PCB design glossary
DRC
AKA: design rule check
Design Rule Check — automated verification that a PCB layout respects manufacturing tolerances.
DRC checks that the physical PCB layout meets the fab's tolerances: minimum trace width, minimum clearance, minimum drill size, annular ring, courtyard overlap. A clean DRC pass means the board can actually be manufactured at the fab profile you've picked.
DRC is run before sending Gerbers to fabrication. PCBEditor checks every generated board against the design rules, repairs what it can fix safely, and reports the rest.
What DRC checks
- Clearance between copper on different nets.
- Minimum trace width, via size, drill size and annular ring.
- Copper too close to the board edge or to holes.
- Unrouted connections: nets that are not yet fully joined.
- Courtyard overlaps between components.
- Silkscreen over pads and other manufacturability issues.
Setting DRC up correctly
DRC is only as good as its rules. The rules should come from the fab you intend to use, with a little margin added. Running DRC against default rules and then ordering from a fab with tighter or looser limits defeats the point. Set the fab's rules first, then route.
In PCBEditor, every generated board is checked against the design rules, with profiles for JLCPCB, PCBWay and OSH Park. Violations it can fix safely are repaired automatically; the rest are reported.
What DRC cannot tell you
A clean DRC means the board can be made, not that the circuit works. A board can pass DRC with two outputs shorted together or a regulator wired backwards, because DRC measures geometry, not electrical behaviour. That is what ERC, simulation and review are for.
Work it out with a free tool
A DRC report you can act on
In the editor, Review my design runs the design-rule and electrical checks together and explains every violation, keeping the rule name so it matches what your fab reports.
Design and check online