The design-review traceability layer for hardware teams
Probe brings evidence to PCB design review: every finding links to netlist, layout and datasheet data. No CAD license required. Any ECAD, from schematic onward.
Probe launches later in 2026. Register now and we’ll tell you the moment you can get it — no obligation.
Request early access
Reviewers view free — no CAD license to review
Self-hosted — your data stays on your network
Any ECAD — built on ODB++
Every finding traces to the design data
What teams gain
Faster reviews
Cross-checking pins against datasheets becomes lookups, not an evening’s work.
More reviewers
Anyone can open the design — no CAD seat, no screenshots in a spreadsheet.
Mistakes caught earlier
Functional errors a clean DRC waves through get found where they’re cheap.
Knowledge retained
Findings stay linked to the design data and remain searchable on the next design.
Underneath all four is one idea: Probe is organizational memory for design review — every finding kept with its proof, and inherited by the next board that uses the part.
For engineering managers
- Reviews without consuming CAD licenses
- Findings retained when senior engineers leave
- One review process across multiple ECAD tools and sites
- A traceable record for quality and compliance
How Probe works
From the design you already have — schematic, BOM and layout — to findings your next board inherits.
- 1
Bring the design data
Schematic and BOM to start — before any layout exists. Add the ODB++ you already export for fabrication once you have it.
- 2
Load into Probe
On your own server. Probe builds the full design from the sources you gave it — nets, components and the functions they form.
- 3
Review — findings linked to the data
Findings attach to the net or component they concern, each traced to the design data.
- 4
AI answers you can trace
Your assistant queries the real design over MCP — every answer references the exact netlist line, layout location or datasheet value it came from.
- 5
Findings carried to future boards
A finding on a part is inherited by the next board that uses it — searchable, this board and the next.
What Probe is not
Not DFM
Valor NPI answers “can it be manufactured?” Probe answers “does the design do what we intended?” Run both on the same ODB++.
Not a design tool
Probe never modifies your design. Fixes happen in your ECAD flow — finding them no longer requires it.
Not a generic AI copilot
No answers from general knowledge. If it isn’t in your board’s data, Probe says so.
Not a replacement for judgment
Probe doesn’t decide if the design is good. It gives the person who decides a finding they can verify — and keeps it.
Engineers describe the problem better than we can
“Using the schematic design tool and consuming one license just for the review is not economical.”— CAD-vendor community forum
“What you very much do not want is an LLM hallucinating a value that does not actually exist in the datasheet.”— Hacker News
“I’m often the one and only.”— r/embedded, on having no one to review with
“The error was not in the CAD tool… but actually in the Gerber viewer!”— r/PrintedCircuitBoard
Probe vs today’s review flow
Probe
AccessAny engineer opens the board — no CAD seat required
DataFull design searchable — nets, functions and components
QuestionsPlain language, answers that trace to the design data
AIMCP — assistants query the real board, with references
Your dataSelf-hosted — the design never leaves your network
ECAD viewer + PDF review
AccessOne licensed driver; everyone else watches
DataStatic PDFs and screenshots
QuestionsInterrupt the designer and wait
AIAssistants guess from general knowledge
Your dataCopies scattered across mail and chat
A finding you can verify isn’t an opinion
Today a review finding is one engineer’s judgment, argued in a meeting and archived in an email thread. In Probe, a finding carries its proof: the netlist line, the layout location, the datasheet value. The engineer who has to fix it verifies it in one click instead of re-deriving it, and the slowest part of reviewing — hundreds of pins against dozens of datasheets — becomes lookups. Functional mistakes a clean DRC waves through — a supply pin fed through a bias resistor, a missing I²C pull-up, a capacitor with no stated rating — get caught on screen, not at bring-up.
Findings that carry forward
A finding is worth more than the meeting it was raised in — but that’s usually where it dies, in a thread or a PDF margin, gone by the next project. The design files stay; what the review learned does not. Probe keeps findings as cited facts tied to the design data, attached to the net and the component they concern. A note stored on a part is inherited by every future board that carries it — so the next review starts from what the last one already found, not from zero.
Open the design — everyone, any CAD
A viewer shows you shapes; Probe knows what they’re connected to. Follow a net through connectors, series components and planes; analyze the function a component belongs to; search the whole design. Viewing is free — no CAD seat to look at the design. Any ECAD that exports ODB++ works — verified today on Xpedition/PADS, Allegro and KiCad, with other exporters on request. Start before layout, from schematic and BOM alone, and add ODB++ once layout exists. Self-hosted: your data never leaves your network.
AI that shows its working
Probe holds AI to the same rule as every reviewer: show its working. Over MCP, your assistant — Claude, Copilot, whichever you run — queries the actual board instead of guessing, and its answers carry the same references as any finding. “The AI said so” becomes “the netlist says so — here’s the line.” This isn’t a prompt convention — it’s enforced: citations are checked verbatim against the board data, and a claim the data can’t support is refused at the write boundary rather than dressed up as a guess.
See Probe on your own design
Bring your design — schematic, BOM and ODB++ (schematic and BOM alone if you’re still pre-layout). In 30 minutes we load it and run a live review together — the fastest way to know if Probe fits.
Frequently asked questions
Is Probe a review tool or a board viewer?
A review tool. Viewing the design is the entry point, but the work happens in findings: created on the net or component they concern, traced to the design data, kept searchable for the next design.
Do reviewers need a license?
No. Viewing is free. You pay for authoring/analysis seats, not for letting people look at the design.
Do I need a finished layout to start?
No. Probe reviews pre-layout from a schematic and BOM alone, so you can start at the front of a project. Once you have layout, add the ODB++ you already export for fabrication.
Which ECAD tools does it work with?
Any flow that exports ODB++. Verified today on Siemens Xpedition/PADS, Cadence Allegro and KiCad, with other ODB++ exporters supported on request.
How is this different from Valor NPI or other DFM tools?
Different question. DFM asks “can it be manufactured?” Probe asks “does the design do what we intended?”
Is Probe an ERC/DRC checker?
No. Rule checks tell you the design is legal; Probe helps a human verify it’s right. A clean DRC and a wrong pull-up can coexist.
Can I trust the AI answers?
Don’t trust — verify. Every answer traces to the exact netlist line, layout location or datasheet value it came from, citations are checked verbatim, and an answer with nothing to trace to is flagged as such.
Which AI assistants work with Probe?
Anything that speaks MCP — Claude, GitHub Copilot and others.
Who sees my design data?
Nobody outside your network. Probe is self-hosted; E-Sharp holds none of your data.
Does it run on Linux and macOS?
Yes — Linux, macOS and Windows.
What does early access mean?
Probe is pre-launch. Register and we contact you the moment it’s available — no obligation.
