LZ Cable Planner

Broadcast and AV cable planning for macOS and Windows.
Draw the signal flow, get real cable lengths, and hand over every list the build day needs.

 

User manual: English (PDF) · Deutsch (PDF)
_{Read online: manual.en.md · handbuch.de.md}

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Why LZ Cable Planner

• Plan in signal flow, not in drawings. Devices with real ports from 1,800+ catalogue entries, each linked to its manufacturer datasheet. A new cable starts with the type and length of the last cable drawn between the same connectors; its name stays empty and the label shows the type. A cable runs from an output to an input, whichever end you start at; input to input or output to output is refused, network ports work both ways.
• Real cable lengths. Put the floor plan under the canvas, calibrate it, and lengths follow the drawn route — split into the stock lengths you own.
• Rooms, floors, risers, 3D. Every cable end reads floor · room · device · port; the signal path shows the whole chain through plates and house runs.
• Every list for the build day. Pull list, patch list, termination list, BOM, patch sheets, faceplates, acceptance record, QR labels — one report editor, preview equals export.
• Control at the device. ATEM multiviewer and audio, Videohub routing, PTZ cameras through the LZ Camera Bridge (joystick, presets, the shots planned in MultiCam driven and stored in the head, one offset on site, live picture and a video wall), and Green-GO intercom channels live over OSC — each in the properties of the device it belongs to, not in a separate tool.
• Scopes at the device. Waveform, vectorscope, parade and histogram (LZ Scopes) live from a device's RTSP, RTMP, SRT, HLS or MJPEG stream: Scopes next to the stream in the properties, Measure signal on a cable, Compare scopes for a selection of cameras, an optional live waveform under the device (off by default). Test patterns borderless on a screen of this computer, from the display in the plan. Desktop app with ffmpeg installed.
• On site. Phones join by QR code, tick off work and send photos back into the plan.
• Together. Live co-editing over WebRTC, optional cloud copy with revisions, a shared device library across the planner suite.
• Ask Claude. A local MCP server answers questions about the open plan. With write access switched on, Claude can build a system without touching the UI: library devices (search_library, add_device), custom devices from port groups (create_device), cables one by one or in batches (connect_ports, connect_many — exact port names, input to input refused, reversed pairs flipped, occupied inputs only with replace), rack heights and racks (set_rack_units, arrange_rack), and a check against a cable list (verify_cabling). Each write call is one undo step.
• Offline first. One JSON file per project, secrets in the OS keychain.

Screenshots

Device properties	ATEM multiviewer
Export & print	Cable bill of materials
Camera control at the device	Rack in 3D

How it compares

	LZ Cable Planner	WireCAD	D-Tools SI	Visio / draw.io
Price	Free to use	~$1,500–4,500	$1,000s / yr	Subscription / free
Platforms	macOS + Windows + web	Windows	Windows + SQL Server	Windows / web
File format	JSON, git-diffable	Proprietary	Proprietary	VSDX / XML
Broadcast-aware (connectors, BOM, patch sheets)	Yes	Yes	Partial	No
ATEM / Videohub	Yes	No	No	No
PTZ presets from the plan, Green-GO live	Yes	No	No	No

Full comparison: docs/comparison.html.

Build from source

Requires Node.js 20+.

npm install
npm run dev     # Electron with hot reload
npm test        # vitest + guards
npm run build   # renderer, main, preload
npm run dist    # installers for macOS / Windows

LZ Scopes is vendored under src/renderer/vendor/lz-scopes/ (VENDOR.md). Update it with npm run scopes:sync -- --upstream ../lz-scopes; npm run scopes:check reports drift from the commit pinned in VENDOR.md (CI job scopes). A daily workflow (scopes-sync.yml) syncs to upstream main on the branch chore/lz-scopes-sync, runs the gates and reports in the issue “lz-scopes: Vendor nachziehen”.

Contributing, maintainer notes and conventions: CONTRIBUTING.md. Architecture: docs/architecture.md. Everything else in docs/: docs/README.md.

Built with Electron, React 19, TypeScript, React Flow, three.js, Zustand and Vite.

Author & support

Built and maintained by Lars Zumpe — Lars Zumpe Medienproduktion. If the planner saves you time on your next show: PayPal. Donations are optional; the app stays free to use.

License

Proprietär — © 2026 Lars Zumpe, alle Rechte vorbehalten. Nutzung der veröffentlichten Builds ist kostenlos; Weiterverbreitung und abgeleitete Werke sind es nicht. Siehe LICENSE. Not open source: the code is public to read.

Die gebündelten Fremdpakete behalten ihre eigenen Lizenzen; deren Texte und Copyright-Hinweise stehen vollständig in THIRD-PARTY-LICENSES.md (erzeugt von scripts/generate-notices.mjs aus dem Produktions-Dependency-Baum).