Show HN: My $300 embroidery machine needed a subscription, so I built my own app

Developer simpsoka released ZigZag, a free open-source embroidery editor written in Rust, after a $300 embroidery machine required a subscription for its companion software. ZigZag converts SVG artwork into stitches, exports PES, DST, EXP, JEF and VP3 files, and sends designs directly to a Brother Skitch (PP1) over Bluetooth; it also ships built-in Model Context Protocol (MCP) support so AI agents can create and edit designs alongside the user. The app runs on macOS 11 or later (Apple Silicon and Intel) and 64-bit Windows 10 version 1709 or later, with a signed and notarized macOS build and a `zigzag` command-line tool sharing the same Rust engine.

ZigZag is a visual embroidery editor built in Rust for performance, with built-in MCP Model Context Protocol support so AI agents can create and edit designs alongside you. Turn SVG artwork into stitches, fine-tune it in the editor, and export PES, DST, EXP, JEF, or VP3 for broad compatibility with embroidery machines—or send designs directly to a Brother Skitch PP1 over Bluetooth . Draw in Illustrator, draw in ZigZag, or let an agent draw. The Rust engine and zigzag command-line tool power the same workflow outside the editor. zigzag-demo.mp4 For Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, macOS 11 or later. Open the DMG, then drag ZigZag into Applications. The release is signed and notarized by Apple. No Rust installation is needed. Download ZigZag for Windows https://github.com/simpsoka/zigzag/releases/latest — the ZigZag-<version -x86 64-windows.zip asset on the latest release. For 64-bit Windows 10 version 1709 or later and Windows 11. Unzip it and double-click ZigZag.exe . Windows SmartScreen warns on apps without a Microsoft-trusted signature the first time they run; click More info → Run anyway . No Rust installation is needed. Release notes and checksums https://github.com/simpsoka/zigzag/releases/latest · Publishing a release https://github.com/simpsoka/zigzag/blob/main/RELEASE.md zigzag/ src/svg.rs SVG import usvg : fill and stroke parts, transforms, text src/document/ editable document; settings saved back into SVG ids, layout edits as SVG transforms, lettering src/params.rs stitch settings tokens + fabric presets src/stitch/fill.rs tatami fill scanline sections, staggered rows src/stitch/satin.rs satin columns: two rails, auto-satin, underlays, short stitches src/stitch/stroke.rs running / triple-run stitch src/boolean.rs polygon booleans and offsets i overlay src/design.rs planner: overlap removal, cap order, routing, trims src/checks.rs digitizing checks sizes, widths, lettering, hoop src/formats/ PES +PEC , DST, EXP, JEF, VP3, Skitch PEN writers; PES/PEC/DST/EXP/JEF readers; preview; worksheet src/machine/ Skitch Bluetooth protocol + btleplug client, ble feature src/studio/ editor egui on OpenGL via glow + MCP server gui feature src/mcp bridge.rs stdio ↔ HTTP bridge for MCP clients that launch a command cargo build --release CLI + MCP bridge, no system deps cargo build --release --features gui,ble + the studio editor and Skitch upload Linux needs the usual X11/Wayland and OpenGL dev libraries for gui . libdbus is vendored for ble . | Type | What it does | Works on | |---|---|---| | Fill tatami | Staggered rows, any angle, with underlay edge walk + rows and pull compensation | Filled shapes | | Satin | Zigzag column between two rails, with center/contour/zigzag underlay, pull compensation and short stitches on tight curves; plain, S-stitch or zig-zag top stitching; several threads across the column multicolor satin | Strokes any width ; Ink/Stitch-style two-rail paths with rungs; filled shapes : rings use inner/outer outline, bars/letters/crescents split at their tips auto-satin , or border follows the outline | | Run | Running stitch, single or triple bean | Strokes and outlines | | Contour | Rows that follow the outline inward, or one spiral out from the center Ink/Stitch's circular fill | Filled shapes | | Blanket | E-stitch: a line with prongs into the shape | Edges, appliqué | | Appliqué | Placement line → stop → tack-down → stop → satin cover | Filled shapes | | Manual | Every path point is a needle point | Imported machine files, pen tool | | Meander | One wandering line through the shape, quilting style: light and soft | Filled shapes | | Ripple | Open running-stitch rows following the outline, or one spiral | Filled shapes | | Cross-stitch | A grid of X's, sewn as rows of half-crosses out and back | Filled shapes | | Tartan | Woven stripes in several threads a mirrored sett you edit in the panel , each thread its own color block | Filled shapes | Satins wider than 7 mm are auto-split shorter, staggered