Platform compatibility
FalCAD claims platform support only after automated tests or a smoke test on that platform. “Can open the editor”, “can compile”, “can emulate” and “can flash” are different claims, so they get separate columns.
| Capability | Web (Chromium) | Web (Firefox/Safari) | Windows desktop | macOS desktop | Linux desktop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open, edit, save projects | tested | storage + archives only¹ | tested | untested | untested |
| Schematic editing, ERC, netlist | tested | expected | tested | untested | untested |
| Analog/logic simulation | engine tested in Node | expected | engine tested | untested | untested |
| PCB DRC and manufacturing export | engine tested in Node | expected | engine tested | untested | untested |
| HDL synthesis (Yosys WASM) | not yet wired in the browser | not yet wired | CLI tested | untested | untested |
| Native simulators (Icarus, GHDL, Verilator, ngspice) | not possible² | not possible² | when installed (detected) | when installed | when installed |
| ATmega328P emulation | engine tested in Node | expected | engine tested | untested | untested |
| Arduino sketch compile | not possible² | not possible² | needs arduino-cli | needs arduino-cli | needs arduino-cli |
| Flashing real hardware | not implemented | not implemented | not implemented³ | not implemented³ | not implemented³ |
| Desktop packaging (installer) | — | — | planned | planned | planned |
- tested: an automated test or end-to-end test passes on this platform today. All current testing runs on Windows 11 with Node 24 and Chromium.
- expected: same code path, not yet run on that platform in CI.
- ¹ Without the File System Access API, projects live in origin-private browser storage and move in and out as
.falcadpackarchives. - ² Browsers can’t run native executables. These need the desktop app or the CLI.
- ³ Programmer integration exists only as guarded argument builders. Every operation requires a local, explicit, firmware-hash-bound approval, and no device I/O is implemented.
macOS and Linux will move from untested once CI runners for them exist.