Altium Designer Autorouting

Altium Designer needs no plugin. You use PCB Auto Router through file exchange: export a DSN from AD, route it, export an RTE file, and import it back into AD.

%%{init: {"theme": "base", "themeVariables": {"fontSize": "15px", "primaryColor": "#eff6ff", "primaryBorderColor": "#3b82f6", "primaryTextColor": "#1e293b", "lineColor": "#3b82f6", "clusterBkg": "#f8fafc", "clusterBorder": "#94a3b8", "edgeLabelBackground": "#ffffff"}}}%%
flowchart LR
    A("Altium Designer") -- "export .dsn" --> P("PcbAutoRouter app<br/>GPU-accelerated autorouting")
    P -- "export .rte" --> A

Main program not installed yet? Follow Installation & Configuration first.

Step 1: Export a DSN from Altium Designer

  1. Open your PCB document in Altium Designer. Make sure all components are placed and the routing rules (trace width, clearance, vias) are set.
  2. Click File » Export » Specctra Design.
  3. In the Setup Specctra Router dialog, confirm the export settings and save the file as .dsn.

Specctra import/export is enabled in Altium Designer by default. If Specctra Design is missing from the menu, check in AD's extensions and updates management that the feature has not been disabled.

Step 2: Autoroute in PcbAutoRouter

  1. Open PcbAutoRouter, click File → Open DSN... (Ctrl+O), and select the .dsn file you just exported.
  2. Press F5 to start autorouting.
  3. When routing finishes, check for unrouted nets. You can adjust them by hand or reroute individual nets.

Step 3: Export the RTE File

Click File → Export RTE (Altium)... and save it as a .rte file.

Use Export RTE (Altium), not Export SES. Altium Designer can only import routing results in RTE format.

Step 4: Import the Routing Back into Altium Designer

  1. Go back to Altium Designer and open the original PCB document.
  2. Click File » Import » Specctra Design and select the .rte file you exported in the previous step.
  3. After the import, click Tools » Design Rule Check... to run a DRC.

FAQ

No traces after importing into Altium?

  • Make sure you imported the .rte file created by Export RTE (Altium), not a .ses file.
  • Make sure you imported into the same PCB document you exported the DSN from, and that components and nets have not changed since the export.

The software won't open, or shows "Vulkan initialization failed"?

Check your GPU and driver against the System Requirements.