Why CablePilot
Electrical departments draw the same information many times: the schematic, then the terminal plan, the cable list,
the wire list, the BOM, the cabinet layout, and a drawing set for the customer. CablePilot keeps one source of
truth, the schematic, and generates everything else from it, live. Change a device in one place and every list,
cross-reference and drawing follows.
- Standards, with sources. IEC 60617 symbols, IEC 81346 designations, IEC 61082 documents, IEC 60204-1, cable
sizing to IEC 60364-5-52, IEC 61439 assemblies. Every rule and table value cites its clause; values not yet verified
are listed openly in docs/to-verify.md.
- Your files stay yours. One documented JSON file per project that diffs well in Git; PDF, DXF, CSV and XLSX out,
DXF in. No account, no cloud, no lock-in.
- Honest, optional AI. Bring your own Claude, OpenAI or Gemini key. Every change it proposes is a preview you
accept or reject; every claim shows its source; electrical values are labelled as suggestions. The app is fully
usable without it.
Features
| Area | What you get |
|---|
| Schematic | Multi-page projects, IEC symbols, automatic designations, orthogonal wires with junctions, potentials, single-line and multi-line pages, black boxes and connectors, macros, a symbol editor |
| Devices | A coil and its contacts as one device, contact images, cross-references (8.3 or 08-E3), parts from the library, nested assemblies |
| Wires and reports | Wire numbering by potential, page and column, sequence or rung; terminal diagrams, cable, wire and pin lists, BOM, legends, nameplates, markers, all live |
| Checks and revisions | A continuous electrical rule check with one-click fixes; issued revisions, a generated cover sheet and revision comparison |
| PLC | Racks and cards as devices, addresses by your scheme, an I/O overview, tag lists for TIA Portal and CODESYS |
| Sizing and warehouse | Breakers, contactors, overload relays and cables sized from the schematic, proposed from your own stock list |
| CAD workspace | Ribbon, command line with the usual aliases, typed coordinates, object snaps, window and crossing selection, layers |
| Cabinet layout | Devices at real size on DIN rails and ducts, a suggested layout, dimensions, side view, duct fill, wire lengths, 3D view, drilling DXF |
| Panel Designer tools | Insert a symbol on a wire to split it, auto-wire, ladder pages (NFPA 79 style), project history with daily backups |
| ERP link | Items and stock over REST or OData, pick parts from the warehouse, send reservation requests back (docs/erp-link.md) |
| Drawing set | Cover sheet with sheet index and revisions, data sheets, legends, terminal and cable pages, layout, BOM, in your frame and title block, as a vector PDF |
Three complete sample projects ship with the app (a conveyor, a pump station and a 110 V DC battery charger), so every
feature can be tried without your own drawings. See them in the short videos.
Install
The first release is being prepared. When it is out, download the file for your computer from the
latest release:
| Computer | File |
|---|
| Mac with Apple Silicon | CablePilot-mac-arm64.dmg |
| Mac with Intel | CablePilot-mac-x64.dmg |
| Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) | CablePilot-win-x64.exe |
| Linux (64-bit) | CablePilot-linux-x86_64.AppImage |
The builds are not signed yet: on a Mac open the app the first time with right-click > Open; on Windows choose More
info > Run anyway. Until then, run it from source (below). Then follow Getting started.
Every feature is free for 30 days on each computer, with no account. After the trial CablePilot asks for a licence
key (CP1-…), one per user or seat: see Pricing (prices are not set
yet; request a key in GitHub Discussions). Your projects and
exports stay yours and stay readable without a key.
Run from source
npm install
npm run dev
| Command | What it does |
|---|
npm run typecheck | Strict TypeScript for main, preload and renderer |
npm test | Unit tests (Vitest): connectivity, numbering, reports, checks, file format, i18n, ERP, AI tools |
npm run test:e2e | Builds the app and drives it with Playwright, one test per workflow |
npm run check:licenses | Lists every dependency's licence; fails on GPL or AGPL |
npm run check:library | Every file under library/ has its source and required fields |
npm run dist | Packages the app for this computer into dist/ (electron-builder) |
npm run build:site | Regenerates the website in site/ from the docs, the roadmap and the library |
Releases are built by .github/workflows/release.yml when a v* tag is pushed.
Documentation
Contribute in 30 minutes
- Fork the repository and run
npm install and npm run dev (5 minutes).
- Pick something small:
- fix or add an Italian text in
shared/i18n/it/ (the test in tests/i18n.test.ts tells you which are missing);
- add a library data file under
library/ with its source and run npm run check:library;
- add a unit test for a function in
shared/;
- improve a text in
scripts/site/texts.mjs and run npm run build:site.
- Run
npm run typecheck && npm test (2 minutes).
- Commit and open a pull request. By contributing you agree to the contribution terms in
LICENSE.md section 7 (see CONTRIBUTING.md). Issues labelled
good first issue
are a good place to start.
Questions, training and custom features for companies: GitHub Discussions
and the page for companies.
Status
Milestones M0 to M7 and the first two parts of M8 are done (see docs/roadmap.md and
docs/progress.md). Release 1 is next: installers, the end-to-end tests of every workflow and the
launch checklist. Phase 2 adds electronics (KiCad file formats).
Folders
app/main (Electron main), app/preload (typed API), app/renderer (UI), shared (model, connectivity, file
format, reports, checks, i18n), library (symbols, parts, macros as data), samples, docs, site (the generated
website), scripts, tests, e2e, build (app icon).
Licence
CablePilot is source-available, not open source: the code is public so you can read it, check what it does with
your drawings, build it and contribute.
| What | Licence |
|---|
| The app (this repository, except below) | CablePilot License 1.0: source-available, free 30-day trial with every feature, then a licence key |
library/ (symbols, parts, terminals, cables, frames, title blocks, macros as data) | CC BY 4.0 |
shared/fonts/ | SIL Open Font License 1.1 |
| Your drawings | Yours: open JSON format and PDF, DXF, CSV and XLSX exports, usable without the app and after the trial |
Versions up to commit 01271c2 were released under the Apache License 2.0 and keep that licence. Copyright Mojtaba
Amini; see also NOTICE. Third-party licences are listed in THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md, generated at build
time.
