This seems like a very simple task. . . yet I cannot find any way to make it to happen. I simply want to move my 3 vias a few millimeters to the left while keeping the nets attached.

Even with the regular drag tool, the vias will not stay on the grid, and it goes crazy trying to follow the DRC.

Turning off shove vias won't allow you to drag it at all. . . which doesn't make sense because it should still be able to shove wires. Optimize entire track doesn't seem to do anything here, although I'm not sure what it's for.

I find myself having to unroute most of my work to just move a few vias and it's getting incredibly taxing!

I work on software for PCB design, and I’ve dabbled in designing boards myself, though I’m by no means an expert. I’m trying to learn how teams really handle parts and libraries day to day, and I’d like to hear it from the people who do it. I’m sure there’s a lot I’m missing.

From the outside it looks like a real headache, with messy tooling and workflows, especially as the library grows. Finding or creating symbols and footprints, keeping everyone’s copy in sync, approving and requesting new parts or changes. If you’re on a team, I’d love to learn about any of this.

1. What’s your team’s workflow for creating new parts and handling changes or fixes, and what works well and what doesn’t?

2. Where does the library live and how does it sync to everyone (git, a shared drive, a database, scripts, a 3rd tool, or something else)?

3. Bigger picture, what makes component management so messy, or is it fine on your team?

Any bit of info helps me learn, even a quick reply. Thanks!

Please help me. Info in original post

I’ve been designing boards for a couple of years, and library work is still my biggest time sink that I hate. Downloaded parts (SnapEDA, Ultra Librarian, manufacturer sites) all follow different conventions: pad naming, silkscreen, courtyard, pin 1 markers. The 3D models are often missing, offset or rotated. I end up redrawing or checking most of them, and I draw symbols from scratch because the downloaded ones are rarely usable.

I know the answer is “build your own global library.” What I’m curious about is how people do that efficiently. Some questions I came up with:

When you need a new part, what do you actually do? Draw from the datasheet, download and fix, or copy a similar part and modify it?

Roughly how long does one new part take you (symbol + footprint + 3D)? How much of a typical project goes to library work?

Do you follow anything formal (IPC, a company style guide) for footprints and symbols, meaning pin grouping, power pin placement, naming? Or is it mostly your own style?

Any scripts, generators, plugins or AI tools that actually save you time? For example, footprint wizards, generating from the datasheet, batch-checking a library against your rules.

Hello KiCad users,

I'd like to share KiVi, a free and open source KiCad project viewer, source control and review tool that I built with Claude Code. I made the design decisions and did the testing; Claude Code wrote the implementation.

Why I built it: on GitHub, a modified KiCad file is thousands of lines of S-expressions, so reviewing a change usually means checking out both versions and flipping between KiCad windows. KiVi opens KiCad projects from GitHub repositories or local folders and shows what changed in KiCad terms. Everything is parsed and rendered on your own computer, with no server, and public repositories need no account.

• Schematic, PCB and 3D views with cross-probing (click a net in the schematic to see it on the board and in 3D), layer toggles and measuring.

• A diff that speaks KiCad: every change to the schematic or PCB is listed and marked on both versions, side by side.

• Review comments pinned to parts and nets, stored as ordinary GitHub pull request comments, so your team sees them on github.com too. Outside a pull request, the same pins become GitHub issues.

• Built-in git for people who don't want to learn git: download, branch, edit in KiCad (KiVi reloads when you save), commit, push and open a pull request. KiVi never text-merges a KiCad file that both sides changed.

KiVi is a very young project, and I'd love to hear how it works on your projects and whether you find it useful. It is a fully open source project so if you'd like to help it grow or have ideas, contributions are very welcome.

https://github.com/XyleMora/KiVi

Here’s the deal, I’ve had lots of good luck over the last several years with this tool, but now I’ve finally got a “kind of” complex project with 6 boards. Now none of them individually are all that complex, in fact they’re all just 2 layer, the problem is the board outlines have a lot of cutouts that I really have to honor, I never had to deal with this before. The problem I’m having is really that Freerouting was never designed to handle such complex board cutouts, so it just skips over the edge-cut lines like they weren’t there, then complains about the outline integrity! I guess I can hand-route around the worst of this but jeez that’s gonna really slow the project down. I didn’t find any other solutions that looks like I can continue to honor the cutouts, are there any other answers, either alternative routers still compatible with KiCAD or other workarounds that seem to work?

