kicad-mcp

An MCP server for KiCad 10 on Windows. Gives an LLM live access to the board open in KiCad, file-based access to schematics, symbol library search, schematic generation from a firmware pinout, and a scripting escape hatch for everything else.

Verified against KiCad 10.0.5, API 10.0.1, kicad-python 0.7.1, mcp 2.0.0.

Why a venv built from KiCad's own Python

pcbnew is a C extension compiled against CPython 3.11's ABI and KiCad's native libraries, so it only loads in KiCad's bundled interpreter. A venv created from that interpreter reuses the same binary, so it can import pcbnew, while pip adds kipy and the MCP SDK. One process, all three APIs, no cross-interpreter bridge.

Related MCP server: KiCad MCP Server

Install

"C:/Program Files/KiCad/10.0/bin/python.exe" -m venv --system-site-packages .venv

.venv/Scripts/python.exe -m pip install -e .

Then check the environment:

.venv/Scripts/python.exe -m kicad_mcp doctor

doctor reports every dependency, whether the IPC server is enabled, whether KiCad is running, and a remedy for anything that fails.

MCP client configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kicad": {
      "command": "C:\\Workspace\\mcp_kicad\\.venv\\Scripts\\python.exe",
      "args": ["-m", "kicad_mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Tools

Environment — kicad_status

Live PCB (needs KiCad running with the PCB editor open) — get_board_summary, list_footprints, get_footprint, list_nets, get_layers, get_stackup, get_selection, list_tracks_vias, list_zones

Schematic (files; works with KiCad closed) — open_schematic, list_schematic_symbols, find_project_files, schematic_netlist, run_erc, export_bom, export_schematic, run_drc

Symbol libraries — list_symbol_libraries, search_symbols, get_symbol_pins

Generation — create_pinout_schematic

Editing existing schematics — add_symbol_to_schematic, mark_pins_unused, rewire_power_symbol, add_decoupling_capacitors

Escape hatch — run_kicad_script

Generating a schematic from a pinout

{
  "output": "C:/proj/esp32.kicad_sch",
  "mcu_lib_id": "RF_Module:ESP32-S3-MINI-1",
  "assignments": {"IO4": "LED_STATUS", "GPIO_8": "SPI_MOSI", "io9": "SPI_MISO"}
}

Pin matching ignores case, underscores and hyphens, so IO4, GPIO_4 and io4 all resolve to the same pin. Assigned pins get a wire and a net label; power pins get power symbols plus PWR_FLAG so ERC does not report undriven rails. Unmatched assignments are reported back rather than silently dropped.

The output is a normal .kicad_sch you can open and keep editing. It is written directly, so KiCad does not need to be running.

Two things to know about KiCad 10

The API only serves editors that are open. KiCad registers API handlers per editor window. If only the project manager is running, live PCB calls fail with "no handler available". The server translates that into a message telling you to open the PCB editor. Open it from the KiCad project manager, not as a standalone pcbnew.exe — the API socket is owned by one process, and a standalone editor is a different one.

There is no schematic IPC API in KiCad 10. This is not a binding bug. The 10.0 branch of schematic_commands.proto defines zero commands, and the full schematic type model exists only on master (KiCad 11 development). kipy 0.7.1 ships master-era Python wrappers against 10.0-era generated protobuf, which is why import kipy.schematic raises ImportError. Regenerating the protos would clear the import and still return "no handler available" on every call.

So schematic support here is file-based: kicad-cli plus direct .kicad_sch parsing. That has an upside — it works with KiCad closed, which is what makes schematic generation possible at all.

Seeing schematic changes if the file is already open

Because there's no live schematic API, a change any tool here makes to a .kicad_sch never reaches KiCad's in-memory copy on its own — KiCad only reads the file from disk when told to. If you have the schematic open while a tool edits it:

• Use File → Revert, not just switching windows or waiting. Revert is what makes KiCad re-read the file and show the change.

• Don't hit Save first. Saving from the GUI writes KiCad's in-memory state back over the file, discarding whatever the tool just wrote — the one order that loses work.

• If Revert isn't available or doesn't pick it up, close the schematic tab and reopen it from the project manager; that always re-reads from disk.

This applies in both directions: if you're editing by hand in KiCad, save from KiCad before asking for another file-based change, or the tool will act on a stale copy and your hand edits will be the ones lost.

The escape hatch

run_kicad_script executes Python with kicad, board, kipy, pcbnew, and sexpr pre-bound. It exists so the server covers the whole API surface without hundreds of thin tool wrappers, which measurably degrade tool selection.

This is arbitrary local code execution with your privileges. That is the deliberate trade for full API access. Run this server only against KiCad instances and files you trust.

Tests

.venv/Scripts/python.exe -m pytest -q

Tests marked requires_kicad need an installation for its symbol libraries. Live-IPC behaviour is verified manually — it needs a GUI session with a board open, which is not worth automating on Windows.

Scope

Windows only, by choice. discovery.InstallResolver is the single platform-aware seam, so adding macOS or Linux later means adding a resolver rather than threading sys.platform checks through the package.

License

MIT