Feature Availability

Check the product you are using

• Trace desktop includes the schematic and PCB editors, plus supported workbench tools.
• Trace Plugin connects the assistant to an existing Altium Designer or KiCad installation. Its host-specific tools and recovery behavior differ from the desktop.
• trace-cli is bundled with the Trace app. Install Trace and sign in to the desktop first; then use the executable and commands that build provides.

Start with the desktop installation guide, Trace Plugin guide or CLI reference.

Builds, accounts and permissions

These guides describe source-supported workflows and their limitations; they are not release or deployment announcements. Current installer coverage and complete installed-product acceptance have not been verified for every documented workflow. A control shown in a newer guide may not exist in your installed build.

Before starting:

1. Check the application's version and install updates from an official download or the application's supported updater.
2. Confirm you are signed in to the intended account and that AI access and usage are available.
3. Open the intended project and document. For a cloud project, check its actual branch and permissions.
4. Follow only the controls your build and design tool provide. If a feature is missing or reported as unsupported, do not substitute another product's command or repeat an uncertain action.

An account subscription does not grant permission to change every team project. Read access, local editing and cloud publication can be different permissions.

Newer workbench workflows

Model choices, schematic redraw, generated-part review, AI Workflows and Simulation depend on compatible application and service support. Use the options actually available in your build; a documentation page or API version alone does not enable them.

For labels and selection steps, use the model guide after checking the choices actually offered by your installed build and service. The guide itself is not compatibility evidence. Older histories can show choices that a new request cannot use.

October 11 Source Update

This refresh compares standalone Trace and Trace Plugin's main branches with the service's staging branch. It describes the supported workflows without claiming that staging changes have been deployed to production or included in every download.

• Standalone Trace: prepared 3.1 workflows include Basic routing cards, scoped schematic redraw, Component Studio review, firmware notes, local analog/digital simulation and interrupted-chat recovery.
• Trace Plugin: its own Library Remediation and Simulation windows extend the existing Altium/KiCad host workflows. The connected host, export support and bundled engine still determine what can run.
• Chat dictation, steering and next-message suggestions: present in the newer plugin implementation with matching staging-service support. They are not yet part of the standalone main branch reviewed for this refresh.
• Ask Trace tool finder: newer standalone work under development, separate from the chat's Ask mode and the existing Command Box. Do not expect its new controls in every installer.

Use a feature only when your installed product and connected service offer it. A plugin source change does not update the standalone application, and a staging-service capability does not enable it on production.

Workspaces

Newer Add project, Move changes, stash restoration and original-operation recovery flows require matching desktop and service support. The revised Workspaces workflows remain under validation; this documentation does not establish that every installed build completes them reliably.

Use the Workspaces guide for the normal steps and recovery guide for failed or uncertain outcomes. Keep saved recovery work until you know what completed. Do not create another project or repeat a publication just to bypass an unresolved result.

The Electron companion does not implement the desktop's native Workspaces operations. Its separate Simulation window is a supported companion flow, not the desktop's native workbench tab. Library Remediation likewise has its own source, review and output-copy controls.

Report a mismatch

Contact hello@buildwithtrace.com with your product, version, operating system, design-tool version and the action you were trying to perform. Include the visible error and a redacted screenshot if useful.

Do not send passwords, API keys, signed download links or confidential design files unless you have arranged an appropriate support channel.