PathfinderPrototyping · St. Paul MN

    Stream Deck + XL20GBX9901

    More commands than a keyboard can hold.

    Pathfinder Prototyping builds the layer between your hands and the software that runs your work. The line runs to 36 Stream Deck plugins, 35 live on the Elgato Marketplace and one more in review, covering CAD, PCB design, laser, 3D printing, photo, audio, and knowledge work. 3,914 commands, 231 dials and 166 profiles, built and tested on real hardware.

    Every plugin is built for one operating system and never both: 29 are Windows builds, 7 are native macOS builds, each written against what that platform actually exposes. Plugins are what is on the shelf today. The practice is prototyping the controls for whatever needs them next.

    The line

    One plugin per application, each one covering the whole application rather than a starter set of shortcuts. Filter the line and the deck above follows.

      The manifest

      Every plugin, its target application, and where it stands right now, in one table. 3,914 commands across the line.

      PluginDomainStatusNotes
      OrcaSlicer Hotkeys3D printingLive76 commands across 13 categories. Four dials.
      LightBurn HotkeysLaserLive123 commands across 17 categories. Live machine status over the network.
      KiCad HotkeysPCB designLive236 commands across 23 categories. Eight dials, live layer readout, auto page switching.
      Inkscape HotkeysVector designLive187 commands across 19 categories. Tool switching and canvas control.
      GIMP HotkeysImage editingLive100 commands across 12 categories.
      Obsidian HotkeysKnowledge workLive90 commands across 13 categories. Thirteen dials, six of them reading the vault live.
      PureRef HotkeysReference boardsLive169 commands across 14 categories. Mode-aware drawing keys.
      Plasticity HotkeysCAD modelingLive167 commands across 14 categories. Custom key art, per-key sounds.
      FreeCAD HotkeysParametric CADLive330 commands across 27 categories, from sketching through FEM and CAM.
      Windows Terminal HotkeysDevelopmentLive62 commands across 14 categories. Wheel-scroll scrub on the dial, Easy Link built in.
      Clipchamp HotkeysVideo editingLive17 commands across 5 categories. Deck control inside a browser-based app that ordinary shortcut tools do not reach.
      SOLIDWORKS HotkeysMechanical CADLive93 commands across 10 categories. Native SOLIDWORKS API routing.
      Claude Complete ControllerAI toolingIn Marketplace reviewSession monitoring and control for Claude Code.
      Phone Link HotkeysPhone controlLiveFree. 18 commands across 4 categories. Android battery, media, and toggle keys read live and confirm from the phone itself.
      Onshape HotkeysCloud CADLive104 commands across 13 categories. Live document and tab readout.
      Bambu Studio Hotkeys3D printingLive78 commands across 12 categories. Nine dials plus a print telemetry strip.
      Excalidraw HotkeysWhiteboardingLive67 commands across 6 categories. Four dials and a live active-tool readout.
      OneNote CommanderNote takingLive123 commands across 13 categories. Dials show the live page and section.
      Sound SamplerAudio captureLiveFree. Record what your PC is playing, then use the clips as key sounds anywhere in the line.
      Krita CompleteDigital paintingLive132 commands across 13 categories. Seven dials that write absolute values.
      Darktable CompletePhoto editingLive134 commands across 14 categories. Eight dials, optional Lua bridge.
      Easy LinkProfile switchingLiveFree. Hold one key and the app in front gets its own named profile, switched in automatically.
      xTool Laser DeckLaser designLive58 commands across 7 categories. Six dials for canvas zoom, pan, history and pixel nudging.
      RawTherapee CompleteRaw developingLive104 commands across 10 categories. Eight dials, plus two keys that read what is loaded.
      3D Builder Commander3D modelingLive52 commands across 8 categories. Emboss text onto a model from one key.
      Shapr3D Studio DeckDirect modelingLive65 commands across 9 categories. A tool ring that arms before it fires, plus a numpad on the larger decks.
      Paint.NET Studio DeckImage editingLive71 commands across 9 categories. Nineteen tool keys that select the exact tool, not the next one in the cycle.
      REAPER Control RoomAudio productionLive124 commands across 11 categories. Sends REAPER its own command ids, so actions with no default shortcut work on a stock install.
      Obsidian macOS Master CommanderKnowledge workLive90 commands across 13 categories, on macOS. Unbound commands run by name through Obsidian's command line interface.
      Shapr3D macOS Studio DeckDirect modelingLive84 commands across 12 categories, on macOS. Tool and constraint rings on the touch screen, both orbit axes on dials.
      macOS Terminal CompleteDevelopmentLive79 commands across 11 categories, on macOS. Writes go to the plugin's own Terminal window, so a stray press never lands in your working shell.
      GIMP macOS Studio DeckImage editingLive107 commands across 12 categories, on macOS. Eleven of thirteen dials read brush size, opacity, and the selected layer live from GIMP.
      FreeCAD macOS Studio ProParametric CADLive330 commands across 27 categories, on macOS. 212 multi-key chord sequences each fire whole from a single key.
      KiCad macOS Studio DeckPCB designLive235 commands across 23 categories, on macOS. Track width, via size and grid read live from KiCad, and a command with no verified chord refuses instead of firing.
      REAPER macOS Control RoomAudio productionLive124 commands across 11 categories, on macOS. 77 keys send REAPER its own command ids, 34 of them for actions with no default shortcut.
      Microsoft Paint CommanderImage editingLive86 commands across 10 categories. Keys press Paint's own buttons and sliders by identity through UI Automation, and six dials read back what Paint holds.
      Browse the store Our Elgato Marketplace page

