ElectroCAD documentation

Drawing an electrical diagram, generating it with AI, importing it from an image, exporting it, sharing it, and using it from Claude.

Last updated: November 10, 2026

Overview

ElectroCAD is a free online editor for electrical diagrams: single-line (panels, distribution), multi-wire (motor power and control) and solar PV. It runs in the browser, with no account and no installation, in French and English.

More than 400 standard (IEC) symbols: protection devices, motors, contactors, switchgear, aligned on a grid.
Ready-made templates and A0 to A4 sheets with a title block.
An AI assistant that draws a diagram from a sentence, and an import from an image or a PDF.
Export to PDF, SVG, PNG or XML, and a read-only viewing link.
A connector for Claude: Claude reads, creates and opens diagrams in ElectroCAD.
ElectroCAD helps you draw, it does not check compliance (NF C 15-100 or any other standard): sizing and compliance remain to be validated by a professional.

Getting started

Open the editor with the “Open editor” button. There is nothing to install and no account to create. The welcome window offers:

“Take a guided tour”: a tour of the interface.
“Start with a template”: the template gallery (see Templates).
“Start with an empty plan”: a blank page.
“Generate diagram with AI (BETA)”: the assistant (see AI assistant).
“Open my projects”, or File > Open: reopens an XML file from your device or a diagram saved in the browser.

The editor

The symbol palette

The left column groups the symbols by family: Search, Templates, then Power and batteries, Passive components, Semiconductors, Sensors and detectors, Switches, commutators and relays, Electrical protection, Motors and actuators, Transformers, coils and windings, Connectors and enclosures, Lighting and signaling, Household appliances, Measuring instruments, Telecommunication and antennas, Control and timing, Grounding and lightning protection, Others, and general families (shapes, arrows…).

To place a symbol, drag it into the drawing. To look for one, type a word in Search: a French or English name, an acronym (“ATS”, “PCS”), the name of a device (“battery”, “circuit breaker”).

Connecting symbols

Symbols have connection points: drag a line from one to another. The frames, title blocks, tables, texts and notes that ElectroCAD provides have none: a line does not attach to them. The connections align automatically, for straight, clean three-phase connections without stray angles.

Page, sheets and title block

File > Page Setup sets the format. The “A0” and “A4” templates give a sheet with a title block; the A3, A2 and A1 sheets add a frame, zone references (numbers at the top and bottom, letters on the left and right) and the title block at the bottom right, each box of which is edited by double-clicking it.

Shortcuts

Ctrl+S saves, Ctrl+Shift+S saves as, Ctrl+P prints (Cmd on a Mac).

Templates

The template gallery opens from the editor’s welcome window (“Start with a template”) and can also be browsed from the site’s home page. Each template opens in the editor and is edited like any drawing.

Blank sheets: A0, A4, A3, A2 and A1, with a title block.
Panels and housing: electrical panel, housing panel, housing diagram, distribution sheet, multi-wire diagram.
Motors: direct starting in one and two directions, stator starting, star-delta (power and complete), DC injection braking, reversing, control circuit, two-pump control.
Solar PV and energy: PV installation, three-group PV installation, 100 MW PV plant, PV with storage and generator set.
HV/LV substation.

AI assistant

File > Text to Diagram with AI (or “Generate diagram with AI (BETA)” in the welcome window): describe the installation in a plain sentence and ElectroCAD generates a standard, wired, editable diagram. It is a starting point you keep control of: you then edit it like any drawing.

“house: living room, 3 bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, EV charging point and heat pump”
“star-delta starting of a three-phase motor” or “two-direction motor starting with reversing”
“photovoltaic plant: 3 strings of 10 panels, 1 inverter, DC disconnector, AC circuit breaker”

The assistant applies a few common distribution rules (circuits grouped under a 30 mA residual current switch, at most 8 sockets per circuit). Sizing and compliance remain to be validated by a professional.

The text of your request is sent to the generation service; with your own key, the request follows the path described in the privacy policy. Do not write personal data in the assistant: its window is recorded in the clear by audience measurement.

Importing a diagram

File > Import a diagram (image or PDF)…: choose the file, then the model that will read the diagram. PNG, JPEG, WebP and GIF images are read; a multi-page PDF is read page by page.

Models: a free model, with a simple reading that is less reliable on complex diagrams, or Claude models (economy, balanced, most powerful) depending on what the site offers. The dialog shows the price, an order of magnitude of the cost, then the actual consumption.
Types of diagrams read: housing sheet, solar PV installation, control circuit, distribution sheet, single-line distribution diagram and, as a last resort, any other diagram described by its components and links.
The imported diagram replaces the current drawing: a confirmation is asked. A symbol the reading does not recognise is drawn as a red “?”, with its name.
A reading is a starting point, not a guaranteed result: check it and correct it in the editor.

Saving, exporting, sharing

Save. File > Save (Ctrl+S) keeps the diagram in your browser’s local storage, under the name you give; File > Open finds it again. Nothing is saved on ElectroCAD’s servers: a diagram that is neither saved nor exported is lost when the tab is closed.

Export. File > Export: PNG, PDF, SVG or XML. PDF, SVG and PNG are for printing and documentation; the ElectroCAD XML lets you resume the diagram later (File > Open). File > Print (Ctrl+P) prints.

Share. File > Lien de visualisation (viewing link): the diagram is encoded in the link, and the person who opens it can see it without being able to edit it. The diagram is passed on neither to the site’s server nor to its hosting provider; anyone who has the link can read it.

ElectroCAD with Claude

The MCP server https://electrocad.app/mcp lets Claude read a diagram, create one or open a template, then give you a link that opens the result in the editor. There are no accounts and no authentication; the server calls no AI model and keeps nothing. All tools are read-only. Their descriptions and answers are in French.

