Trace Plugin

Trace Plugin is a separate desktop companion that lets you use Trace's assistant with your existing Altium Designer or KiCad project.

It is not Trace desktop, and it is not the coding-agent plugin or MCP server used by tools such as Cursor.

Get the right application

Visit the official download page. Choose Trace Plugin if that product is offered, then select your operating system. If it is not offered, contact hello@buildwithtrace.com for companion availability. Do not substitute a Trace desktop installer or a coding-agent package.

The companion's packaging targets Windows 10/11 on x64 and macOS 12 or later on Intel and Apple silicon. Linux x64 packaging is optional; this guide does not establish an available Linux release or a tested Linux host workflow.

You also need:

An installed design tool: Altium Designer on Windows or KiCad 10.
A saved project you can edit, with a separate backup before your first AI edit.
A Trace account and access to the hosted features you intend to use. Being able to connect a local project does not establish available AI usage.

Connect a project

Open your saved project in the design tool.
Launch Trace Plugin and choose Sign in with your browser. Complete sign-in in the browser, then return to the companion.
Under Design tools, choose Altium Designer or KiCad. Follow any setup notice, then use Connect.
Select your project under Open projects. Use Refresh if the list is stale, or Open a project… to select a project file.
Check the chat header: the project name, Document the chat works on picker and connection message should match your intended design.
Choose a supported model and Ask. Try: “Summarize this sheet's signal path without changing the design.”

A response should refer to the selected project. It is not evidence that a design edit, save or engineering check has succeeded.

Back to projects returns to the project list without stopping the current chat. Do not use Back as a cancellation control.

Selecting a different project while Trace is busy asks you to choose Stop and switch or Cancel. The document picker waits while a turn runs; Trace may move between the linked project's sheets and board itself. Confirm the document again before the next turn.

Work with chat

On compatible current builds, the model choices are GPT Astra, GPT Sol, Trace Genie 2.0 Flash and Trace Genie 2.0. Choose explicitly; an unavailable or retired choice needs a new supported selection, not an assumed replacement.

Ask reads and answers without design changes.
Agent can make supported edits. Start with one named change and review it in the host.
Plan lets you review a proposed approach before approving execution.

Follow tool rows, question cards and background-task cards. A generated component can use a review card with Accept & install, Request changes and Reject. Automatic approval can install eligible parts without a click; see below. Library installation is not circuit placement.

Queue, Stop and recovery

You can queue another prompt while a reply runs. It retains that prompt's mode, model and attachments, even if you change the composer for a later turn. The queue waits for matching acceptance and completion, not just for the streaming indicator to disappear.

A rejected prompt remains available for explicit Retry or Discard. Unknown delivery must not be resent automatically. Compatible hosted services retain chat-run status so the companion can check a lost reply. Use Resume only when offered for that original task; this is not permission to repeat an uncertain CAD write.

Stop does not undo edits or files already created. Do not assume a stopped reply or queued prompt will survive an application restart as a recoverable task.

Review parts and drawings

Trace can use supported project libraries and catalog parts, or present a newly generated part for your review in chat. Before accepting or using it, check pin numbers and types, package variant, units, pad geometry, footprint association and manufacturer dimensions.

Under Home → Components, Auto-approve components that pass every check is on by default in compatible builds. It permits automatic installation only for parts verified against the drawing, with no waived checks and an independent second look that approves. Existing-name conflicts or unreadable libraries return the part to manual review rather than automatically replacing it.

Turn this setting off before generation if you want to decide on every review card yourself. Review automatic installs under Components. Undo → Remove removes an eligible automatic install from the same project's TraceParts libraries; copies already placed on a sheet remain. A last remaining Altium library part can be kept, and failed/partial removal needs inspection. This is not whole-project undo.

KiCad's first TraceParts registration can require reopening the project. Altium conversion combines multi-unit symbols into one part and can approximate custom pads. Supported STEP bodies are attached when conversion succeeds; a failed attachment needs manual review. Follow the host guide rather than assuming identical results.

Ordinary schematic edits aim to amend an existing drawing. A full redraw is a separate request: name the intended sheet and desired wiring style. Review the resulting connectivity as well as its appearance. Hierarchical frames and page overflow have host-specific limits.

To audit existing Altium libraries instead of generating a new part, open Home → Components → Library Remediation → Open. Start with a read-only audit, then choose any fixes into a separate output folder. See library review and fixes for database sources, optional hosted AI charging and original-file preservation.

AI Workflows and Simulation

Compatible builds provide home-screen AI Workflows defaults for Design for debugging, Automatic simulation review and Firmware handoff notes. These start off unless you select them. Use the chat's Workflows button for project overrides; check the saved state after a save error.

Design-for-debugging guidance concerns CAD choices, not physical hardware control. Firmware handoff notes do not compile or flash firmware. Automatic simulation review requires the bundled engine and a supported schematic export.

The companion now has a separate Simulation window for supported KiCad and Altium runs. Ask can inspect and run temporary experiments without CAD edits; persistent benches and model changes require Agent. Opening a saved result does not start a solver. Follow plugin simulation for host-specific source limits, model review and non-certifying results.

Personal Artifacts

Open Artifacts from the companion's home screen or chat header. Choose Across projects or Current project, then add files, a folder or a supported public HTTPS page. Copy the displayed @ mention into chat to request a direct read.

Both shelves are personal. Current project organizes your own reusable files for that project; it is not a Team shelf or Workspaces publication. Selected content can be sent to hosted AI, and enabled cloud upload/indexing sends artifact bytes. Review confidential content before using either.

Check each file's index status. Cloud upload and indexing require a compatible enabled backend; a local shelf, failed index or remote-only row does not prove search or automatic retrieval is available.

The companion's exact local chat-read limits are 7 MiB for PDFs, 8 MiB for supported text and 4 MiB for supported images. A text response can contain only a bounded excerpt or page, not the whole file. Read any truncation/continuation notice before treating it as complete. These are read limits, not upload limits: adding or indexing a larger file does not make it readable in full. A file available only remotely must be available locally before a direct local read can succeed.

Adding a reusable file does not change a component's Datasheet field. Before removal, review the selected files and confirmation; check the resulting shelf state if removal reports a problem.

What is not the same as Trace desktop

The companion does not provide native Workspaces, a Layout Classification panel or a Component Editor tab. Its Components settings, Library Remediation and Simulation windows are companion workflows, not all desktop panels enabled by a shared chat card.

Supported board tools can classify components through chat, but that is not a native classification-panel workflow. Trace's advanced placement and routing is connected in source but has not been verified by a paid companion run for this guide. KiCad autorouting also needs live-host verification. Do not infer availability or successful result application from a task card.

Length matching reports routed lengths and tuning needs; it does not create a persistent matched group, automatically tune tracks or match propagation delay. Via lengths and pad escapes are excluded. Use your host's interactive tuning and checks.

A fabrication ZIP contains Gerbers and drill files, not placement or other assembly files. Prepare and review the assembly handoff separately; producing an export is not placing a manufacturing order.

If something does not finish

Sign-in is waiting: finish in the browser or choose Open the page again. Check the account shown when you return.
Connection is lost: inspect the host and its dialogs, then use Reconnect. Check any earlier edit in the host before repeating it.
A feature is unavailable: confirm your companion version, host and account access. Do not use desktop-only instructions to bypass the refusal.
An edit's outcome is uncertain: stop making further edits, compare the host and saved files, and preserve backups. Do not repeatedly send the same change.

For host-specific recovery, continue with Altium or KiCad. See companion version notes for update controls.