lineforge.0
Open-source, MCP-enabled, AI-friendly transmission line calculator.
lineforge.0 is the spiritual successor to David Kirkby's atlc and Brian
Beezley's atlc2. It computes the full RLGC characterization (Z₀, εeff, vp,
L, C, Rs, Gp) of any 2D transmission line cross-section: from standard PCB
geometries (microstrip, stripline, CPWG, differential pairs) to arbitrary
user-drawn bitmaps.
What's different
- AI-native via MCP. First-class Model Context Protocol server lets any Claude/LLM agent drive the solver. Long solves use the SEP-1686 Tasks pattern.
- Three equal surfaces. MCP server, CLI, and Python API are all polished from day one.
- Modern numerics. Rust-accelerated SOR + multigrid Laplace solver, scipy.sparse + ILU-preconditioned BiCGSTAB Faraday solver. PyO3-bound inner loops; NumPy/SciPy for orchestration.
- atlc2 drop-in compatible. Existing atlc2 BMP usermaps,
MoreColors.txt, and script files work unchanged. New.lineforge.jsonformat is the modern alternative. - GPLv3.
Project status
| Phase | Goal |
|---|---|
| 0: Bootstrap | ✅ Repo, build system, CI, release pipeline, skeleton surfaces |
| 1: Analytical solvers | ✅ Hammerstad-Jensen + Wadell, all 3 surfaces |
| 2: C and Gp solver | Bitmap kernel (Laplace FD), atlc2 compat |
| 3: L and Rs solver | Faraday sparse solver, full RLGC, sweeps |
| 4: Polish + 1.0.0 | Optimizer, caching, docs, PyPI release |
Get started
- Quick Start: first answer in three minutes
- Python API tutorial
- CLI tutorial
- MCP server tutorial
- Geometry reference
- Analytical formulas (theory)
Acknowledgments
- Dr. David Kirkby (G8WRB). The original
atlc, GPL. - Brian Beezley (KQ6QV):
atlc2, the comprehensive documented spec we built against. - scikit-rf, PyAMG, scipy.sparse. The open-source numerical libraries that make this possible.