Connecting

claude.ai and Claude Desktop. Open Customize > Connectors > Add custom connector, enter the address https://electrocad.app/mcp and choose the “No sign-in” authentication. The free plan allows a single custom connector. On Team and Enterprise, an Owner adds it in Organization settings > Connectors. Then, in a conversation, turn ElectroCAD on with the + button (Connectors menu).

Claude Code. One command is enough:

claude mcp add --transport http electrocad https://electrocad.app/mcp

Other MCP clients. Address above, Streamable HTTP transport, no authentication. To try it by hand: npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector, then the server address.

Checking the connection. Ask “Which templates does ElectroCAD offer?”: Claude should call liste_modeles and give you links to the gallery templates.

What Claude can do

Import this electrical diagram into ElectroCAD.

Claude reads the image or PDF you attach by following the instructions from consigne_lecture, then convertir_lecture converts the reading into a diagram, flags unrecognised symbols and gives the opening link.

Create in ElectroCAD the single-line diagram of a housing panel: a 63 A residual current breaker feeding lighting, sockets and an oven.

syntaxe_texte_vers_schema gives the syntax, Claude writes a one-line expression and lien_texte_vers_schema gives the link; for references, cables or several panels, Claude goes through consigne_lecture then convertir_lecture.

Open ElectroCAD's star-delta starter template.

liste_modeles (filterable by word) gives the template link.

Write as XML the single-line diagram of a 100 kWp solar PV installation and open it in ElectroCAD.

liste_symboles gives the exact names, sizes and ports of the symbols, Claude writes the XML, and lien_schema_xml checks it then gives the opening link, for editing, title block, legend and notes included.

The tools

All seven tools are annotated read-only (readOnlyHint) and non-destructive. Two ready-made prompts complete the tools: importer_un_schema and creer_un_schema.

Tool	Role
`consigne_lecture`	Gives the instructions describing how to read a diagram (image, PDF or text) as JSON: 1,000 to 3,500 tokens.
`convertir_lecture`	Converts the JSON reading into an ElectroCAD diagram: symbols placed, unrecognised symbols (as a red “?”) and their names, warnings, opening link.
`liste_modeles`	Lists the gallery templates, each with its link.
`syntaxe_texte_vers_schema`	Gives the syntax and the components of “Text to diagram”: about 4,500 tokens.
`lien_texte_vers_schema`	Builds the link that opens a “Text to diagram” expression in the editor, and flags the words the drawing would ignore.
`liste_symboles`	Lists the library symbols so they can be written as XML: exact name, size, ports, common names. No icons.
`lien_schema_xml`	Builds the link that opens a complete diagram given as XML, after checking the XML and flagging symbols missing from the library.

Links and limits

An opening link is an electrocad.app/editor.html address. For a diagram as XML, the XML is compressed into the part of the address after “#”, which the browser sends neither to the site’s server nor to its hosting provider. The link is about a tenth of the XML.
A link must be copied whole, without changing anything: a damaged link is refused when it opens (message “Incomplete or damaged link”). Beyond 20,000 characters, an assistant may alter it while copying: also ask for the XML file, to open with File > Open.
Sizes: request of 700,000 characters at most, reading of 250,000, XML of 500,000, “Text to diagram” expression of 3,000, batch of 20 messages. No link for a reading of more than 6,000 compressed characters: reduce the reading, or ask for the XML with inclure_xml (30,000 characters at most).
Usage: 120 requests per minute per IP address. Beyond that, the server answers “Trop de requêtes : réessaie dans N s” (HTTP 429, with the Retry-After header).
Consumption: the server uses no tokens. On your side, an import costs in the order of 10,000 to 25,000 tokens (image, instructions, reading, corrections). Protocol versions: 2025-11-25, 2025-06-18, 2025-03-26 and 2024-11-05.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	What to do
My diagram disappeared when I closed the tab	It had been neither saved nor exported: ElectroCAD keeps nothing on its servers.	Save with Ctrl+S (browser) or export as XML (file). A saved diagram reopens with File > Open.
“L’import du schéma a échoué” (the import failed)	Image too blurry, or reading model too slow for the host.	Try again with a sharper image, or choose a faster model.
“Limite du service gratuit atteinte” (free service limit reached)	The free model is limited in the number of readings.	Wait for the delay shown in the dialog, or choose a Claude model.
“Aucun symbole n’a été posé” (no symbol placed) after an import	The reading only described busbars, texts or symbols it could not name.	On a very busy diagram, try a more powerful model or import the diagram by areas.
A red “?” in an imported diagram	The reading gave a symbol the library does not recognise.	The symbol name is shown under the “?”: replace it with a symbol from the palette.
“Incomplete or damaged link” when opening a link	The link was cut or changed on the way: it is long.	Ask for the link again and copy it whole. For a large diagram, ask for the XML file and open it with File > Open.
Claude does not call ElectroCAD or does not see the tools	Connector not turned on in the conversation, or address mistyped.	Check the address https://electrocad.app/mcp and the “No sign-in” authentication, turn ElectroCAD on with the + button > Connectors, then test: “Which templates does ElectroCAD offer?”.
Symbols written as XML show as empty rectangles	Symbol name missing from the library, or written with a capital letter: case matters.	lien_schema_xml flags these names and suggests the exact name. liste_symboles gives the names, sizes and ports.
“Trop de requêtes” (too many requests)	More than 120 requests per minute from the same address.	Wait for the delay given in the answer.

If none of this solves the problem, write to us (see Support). What the site and the connector do with data is described in the privacy policy.