stitches and use auto spacing narrow columns more open, wide ones denser . Planner features: - Remove overlaps: fill hidden under later objects isn't sewn keeps 0.5 mm of overlap . - Cap order: center-out, bottom-up, grouped by color, still respecting layering. - Routing: travel stitches stay inside shapes: straight across where a straight line stays inside, otherwise round the inside of the outline Ink/Stitch's underpath , so a fill with a cut-out is sewn with few or no cuts. Trims only where neither works up to 50 mm of travel . - Sewing control per object: a start and an end point where the thread comes in and leaves, so the next object is close , trim after, stop after to lay foam or trim appliqué . The document can also connect objects up to N mm apart with running stitches instead of cuts. - Fabric presets: standard, thin cotton cap, structured cap, knit. - Checks: narrow fills, wide/narrow satins, small lettering, tiny gaps, fully covered objects, hoop fit. - Group colors: reorder to cut thread changes without breaking layering. On a Mac with Rust https://rustup.rs and the Xcode command line tools xcode-select --install : packaging/macos/make-app.sh --install builds ZigZag.app and copies it to /Applications packaging/macos/make-app.sh --dmg also makes dist/ZigZag-<version .dmg to share packaging/macos/make-app.sh --universal one app for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs packaging/macos/make-app.sh --release the DMG to publish: universal, signed, notarized --release signs with your Developer ID and has Apple notarize the app and the DMG, so it opens on any Mac without warnings. Once, beforehand: add a Developer ID Application certificate Xcode › Settings › Accounts › Manage Certificates › + , make an app-specific password at account.apple.com, and save the notarization credentials in your keychain: xcrun notarytool store-credentials zigzag-notary --apple-id YOUR APPLE ID --team-id YOUR TEAM ID The app bundles the studio, the zigzag command-line tool and the MCP bridge. To use the command line from anywhere: ln -s /Applications/ZigZag.app/Contents/MacOS/zigzag /usr/local/bin/zigzag . For Claude Desktop, point the MCP config at /Applications/ZigZag.app/Contents/MacOS/zigzag-mcp . Without --release the app is signed ad hoc, not notarized. It opens normally on the Mac that built it. On another Mac, macOS blocks it the first time: open System Settings › Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway on macOS 14 and earlier, right-click the app and choose Open instead . macOS asks for Bluetooth permission the first time you send to the Skitch. The approved embroidered icons live in packaging/macos/AppIcon.png light and packaging/macos/AppIcon-dark.png dark . The Mac build regenerates both multi-resolution .icns files; run bash packaging/macos/make-icons.sh to regenerate them separately. Finder and the unopened app use the light icon. While the studio is running, its Dock icon follows the app's light/dark theme, including the ZIGZAG THEME=light|dark override. zigzag-studio design.svg|logo.png --mcp-port 7878 | --no-mcp | --mcp-stdio Laid out like Illustrator, styled like a Mac app: - Tools down the left edge: Select V , Direct Selection A , Hand H , Pen P : click for corners, drag for curves Option breaks the handles, Shift keeps 45°, Space moves the point being placed ; while drawing, Option lends it the Anchor Point tool drag a segment to bend it, a handle to move it alone, click a smooth point for a corner and ⌘ lends Direct Selection drag a point or handle, then keep drawing , and on a selected path Option-drag bends a segment too. Illustrator's Pen group is behind it: Add Anchor Point + clicks a point onto an outline without changing its shape, Delete Anchor Point - clicks one out Option swaps the two while held , and Anchor Point Shift+C converts points between smooth and corner and drags one handle alone. Press and hold the Pen or right-click it for the group's flyout, Option-click it to step through the group, or tear the group off into a toolbar of its own with the strip at the flyout's edge; the Shape tools work the same way. Brush B , with VectorCraft's path clean-up tools in its group: Smooth drag along a path to take the wobble out: fewer points, smoother curves; Smoothness in the bar above , Path Eraser drag across a path to cut that part away and Join scrub between two open ends to join them, or an open path's two ends to close it . Shapes M rectangle, L ellipse, \ line; hold or right-click for polygon and star , Fill Angle G , Measure I , Text T . Below them, the selection's thread swatch: click it for the thread color picker. - Curves, the Illustrator way: the Pen clicks corners and click-drags curves Option while