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Roadmap

alpCaner edited this page Jul 16, 2026 · 3 revisions

Roadmap

Signex ships in small, focused version bumps. Each v0.X adds one cohesive subsystem. The big milestones are the Community Preview (v1.0, schematic-only), the Community Release (v2.2, full PCB), and the Pro Release (v3.0, Signal AI + collaboration).

docs/ROADMAP.md in the repo owns the version axis — every version number Signex ships is defined there. This page is a summary of it; where the two disagree, the repo wins. For what actually shipped, see CHANGELOG.md.

There are no dates here, by policy. A gate ships when its exit criteria pass, not when a date arrives. Anything below v1.0 that isn't a gate is a plan, not a promise.

Shipped

Version Theme
v0.1 – v0.6 Shell, canvas, schematic viewer, schematic editor, installers
v0.7 Validation + Multi-Window — ERC (11 rules), annotation, pin matrix, undockable tabs
v0.8 Output — PDF, BOM, netlist, multi-project workspaces, dirty tracking
v0.9 Apache-clean cutover — native .snx* formats (TOML+TSV); KiCad handling moved out to the optional, independently distributed signex-kicad-import companion, which converts KiCad files one-way into native .snx*. Signex itself neither opens nor writes KiCad files.
v0.10 – v0.11 Library Browser tab, full DBLib model, SCH Library editor, Component Preview, picker + auto-mount, distributor adapters
v0.13 Symbol & Library — clean-room schematic renderer, unified Active Bar in the symbol editor, .snxsym TOML envelope
v0.14 Footprint, Symbol Units & Netlist — the current release

v0.12 does not exist as a release. The clean-room renderer rewrite planned for it merged into the long-running library branch and shipped inside v0.13. There is no v0.12 tag and no v0.12 changelog section.

What's in v0.14

  • Footprint editor enabled — opening a .snxfpt now gives you an editable tab: pad editor plus a Fusion-style parametric 2D sketcher driven by a Newton-LM constraint solver with all 19 constraint kinds exposed, and Align / Distribute, Move / Drag, Fill / Region, and Text Frame tooling.
  • Symbol multi-unit partspart_count, per-unit bodies, per-unit pins and graphics, with draw / hit-test / select scoped to the active unit.
  • The signex-net netlist contract — one authoritative connectivity derivation, including cross-sheet stitching, consumed by ERC, net colour, and export instead of each subsystem deriving its own.
  • Configurable keyboard-shortcut profiles with an in-app keymap editor.
  • Schematic GPU render path via iced's shader widget.

Next

Version Scope
v0.15 Editor fixes carrying the P0 tier, plus Break Track / Drag Track End — the one item v0.14 deferred
v0.16 Command Registry — one addressable action system across menus, keybindings, CLI, and plugins — plus the symbol multi-unit tail
v0.17+ Not enumerated

The v0.17+ band is deliberately empty. It gets version numbers when it gets milestones. Near-term scope comes from the issue tracker, not from plans written in advance.

Priority tiers

Every feature carries a tier, which gates the earliest release it can ship in. Tier is not urgency — a P2 issue can still be critical.

Tier Meaning Ships in
P0 Required for v1.0. Cannot ship Community without it. v0.x – v1.0
P1 Required for v2.0. Professional users expect it. v1.1 – v2.0
P2 Differentiator. Drives Pro adoption. v2.1 – v3.0
P3 Nice-to-have. Stable core required first. v3.x and later

Gates

The gates are v1.0, v2.0, v2.2, v3.0, v4.0, and v5.0. They carry exit criteria and block what follows. Everything else is a planned release: real and scoped, but it gates nothing.

v1.0.0 — Community Preview

Schematic-only early access. Exit criteria include: a fixture corpus of 50+ native .snx* projects all round-tripping cleanly; a non-developer beta tester can install Signex, create or open a project, edit it, and save it without consulting a developer; and zero P0 bugs in the tracker.

