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PCB design glossary

CPL

AKA: component placement list, pick and place file, pos file

Component Placement List — the X/Y positions and rotations of every part on a PCB, used by pick-and-place machines.

A CPL (also called a pick-and-place file) gives each component's reference designator, position (X, Y), rotation, and layer. Assembly houses feed it into pick-and-place machines so the robots know where to put parts.

CPL and BOM together are the minimum a turnkey assembly house needs from you alongside the Gerber files.

Designing a board that uses cpl?

PCBEditor turns a plain-English description into a verified schematic — then handles placement, routing, and export to Gerber or KiCad.

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