dragging breaks the handle for a sharp turn; Shift keeps points and handles at 45°; hold Space to move the point you're placing . Click the last point to make it a corner, or drag from it to start the next curve in a new direction. Click the first point to close a shape; Enter, Esc, ⌘-click or another tool ends a line and keeps it. With a path selected, the Pen continues it from an open end, adds a point on its outline, deletes a point you click, and Option-click turns a point corner ↔ smooth Option-drag pulls out new handles . While drawing, click another open path's end to join the two into one. The cursor shows what a click will do. Direct Selection drags points and handles of any shape from your SVG circles and rects become paths ; dragging a curve bends it under the pointer Option-drag bends a straight one; a plain drag moves it ; Delete removes points, arrows nudge them. - Smart guides while drawing View › Smart Guides, ⌘U : Pen points, shape corners and dragged points land on other objects' anchors and centers, where two outlines cross, on an outline, on 45° rays from the last point level and upright handles too , or in line with any of those, with a magenta label saying which "anchor", "intersect", "path", "align"… . With Shift, a point keeps its 45° angle and slides into line with the nearest target. - Round corners: in Direct Selection a small circle sits inside each sharp corner; drag it in to round the corners the selected points', or all of them , each only as far as its sides allow. Object › Path › Round Corners… does the same with a radius and Round, Inverted or Chamfer, previewed live. - Brush B , after Illustrator's Paintbrush: paint a line freehand and it comes out smooth, sewn as a satin column at the width you set or as a running stitch . Smoothness takes out the hand's wobble; sharp turns stay sharp; end where you began to close the line. The cursor is a circle as wide as the satin. - Shapes, the Illustrator way: Rectangle M , Ellipse L , Polygon, Star and Line \ . Drag from a corner; Option draws from the center, Shift makes a square or circle, keeps a polygon or star upright and a line at 45°. While dragging a polygon or star, ↑/↓ add or remove sides or points. Click without dragging to type an exact size. The bar at the top of the canvas switches shapes and sets corner radius, sides, points and the star's inner radius. Closed shapes come in as fills, lines as runs, in the current thread. - Path tools: Object › Pathfinder Unite, Minus Front, Intersect, Exclude; also buttons in the Transform panel when two or more objects are selected and Object › Path Offset Path…, Outline Stroke, Simplify…, Round Corners…, Clean Up… . Simplify… is VectorCraft's slider, from fewest points to closest to the original, previewed live, with Auto-Simplify picking the level for the selection's size. Clean Up… removes stray points, objects too small to sew under 1 mm by default and extra points points on top of each other, points in the middle of straight lines , showing how many of each it found first. Results come back as smooth curves with their real corners least-squares curve fitting , not as many-sided polygons. - Logos from images Image Trace : open, drop or place a PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF, BMP or TIFF and the Trace Image window traces it into flat-color shapes, previewed on your hat's color. Choose how many colors or Auto , the width, detail and the smallest speck to keep; remove the white background; snap every color to your Brother, Janome or own palette's threads; and sew thin lines as single lines. Flat logos trace exactly edges placed to a fraction of a pixel, corners restored, circles and straight lines exact ; photos are posterized. The command line traces too: zigzag convert logo.png -o logo.pes . - Contextual task bar: under the selection, the next things you'd do: its stitch type, its thread, Edit Points, Round Corners, Simplify, Unite two or more , Duplicate. View › Contextual Task Bar or its ••• menu hides it. - Ask an agent: the Agent panel full height in the left dock; the sparkle at the bottom of the tool strip opens and closes it, and ⌘K or Window › Ask Agent… opens it with the prompt ready runs Claude Code or Codex in the background, connected to this studio's MCP server, so you watch it build the design. It can only use the design tools no shell, no file edits . The transcript shows what it said and each step, with a spinner on the one running the one place it's shown; collapse the panel and its header shows the step and the time instead . On the canvas, the objects it's working on get a moving outline, a shimmer and a label saying what it's doing Drawing, Placing, Restyling… , for any agent connected