v2.0.0 — PCB Viewer

PCB rendering via iced's shader widget, 32 copper layers plus technical layers, layer stack panel, cross-probe with the schematic, ratsnest. No editing. Exit criteria: five real .snxpcb fixtures render correctly; a 10,000-track PCB pans and zooms at 60 fps; cross-probe works bidirectionally.

v2.2.0 — Community Release

Manufacturing output — Gerber RS-274X + X2, Excellon drill, ODB++, then pick-and-place, IPC-2581, STEP. Together v2.0–v2.2 are a complete schematic + PCB editor. Exit criteria: a real PCB designed in Signex has been successfully fabricated by at least one beta user; zero P0 bugs.

v3.0.0 — Pro Release

Signal AI, plugin system, and live collaboration, in feature-gated crates; the Community editor keeps shipping alongside.

Planned

Certainty decreases as the numbers grow. Everything past v3.0 is a sketch: enumerated so contributors can see what's already scoped, not because it's committed.

Schematic refinement (v1.x)

Version Theme
v1.1 Advanced Schematic — variants, multi-channel, harnesses, parameter manager, net classes, smart paste
v1.2 SCH Tables & Docs — schematic tables, auto ToC, bezier + dimension tools, named unions
v1.3 Enhanced Output — smart PDF, variant BOM, watermarking, output jobs
v1.4 Design Notebook — a Typst document type with component/pin/net references, measurements, and Python compute cells
v1.5 Block Diagram — system-level blocks, signal flow, power tree, top-down design

PCB (v2.x)

Version Theme
v2.1 PCB Routing — five staged sub-releases: greedy, walkaround, push-and-shove, diff pairs + length tuning, copper pour. DRC (15 base rules) and net classes land here
v2.3 3D Viewer — in-canvas realistic 3D, PBR materials, STEP → glTF cache, parametric package generators
v2.4 Advanced PCB — layer stack editor, impedance, constraint manager, keepouts
v2.5 High-Speed — xSignals, DDR SI, PDN analysis
v2.6 HQ Render — offline path-traced renders via a detected (never bundled) Blender
v2.7 Animations — turntable, camera paths, assembly animation

v2.6 and v2.7 are P3, carry no exit criteria, and are the most likely bands on the page to move — including past v3.0.

Pro (v3.x)

Version Theme
v3.1 Signal AI Core — chat panel, design context injection, visual context
v3.2 Signal AI Tools — undoable edit tools, analysis, sim, circuit templates
v3.3 Plugin System — Extism WASM, host functions, permission gateway
v3.4 Collaboration — realtime CRDT co-editing, presence, locking, cloud storage

Simulation & import (v4.x)

Version Theme
v4.0 Simulation — a dedicated Simulation View, stimulus/load blocks, ngspice, waveforms
v4.1 Advanced simulation — PCB geometry blocks, IBIS, OpenEMS, thermal, wizards, Monte Carlo
v4.2 Advanced output — panelization, fab docs, DXF, Gerber X3
v4.3 Import + Git — Altium and Eagle companion importers, built-in Git with visual diff

Foreign-format importers follow the same pattern as signex-kicad-import: each is a separate companion repo and binary, licensed for its source format's constraints, converting one-way into native .snx* with no compile-time dependency on the main workspace.

Signex 365 (v5.x)

Version Theme
v5.0 PLM core — cloud platform, shared auth, part/project links, component picker
v5.1 BOM Studio — live pricing, lifecycle, supply-chain risk
v5.2 PLM sync — BOM push, delta sync, ECO creation, document publishing
v5.3 ERP bridge — Odoo / ERPNext sync
v5.4 PLM advanced — compliance dashboard, obsolescence monitoring, PLM-aware AI

How decisions get made

  • Release cadence: no fixed schedule. Each version ships when its scope is done and tested.
  • Version numbers are not work labels. A version number means "this was or will be tagged and released" — not "the branch someone is on".
  • Community input shapes priority. If something is far out on this page and it's a genuine blocker for you, say so — the plan is a guide, not a contract.

See the active issues for what's in flight right now.

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