Easily generate ASCII GerberSockets for your electronics projects using this web tool. Currently, symbol and footprint generation is supported for KiCad. Future updates may include support for Altium.
Previously, GerberSockets required you to manually map each net to a specific circle diameter, which was tedious and error-prone. This tool simplifies the process by encoding net names directly in ASCII using multiple circles for each socket—no manual mapping needed.
Learn more about the encoding method in the How ASCII GerberSockets Work section.
- ASCII-only net name validation (length: 1–99)
- Add/remove individual net names
- Quick-add popular signal groups:
- I2C:
SDA,SCL - SPI:
MOSI,MISO,SCK,CS - UART:
TX,RX - Jacdac:
JD_PWR,JD_DATA,GND
- I2C:
- Advanced options:
- Crosshair layer: F.Fab or User.Drawing
- Sockets layer: User.1 or GerberSockets
- Copper pad diameter: numeric (mm)
- One-click download of a ZIP containing:
- GerberSockets/GerberSockets.pretty/.kicad_mod
- GerberSockets/GerberSockets.kicad_sym
ASCII GerberSockets represent each net name using a series of circles, where each circle’s diameter encodes both its position and the ASCII value of the character:
The first circle (index 0) always has a diameter of 0.00999 to mark the start of a sequence.
For each character at position i (1–99) with ASCII code c (0–127), the diameter is formatted as 0.iiccc, where ii is the two-digit index and ccc is the three-digit ASCII code.
The net name GND is encoded as: - 0: 0.00999 (identifier) - 1: 0.01071 (G) - 2: 0.02078 (N) - 3: 0.03068 (D)
This method is deterministic, self-describing, and easy to generate or parse. It avoids reliance on text rendering and ensures the geometry itself contains all necessary information.
This project uses React, TypeScript, Vite, and Material UI. To set up the project locally, open the project, cd into it, install dependancies with npm install, and start development server with npm run dev.
Special thanks to everyone at the Lancaster University Devices Lab.