OpenVLSI
macOS-first chip-design suite in rebuild, tying TreeSPICE simulation and Yosys, OpenROAD, KLayout and Netgen backends together behind one design database, command layer and MCP server.
Summary rewritten from the vendor site because the catalog version did not match it.
What it does and how it connects
OpenVLSI is a macOS-first chip-design suite whose tools match Cadence's, block for block, per the README. TreeSPICE is the simulator for everything, and Yosys, OpenROAD, KLayout, Netgen, OpenRCX and OpenSTA are the implementation and sign-off backends, used as they are. OpenVLSI is the frontend that ties them together: one design database, one command layer, and Cadence-style tools over them.
Status is rebuild in progress. Milestone 1 is the analog loop: Library Manager, schematic and symbol editors, ADE Explorer-class setup and waveforms, on TreeSPICE. The foundation is in: the design database, the command layer and its MCP server. The GUI comes next. The design database holds libraries as one SQLite file each, with cells, views and properties, undo and redo and text export. The command layer makes every action a typed, validated, undoable, logged command, and the MCP server exposes the command registry as MCP tools over stdio.
The flow backends drive Yosys and OpenROAD and KLayout for RTL to GDS on IHP SG13G2, and the SoC part holds an RV32I model and firmware co-simulation. TreeSPICE is a submodule of the repo. Building is on macOS with cmake and Qt 6, and a setup script installs the flow tools into the user's home directory.
Alternatives
Compare side by side- chipleap
An agent that designs a chip from a workload spec to DRC- and LVS-checked GDS, rather than a suite in rebuild around one design database and command layer.
- digital-chip-design-agents
Sixteen Claude Code plugins covering fourteen chip-design domains with orchestrators, rather than a single suite with one design database and MCP command layer.
Recurring errors it addresses
Error Index entries this tool is built to reduce or work around.
Sources
Not verified
- License (no LICENSE file in the repo and no license stated in the README; the catalog's source-available label is unverified)
- Pricing (none stated on the repo)
- Real user voices (the repo has no public issues)
- Latest release (no GitHub release exists)
- Standalone website (repo only)
- Detailed capabilities beyond the README: the GUI and schematic editors are not built yet, and status is rebuild in progress, so the catalog one-liner was rewritten
Last verified November 6, 2026. Listings are informational. The evidence score measures public, verifiable evidence and is not an endorsement or a compatibility claim.