Altium MCP Suite

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MCP servers that let an AI read and edit your Altium schematics, PCBs, and libraries. You keep Altium open; the AI works on the project you have open, live.

Windows · Python 3.12 · Tested live on Altium Designer 26

What it can do

• Read and edit the open schematic: add components, draw wires, place net labels and power ports, edit parameters, pull a BOM or netlist.

• Work the PCB: move components, lay tracks and vias, check placement clearances, panelize.

• Audit the design: orphan net labels, floating ports, unconnected IC pins, missing decoupling caps, designator collisions, off-grid parts — or 33 lint checks in one call, with optional DRC.

• Check connectivity with four read-only tools: snapshot pin-to-net assignments (SHA-256 digest), per-pin contracts (expected net, or intentional NC with a reason), before/after diffs, and schematic↔PCB pad parity in both directions.

• Calculate trace width, impedance, and length budgets. These are calculators, not a signal-integrity proof.

• Read and write .SchLib / .PcbLib library files.

• Manage native assembly variants by GUID, bulk-update fitted states, and export their component matrix. Changes use project backups and native readback; see the variant workflow.

• Two bridges, one script engine: a shared lock keeps the two Python bridges from fighting over Altium's script engine, and every request carries an ID so a late answer to an old request is never accepted.

• Concurrent clients: a local FIFO service admits native commands in order; health traffic yields to queued work. pcb_capture_snapshot reads components, nets and pad assignments in one native pass. Clients can then use design_read_snapshot and design_analyze_snapshot concurrently without occupying Altium. Snapshots are historical evidence, not live edit preconditions. See usage and measured limits.

• Script projects have distinct EDA/legacy names. On EDA startup, verified older generated projects are closed; edited sources are retained. Lifecycle checks.

Related MCP server: CDT-KiCAD

What's still in development

• Placement assistance: batch placement and clearance checks work; finer placement tooling is still being worked on.

• Bridge reliability: every known DelphiScript crash gets fixed or guarded, but new ones still surface — this is ongoing.

• Validation so far is on Altium Designer 26; other versions haven't been exercised yet.

Current limitations

• Native batch edits can leave partial changes after a failure; undo grouping does not guarantee rollback. Save a copy before bulk edits.

• Experimental. Some operations can crash Altium's DelphiScript engine and stop the polling loop — back up your design before letting the AI edit it.

• Native save and script-backed UI commands can wait during a handler. The loop releases the engine after about two idle seconds; background pings do not extend that deadline. The next coordinated tool call restarts it automatically.

• EDA JSON parameters above U+00FF (Ω, Chinese text) are rejected before dispatch to prevent silent ? substitution. Full Unicode transport is not implemented.

• The EDA transport preserves UNC paths; access to the share depends on Windows permissions.

• proj_sync_pcb requires allow_modal=True; the schematic→PCB ECO still opens an interactive dialog.

• The connectivity checkers verify pin assignments, not copper. They can't see data you didn't feed them.

• An open modal dialog blocks script commands; Win32 dialog diagnostics remain available. Busy handlers reject new dispatch. Timed-out requests are withdrawn if not yet consumed; in-flight edits cannot be cancelled, so inspect the design before retrying.

Setup

See transport checks and manual recovery for unresolved script ownership after a timeout or engine fault.

Install Git, Python 3.12, and Altium on Windows. Use your own Altium path.

git clone https://github.com/M-R-Abedini/Altium-MCP-Suite.git
Set-Location Altium-MCP-Suite
python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -r requirements.txt
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe setup.py --altium-exe "C:\Program Files\Altium\AD26\X2.EXE"

Merge the generated mcp.local.json (or codex.local.toml) into your MCP client config and restart its connections. Open your project in Altium and call app_context to check the bridge.

For a smaller tool list, pass --toolset minimal to setup.py or the EDA server. Discover an operation with tool_catalog(query="...", with_schema=True), then call tool_invoke(name="...", arguments={...}). All operations remain available; schemas load on demand with the same input validation as full mode. See measured latency and tool-list size.

Push-Location altium-designer-mcp
cargo build --release --locked
Pop-Location
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe setup.py --altium-exe "C:\Program Files\Altium\AD26\X2.EXE" --library-dir "D:\MyProject\Libraries"

The library server is optional (needs the pinned Rust toolchain + VS C++ build tools). Repeat --library-dir for more directories.

Questions and contributions

Ask setup and usage questions in Q&A. For bugs and feature requests, use Issues. See the contributing guide for development setup, tests, translations, and crediting collaborators.

License

Suite glue: MIT. EDA backend: Apache-2.0; legacy backend: MIT; Rust library backend: GPL-3.0-or-later. See license scope and exceptions and upstream snapshots.