What Quilter isn't

An explanation of Quilter’s role as a fully automated layout service, highlighting its workflow, scope, and limitations.

Quilter is a design agent, not a "copilot".

Quilter is built to handle PCB layouts from start to finish on its own, while respecting your given constraints. It's not meant to augment your manual design process within existing CAD tools. If you're looking for a tool that can generate, review, apply, or discard arbitrary blocks of schematic or layout, Quilter isn't for you.

Instead, think of Quilter as a reliable and efficient junior layout engineer who's responsible for designing a portion of your team's work. They'll respond to your design feedback in an iterative and diligent way.

Put differently, Quilter's goal isn't to automate 30% of the work for all your designs – it's to automate 100% of the work for the simplest 30% of your designs. This frees you up to focus on the most important and rewarding work within your organization.

Quilter is a submission and review interface, not a CAD tool.

Quilter is designed to make collaboration easy by working seamlessly with the design files from your existing CAD tools. We also return completed layouts in the same file format we receive.

Think of Quilter's web application as a collaboration tool for coordinating design requests with external layout engineers. It's a simple way to upload, review, and exchange files and feedback with your dedicated AI designer.

We use your CAD tool's native features whenever possible to minimize redundant data entry in Quilter. This means we rely on your tool to handle tasks like:

• Updating board files

• Modifying or annotating schematics

• Defining stack-ups and fabrication parameters

• Adjusting component positions

Quilter is a constraint-driven workflow, not a magician.

Users often think that Quilter can look at a PDF schematic and automatically pick up on all the electrical engineering details that may or may not be included in the design.

Although that sounds great, that's not how Quilter works right now. Instead, Quilter is designed to create layouts that meet the constraints set by the input board file and during Circuit Comprehension.

The simplest way to think about this is the following: If a specific design requirement isn't specified in the input file (outline, components, placement region) or in Circuit Comprehension (see Physics Constraints), Quilter will treat it like a generic signal.

We're always working to expand our vocabulary of physics constraints and our auto-detection logic to get closer to this "magic black box" experience. But in the interim, it's important to clearly define your requirements up front to give Quilter the best chance at success.

Quilter is an implementer, not a proofreader.

Quilter's main job is to create layouts that meet the schematic and physics constraints you provide.

Our Physics Rule Checks (PRCs) help ensure consistency with these constraints, but Quilter doesn't check schematic logic or design intent beyond what you specify. We don't automatically review datasheets to verify that you haven't left a pin floating or forgotten to provide bypass to a power pin.

That's why it's crucial to keep applying your internal validation processes to ensure overall design correctness and functional integrity. This includes:

• Schematic reviews

• Design reviews, including running DRCs

• Signal simulation and validation

• Regular fabrication and testing