GPU-Based Autorouting for KiCad
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This project began when I decided it would be easier to write an autorouter than route a 8000+ net backplane by hand.This is a KiCad plugin with a few different algorithms, the coolest of which is a 'Manhattan routing grid' autorouter that routes along orthogonal traces. The basic idea was to steal an algorithm from FPGA routing and apply it to PCBs. I'm using CuPy for speeding up the routing; CPU-bound is at least 10x slower than the GPU version.This is in a very pre-alpha state, but it does _technically_ work. It's not great by any measure but then again it is an autorouter.I have a writeup with the how and why it was made: https://bbenchoff.github.io/pages/OrthoRoute.htmlAnd a video showing it route a 512-net backplane in just over 2 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXxxNQPTagAThis is very cool and one of the first good uses of the KiCad IPC API that was released a few months ago. If this sounds interesting and useful, PRs and issues welcome.
HN · launched Oct 29, 2025 · 8 upvotes (top 49%) · 0 views
Niche: computer-aided design software · 169 launches, 12 in the last 7 days ▼ -57% · Explore this niche →
Category and tags
- Horizontal
- Dev tools
- Developer
- Not AI
- Hobby / open-source project
Visit website ↗ Source listing ↗
More like this: all 169 launches in computer-aided design software →
Could you build this?
No Developing high-performance GPU-accelerated autorouting algorithms for dense multi-layer PCB nets involves complex computational geometry and low-level parallel programming.
What it would actually take: Building this requires writing a C++/CUDA or WebGPU engine interfaced via KiCad's plugin architecture. It entails mapping PCB design rule checks (DRC), keepouts, and multi-layer trace geometries to a Manhattan grid or cellular automata, executing massively parallel pathfinding (like A* or Lee's maze router) on GPU hardware, and handling topological rip-up and reroute logic. This demands deep expertise in GPU compute optimization, EDA (Electronic Design Automation), and graph routing algorithms.
Discussion
6 comments analyzed.
Concerns raised: Doesn't handle impedance control, length matching, or differential pairs, Very expensive hobby project with limited practical applications, Only useful for very small subset of very complex boards
Feature requests: Add impedance control support, Add length matching support, Add differential pairs support
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one : 229 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #131 of 230 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Looks like the first mover among its competitors.
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