MCP Kicad README

mcp-kicad — MCP server exposing KiCad PCB Editor functionality via IPC API.

Install

pip install mcp-kicad

Requirements

• KiCad 9.0 or higher with the IPC API server enabled
• Go to Preferences > Plugins in KiCad and enable the API server

Usage

The MCP server communicates with a running KiCad instance via the IPC API. Start KiCad first, then run the server:

mcp-kicad

Or configure it in your MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-kicad": {
      "command": "mcp-kicad",
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Tools

The server exposes the following tools:

• Connection: connect_kicad, check_connection
• Board: get_board_info, get_layers, get_board_design_settings
• Footprints: list_footprints, get_footprint, search_footprints
• Nets: list_nets, get_net, list_netclasses
• Zones: list_zones
• Tracks/Vias: list_tracks, list_vias
• Pads: list_pads
• Text: list_texts, get_text_extents
• Project: get_project, get_version

Example

from mcp_kicad import mcp_server

# Connect to running KiCad
result = mcp_server.connect_kicad()

# Get board info
board_info = mcp_server.get_board_info()
print(board_info)

# List all footprints
footprints = mcp_server.list_footprints()
for fp in footprints:
    print(f"{fp['reference']}: {fp['value']}")

Development

git clone https://github.com/daedalus/mcp-kicad.git
cd mcp-kicad
pip install -e ".[test]"

# run tests
pytest

# format
ruff format src/ tests/

# lint
ruff check src/ tests/

# type check
mypy src/

mcp-name: io.github.daedalus/mcp-kicad