      Every plugin has its own page with screens, specs, and support notes. Names in the table above go straight to the Elgato listing.

      What we build

      We move the commands that matter onto hardware, and write the software behind them. Plugins are what ships today. The practice travels to whatever needs prototyping next.

      Off the shelf

      Stream Deck plugins

      Command catalogs that cover the whole application rather than a starter set of shortcuts, organized into task categories so an operator finds the key without a manual. Tested on real hardware before release.

      Built in

      State-aware control

      Keys that read the application back: a laser key that shows job status over the network, PCB keys that know the active layer, keys that name the open document. State lives on the key, not in your head.

      Built to order

      Custom development

      Your team runs software nobody has built controls for. We take on custom plugin and workflow-tooling builds. Each one starts with a paid assessment of your application, so the scope is known before the build begins.

      Beyond the deck

      Plugins are what you can buy today. The rest is commissioned: automation, AI systems, and production tooling for shops and benches.

      Infrastructure

      AI operations tooling

      We build the tooling that keeps automated work visible: the job shows its state while it runs, and a person can interrupt it or take it over at any point. No black boxes on the bench.

      Automation

      Control without an API

      Plenty of professional software ships with nothing to automate against. We build control for those applications anyway, steady enough that a shop can run its daily workflow on top of it.

      Art direction

      Icon systems

      A locked visual language held across hundreds of marks, so a full set reads as one instrument instead of a pile of clip art. The style gets set once, then held.

      Embedded AI

      AI on the prototyping bench

      Delivered for a medical-device prototyping shop: an AI workstation that sits where the work happens, next to load cells, stepper motors, and firmware, rather than in a browser tab.

      Atoms & bits

      Pathfinder Prototyping is a product studio in St. Paul, run by a maker who crossed into AI. The direction of travel matters: years of fabrication, 3D printing, and shop-floor problem solving, now aimed at the software those trades run on.

      "I build AI systems for the people who make things. I came up through fabrication and 3D printing, so I know what the bench actually needs. Most software isn't written for shops and workbenches. Mine is. New tools for old problems."
      Tony, founder

      Your app. Your deck.

      Your team runs software nobody has built controls for. That is the same problem every plugin on this page started as, and the answer is the same: learn the application, find the commands that actually cost time, and put them under a hand.

      The work is not limited to Stream Deck. The deck is the surface this shop knows best, and the practice underneath it is prototyping the control layer for a tool that does not have one yet.

      Custom work starts with a paid feasibility assessment: a written report on what a deck can control in your application, and what state it can read back. You decide after the report, not before. If your application cannot do what you want, the report says so plainly and nothing further gets scoped.

      Start with an assessment
      1. 01

        Assessment

        A paid look at your application: what it exposes, what can be read back, and what a control surface could honestly do. You get the findings whether or not you build.

      2. 02

        Build

        The command catalog, the categories, the profiles for the devices your team owns, and the state readouts the application will support.

      3. 03

        Hardware test

        Every key pressed on a real device before it ships. Nothing here has been tested only in a simulator.

      Tell us what you run

      Find any command

      The same index the deck at the top of this page runs on, searched as you type. Hotkeys appear exactly as the application ships them, and the commands an application gives no shortcut for are marked rather than hidden.

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