over MCP, not just the panel's. The panel is named for the agent Claude Code or Codex; switch in its ≡ menu ; + in its header starts a new chat, Stop ends a run. Uses the claude or codex command you've already signed in to. Like any panel it can float, join another as a tab or dock right; sharing a dock it sits at the bottom, under a divider you drag to give it more room. - Thread colors and palettes: the picker shows the nearest Brother/Janome thread, a palette to click Brother, Janome or your own , and a small custom color field. Make palettes from scratch, from the design, or from a thread kit you own the palette's ≡ menu › New Palette from Thread Kit: Brother's 12, 40 and 22 color sets, or 40 + 22 for all 61; then Match All keeps a design to the threads in your box , add the selection's thread with +, right-click to remove; they're remembered between launches. - Threads panel: the design's threads in sewing order each color block numbered, with its stitches, and "stop" where the same thread comes twice running or By Color each thread once, with how many objects use it . Click a row to select what it sews; click a swatch to change that block's thread, or in By Color that thread everywhere. Group Colors and the count of color changes and trims are under the list. The panel's ≡ menu has Match All to the chosen palette, and Show Palette puts a palette to click under the list off by default, since the thread picker has the same palettes . - Panels, the Illustrator way: the Agent has the left dock to itself; Objects, Stitch, Transform, Lettering, Threads and Document are on the right. The design's issues are in the status bar bottom right : a warning sign with a count, or a check when all's well; click it or Window › Issues for the list, each linked to its object. Drag a panel by its header to reorder it, move it to the other dock, or drop it on the canvas to float it each panel's ≡ menu also has Dock Left / Dock Right / Float . Drop a panel on another panel's header and they share it as tabs; drag a tab out or use Separate in the ≡ menu to part them, drag the header to move the group. » at the top of a dock collapses it to a strip of icons for a bigger canvas: click an icon and the panel flies out beside the strip drag an icon to move that panel . Click a header to collapse a panel; Window › Reset Panels puts everything back. The layout is remembered. - Tabs, one per document as in VectorCraft and Illustrator : Open, drop or New opens a file in a tab of its own over the canvas the empty document you start with makes way for the first one ; a file that's already open just comes forward. Each tab keeps its own undo history, selection, zoom and stitches. Click a tab to switch, ⌃Tab / ⌃⇧Tab or Window › Next / Previous Document to step through them, drag one to reorder, middle-click or its × or File › Close, ⌘W to close it; + opens a new document and » lists every tab when they don't all fit. A dot in place of the × marks unsaved changes, and closing such a tab asks whether to save it first. Right-click a tab for Close Other Tabs and Copy Path. Quitting doesn't ask: every tab comes back next time, each with its unsaved changes. - Menu bar File, Edit, Object, View, Window with the usual ⌘ shortcuts. It's the real macOS menu bar on a Mac, drawn in the window elsewhere. - Cursors drawn for each tool: the Pen's nib with what a click will do , crosshairs for the Shape, Measure and Fill Angle tools, Direct Selection's hollow arrow, and a curved arrow at rotate corners. - Right-click menus on the canvas and the Objects list, styled like the tool flyouts: the stitch types with their icons, then the usual commands with their shortcuts. - Stays quick on big designs: stitches are planned once per change, reusing every object that didn't change overlap removal too: moving one object redoes only the objects it overlaps ; a design that takes more than 12 ms to plan plans in the background the status bar says "Updating stitches…" and the last plan stays on screen meanwhile; when you drop a moved object its stitches move with it until the new plan lands . Dragging points or objects, and typing, preview without re-planning until you let go. The stitches live on the GPU: each color block's segments are uploaded once and drawn by a shader thread shading and needle points included , so panning, zooming, dragging and the stitch player cost nothing per stitch on the CPU, whether the design has a thousand stitches or half a million. The Objects list lays out only the rows in view. An object whose stitches hit an internal error is left out with a warning in Issues rather than taking the plan down. For development: TL PROFILE=1 prints each frame's sections to stderr, TL NO GPU=1 draws the