Drop a Gerber file. See your board. That's it — no sign-up, no upload, nothing to install. Gerbtrace is a free Gerber viewer and comparison tool that runs entirely in your browser.
Need more? Gerbtrace is also a complete New Product Introduction (NPI) platform for electronics manufacturing — BOM management, Pick and Place, panelization, paste configuration, pricing estimation, and team collaboration. Use as much or as little as you need.
Web App · Desktop Downloads · Documentation
Gerbtrace is built and maintained by Newmatik, a Swiss PCBA company specialized in rapid prototyping and small-series electronics manufacturing. We use Gerbtrace every day to prepare production data for our customers' boards. The tool exists because we needed it — and we think you might too.
Open www.gerbtrace.com, drag in a .zip of Gerber files, and you're looking at your PCB. That workflow is the heart of Gerbtrace and it will always be free.
Render and inspect PCB layers with a full-featured canvas. Standard mode composites layers with configurable colors; realistic mode simulates the physical board appearance with copper, solder mask, silkscreen, and surface finish. Canvas tools include measurement, element inspection, drawing, cropping, rotation, and grid overlays.
Compare two Gerber packages across four modes: side-by-side with synchronized pan/zoom, overlay toggle that blinks between revisions, pixel diff that highlights added (green) and removed (red) geometry, and text diff for line-by-line Gerber source comparison. Includes automatic layer matching, SHA-256 identical file detection, and coordinate alignment tools.
When a quick look isn't enough, Gerbtrace scales into a production data preparation platform that covers the entire journey from design handoff to factory floor.
Import BOM data from CSV, TSV, or Excel files. Organize lines into named groups with drag-and-drop. Enrich data with AI-powered suggestions (description, type, manufacturer, second source). Fetch live distributor pricing via the Elexess API across multiple suppliers. Cross-reference against Pick and Place data to surface mismatches.
Visualize SMD and THT component placement on the board with body outlines, pad geometry, and pin-1 markers. Bidirectional highlighting links the component list and the canvas. Manage rotations, polarity, DNP status, and package assignments. Supports Mycronic, IPC-7351, and IEC 61188-7 conventions with automatic conversion.
Visual panel editor with configurable grid layout, independent frame rail widths, fiducials, tooling holes, tabs with mouse bite perforation, routing channels, V-cut, and support bars. The suggestion engine computes optimal grid configurations based on your preferred panel envelope. Live canvas preview updates as you edit.
Stencil and jet print modes with dot pattern preview. Export JPSys jet print programs for Mycronic jet printers.
Fabrication and assembly cost estimation across configurable quantity tiers. Combines board parameters, BOM pricing, and panel configuration into per-piece and total cost breakdowns with NRE/tooling.
Team workspaces with role-based access (admin, editor, viewer, guest). Spaces for scoping projects and packages to customers or product lines. Threaded project conversations with @-mentions and file attachments. Approval workflows, real-time presence, and notification inbox.
Download production-ready data: Gerber ZIP packages, PNG/SVG board images, PnP placement files, DXF drawings for CAD, and JPSys jet print programs.
| Type | Formats |
|---|---|
| Gerber RS-274X | .gtl .gbl .gts .gbs .gto .gbo .gtp .gbp .gm1 .gko .gbr |
| Excellon Drill | .drl .drd .xln .exc .ncd |
| Pick and Place | .csv .tsv .txt (auto-detected delimiter) |
| Bill of Materials | .csv .tsv .txt .xlsx .xls |
| Documents | .pdf (schematics, drawings, datasheets) |
| Archives | .zip (auto-extracted and classified) |
| Component | Technology |
|---|---|
| Framework | Nuxt 4 (SPA mode, SSR disabled) |
| UI Library | Nuxt UI + Tailwind CSS |
| Desktop | Tauri 2 (Rust) |
| Gerber Parsing | Custom RS-274X / Excellon lexer-parser-plotter pipeline |
| Rendering | Canvas 2D (standard + realistic) |
| Local Storage | Dexie.js (IndexedDB) |
| Backend | Supabase (Postgres, Auth, Storage, Realtime, Edge Functions) |
| Error Monitoring | Sentry |
Just want to view a board? Open www.gerbtrace.com and drop your Gerber ZIP. Done.
Want the desktop app? Download from GitHub Releases:
- macOS —
.dmg(universal binary, Intel + Apple Silicon) - Windows —
.msi/.exe
The desktop app checks for updates automatically on launch. No uploads, no server — all processing stays on your machine.
- Node.js 20 or later
- pnpm 10 or later (recommended via Corepack:
corepack enable pnpm) - Rust (only for desktop builds)
git clone https://github.com/newmatik/gerbtrace.git
cd gerbtrace
pnpm installpnpm run devVisit http://localhost:3000.
pnpm run tauri:devLaunches a native window with hot reload. Changes to Vue files reflect immediately in the desktop window.
# Static web app
pnpm run generate
# Desktop app for current platform
pnpm run tauri:buildCreate a .env file for Supabase connection (optional — local projects work without a backend):
SUPABASE_URL=https://your-project.supabase.co
SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=your-anon-key
See the Development Setup guide for full details.
gerbtrace/
app/
components/ Vue components organized by feature
composables/ State management and business logic
pages/ Route definitions
utils/ Pure functions (parsing, geometry, formatting)
workers/ Web Workers
lib/
gerber/ Gerber/drill tokenizer, parser, and plotter
renderer/ Canvas 2D, realistic, SVG, DXF, and pixel diff renderers
src-tauri/ Tauri desktop app (Rust)
supabase/ Database migrations and edge functions
content/ Documentation (Nuxt Content)
public/ Static assets and package libraries
scripts/ Build and maintenance scripts
.github/workflows/ CI/CD (web deploy, desktop build)
- Fork the repository and clone your fork.
- Follow the Development Setup guide.
- Create a feature branch from
main. - Make your changes and verify they work in both web and desktop modes.
- Submit a pull request.
See the Contributing guide for coding conventions, the sidebar design system, and PR guidelines.
- tracespace (MIT) — Gerber parser architecture inspired by tracespace's lexer-parser-plotter pipeline
- Ucamco — Official Gerber Layer Format Specification
- Arduino — Sample project uses Arduino UNO open-source hardware design
Gerbtrace is source-available under the Business Source License 1.1 (BUSL-1.1). See the Licensing page for a full customer-facing explanation.
The BUSL is not an open-source license. It grants broad usage rights while protecting against competitive repackaging. Here is what that means in practice:
You can:
- Use Gerbtrace internally within your organization for any purpose, including production
- Read, study, modify, and learn from the source code
- Contribute improvements back via pull requests
You cannot:
- Offer Gerbtrace (or a modified version) to third parties as a competing product or service
- Rebrand and redistribute Gerbtrace as your own product to customers
- Embed Gerbtrace in a commercial offering that competes with Gerbtrace
Automatic relicensing: Each version of Gerbtrace automatically converts to the MIT license four years after its release date. This means every release will eventually become fully open source.
For alternative licensing arrangements, contact software@newmatik.com.
Copyright (c) 2025-2026 Newmatik GmbH