Cadence Design Systems API
No cloud or REST API. Integration means tool-embedded scripting (SKILL in Virtuoso, Tcl in digital flows) and the OpenAccess C++ database API with language bindings. Documentation sits behind customer login at support.cadence.com; there is no OAuth, webhook, or public SDK surface.
Frequently asked questions
Cadence Design Systems scores C on the API Report Card. No cloud or REST API. Integration means tool-embedded scripting (SKILL in Virtuoso, Tcl in digital flows) and the OpenAccess C++ database API with language bindings. Documentation sits behind customer login at support.cadence.com; there is no OAuth, webhook, or public SDK surface.
Cadence Design Systems has an official API, but teams routinely hit its limits: gated access, partial coverage, or paid tiers. Most end up supplementing it with exports or an unofficial API layer like Supergood.
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS), founded in 1988 via the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD and headquartered in San Jose, California, is one of the two dominant Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software vendors in the world.
Vertical: misc / Electronic Design Automation (EDA) and semiconductor IP. Custom/analog IC design: Virtuoso schematic capture, Virtuoso Layout Suite, Spectre simulation, Liberate characterization for cell libraries, AWR Microwave Office for RF.
Very high within EDA. Cadence holds ~30% of the global EDA market, second only to Synopsys (~31–40% depending on whether the post-2025 Ansys acquisition is included). The combined Synopsys + Cadence + Siemens EDA share is ~75% of the global EDA market.
IC design databases: schematic and layout cellviews, libraries and PDKs (foundry-NDA-gated), netlists, SPICE models, layer/via stacks, parasitics (SPEF/DSPF), timing libraries (.lib), placement and routing data, DRC/LVS run results, typically stored in OpenAccess (.oa) or Cadence proprietary formats.
Founded in 1988 as the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD.
No public REST/JSON developer portal, integrations rely on in-tool SKILL/Tcl, OpenAccess C++ APIs, and customer-only support.cadence.com login. SKILL is a Lisp-derived language unique to Cadence and is widely cited as one of the steepest learning curves in EDA scripting. Full sourced list under Sources below.
Common alternatives include Synopsys, Siemens EDA (Mentor Graphics), Ansys (now part of Synopsys), Altium (Renesas), Zuken, Keysight EDA (PathWave, ADS). Graded alternatives appear under "More from the report card" below.
Grades measure one thing: can a customer's engineering team get their own data out programmatically? We check six things (whether a real API exists, how access is gated, data coverage, auth quality, docs and developer experience, and stability) and roll them into a letter grade. Grades get re-verified, and they only move on evidence.