LiteralTypeScript · Deno · BrowserLiteral is a free online logic circuit simulator inspired by Logisim. Draw gates, connect memory and a CPU, and run small programs on a connected screen. No installation or account required.
If you have used Logisim or Logisim-evolution to learn digital logic, Literal offers a modern browser-native alternative for drawing circuits and exploring how a computer works. It is an independent project with reusable components, guided lessons, and live inspection down to gates and digital transistor switches.
Logisim-evolution is a desktop Java application with tools including timing diagrams, VHDL components, and hardware integration. Literal focuses on browser experiments and learning: FPGA export and Logisim .circ import are not currently supported.
Logisim-evolution documentation and features
Connect the clock, CPU, ALU, ROM, RAM, keyboard, and screen on one canvas. Instructions are fetched and executed by gate circuits. Write assembly into ROM, step the clock, and watch the results through the connected devices.
Discover starts with power, ground, and transistors. Its 23 courses introduce gates, adders, latches, memory, a CPU, BIOS, and graphics. Each lesson includes wiring hints and a circuit check. Playground gives you the full component library immediately.
See inside follows the live circuit through registers, individual bit cells, feedback latches, and NAND gates to digital CMOS switches. Save your own circuits as named components and reuse them with their input and output pins.
Use seven-segment displays, a pixel screen, mapped keyboard inputs, and a terminal. Inspect ROM and RAM, change clock frequency, and simplify Boolean expressions with the Karnaugh tool.
The simulation core is written in TypeScript and can be used separately from the interface. Computational components run gate networks; keyboard events, timing, assembly, and rendering are browser functions. Transistors use digital switch semantics, rather than analog electrical physics.
Literal uses its own .literal JSON format. Logisim .circ import is not implemented. You can recreate a circuit on the canvas and save it as a reusable component.
Yes. Literal runs in your browser without an account or installation. Circuits are saved locally in your browser, and you can download .literal files to keep or share them.
Yes. Connect a clock, CPU, gate ALU, ROM, RAM, keyboard, and screen. Load Literal 8 assembly into ROM and step the clock. Instruction control and storage run gate circuits. This is a teaching computer with its own instruction set, rather than an x86 emulator.