Altium Designer MCP

altium-designer-mcp

Let an AI build your Altium libraries — it does the engineering, this tool writes the files.

An MCP server that gives AI assistants (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Antigravity, VS Code Copilot — any MCP client) file I/O and primitive-placement tools for Altium Designer .PcbLib (footprint) and .SchLib (symbol) libraries — so the AI can create and maintain *any* component, not just pre-programmed packages.

---

The Problem

Building Altium component libraries by hand is slow and repetitive — every footprint means looking up IPC-7351B pad sizes, courtyards, and silkscreen, then placing each primitive by hand. AI assistants are excellent at exactly that reasoning, but they cannot write Altium's binary `.PcbLib`/`.SchLib` files — an undocumented OLE compound format that is easy to corrupt, and Altium silently refuses to open a malformed file.

---

The Core Idea

The AI handles the intelligence. The tool handles file I/O.

This means the AI can create any footprint — not just pre-programmed package types. See docs/VISION.md for the full architectural rationale.

---

Who Is This For?

Anyone who builds or maintains Altium component libraries and uses an MCP-capable AI assistant. The AI does the engineering (datasheet → dimensions → style); this server lets it read and write the actual .PcbLib / .SchLib files.

---

Quick Start

[Client Setup](docs/CLIENT_SETUP.md) — verified configuration for Claude Code, Claude

Desktop, Google Antigravity, Cursor, VS Code, GitHub Copilot CLI, Windsurf, Cline, Roo Code,

Kiro, JetBrains, Zed, Gemini CLI, Codex CLI, Continue, Goose, OpenCode and any other stdio

MCP client, plus troubleshooting — on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

[Using the server](docs/USAGE.md) — what to ask for once it is connected: example

workflows, prompts and tips, identical for every client.

---

How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐

│ AI-ASSISTED COMPONENT CREATION │ │ │ │ Engineer AI MCP Server │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ "Create 0603 resistor" │ │ │ │ ├────────────────────────►│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ AI reasons about: │ │ │ │ │ • IPC-7351B pad sizes │ │ │ │ │ • Courtyard margins │ │ │ │ │ • Silkscreen/symbol style │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ write_pcblib(primitives) │ │ │ │ ├─────────────────────────────►│ │ │ │ │ │ Writes │ │ │ │ │ .PcbLib + │ │ │ │ write_schlib(symbol) │ .SchLib files │ │ │ ├─────────────────────────────►│ │ │ │ │◄─────────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ │ { status: "success" } │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ "Done! Footprint │ │ │ │ │ and symbol created" │ │ │ │ │◄────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

---

MCP Tools

The server exposes 34 tools, working on both .PcbLib (footprints) and .SchLib (symbols). Every tool's full parameters and examples live in [docs/TOOLS.md](docs/TOOLS.md) — this is the categorised overview.

Read & write

Inspect & visualise

Compare

Edit in place

Manage components

Library operations

Backups & safety

Primitive Types

Footprint Primitives (PcbLib)

Pad Shapes and Pin 1 Indicator

The shape property on pads controls the copper shape. Use this to indicate pin 1:

Example — marking pin 1 with a rectangular pad:

{

"pads": [ { "designator": "1", "x": -0.75, "y": 0, "width": 0.9, "height": 0.95, "shape": "rectangle" }, { "designator": "2", "x": 0.75, "y": 0, "width": 0.9, "height": 0.95, "shape": "rounded_rectangle" } ] }

This follows the IPC-7351 convention where pin 1 has a distinct shape (typically rectangular or square corners) while other pads use rounded corners.

Symbol Primitives (SchLib)

| **