In Magic, one uses a color graphics display and a mouse to design basic cells and to combine them hierarchically into larger structures. The Magic is more than just a color-painting tool: it understands quite a bit about the nature of circuits and uses this information to provide additional operations. For example, Magic has built-in knowledge of layout rules; as one is editing, it continuously checks for rule violations. Magic also knows about connectivity and transistors, and contains a built-in hierarchical circuit extractor. Magic also has a plow operation that one can use to stretch or compact cells. Lastly, Magic has routing tools to make the global interconnections in the circuits.

The only layers the designer needs to use are:

ndiff, pdiff, nwell

ndc, pdc, nwc, pwc, poly

nfet, pfet, m1, m2, via