---
title: "photonforge"
description: "PhotonForge PCell, layout, routing, circuit/time-domain simulation, project versioning + cloud-GUI (photonforge-server), serialization, GUI automation, LiveViewer, variation-aware yield/DFM, and documentation guidance fo"
canonical: https://agentpluginsdirectory.com/plugins/photonforge
last-updated: 2026-10-11
---

# photonforge
PhotonForge PCell, layout, routing, circuit/time-domain simulation, project versioning + cloud-GUI (photonforge-server), serialization, GUI automation, LiveViewer, variation-aware yield/DFM, and documentation guidance for AI coding agents.
- Slug: photonforge
- Publisher: Flexcompute
- Repository: https://github.com/flexcompute/plugin-marketplace
- Manifest: copilot-cli/photonforge/plugin.json
- Version: 0.3.3
- Category (editorial): other
- Skills: 8 (photonforge-circuit-simulation, photonforge-gui-automation, photonforge-layout-verification, photonforge-live-viewer, photonforge-pcell-authoring, photonforge-project-versioning, photonforge-schema-serialization, photonforge-yield-analysis)
- MCP servers: 1 (tidy3d)
- Stars: 9
- Repository created: 2026-05-06
- Repository last pushed: 2026-09-29
- Publisher type: Organization
- Listing: https://agentpluginsdirectory.com/plugins/photonforge
- Schema: https://agent-plugins.org/schemas/1.0.0/plugin.schema.json

## Skills

- photonforge-circuit-simulation: Run and understand PhotonForge circuit-level and time-domain simulations. Compose component S-matrices into a whole-circuit frequency response with pf.CircuitModel, or drive the circuit with real waveforms (modulator bit patterns, laser turn-on, ramps) and watch the output evolve with pf.CircuitTim…
- photonforge-gui-automation: Drive and verify the PhotonForge cloud GUI (photonforge.simulation.cloud) from an AI coding session. Make the edits programmatically with the PhotonForge PDA SDK, create and update projects, components, and versions, then drive a real web browser with the Playwright MCP server to open, screenshot…
- photonforge-layout-verification: Assemble, route, inspect, and verify PhotonForge photonic layouts from schematic or netlist intent. Use when the user is working with component_from_netlist, Reference placement, physical connections, virtual connections, pf.parametric.route, routing errors, port or terminal exposure, get_netlist,…
- photonforge-live-viewer: The PhotonForge LiveViewer is a local, interactive 2D layout viewer for pf.Component and circuits: `from photonforge.live_viewer import LiveViewer`, point it at a component, and it serves a browser view that redraws as you edit the design, the primary visual feedback loop while building layouts. C…
- photonforge-pcell-authoring: Author, review, and repair PhotonForge parametric components (PCells), custom technologies, ports, hierarchy, and schema-aware component definitions. Use when the user is creating or debugging PhotonForge components, using @pf.parametric_component or @pf.parametric_technology, building geometry wit…
- photonforge-project-versioning: Version-control PhotonForge projects and use the API that creates and edits projects you can open, edit, and simulate in the browser GUI. Set up photonforge-server so the cloud GUI runs the user's own Python locally (recomputing their parametric components at new parameters and submitting their sim…
- photonforge-schema-serialization: Save and load PhotonForge designs, and understand how they are represented on disk. Full-state PHF files (pf.write_phf / pf.load_phf / pf.load_full_phf) preserve the component, hierarchy, ports, technology, and simulation models; layout export/import (pf.write_layout / pf.load_layout) handles GDS/O…
- photonforge-yield-analysis: Variation-aware yield and tolerance analysis for photonic circuits with PhotonForge + Tidy3D. Build validated parametric surrogates of every subcomponent over process corners (silicon thickness, waveguide width/CD, optionally etch/sidewall/temperature) from a bounded one-time FDTD budget, then Mont…

Descriptions come from the frontmatter of each SKILL.md, punctuation lightly normalized.

## MCP servers

- tidy3d: transport: stdio; command: uvx --from tidy3d-mcp>=0.16.5 tidy3d-mcp --product photonforge

Read from the plugin's own mcp.json. Environment variable names only, never values.