OpenForge: Collaborative Hardware Design & Simulation Platform

OpenForge aims to democratize hardware design by providing a free, web-based platform where anyone can create 3D models, design PCBs, and simulate circuits and mechanisms—all within a single environment. Inspired by GitHub, it uses Git for version control and supports forking, branching, and merging of hardware projects. Real-time collaboration (like Google Docs) allows multiple users to edit a design simultaneously. The platform includes a curated community parts library with open-source components, and exports to standard manufacturing formats (STL, Gerber, etc.). Built on open standards and fully open-source (AGPL), OpenForge encourages self-hosting and community contributions. The vision is to lower the barrier to hardware creation, enabling rapid prototyping and sharing of physical products.

Existing hardware design tools are either expensive, proprietary, or require powerful local machines. Collaboration is cumbersome—designers exchange files via email or cloud storage, losing version history. No single tool integrates 3D modeling, PCB design, and simulation with proper version control and real-time collaboration. Beginners face steep learning curves, and the open-source hardware community lacks a unified platform to discover, remix, and contribute to projects.

• Provide a free, browser-based CAD tool for 3D modeling (parametric and freeform) and PCB layout.
• Integrate circuit simulation (SPICE) and physics simulation for mechanisms, all running in-browser via WebAssembly.
• Implement Git-based version control with branching, merging, and fork workflows for hardware projects.
• Enable real-time collaborative editing using CRDTs (Conflict-free Replicated Data Types).
• Build a community-driven parts library with open licenses (e.g., CC-BY-SA, OSHW).
• Export designs to standard formats (STL, Gerber, STEP) for 3D printing, CNC, and PCB fabrication.
• Make the entire platform open-source (AGPL) and self-hostable.

• Not a manufacturing marketplace or order fulfillment service.
• Not a hosting platform for proprietary or non-open-source designs.
• Not a full-fidelity simulation replacement for production-grade tools (target is prototyping and education).
• Not a native desktop app; browser-only to maximize accessibility.

• Frontend: React with Three.js for 3D rendering, WebAssembly for computation-intensive simulation (KiCad’s SPICE engine compiled to WASM, custom physics engine).
• Backend: Rust (Actix-web) for performance, GraphQL API, PostgreSQL for metadata (projects, users, parts).
• Storage: Git repositories served via libgit2 (compiled to WASM on client or server) for version control; file-based storage for design files (JSON schemas for circuits, OpenSCAD scripts for 3D).
• Real-time Collaboration: WebRTC for peer-to-peer communication, CRDTs (Yjs) for conflict resolution.
• Build Tools: Docker for containerization, Kubernetes for orchestration (for self-hosted deployments).

OpenForge follows a microservices architecture with client-heavy computation. The Design Editor service handles 3D rendering and manipulation using Three.js and custom WebGL shaders. The Simulation Runner executes SPICE and physics simulations in a WebAssembly worker, offloading from the main thread. The Collaboration Service manages CRDT-based synchronization via WebRTC, with a central signaling server and optional persistent storage for conflict resolution. The Storage Service interfaces with Git repositories (using libgit2) to commit, branch, and merge design files. Metadata is stored in PostgreSQL. All services communicate via GraphQL subscriptions for real-time updates. The frontend bundles OpenSCAD for parametric modeling (compiled via Emscripten) and a custom netlist-based circuit editor. The platform is designed to be fully open-source, with the backend deployable via Kubernetes helm charts.

• Performance: Browser-based CAD may lag for complex assemblies with thousands of parts. WebAssembly simulation could be slower than native, especially for large circuits.
• Complexity: Integrating multiple open-source engines (KiCad, OpenSCAD, physics) into a cohesive UX is technically challenging.
• Compatibility: Web standards (WebGL, WebAssembly, WebRTC) are evolving; older browsers may not be supported.
• Competition: Incumbents like OnShape and Tinkercad have strong ecosystems, though they are not fully open-source.
• Community Adoption: Getting hardware developers to switch from established tools requires a compelling feature set and low friction.

• How to handle very large assemblies (e.g., 1000+ parts) without degrading performance? Should we use LOD (level of detail) or streaming?
• What trade-off between simulation accuracy and speed? For real-time preview, we may need reduced models.
• How to incentivize contributions to the parts library? Gamification? Badges? Integration with GitHub sponsors?
• Should we allow custom plugins/extensions? If so, how to sandbox them safely?

The vision was too broad for a small team without deep expertise in both CAD and web technologies. After a promising prototype (basic 3D viewer and file export), the core team scattered due to full-time jobs and personal commitments. The plan remains a blueprint for what a truly open hardware collaboration platform could be—one day, perhaps.

This plan was sketched during a 2021 hackathon and refined over several months. A proof-of-concept for the 3D viewer (with basic primitives and transformations) was completed. The collaboration prototype (WebRTC with CRDT for object positions) worked in a local demo. Circuit simulation and the parts library were never started. The project is archived as an open-source repository with the MIT license, awaiting interested contributors.