stitches with the painter instead, and cargo test --release --features gui --bin zigzag-studio perf bench -- --ignored --nocapture --test-threads=1 times typing and dragging on a traced logo examples/bench-grid.svg is a 213,000-stitch design for the studio itself . - Follows the system's light or dark appearance ZIGZAG THEME=light|dark overrides and uses the San Francisco system font on a Mac. - Pick a stitch type per object: big buttons, the task bar, right-click, or F/S/R/C/X Blanket and Manual from the Stitch panel . The preview re-plans live. - Layout, the Illustrator way: drag to move Shift: 45° steps; Option: drag a copy . Handles resize freely Shift keeps proportions, Option resizes from the center, drag past the far side to flip ; just outside a corner rotates Shift: 45° . Smart guides snap edges and centers to other objects and the hoop View › Smart Guides, ⌘U . ⌘D is Transform Again: Option-drag a copy, then ⌘D for more at the same spacing. Hold Space to pan with any tool a tap plays the stitch-out . The Transform panel has Illustrator's reference point: X/Y show the chosen point and W/H resize around it. Also rotate, flip, center in hoop, fit to hoop artwork bigger than the hoop is scaled down to fit when you open or place it; Undo restores full size , ⌘C/⌘V, arrows nudge 0.5 mm Shift 5 mm . Edits are saved as SVG transforms. - Groups work like Illustrator: a click or drag takes the whole group; double-click goes into it the rest dims and a breadcrumb shows where you are , double-click again to go deeper; Esc or double-click on empty canvas comes back out. ⌘-click picks one object without going in. Layers Illustrator's "Layer 1", Inkscape layers, Figma frames aren't groups. Copy, paste and duplicate keep groups. - Type T , as in VectorCraft and Illustrator: click where the text should go and type straight onto the canvas Enter for a new line, Esc or a click elsewhere when done ; click text, or between its letters, to edit it with the caret where you clicked or double-click it with the Selection tool, which picks text anywhere in its box and shows it as a box, not its letters' points; delete every letter and finish, and the text is removed ←/→, ↑/↓, Home/End and ⌘←/→ move it; Backspace and Delete remove either side; Shift with any of those, a drag, a double-click for a word, a triple-click or ⌘A for the lot selects text, which typing replaces and ⌘C/⌘X/⌘V copy, cut and paste ; click a selected path to put text on it. The Lettering panel is a compact Character panel hat text isn't long copy : font with search , bold/italic, letter height, tracking, pair kerning pick the pair, or Option+←/→ while typing kerns the pair at the caret , horizontal and vertical scale, case as typed, UPPER, lower, Title , alignment and leading for two-line text, baseline straight, arc over, arc under, or on a path with offset and flip , and the stitch type. The Type menu has Type on a Path, Change Case, Align and Create Outlines ⇧⌘O . Text is a shape like any other: Direct Selection, Round Corners, Simplify, Pathfinder and Clean Up all work on it it quietly becomes plain paths at the first point-level edit, one undo step , and it saves as real SVG text until then. - Pen P : draw filled shapes or lines with corners and curves, or place manual stitches one by one. Snaps to the grid when it's showing, else to smart guides. - Shapes M, L, \ : rectangles with rounded corners , ellipses, polygons, stars and lines. - Measure , mm grid , needle points , First/Last , Group colors . - Open machine files PES, PEC, DST, EXP, JEF to view, resize and re-export them, and images to trace. - Settings per type: fill angle with a drag-to-set angle tool , A , spacing, length, pull, underlay. Satin options: column vs border, stitch satin, S-stitch, zig-zag , threads across the column, width, underlay passes, short stitches. Contour and ripple: rings or spiral. Cross-stitch: cell size. Tartan: the stripes color and width each, mirrored , angle, row spacing. Run options: single or triple. - Sewing row in the Stitch panel: Start and End click the outline; green and red markers you can drag , Trim and Stop after the object. Edit › Copy / Paste Stitch Settings carries one object's type and settings to others each keeps its thread and start/end ; Edit › Select Same Stitch Type; Object › Path › Reverse Direction sews a path from its other end. - Test swatches Object › Test Swatches… : copies of the selection in a grid, one setting spacing, length, pull compensation, satin width, fill angle stepped from a value to another, each lettered with its value, to stitch out and compare on the real fabric. - View › Density Map tints where stitches pile up yellow from 2.5 per mm², red at 4 , and View › Sewing Order