Design Rules Reference
Rules are defined and configured in the PCB Rules and Constraints Editor
In Altium Designer, design rules are used to define the requirements of the design. These rules cover every aspect of the design – including routing widths, clearances, plane connection styles, routing via styles, and so on. Rules can be monitored as you work, and you can also run a batch test at any time to generate a DRC report.
Altium Designer design rules are not attributes of the objects, they are defined independently of the objects. Each rule has a scope that defines which objects it must target.
Rules are applied in a hierarchical fashion, for example, there could be a clearance rule for the entire board, then a clearance rule for a class of nets, then another for one of the pads in a class. Using the rule priority and the scope, the PCB Editor can determine which rule applies to each object in the design. This powerful and flexible design rule system gives the designer complete control over the specifications of their design.
This section describes each design rule; use the navigation tree on the left to locate a specific rule, or press F1 when the cursor is over that rule in the PCB Rules and Constraint Editor.
Rules are clustered into the following Rule Categories: