fritzing/fritzing-app

★ 4,679C++Audience · generalComplexity · 3/5LicenseSetup · hard

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((fritzing))
    What it does
      Visual circuit design
      Breadboard view
      Schematic view
      PCB layout export
    Tech Stack
      C++
      Qt framework
    Audience
      Hobbyists makers
      Educators
      Arduino RPi users
    License
      GPL v3 source
      CC BY-SA parts library
      Your circuits are yours

mindmap root((fritzing)) What it does Visual circuit design Breadboard view Schematic view PCB layout export Tech Stack C++ Qt framework Audience Hobbyists makers Educators Arduino RPi users License GPL v3 source CC BY-SA parts library Your circuits are yours

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Design an Arduino or Raspberry Pi circuit and export a clean visual diagram for a tutorial or blog post.

USE CASE 2

Create a schematic and PCB layout for a small hardware project to send to a PCB manufacturer like OSH Park.

USE CASE 3

Teach basic electronics to beginners or students using the app's visual breadboard view in a classroom.

Tech stack

C++Qt

Getting it running

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 30min

Building from source requires Qt and other dependencies, end users should prefer the pre-built installer from the project website.

You can modify and redistribute the software as long as you credit the project and release your changes under the same GPL v3 license, circuits you design are your own.

In plain English

Fritzing is a desktop application for designing and documenting electronic circuits, aimed at hobbyists, makers, and educators rather than professional engineers. It offers a visual approach to circuit design with a low barrier to entry: you drag components onto a virtual breadboard that looks like the physical breadboard you would use when prototyping a real circuit. The same design can also be viewed as a schematic diagram or converted into a PCB layout ready to send to a manufacturer. The application comes with a library of commonly used components, including many parts associated with Arduino and Raspberry Pi projects. This makes it particularly popular among people building small hardware projects or teaching electronics. Because Fritzing produces clean visual diagrams, it is also widely used to communicate circuit designs in tutorials, blog posts, and documentation. Fritzing was originally developed as a research project at Potsdam University of Applied Sciences in Germany and grew out of the Interaction Design Lab there. It was maintained by a Berlin-based nonprofit called Friends of Fritzing, and since 2019 has been maintained by Kjell Morgenstern with contributions from a small team. The software is built on the Qt cross-platform framework, which allows it to run on Windows, Mac, and Linux. The source code is licensed under GNU GPL version 3, and the parts library and documentation are under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0. This means you can modify and redistribute the software as long as you credit the project and release your changes under the same license. Circuits and diagrams you create with Fritzing are your own, though any images using Fritzing's graphics need a credit. The project's wiki contains developer instructions for building from source.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

How do I export a Fritzing circuit as a Gerber file to order a PCB from a manufacturer?

Prompt 2

Walk me through building Fritzing from source on Ubuntu, what Qt version and dependencies do I need?

Prompt 3

How do I add a custom part to Fritzing's library for a component that isn't included by default?

Prompt 4

What is the best way to create a clean, publication-ready breadboard diagram in Fritzing for a blog post or tutorial?

Open on GitHub → Explain another repo

← fritzing on gitmyhub — every repo by this author, as a profile.

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