numbers the objects on the canvas. - Fabric preset, hoop, Remove overlaps and Cap order in the Document panel. Preview on your hat's color. - Issues list status bar : problems link to the object. Satins show their rails on the canvas. - Sewing order: Earlier/Later. Stitch player Space . Undo/redo everything. - Save Ctrl/⌘ S writes settings into the SVG; Export PES/DST/EXP/JEF/VP3/PEC/PEN or a worksheet HTML: picture, size, time, every color stop with the nearest Brother and Janome thread ; Send to Skitch . - Measuring and units. Measure I works like VectorCraft's: drag between two points to read the distance, angle, width and height. The ends snap to points, edges and the hoop or to the grid when it's on , Shift keeps the line to 45°, and the reading stays until the next drag Escape clears it . View › Units, or the unit menu in the status bar, shows sizes, positions, distances and the grid in millimeters, centimeters, inches, points or pixels SVG pixels, 1/96 in, as files are read ; it's remembered between launches. Any length field also takes a typed unit or a sum 1/4 in , 25.4mm , 10+5 . The grid ⌘' follows the unit, inches in halves down to 1/32, and labels its major lines along the canvas's top and left edges from the hoop's center. Stitch settings spacing, density, pull compensation stay in millimeters. - Picks up where you left off. Quit or crash and reopen: the same files come back, every tab with any unsaved changes, the zoom and the selection, and the same tab in front. Changes are kept as you work session.json and one recovery file per tab, recovery.svg , recovery-2.svg …, in ZigZag's settings folder ~/Library/Application Support/ZigZag , each written whole or not at all , never written into your file until you save. Opening the app with a file skips this. If the app went down while bringing a document back, the next launch keeps it aside as recovery-crashed.svg instead of trying again and an unreadable one as recovery-unreadable.svg , and says so in the status bar. A job on the Skitch comes back too: the design last sent is kept sent.json , the Skitch window reopens if it was open and reconnects, and once the machine reports that design its progress shows on it again the machine keeps the design and where the needle is; Stop ends the job on both . The studio runs an MCP server on http://127.0.0.1:7878/mcp Streamable HTTP, localhost only, Origin-checked . Agents edit the live document you're looking at the tab in front , and every call is one undo step. MCP in the status bar bottom right, next to the Skitch shows whether agents can reach the studio: a gray dot while it waits, green once a client has connected, blue and pulsing while calls come in, red if the server couldn't start. Click it for the address, the commands to connect Claude Code and Claude Desktop with Copy buttons , the clients that have connected, the recent tool calls failed ones in red, with the error on hover and the tools on offer. Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http zigzag http://127.0.0.1:7878/mcp Claude Desktop / stdio clients claude desktop config.json : { "mcpServers": { "zigzag": { "command": "/path/to/zigzag-mcp" } } } zigzag-mcp forwards to the running studio. Use --port N if you changed it. With "args": "--headless" it works without the app open: the same tools on a document no one is watching zigzag-studio --mcp-stdio , kept only when the agent saves or exports it. Tools: - get design , add svg place/scale artwork in mm , set object , delete object , move object - transform objects size, scale, rotate, mirror, move , duplicate objects - add text , edit text , list fonts - set document fabric, hoop, overlaps, cap order, preview color , group colors - render preview returns a PNG of the stitches , check design , get svg , select - open file SVG, machine file or image, in a tab of its own , list documents , switch document , new document , undo , save , export machine formats or html worksheet , send to skitch , machine status - trace image PNG/JPEG logo → shapes, colors snapped to a thread chart , round corners , simplify VectorCraft's 0–100 levels, or Auto , clean up - batch : several calls in one, all or nothing and one undo step; later steps can use earlier results "$0.added.0.name" Arguments a tool doesn't take are refused with the ones it does a misspelt widht mm isn't silently ignored , and each tool says whether it only reads. Try asking: "Draw a 50 mm round badge with mountains and a sun for my thin cotton cap, check it, and show me the preview." zigzag convert logo.svg -o logo.pes -o logo.jef -o preview.png -o sheet.html --fabric thin-cap --hat zigzag convert old.dst -o old.pes machine files convert too zigzag convert logo.png -o logo.pes PNG/JPEG