Open Source Hardware tooling Look-Out for 2026
I have a few things I am looking forward to in the Open Source Hardware space in 2026.
Most of these things have some relation to my wider interest in making producing open hardware easier and more accessible. If they mature I would love to find ways to integrate them into InvenTree, but they do not have any direct relation to InvenTree itself.
OKH v2.0
The Open Know How (OKH) standard is trying to build a common description format for open source hardware projects. V1 has been out for a while now and has a great spec site and a few tools available. Adoption has been slow as far as I can tell. When trying to implement it I also had some issues with how vague some fields are.
V2 seems to be mostly done (lead by OSEG) and I am looking forward to greater adoption in 2026. I hope that it will make sharing and reusing open hardware designs a lot easier and that there will be more adoption.
ViaGrid
The idea is simple: a breadboard like system for creating prototype PCBs fast - but with Vias so 2-layer connections are possible. For this a laser or something similar to manipulate the copper layers is used. There are a few different people and orgs working on this idea, but ViaGrid seems to be the one on which people are converging right now.
Repo
Stephen Hawes from Opulo has made a video about it.
OpenHTF / TofuPilot
OpenHTF is not new by any means but the docs have been significantly improved recently. This work is being done by a new project called TofuPilot that is building on top of it to create a commercial testing management system. They are also working on a new testing framework.
OpenHTF Repo
OpenHTF docs
TofuPilot Website
EDA inovation
These new EDA / ECAD tools are very interesting to me as they try to rethink how hardware design is done. I am looking forward to seeing more innovation in this space in 2026.
I am not sure if they will ever be the thing that replaces KiCAD (or Altium etc.) but they might be a good test bed for things that might one day become a part of mainstream tools like EDeA tried.
tscircuit
tscircuit is a library, ECAD tool and lightweight project sharing platform in one. It allows creating circuits in React / Typescript and has an optional website for sharing and viewing projects that acts as a registry of sorts.
This project is very polished and fast moving. I have yet to see high complexity projects (think FPGAs, high bandwidth designs) made with it, but it might be an interesting competitor to EasyEDA and the sorts.
atopile
Atopile has a few similarities to tscircuit but is tightly coupled to KiCad so much more mature routing etc. is possible.
It acts as a compiler from their own DSL that is Python-like to KiCad files. Similar to tscircuit there is also a registry to enable reuse.
Honorable Mentions
As always KiCad, FreeCAD keep going strong, and I am looking forward to seeing what new features and improvements they will bring in 2026 with v10 and v1.1.