Show HN: Splice CAD – Wiring and cable assembly CAD with an agentic assist

3 points

2 months ago

Still working on Splice CAD. The two most significant updates focus on handling design complexity and automating using agentic workflows. Previous Show HN here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44978140

1. Projects:

This workflow is more amenable to system-level modeling. It overlaps somewhat with the original workflow but includes improvements including:

Complex Routing: Model topologies with branchpoints.

Mating Relationships: Represent physical mating (e.g., a receptacle into a PCB header or a ferrule into a terminal block) for completeness.

Decoupled BOMs: Part assignment is now separate from component addition; you can generate a BOM and then assign specific MPNs to components as the design evolves.

Net Visualization: Nets are identified and visualized across conductors, terminations, and mating relationships.

QOL and Visualization Improvements: Assign components to one or more pages to separate designs by function. Ability to create Device Groups (eg. model a PCB with multiple headers and then break out your wiring) and Subassemblies for design reuse. Copy and paste from TSV for easier interaction with spreadsheets. Copy and paste between browser tabs.

2. MCP Server & Agentic Workflows:

Also new is the Splice CAD MCP server, which allows the tool to interact directly with LLMs like Claude. Manually entering data and extracting it from PDFs has always been a pain when documenting wiring and cable assemblies. I initially tried to handle PDF vision and extraction internally and took several wrong turns; the agentic approach is a much better fit. You can point Claude at a PDF schematic or a GitHub BOM and have it generate a multi-page design.

Try it out (No signup): https://splice-cad.com/#/harness + Create icon from top toolbar, New Project

Documentation: https://splice-cad.com/docs/plan and some examples https://splice-cad.com/docs/plan/multi-endpoint-harness

MCP Server Details: https://splice-cad.com/blog/mcp-server-agentic-workflows-mar... and https://github.com/splice-cad/splice-cad-mcp

Discord: https://discord.gg/5CTH7mnrk8

My intention is to keep Splice CAD free for design use and leverage it as a platform to connect cable assembly and wiring shops with engineers who need their designs fabricated. I’m seeking a co-founder with a strong background in manufacturing sales and business development to complement my technical focus. If you're interested, please email me using the address listed in my About section.