The Breadpad Manual #
Breadpad is a digital breadboard: you place real parts on a simulated solderless breadboard, and the app runs your circuit through the industry-standard SPICE engine (ngspice). This manual describes precisely how the app works. It is a reference, not a tutorial — for a guided first circuit, start with Getting Started.
The three surfaces #
- The board — a breadboard with power rails, tie points, and a center divide. Everything you place snaps to tie points, and holes in the same 5-hole strip are electrically connected, exactly like the physical thing.
- The tool palette — the floating bar at the bottom edge. Pick a tool, tap the board to place parts. Tap the armed tool again (or press V) to return to Select.
- The oscilloscope — the pill in the toolbar. It counts your probes, shows a live signal preview, and opens the analysis menu where you run simulations.
Documents #
Breadpad edits two document types:
| Type | Contents | Created from |
|---|---|---|
.breadpad | A breadboard circuit (a document package) | New Breadboard on the launch screen |
.spice | A plain-text SPICE netlist | New Netlist on the launch screen |
Both buttons open a template picker: an Empty option at the top, followed by the bundled example library grouped by chapter (see Documents & Export).
Chapters #
- The Workspace — the board, zoom, navigation, and selection
- Building Circuits — placing, moving, editing, and deleting parts
- Part Libraries — browsing, searching, categories, and custom parts
- Simulating — probes, analyses, charts, and measurements
- SPICE Netlists — the SPICE Shell and
.spicedocuments - Documents & Export — examples, BOM, CSV, WAV, snapshots
Related references: Components (per-part parameter reference) · Keyboard Shortcuts · Gamepad Support · Pricing (what’s free vs. Premium).