In the past ten years, superelastic Nitinol stents have been developed and commercialized for a wide variety of vascular and nonvascular indications. These cylindrical expanding structures are commonly modeled using sophisticated analytical techniques such as finite element analysis, but there is also a need for more simplified techniques to estimate performance and quickly iterate potential design choices. Nitinol stents can be reasonably modeled as a series of linear elastic beams, using closed form structural mechanics equations to effectively predict performance characteristics including radial stiffness, balanced diameter, and pulsatile fatigue durability. These design output characteristics, along with others such as scaffolding performance, surface area, expansion angles, and peak strains can be predicted as a function of design inputs such as constrained profile, expanded diameter, strut length, wall thickness, and number of struts around the circumference of the stent. Closed form solutions predicting the relationship between inputs and outputs allow the designer to quickly explore and balance tradeoffs between competing design objectives and constraints. The practical tools used to support such closed form design exploration have typically remained proprietary, as are the designs created by commercial manufacturers. There is a need, therefore, to provide templates and examples to enable new entrants to explore the potential benefits and constraints of new stent designs for new indications. An open source “Stent Calculator” is presented, along with a simple parametric stent design. The community is encouraged to use and modify these templates, and contribute improvements in the cooperative spirit of the creative commons.