Switch
Switch to Palpable from Autodesk EAGLE
EAGLE is reaching end of life, which means a migration is coming whether you want one or not. The default path is Autodesk Fusion Electronics, another ECAD tool. But a forced move is a good moment to ask a more basic question: did you need a PCB tool, or did you need a working device? If it is the latter, Palpable lets you skip board design entirely and have PAL run the behavior on a Pi.
June 7, 2026Autodesk stops selling and supporting EAGLE — after which its license servers shut down. A forced migration is a good moment to ask whether you need a PCB tool at all.
What the EOL actually forces
You have to pick a new tool regardless, so the real choice is which kind. Fusion Electronics keeps you in ECAD; Palpable changes the category. If a manufacturable custom board is genuinely your deliverable, you still need an ECAD tool — but for many projects the board was a means to an end.
What you stop doing
If your projects were really about a device that senses and acts, you stop drawing schematics and laying out boards altogether. You plug certified Qwiic modules into a Raspberry Pi and describe what you want to PAL in plain English or by voice. No layout, no fabrication, no assembly.
What stays the same
Your understanding of how parts fit together still pays off — you are choosing sensors and reasoning about behavior. And you keep real code: TypeScript scripts you can read, running locally on the device, with REST and WebSocket APIs plus a CLI per project.
Where it pays off
Instead of porting libraries and footprints into a new ECAD tool, you sidestep the migration entirely for behavior-first projects. Updates ship over the air with automatic rollback, and the Discord community is a good place to compare notes mid-transition.
Questions
Is Palpable a replacement for EAGLE?
For projects where the end goal is a working device rather than a custom PCB, yes — Palpable skips board design entirely. If you truly need a manufacturable board, an ECAD tool such as Fusion Electronics or KiCad is still required.
What exactly is happening to EAGLE?
Autodesk will stop selling and supporting EAGLE on June 7, 2026, after which its license servers shut down. Existing users have to migrate, which makes it a natural moment to reconsider the whole approach.
Do I need Autodesk or Fusion to use Palpable?
No. Palpable is independent — it runs in the browser and on a Raspberry Pi with open Qwiic modules, with no Autodesk account required.