KiCad MCP Pro

KiCad MCP Pro

Drive KiCad schematic, PCB, DRC/ERC, DFM, and manufacturing review from any MCP-capable AI agent.

Documentation · Installation · Quick Start · Tool Reference · AI Agent Setup · AI discovery · Ask DeepWiki

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.

The server now starts with the bounded default profile: 24 read-only review tools instead of the complete expert catalog. Use build with write mode for controlled edits, release with manufacturing mode for human-gated handoff, or expert/full only for advanced trusted clients. Current catalog counts and context-size estimates come from docs/evidence/progressive-disclosure-profile-snapshot.json; see docs/agents/progressive-disclosure.md.

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

Scope and honesty

KiCad MCP Pro is a professional first-pass design and review assistant, not an automated sign-off authority. ERC/DRC and the export pipeline drive KiCad's own engines. The signal-integrity, power-integrity, EMC, and thermal tools are first-order, closed-form estimates (typically ~5–10% accuracy) — fast first-pass review, not a substitute for a 2D/3D field solver, EM/FEA simulation, or formal sign-off. Live component sourcing uses the JLCPCB public catalog by default; Nexar, DigiKey, and Mouser are available only when their API credentials are configured. What fraction of KiCad's programmatic surface the server drives is tracked openly in the capability-parity matrix. Raw tool count and capability coverage are inventory metrics, not the headline product-quality measure. End-to-end task outcome, mutation recovery, corruption, required DRC execution, and manufacturing reproducibility are the outcome KPIs. The committed native-live example evidence intentionally reports insufficient_evidence; representative-corpus target attainment remains separate until the qualification work in #730 is complete.

Project identity

Quick Start

Desktop App

Download the latest installer from the GitHub releases page. The Tauri desktop app starts the Python dashboard server automatically and opens the GUI at http://127.0.0.1:3334/ui. Desktop releases launch the matching exact backend version and verify its desktop compatibility handshake before use; see Installation.

CLI (recommended)

Install the CLI once with uv, then use the same command on Windows PowerShell, macOS, or Linux:

uv tool install kicad-mcp-pro

kicad-mcp-pro --version kicad-mcp-pro setup kicad-mcp-pro doctor

setup guides the local MCP client configuration without requiring a Cloud account. For scripts, use kicad-mcp-pro setup --agent claude-code; the existing init and quickstart aliases remain supported.

To check for a stable update or safely remove a CLI installation:

kicad-mcp-pro update check

kicad-mcp-pro uninstall

If installed with uv, perform the suggested action in your terminal:

uv tool upgrade kicad-mcp-pro uv tool uninstall kicad-mcp-pro

update check and uninstall provide package-manager-aware guidance; they do not replace an in-use Python environment or delete KiCad projects. On systems with an old pip and a newer uv executable in PATH, run doctor before uninstalling anything. See CLI installation and version management for the full instructions. Optional Cloud requires separate browser pairing and owner approval; local MCP does not depend on it.

For disposable testing without a persistent installation, uvx kicad-mcp-pro quickstart remains available, as do tray, dashboard --open, and --transport streamable-http --port 3334 for their respective tasks.

KiCad PCB Editor Companion (development preview)

The existing KiCad PCM Companion is being upgraded to a KiCad 10 IPC toolbar plugin in packages/kicad-plugin/. It reads the active PCB and links to the existing local dashboard. The IPC upgrade is read-only; live desktop acceptance and release are pending.

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 of KiCad's programmatically reachable surface this server can drive (currently 76.6%), keeping genuine gaps distinct from gui-only-no-api items that KiCad exposes no headless API for.

The published documentation site is available at https://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 and Content-Type: application/json. The primary public MCP contract is 2026-07-28: modern clients send MCP-Protocol-Version: 2026-07-28, the method/name transport headers required by the final protocol, and the per-request client metadata envelope.

Backward-compatible 2025-11-25 clients remain supported through the SDK's legacy initialize negotiation. Those clients echo the negotiated protocol version on follow-up requests and, when KICAD_MCP_STATEFUL_HTTP=1, also echo MCP-Session-Id. Final 2026-07-28 traffic is stateless and does not create MCP sessions.

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

Install

Published packages:

uvx kicad-mcp-pro --help

npx kicad-mcp-pro --help

Fresh source checkout on supported Linux hosts:

./scripts/bootstrap-dev.sh

source .dev-env.sh pnpm run dev:doctor -- --ci

The repository bootstrap installs checksum-pinned Python, uv/uvx, Node.js, pnpm, Task, and Rust tooling into ignored checkout-local roots and performs frozen dependency installation. It does not modify global tool directories. See the reproducible bootstrap guide for --core-only, --check, cleanup, upgrade, and KiCad capability modes.

Package metadata

The canonical metadata inputs are pyproject.toml for package version and repository identity, and compatibility.yaml for KiCad and MCP support policy. server.json is the generated registry manifest. pnpm run metadata:sync renders the public surfaces, and pnpm run metadata:check verifies them in CI and release validation.

Fast local setup

Open a terminal in a KiCad project directory and run:

uvx kicad-mcp-pro quickstart

This detects a supported local agent, configures its MCP entry in read-only mode, installs bundled skills where supported, backs up existing settings, and verifies the saved lau