Preview: this page describes the next FireCAD release, planned for December 1, and the beta available now. For the current release, see FireCAD Overview.
What is FireCAD?
FireCAD is an AutoCAD add-in designed for fire alarm and life safety system design. It extends AutoCAD with specialized tools for managing devices, circuits, wirepaths, and generating industry-standard reports — all directly within your AutoCAD environment.
Key Features
Project-Based Workflow
FireCAD organizes your work into projects. Each project contains one or more AutoCAD drawings, a device database, circuit configurations, and report settings. This project structure keeps all your fire alarm design data centralized and consistent across drawings.
Device Management
Place, configure, and manage fire alarm devices (smoke detectors, strobes, panels, etc.) using block definitions from a master database. Each device instance tracks its part number, location, circuit connections, and custom properties.
Circuit Design
Connect devices into circuits with automatic sequencing, addressing, and wire labeling. FireCAD supports complex circuit topologies including branches, passthrough devices, and hierarchical parent-child circuit relationships.
Wirepath Routing
Automatically draw and route wirepaths between circuit devices. FireCAD calculates wire fill, conductor counts, conduit fill percentages, and wirepath lengths — displaying this information directly on your drawings.
Automated Reports
Generate fire alarm industry reports directly from your design data:
- Device Schedule — Complete device listing with circuit assignments
- Point-to-Point — Wiring diagrams showing device connections
- Battery Calculations — Standby and alarm current calculations per NFPA 72
- dB Loss — Speaker circuit signal loss calculations
- Lump Sum — Circuit summary reports
- Speaker Schedule — Speaker device listings
- Bill of Materials — Complete parts listing
- Device Legend — Drawing legend with device symbols
- Conduit Fill Schedule — Conduit capacity analysis
- Panel Summary — Panel-level circuit summaries
Design Assistant and Design Precheck
The Design Assistant is an AI assistant in its own FireCAD panel. Ask it about your project or about FireCAD, or ask it to do the work: name rooms, place and connect devices, draw wirepaths, place reports on their sheets, review the design and draft the Basis of Design. It signs in with your FireCAD account; project work spends AI credits, and how-to questions are free.
The Design Precheck, in the same panel, checks the open drawing against FireCAD's design rules without the AI and spends no credits:
- Missing device connections
- Exceeded current, watt and quantity limits
- Voltage drop and battery capacity problems
- Missing project information
- Out-of-date reports
Both are included on every current Add-in licence and every 2026 or later Standalone licence. See Design Assistant and Design Precheck Overview.
Panel Layout & Riser Diagrams
Generate panel layout drawings and riser diagrams from your circuit data, with automatic device placement and labeling.
System Requirements
- AutoCAD 2025 or later (including OEM variants)
- Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
- .NET 8.0 Runtime
- SQL Server LocalDB (installed automatically)
- Active internet connection for license activation (offline activation available)
How FireCAD Integrates with AutoCAD
FireCAD loads as a .NET add-in inside AutoCAD. Once loaded, it adds:
- FireCAD Ribbon - A dedicated ribbon tab with buttons for all major functions
-
FireCAD Project Palette - A dockable panel with three tabs:
- Project Tree - Navigate project drawings and structure
- Device Palette - Browse and place device blocks
- Circuits - View and manage circuit connections
- Design Assistant Panel - A dockable panel for the AI Design Assistant and the Design Precheck, opened from the ribbon's Design Assistant panel
-
Command Line Commands - All FireCAD functions are accessible via
ATcommands typed in the AutoCAD command line (e.g.,ATCONNECT,ATVALIDATE)
Getting Help
- Type any
ATcommand in the AutoCAD command line to access FireCAD functions - Run the Design Precheck (
ATDESIGN_PRECHECK) to check your work for design rule issues - Ask the Design Assistant (
ATDESIGN_ASSISTANT) how to do something in FireCAD; how-to questions are free - Contact support through the FireCAD help resources
Next Steps
- Installation & Loading the Plugin — How to install and load FireCAD
- Licensing — Activate and manage your FireCAD license
- Options & Configuration — Configure FireCAD settings
FireCAD is the industry-leading AutoCAD add-in for fire alarm system design — from circuit layout to wire routing to code-compliant reports.
Learn more and get started at getfirecad.com →
Inspect Point Integration — Fire alarm system device lists and bill of materials can be pushed directly from FireCAD into Inspect Point, eliminating manual data entry and ensuring every device is ready for inspection scheduling and ongoing asset management.
Learn more here →