KiCad MCP Pro

KiCad MCP Pro is a Model Context Protocol server for KiCad EDA workflows. It exposes tools, resources, and prompts for schematic, PCB, validation, DFM, and manufacturing export automation.

Telemetry and error reporting are disabled by default. Opt-in OpenTelemetryconfiguration is documented indocs/configuration.md, and privacy rulesare documented in docs/privacy.md.

Scope and honesty

KiCad MCP Pro is a professional first-pass design and review assistant, not anautomated sign-off authority. ERC/DRC and the export pipeline drive KiCad's ownengines. The signal-integrity, power-integrity, EMC, and thermal tools arefirst-order, closed-form estimates (typically ~5–10% accuracy) — fast first-passreview, not a substitute for a 2D/3D field solver, EM/FEA simulation, or formalsign-off. Live component sourcing uses the JLCPCB public catalog by default; Nexar,DigiKey, and Mouser are available only when their API credentials are configured. Whatfraction of KiCad's programmatic surface the server drives is tracked openly in thecapability-parity matrix.

Project identity

Quick Start

Desktop App

Download the latest installer from theGitHub releases page.The Tauri desktop app starts the Python dashboard server automatically and opensthe GUI at http://127.0.0.1:3334/ui.

CLI

uvx kicad-mcp-pro init
uvx kicad-mcp-pro tray
uvx kicad-mcp-pro dashboard --open
uvx kicad-mcp-pro --transport streamable-http --port 3334

Web Dashboard

uvx kicad-mcp-pro dashboard --host 127.0.0.1 --port 3334 --open
# http://127.0.0.1:3334/ui

Documentation

The documentation is organized from setup to operation:

1. Installation
2. Client configuration
3. Runtime configuration
4. Tool reference
5. Workflows
6. Release process
7. Security and privacy
8. KiCad capability parity — how much of KiCad's programmatic surface this server drives
9. Error code catalog — stable error codes, retry classes, and recovery
10. Work-order audit — current status of the hardening work order

The kicad_capability_parity() tool reports, per workflow domain, what fraction ofKiCad's programmatically reachable surface this server can drive (currently 76.3%),keeping genuine gaps distinct from gui-only-no-api items that KiCad exposes noheadless API for.

The published documentation site is available athttps://oaslananka.github.io/kicad-mcp-pro/.

Transports

KiCad MCP Pro supports stdio and Streamable HTTP. Streamable HTTP is served at/mcp by default and can be moved with KICAD_MCP_MOUNT_PATH.

uvx kicad-mcp-pro --transport streamable-http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 3334

Streamable HTTP clients must send:

• Accept: application/json, text/event-stream
• Content-Type: application/json
• MCP-Protocol-Version: 2025-11-25 after initialization
• MCP-Session-Id on follow-up requests when KICAD_MCP_STATEFUL_HTTP=1

By default Streamable HTTP is stateless, so ChatGPT-style connectors caninitialize and call tools/list without a session-header injection proxy. SetKICAD_MCP_STATEFUL_HTTP=1 to require session IDs after initialize.

The deprecated HTTP+SSE fallback routes are disabled by default. SetKICAD_MCP_LEGACY_SSE=1 only for older clients that cannot use Streamable HTTP.

Install

corepack pnpm run dev:doctor -- --ci
uvx kicad-mcp-pro --help
npx kicad-mcp-pro --help

For source checkouts, corepack pnpm run dev:doctor validates Node, pnpm,Python, uv, MCP server CLI startup/version reporting, fixture corpus, protocolschemas, common development ports, and optional Cloudflare tunnel tooling.If repository commands fail with a uv required-version mismatch before Pythonstarts, run kicad-mcp-pro doctor --json and check the uv_version result. Thecheckout's uv.toml pins the supported uv release; switch to that version (forexample uv self update 0.10.8 when required) and rerun uv sync --all-extras --frozen.

Package metadata

The canonical metadata source of truth is server.json, which defines the MCP server contract. It is synchronized with pyproject.toml and verified in CI via pnpm run metadata:check.

Usage

Use kicad-mcp-pro --help to inspect CLI commands anddocs/client-configuration.md to configure anMCP client. The generated tool catalog is available indocs/tools-reference.generated.md.

Agent plugin and skills

This repository owns the product-level agent plugin and KiCad-specific skills forKiCad MCP Pro. The central agent-toolsrepository should catalog this plugin, but the manifest and workflow instructions livehere so they stay synchronized with the actual MCP server tools.

Agent setup

KiCad MCP Pro can be launched with the published Python package, npm wrapper, or thecontainer metadata declared in server.json. Common local starts are:

uvx kicad-mcp-pro --transport stdio
uvx kicad-mcp-pro --transport streamable-http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 3334
npx kicad-mcp-pro --help

For source checkouts, run the normal repository validation path before publishing pluginchanges:

corepack pnpm run metadata:check
python3 -m json.tool .claude-plugin/plugin.json >/dev/null

Validation workflow

Before listing this plugin as active from agent-tools, verify at least one compatibleagent runtime can:

1. Discover .claude-plugin/plugin.json.
2. Launch or connect to kicad-mcp-pro over stdio or Streamable HTTP.
3. Call kicad_get_server_info or kicad_get_project_info.
4. Load a skill from skills/ and follow the workflow without referencing missing tools.
5. Report ERC, DRC, DFM, export artifacts, assumptions, and human-review requirementsseparately.

KiCad MCP Pro is an engineering assistant, not an autonomous manufacturing sign-offauthority. Generated PCB and fabrication outputs require qualified human review beforefabrication or assembly.

Development

New contributors should start with ARCHITECTURE.md, which mapsthe five layers (transport → MCP protocol → orchestration → KiCad adapter seam →pure domain) and shows exactly how to add a new tool. The runtime model andquality-gate stack are documented indocs/development/architecture.md.

The project uses a Taskfile.yml for common development commands. Aftercloning the repository:

task install     # Install all dependencies (pnpm + uv)
task verify      # Run the local quality gate: lint → format → typecheck → test → build
task test        # Run unit tests only
task lint        # Run lint and metadata checks
task format      # Auto-format the codebase
task typecheck   # Run strict static type checking
task build       # Build release artifacts
task ci          # Run the local equivalent of the full CI pipeline
task hooks       # Install local git hooks

All changes must pass task verify before opening a pull request.

Contributing

Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request. Allchanges must pass the repository's format, lint, type-check, test, workflow,security, and package metadata gates.

License

KiCad MCP Pro is available under the MIT License.