↗
- Published
- Source link checked
- Reported result
- The experiment produced a schematic and an unsuccessful PCB layout. Crossed traces hid behind clean DRC results, and the board was not considered ready to order.
- Human involvement
- Wettstein watched the design process, inspected the routed board and questioned apparently clean design-rule results before ordering hardware.
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How the agent did it
- Claude interviewed Wettstein about requirements and produced the schematic through EasyEDA's API.
- The agent attempted placement and routing while correcting coordinate problems.
- Wettstein inspected crossed traces and rejected the apparently clean DRC result before manufacturing.
Markus Wettstein tested whether Claude Code could design a PCB through the EasyEDA API during an engineering training experiment. Claude first interviewed him about the requirements, then worked through the schematic and layout in an automatic mode.
The agent selected an analog topology, component values and multiple integrated circuits. It produced a schematic with dozens of components and connections, and corrected coordinate problems encountered through the editor interface. Those concrete artifacts made it possible to assess more than the plausibility of a text description.
Routing was the failure point. Traces crossed, created shorts and left components outside the intended board boundary. Yet the editor reported no design-rule violations. Wettstein found that crossed connections could silently merge nets, so a clean count did not establish that the intended circuit had survived layout.
Claude ultimately said it could not assure that the board would work and advised against ordering it. The outcome was a useful schematic and an unsuccessful routed design, not a functioning physical product. Wettstein's visual inspection and challenge to the tool's checks prevented the misleading verification result from becoming a manufacturing decision. The source presents this as a limitation of the agent-and-editor workflow.
Prompt
Suggested prompt (written by Agents In Use, not the author's)
Source: LinkedIn · Markus Wettstein
Frequently asked questions
Did the PCB work?
No working board was manufactured; the routed design was not considered safe to order.
Why was the DRC result misleading?
Crossed traces silently merged nets and hid the intended connectivity errors.
What did the human check?
Actual trace geometry, component boundaries and whether the planned circuit remained intact.
More details
About this account
Claude interviewed Wettstein about requirements and produced the schematic through EasyEDA's API. The agent attempted placement and routing while correcting coordinate problems.
Firsthand training experiment opened. Produced a schematic and failed layout, not a manufactured working board. EasyEDA net merging masked shorts in reported DRC results. Suggested prompt written by Agents In Use; no original task prompt was published in the verified account.
Credit: Markus Wettstein — LinkedIn
Source published
Added to Agents In Use
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Tools and topics
Claude Code · EasyEDA · EasyEDA API
PCB routing · Failed experiment
Editorial completeness: 100/100. Measures documented fields, not agent performance or verified outcomes.