logos are traced first zigzag info logo.svg stats + checks zigzag fabrics list presets zigzag skitch info | status needs --features ble zigzag skitch send logo.svg --trace Export with File → Export → Export As → SVG Styling: Presentation Attributes, Object IDs: Layer Names . Outline text, or it falls back to system fonts. Opening the ZigZag-saved SVG back in Illustrator keeps the settings in the layer names. Name layers or objects to set their stitching. Illustrator's x3D -style escapes are decoded, and group settings apply to everything inside the group. | Token | Meaning | |---|---| | fill satin run skip | stitch type | | a=45 | fill angle degrees | | s=0.3 | row / zigzag spacing mm | | l=3 | max stitch length mm | | pc=0.2 | pull compensation mm per side | | w=3 | satin width mm | | border | satin along a filled shape's outline instead of across it | | u=0 | underlay off | | ul=center+contour+zigzag | satin underlay passes ul=none | | ss=0 | short stitches off | | r=3 | running passes 3 = bean | | contour blanket applique manual | the other stitch types | | split=7 | satin auto-split length mm ; split=0 off | | t=e8a33c | thread color override | | o=2 | sewing order | | stroke.… | applies only to the stroke of an object that also has a fill, e.g. stroke.run | Example layer names: logo fill a=45 s=0.35 , title satin , outline stroke.satin stroke.w=1.5 . The Skitch window the toolbar's Send button or File › Send to Skitch… runs the whole job, like a slicer's device page follows a print: the design on the left, what to do on the right, and the steps across the top Connect · Home · Send · Trial · Sew · Done . - Connect and pair. It scans for the Skitch. The first time, hold the Skitch's Bluetooth button until it beeps, then Connect or Try Again ; if the computer asks to pair, accept. On a Mac the Skitch never appears in System Settings › Bluetooth it's a Bluetooth LE device : it pairs when ZigZag connects. Allow ZigZag to use Bluetooth if macOS asks Privacy & Security › Bluetooth . Close Artspira first: the Skitch talks to one app at a time. - Home. A machine just turned on asks to be homed frame off, Accept, frame back on ; the window shows the steps and moves on when it's done. - Send: the hoop with the design where it will sew: As Placed where it sits in the studio's hoop, so you can put it high on a cap or Centered ; the threads to have ready, in sewing order, by Brother Embroidery name and number; a "before you sew" checklist; Send Design. - Trial run Brother's name for it; on by default after sending : press Accept on the machine and the needle goes around the design's outline without sewing, so you can check it clears the frame's magnets, seams and the brim. Trial Again whenever you rehoop. - Sew: Start, then press Start on the machine. The picture shows what's sewn, faded where it hasn't been yet, with the needle and the thread on now; under it, a timeline of the threads with the needle's place. The side shows progress, time left, the thread on now and the next one, and at each thread change exactly which thread to put on. The canvas and the status bar follow along too. - Start / Pause / Stop. Start or Resume, or Sew Again readies the machine; Pause is the Skitch's own Start/Stop button it can't be paused over Bluetooth ; Stop ends the job, taking the design off the machine. While paused, drag along the timeline or step the needle by 1, 10 or 100 stitches or back to the thread's start, then Resume. - Errors say what they are and what to do thread breaks, bobbin, needle plate, frame . After a thread break the needle goes back over the gap 6 stitches for the top thread, 2 for the bobbin, as Artspira does . - Minimize it – to keep working while it stitches: the canvas is your design again, and the machine's icon at the right of the status bar shows what it's doing and how far, with a small bar click it to bring the window back . The window comes back by itself when the machine needs you: a thread change, an error, or the end. - The ••• menu also links to Brother's Skitch how-to videos threading, the bobbin, the frame, a thread break, tension, cleaning . - The window's ••• menu can connect to a simulated machine , which does each step on the machine by itself, to try it all without a Skitch. Agents can send to skitch and follow along with machine status . The protocol was reverse-engineered see NOTICE , so avoid firmware updates. Thread tension isn't a Bluetooth setting on the Skitch: it's the tension dial on the machine. Speed is fixed about 400 stitches a minute . The machine does report a block of settings, and Artspira has a settings screen, so two tools are here for working out what else it can do: - Settings bytes in the Skitch window, under the