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The nucleocapsid (N) protein is a suitable candidate for early diagnosis of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV). Here, we identified the linear B-cell epitopes of the PEDV N-protein by integrating a computational-experimental framework and constructed three-dimensional (3D) structure model of the N protein using the ColabFold program in Google Colaboratory. Furthermore, we prepared the monoclonal antibodies against the predicted epitopes and recombinant N protein, respectively, and selected pairing mAbs (named 9C4 and 3C5) to develop a double-antibody sandwich immunochromatographic test strip using CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs)-labelled 9C4 and 3C5 as capture and detection antibodies, respectively. This strip can specifically detect PEDV within 10 min with a detection limit of less than 6.25 × 103 TCID 50 /mL. In comparison with RT-PCR for testing 90 clinical samples, the relative sensitivity and specificity of the strip were found to be 98.0% and 100%, respectively, with a concordance rate of 98.9% and a kappa value of 0.978, indicating that QDs-ICTS is a reliable method for the application of PEDV detection in clinical samples. • Discovery of novel B-cell liner epitopes in the N protein of PEDV in silico. • Preparation of mAbs against predicted epitopes and recombination N protein of PEDV. • A quantum dot-based immunochromatographic test strip was developed to detect PEDV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]