Schematic capture or schematic entry is a step in the design cycle of electronic design automation at which the electronic diagram, or schematic of the designed electronic circuit is created by a designer. This is done interactively with the help of a schematic capture tool also known as schematic editor.

The process of drawing the initial schematic design for an electronic product. In more modern terms, we talk of "front end" design rather than schematic capture, which encompasses the initial though processes and engineering research associated with the product design, including but not limited to Schematic Drawing, Simulation, Design Rules Development, and unified synchronization between schematic, PCB, Programmable Logic, and embedded source code through a correct Engineering Change Order process.