machine's details : reads the settings block the machine reports. Read it, disconnect, change one setting in Artspira, close Artspira, reconnect and read again: the bytes that changed are marked. Every read is kept in skitch-settings.log beside the panel layout. On the command line: zigzag skitch settings --label "what changed" --log settings.log . - zigzag capture FILE lists the Skitch conversation in a Bluetooth recording of Artspira, by command name, with changed settings bytes in brackets --all for the upload and polling too, --raw for every ATT operation . It reads both: - iPhone: install Apple's Bluetooth logging profile on the phone developer.apple.com › Bug Reporting › Profiles and Logs , restart it, plug it into the Mac, and in PacketLogger Apple's Additional Tools for Xcode choose File › New iOS Trace; save the trace .pklg . - Android: Developer options › Enable Bluetooth HCI snoop log, then adb bugreport and take btsnoop hci.log from it. Writing settings stays out of ZigZag until a layout is known and a write of the machine's own settings, unchanged, reads back the same. Checked against Ink/Stitch https://inkstitch.org/ 's features and tool docs: | Ink/Stitch | ZigZag | |---|---| | Running, bean, manual stitch; satin column two rails with rungs , E-stitch; tatami, contour, circular spiral fill | ✓ | | Ripple, meander, cross-stitch and tartan fills; S-stitch, zigzag and multicolor satin | ✓ | | Params per object with fabric-aware defaults; start/end commands; trim and stop commands | ✓ Stitch panel's Sewing row | | Auto-route travel inside fills, underpath along the outline , Jump to Stroke | ✓ document's Connect gaps | | Simulator, stitch plan preview, density map, stacking-order labels | ✓ | | Lettering system fonts, arcs, text on a path, multi-line, case, scale , thread palettes, Match All, thread kits | ✓ Brother and Janome charts | | Duplicate params, select by type, flip satin direction, test swatches, cleanup, troubleshoot Issues | ✓ | | Import stitch files and edit at stitch level; PES/DST/EXP/JEF/VP3/PEC | ✓ | | Gradient fill, guided fill; redwork, cutwork; pre-digitized fonts; 60+ thread brands; PDF print | not yet | Checked against Wilcom Hatch's core feature set: | Hatch | ZigZag | |---|---| | Tatami, satin, run/triple run, contour fill, blanket, appliqué, manual stitches | ✓ | | Auto underlay, pull compensation, auto spacing, satin auto-split, short stitches | ✓ | | Fabric settings that set densities and compensation | ✓ 4 presets | | Lettering with TrueType fonts, straight, arc and path baselines, typed on the canvas | ✓ system fonts | | Select, move, resize, rotate, mirror, duplicate, copy/paste, align to hoop | ✓ | | Digitize shapes and manual stitches by hand | ✓ pen tool | | Remove overlaps, color sequencing, re-order objects | ✓ | | Stitch player, show needle points, grid, measure | ✓ | | Open and save PES, DST, EXP, JEF, VP3 | ✓ VP3 write only | | Production worksheet | ✓ HTML | | Auto-digitize bitmaps | ✓ Image Trace: flat logos, posterized photos, centre lines | | Built-in embroidery fonts, monogramming, multi-hooping, motif/pattern fills, 3D foam | not yet | Verified: - 136 library tests, 153 editor/MCP tests UI interactions via egui kittest, a full agent workflow, a real HTTP JSON-RPC session, atomic batches, the Skitch flow against a simulated machine , with and without Bluetooth built in, plus the 222 tests of the vendored Image Trace. - Every writer PES, DST, EXP, JEF, VP3 reads back through pyembroidery with identical stitch positions; our readers read pyembroidery-written files. - PEN output checked against hand-computed sequences. - Studio run on Mesa OpenGL and driven by an agent over MCP. Not yet run against a real Skitch. Start the studio with ZIGZAG CAPTURE=<folder and ⌃⌥⌘S saves the window as a full-resolution PNG; ⌃⌥⌘R starts and stops recording it. packaging/media/encode.sh <folder /take-001 demo turns a recording into demo.mp4 and demo.gif needs ffmpeg . See NOTICE https://github.com/simpsoka/zigzag/blob/main/NOTICE , and THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md https://github.com/simpsoka/zigzag/blob/main/THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md for the licenses of the libraries ZigZag is built from regenerate it with packaging/licenses/generate.sh after changing dependencies . PES/PEC/DST layouts and the Brother palette are from pyembroidery https://github.com/EmbroidePy/pyembroidery MIT . Image Trace is vendored from VectorCraft https://github.com/storytold/vectorcraft MIT OR Apache-2.0 , whose curve fitting, live corners, snap targets and colour difference were also ported see vendor/README.md . Tatami, satin and short-stitch approaches follow Ink/Stitch https://inkstitch.org .