Plywood Planner Pro User Guide
1. What Plywood Planner Pro does
A cutting-layout app for planning how to cut furniture parts from plywood sheets (910 × 1820 mm). Register parts and place them on boards to see how many sheets you need and the yield, then export a PDF cutting diagram you can hand to a hardware store.<br><br>There is a Windows version and a browser version. Both keep your data locally (on your PC, or inside your browser).
2. Free vs Pro
The free version is for home and personal (non-commercial) use only; a Pro license is required for work use. The free version still covers registering parts, automatic layout, the cut list, PDF export and AI integration (MCP). Free PDF diagrams include a small "Made with Plywood Planner Pro Free · non-commercial use only" credit.<br><br>Pro is a one-time purchase of 10,000 yen (about US$70): it removes the credit and covers business use (carpenters, furniture sellers, selling plans). You can buy a key at desktop-utility.net/store/plywood; it arrives by email after payment and you paste it into Settings > License. Personal DIY projects can be completed entirely with the free version.
3. Register parts
In "Add a part" on the left, enter the furniture name, part name, width, height and quantity, then press "Add to list". New here? "Try the sample" loads a bookshelf example.<br><br>Sizes are the face size of the board in mm. Do not include board thickness in the width or height.
4. Place parts on boards (auto-place)
Use "Add all remaining" to send parts to the staging area and drag them onto a board. To place everything at once, press "Auto-place remaining parts".<br><br>Auto-place keeps different materials on separate boards and rotates parts that are wider than the board. The number of boards and the yield are shown at the top.
5. Save and export PDF
"Save" writes a design file (.ppproj) and "Open" loads one. Your work is also saved automatically and can be restored on the next launch.<br><br>"Export PDF" produces an A4 cutting diagram with dimensions, ready for a store's cutting service.
6. Let an AI make the parts list (AI import)
Copy the request under "AI import" and tell ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or similar what you want to build. Paste the answer and press "Check and import" to add the parts. You can undo the import in one click.
7. Let an AI do the whole design (MCP)
Under Settings > AI integration (MCP), register the app with your AI (Claude Code / Claude Desktop / Cursor / Antigravity). Then just ask "a 600 × 900 bookshelf in 15 mm linden" and the AI works out the part sizes, places them on boards, makes the cut list and opens it in this app. Requires Node.js.
8. Change the language and open this guide
In Settings, "Language" switches between 日本語, English, 中文, 한국어 and Español. Your choice is remembered. "Open the guide" opens this guide.
9. About the browser version
Use "Try in browser" on the product page to use the same screens without installing. Designs are saved automatically inside your browser, and PDFs are made with the browser's print function. AI integration (MCP) and saving files directly are Windows-only.