Automation
Layout Automation
ProtoFlow includes auto-placement, smart auto-routing, and intelligent schematic cleanup tools to automatically organize and optimize your designs.
# Auto-Placement
Auto-placement automatically arranges your components into a clean, readable layout — well-spaced, with short connections and a sensible signal flow.
What It Optimizes For
Auto-placement balances several goals to produce a tidy, readable arrangement:
| Goal | What it does |
|---|---|
| Spacing | Keeps components apart to prevent overlaps and stay readable |
| Short connections | Pulls connected pins closer together to minimize wire lengths |
| Aligned rows | Lines components up into organized horizontal or vertical channels |
| Grid snapping | Snaps components to the grid once the layout settles |
| Signal flow | Arranges components left-to-right following signal flow conventions |
| Power & ground | Places power symbols at the top and ground at the bottom |
Results
Auto-placement runs until the layout settles into stable, well-organized positions, then stops on its own — giving you a clean starting point you can fine-tune by hand.
Before and after comparison of auto-placement on a complex schematic
# Auto-Routing
The auto-routing engine automatically draws wires between connected pins, finding optimal paths around obstacles.
What Auto-Routing Does
- Smart pathfinding — Finds optimal paths between pins
- Orthogonal routing — All wire segments are horizontal or vertical (90-degree bends only)
- Obstacle avoidance — Routes around components, keeping a clear margin
- Wire segment avoidance — Avoids crossing or overlapping existing wires
- Bend minimization — Avoids unnecessary bends for cleaner routes
- Grid-aligned — All routes follow the grid for consistent spacing
Using Auto-Routing
Auto-routing can be triggered in several ways:
- Ask the AI Copilot to "route all unconnected pins"
- Use the AI to "connect the SPI bus" or other specific routing tasks
- Smart routing also suggests optimal paths while you draw wires by hand
Auto-routed wires navigating around components with clean orthogonal paths
# Schematic Cleanup
Clean up your schematic by removing dangling components, dead-end wires, and orphaned segments.
Cleanup Operations
Dangling Component Detection
Finds components with no connections to the rest of the circuit. A dialog shows all detected dangling components with options to delete them or keep them.
Dead-End Wire Removal
Removes wire segments that have one end connected but the other end floating (not connected to any pin or junction).
Orphaned Wire Cleanup
Removes wire segments that aren't connected to anything on either end.
Position Optimization
Compacts the layout by moving components closer together while maintaining minimum spacing rules.
Grid Alignment
Snaps all off-grid elements to the nearest grid point for consistent alignment.
Running Cleanup
Access the cleanup dialog from the toolbar or ask the AI to "clean up the schematic" or "remove dangling components." The cleanup dialog shows a preview of all detected issues before you apply changes.
Cleanup dialog showing detected dangling components with delete/keep options
Next Steps
- → Run Design Analysis after cleanup
- → Export via File Management