Cherry Blossom for researchers and labs
Many experiments need a board nobody sells: a sensor carrier, a connector adapter, a small interface between two instruments. Cherry Blossom drafts that board from a description, and keeps the design in open, text-based formats you can archive with the rest of the project.
I need a carrier board for a BME280 sensor and an ADS1115 ADC that talks to our data logger over I2C. Keep it under 30 x 30 mm with a 4-pin header and two mounting holes.
It is for labs that need simple custom boards, such as sensor carriers, adapters, breakouts and test fixtures, and do not have an electronics engineer free to draw them. You describe the board, an AI agent designs and checks it, and you get fab files, a BOM and an editable KiCad project.
It is not the right tool for boards where the physics is the research. It has no circuit simulation and is not built for high-speed or RF sign-off, so low-noise analog front ends, RF work and fast digital links need a specialist tool and a careful human.
The design is kept as tscircuit code and open Circuit JSON, both plain text, which makes it easy to store next to your data and methods.
Where it fits
- Labs that need sensor carriers, adapters, breakouts or test fixtures.
- Groups with no electronics engineer free to draw the board.
- Projects that archive design files next to their data and methods.
- Anyone sharing designs with collaborators as exported files.
Where it doesn’t
- Boards where the physics is the research.
- Low-noise analog front ends, RF work and fast digital links.
- Circuits you must simulate before you build them.
- Several lab members editing one board at the same time.
How it works
Describe the board
Say what sensor or instrument it connects to, plus the connectors, power and board size. Attach a pinout or a sketch if you have one.
Let the agent build
An AI agent writes the board as tscircuit code and shows the schematic, PCB layout, 3D view and BOM.
Review it
Footprints come from real part data, and a verification gate checks every AI edit against manufacturing rules. Ask for changes in the chat.
Keep the files
Export open Circuit JSON, a KiCad project, Gerbers and a BOM. Send the board to PCBWay after a DRC check, or take the Gerbers to any fab house.
What do researchers need from a PCB tool?
Custom boards on a research timeline, often built by someone whose field is not electronics.
Footprints that fit the parts on the bench.
Design files that can be archived, shared with collaborators and rebuilt later.
A clear idea of what the tool does not check, so nothing important is assumed.
Where does it fit research work, and where does it not?
Simple custom boards: carriers, adapters, fixtures
What Cherry Blossom doesDrafts schematic, layout, BOM and fab files from a description
Where to look insteadCovered here
Archivable, text-based design files
What Cherry Blossom doestscircuit code and open Circuit JSON, plus a KiCad project
Where to look insteadCovered here
Simulating a circuit before building it
What Cherry Blossom doesNo simulation
Where to look insteadCircuit simulation software
High-speed or RF boards
What Cherry Blossom doesNot built for that sign-off
Where to look insteadHigh-speed PCB design software
Several lab members editing one board
What Cherry Blossom doesNo real-time multi-user editing
Where to look insteadPCB design software for teams
Changing an existing KiCad or EAGLE design
What Cherry Blossom doesCannot import design files
Where to look instead
| What you need | What Cherry Blossom does | Where to look instead |
|---|---|---|
| Simple custom boards: carriers, adapters, fixtures | Drafts schematic, layout, BOM and fab files from a description | Covered here |
| Archivable, text-based design files | tscircuit code and open Circuit JSON, plus a KiCad project | Covered here |
| Simulating a circuit before building it | No simulation | Circuit simulation software |
| High-speed or RF boards | Not built for that sign-off | High-speed PCB design software |
| Several lab members editing one board | No real-time multi-user editing | PCB design software for teams |
| Changing an existing KiCad or EAGLE design | Cannot import design files | KiCad |
What does Cherry Blossom cost a lab?
Pro is $20 a month with 4M AI credits and 600 AI actions a day. Ultra is $140 a month with 32M credits and the frontier models. Usage past the allowance is $5 per 1M credits, only if you turn it on. The AI is included, with no API key and no per-seat licence.
Boards are paid for separately, on PCBWay at their own quote if you use the hand-off. Cherry Blossom takes no payment for boards.
The honest limits. Cherry Blossom is an early beta. You change a board by asking the agent, not by dragging traces yourself, so fine manual layout happens after a KiCad export. It is not a circuit simulator, it has no real-time multi-user editing, and it is not built for high-speed or RF sign-off.
Questions
Cherry Blossom is a good fit for research labs that need simple custom boards, such as sensor carriers, connector adapters, breakouts and test fixtures, and have no electronics engineer free to draw them. You describe the board in plain English, an AI agent writes it as tscircuit code and builds it, and you review the schematic, PCB layout, 3D view and BOM in the browser. Footprints come from real part data and a verification gate checks every edit against manufacturing rules. The design exports as open Circuit JSON, an editable KiCad project, Gerbers, a BOM and 3D models, so it can be archived with the rest of a project. It is not suited to boards where the electronics are the research: there is no circuit simulation, and it is not built for high-speed or RF sign-off.
Boards live in one account and there is no real-time multi-user editing. To share a design, export it: collaborators can open the KiCad project, the Gerbers or the Circuit JSON without a Cherry Blossom account.
Yes. The agent writes the board as tscircuit code, and every board exports as open Circuit JSON, which is plain text. It also exports an editable KiCad project and standard Gerbers.
It is not built for that. There is no simulation and no high-speed or RF sign-off, so treat any such board as a draft for a specialist to review in a dedicated tool.
Describe your board. See what comes back.
Schematic, layout and a verification gate, in the browser. Exports to Gerbers and KiCad.
