Trace has acquired Schemagic (schemagic.design) and its founder Hugh Phan. Schemagic's core product — converting component datasheets into KiCad symbols and footprints — is now part of Trace. Hugh is joining the team to lead growth and content. If you were a Schemagic user, everything now lives at buildwithtrace.com.
Why Schemagic
Hugh Phan started Schemagic about three months ago. In that time he shipped a working product, landed paying users, and built a content engine that cut through the noise in a market where most EDA companies have zero social presence. His videos consistently outperformed anything else in the KiCad space.
The product itself did one thing well: take a component datasheet PDF and produce a correct KiCad symbol and footprint from it. That is a real pain point — anyone who has manually transcribed 144 pins from a QFP datasheet into a symbol editor knows this — and Hugh built a working solution as a one-person team.
But a single feature, no matter how well-executed, is hard to grow into a full platform alone. Meanwhile, Trace already had the complete pipeline: AI-assisted schematic design, PCB layout, component search across 31,000+ parts, manufacturing integration, and now interactive length matching. What Trace lacked was Hugh's ability to put the product in front of engineers who haven't heard of it yet.
What This Means for Users
If you were using Schemagic, nothing breaks. The datasheet-to-symbol capability is being integrated directly into Trace's component generation pipeline — same functionality, but now connected to a full design suite instead of standing alone. Your workflow gets shorter: generate the symbol, drop it into your schematic, route the board, and send it to fab without leaving the tool.
schemagic.design now redirects to buildwithtrace.com. If you had an account, you can sign up at Trace with the same email and pick up where you left off.
What's Next
Hugh is joining Trace full-time to lead growth and content. Expect the same style of short, practical hardware engineering content — but now backed by the full Trace platform. The videos are not going away; they are getting a bigger product behind them.
For the product: Schemagic's datasheet parsing is being merged into Trace's existing AI symbol and footprint generation. The combined system will handle more package types, more edge cases, and produce higher-fidelity output than either product could alone.
If you have not tried Trace yet, now is a good time. The product is free to browse, free to generate components, and the 14-day trial gives you full access to the AI design assistant.
— Ayomide Caleb Adekoya
Co-Founder & CEO, Trace