Three groups, so you can skip straight to yours.
Every answer here is about what the tool already does, not what it might do later.
The product
What does StackDesign actually do?
It plans a wall of cabinets sized exactly to the Systainers you own. You enter your wall width, add the Systainers you have, and it auto-builds each cabinet to fit - trays, clearances and slides included - with a to-scale sketch and a cut list ready to send to the Cut List Optimizer for sheet layouts.
How is this different from CabDesign?
They are two tools from the same shop, built on the same engine. StackDesign, this one, plans workshop storage sized to the Systainers you already own. CabDesign designs whole rooms of custom cabinetry - kitchens, islands, built-ins - from the wall up. The materials library, the hardware library and the Cut List Optimizer are the same on both, and one sign-in works on both sites.
Which Systainers does it know?
217 Systainers today, across Festool, Benchdogs UK, Lamello, TSO Products and UJK. Each one carries its real footprint, so the cabinet is sized to actually hold it with working drawer slides. More Systainer families are on the way.
Which brands are in the inventory?
The inventory holds 217 Systainers today, and it keeps growing. The brands in it right now are Festool, Benchdogs UK, Lamello, TSO Products and UJK. New Systainer families get added as they are measured, so a brand that is not on the list yet is usually waiting on a set of real measurements.
Is this Festool-only, or can I mix brands?
Not Festool-only. A single cabinet can hold a mix of brands side by side, each Systainer with its own badge, because the sizing math works from every Systainer's own measured footprint rather than from who made it.
What is a sysport?
Sysport is what the Festool forums call a cabinet built to hold Systainers on pull-out trays. The name comes from Festool's own SYS-PORT, a rolling Systainer cabinet the company sells, and woodworkers borrowed it for the ones they build themselves. That is what this planner sizes, whether you call it a sysport, a Systainer wall or a bank of drawers.
Are you affiliated with Festool or TANOS?
No. This is an independent planning tool. SYSTAINER is a registered trademark of TANOS GmbH, and Festool is a separate brand. We name them only to say which Systainers the planner is sized for. We are not endorsed by or connected to either company.
Do I need to install anything?
No. It runs in your web browser on a computer or a tablet. Your projects are saved to your account, so they follow you between machines.
Do I need CAD or drafting skills?
No. It is a drag-and-drop planner, not a CAD program. New projects open in a Simple mode that shows only the common controls with shop-ready defaults behind everything else, and the one-click "Fill wall" and "Place my Systainers" buttons do the layout for you.
Is there an example project so I can see a finished plan first?
Yes. The first time you open the planner on a new account it loads a finished sample - a laundry-room Systainer wall with real materials assigned - so you can pull apart a complete plan and edit it toward your own job instead of starting blank.
Can I choose my own materials?
Yes. Materials live in a shared library you add to once, and every component picks one: the carcass, the back, the nailers, the stretchers, the trays and the shelves. One cabinet can mix 3/4 inch sides, a 1/4 inch back and 1/2 inch trays. Edgebanding is worked out per exposed edge rather than chosen per component.
Planning a wall
How do I tell it which Systainers I own?
The Stock view is a searchable shelf of the whole catalog - search by tool name, model or Festool order number and set the quantity you own. The Place view then shows your real inventory so you can drag (or keyboard-place) your Systainers into cabinets, and a to-buy readout tallies anything you placed but do not own yet.
Can I plan ahead if I don't own enough Systainers yet?
Yes. "Fill wall" builds cabinets for the space whether or not you own every Systainer, and the to-buy rollup tells you exactly which Systainers the plan uses that are not in your stock - a shopping list, not a blocker.
How does it decide how tall each cabinet is?
From the Systainers themselves. Systainer heights are standard sizes, and the cabinet derives its height from the real stack you place plus the tray and clearance each Systainer needs - so the cabinet fits the Systainers, never the other way around.
What is a tray, and what is SYS-AZ?
A tray is a shop-built pull-out: a flat bottom with two low side walls, riding on a pair of drawer slides you buy. SYS-AZ is Festool's own ready-made drawer for Systainers - pick it instead of a shop-built tray and the cabinet is cut to SYS-AZ's own opening spec. Two small (S-height) Systainers share one tray.
Can I mix Systainer sizes and cabinet depths in one run?
Yes on sizes: M, L and XXL footprints can live in the same wall, and the sketch draws them to scale. Cabinet depths in a mixed bank are declared per cabinet, and the plan says each cabinet's depth out loud rather than hiding one number behind another.
Does it handle upper (wall-hung) cabinets too?
Yes - the wall has a lower tier and an upper tier, and the parameter tabs say "Lower cabinets" and "Upper cabinets" in plain words. The Start-here card opens both tiers.
Can I get the cut list for the wall I planned?
Yes. The whole bank goes to the Cut List Optimizer in one step, where every part is arranged onto your sheets with the saw kerf and the edgebanding already taken out. It reports how many sheets you used and how much of them became parts, and it offers any usable offcut back as a remnant you can spend on the next job.
Plans and your account
What does the free beta include?
Everything. While the open beta runs you get the whole planner with no card needed: the full catalog, the sizing math, the stock list, the cut list and the sheet layout. Sign up, and the first thing you see is a finished sample wall you can take apart.
What does it cost after the beta?
Nothing costs money today. The beta runs until December 31, 2026. When it ends, your account moves onto a plan and the first month is free, with any months you banked from a bug reward or the 3FREE code added to it. It is nineteen dollars a month for unlimited projects, cancel any time, or a one-time payment of forty-nine dollars for a single project. If you saved a card during the beta, you were shown your exact first charge date and can cancel any time before it. If you never saved one, nothing is charged: your account moves to our free plan, where the planner stays open and cut lists come with a paid plan.
Where do I sign in?
Right here on stackdesign.app - sign-in stays on this site and lands you in the planner. One login is one person, and the same sign-in also works on cabdesign.app. Sign in on a second computer and the first one signs out - each person on a team has their own login and subscription.
Not covered here? How it works walks the five stages, pricing lays out all three plans, and support and guides has the step-by-step articles and a way to write to us. Want the full story behind the name? The sysport guide covers where SYS-PORT came from and what a shop-built one includes. Designing a kitchen rather than a tool wall? CabDesign keeps its own FAQ.
Your Systainer wall, sized right the first time.
Pick your Systainers, size the bank, cut the sheet. Free while the open beta runs, and no card to hand over first.
Start freeBuilt on the same engine as CabDesign, the full cabinet design suite from the same shop.