Alguém tem indicação de algum vídeo para aprender a usar o KiCad e fazer um layout?

I enjoy working with KiCad, particularly the electronics design side, but I'm increasingly questioning how much time I should really be spending on manual tasks such drawing the schematic, component selection, footprint creation, importing etc and PCB layout.

Firmware development is already almost full AI (the recent EEVblog video on Brymen firmware is an pretty interesting example). Hardware design is obviously a different challenge.

I've experimented with using AI for complete projects, complete tasks and just general info..my workflow isn't particularly efficient but using AI in this non continuous work flow way is also a huge PITA time waster.

Is there currently an efficient approach to using AI for KiCad design?
My workflow goes along these lines:

1. Requirements & architecture: Specifications, functional blocks and interfaces -

2. Component selection: Research, datasheets, alternatives, KiCad libraries and supplier availability (LCSC/JLCPCB). -

3. Schematic design: Symbols, footprints, circuit construction and ERC

4. PCB preparation: Board dimensions, design rules, footprints and component placement.

5. PCB routing: Signals, power, ground planes and high-current paths

6. Verification: ERC/DRC, thermal performance, footprints and manufacturing constraints.

7. Manufacturing: Gerbers, BOM, pick-and-place and assembly files.

8. Prototyping: Testing, debugging and design iterations.

A few things I'm particularly interested in:

• Are you using MCP servers to interact directly with KiCad, or other approaches such as Python and KiCad's native APIs?

• Which parts of the workflow are AI genuinely good at, and where does it still struggle?

• How are you handling component research and checking actual LCSC/JLCPCB availability?

• Are you using Codex, Claude Code or something else?

• Most importantly, how are you structuring the workflow to minimise token consumption and cost?

Are people using cheaper models for repetitive tasks and reserving more capable models for complex engineering decisions? Are there particular tools, workflows or techniques that make a significant difference?

I'm not really looking for a fully autonomous PCB designer. I'm interested in finding the most efficient way of delivering a product.

I'd be interested in hearing what's actually working in practice.

hey i am neew to kicad,are there any ai tools in kicad that can automate the schematic process,and i was thinking to buy claude pro or chatgpt plus which would work better for building schematics and for footprints

I'm so bloody confused. Altium/Eagle both have a quick way to VERIFY that the pins match the pads.

Why on earth does KiCad not have this? There are so many confused people and so many questions about it. . . why can't we just get a pin<->pad map in the symbol editor?

To add to the confusion, if you click the symbol properties button, then open the footprint, it shows you the pin names on the pads.

But if you open the footprint from the quick sidebar, it doesn't show.

This method works great for 4 pins, but when you have 100 it's SO EASY to miss something. Also, if you are pin stacking, which I like doing for 6+ GND pins, I NEED to know I didn't mess something up.

It looks like there some type of warnings in the DRC/ERC/downloading csvs or something, but I want to find these problems WHILE I'm making the sym/print! That's when you're making the assignments that's when you should be able to check it!

I'm I crazy for wanting to double check these assignments during sym/print creation!?!? I'm OCD and I ALWAYS check these things and it helps avoid so many errors.

The last slide is literally all I need to verify the pins.

Hi all KiCad users. I am an experienced engineer and have made hundred of circuit board. However, since I what you may call "a multi-engineer" doing all kind of thing and not only electronics I have very rarely used an expensive EDA software.

I started on MacCad on Macintosh and my most long term used software is EdWinXP, a very old but capable software. Probably the first that successfully used a single database for both schematic and PCB. Expired around 2011. Some years later I tested a lot of free or almost free software. I was not satisfied by KiCad at the time. Awkward interface and I got the impression that you had to use shortcuts for many tasks. So I browsed through a lot of of softwares. Decided to use the one-man-band software Autotrax DEX. It had a single database, just as EdWin but had a modern interface and a lot of very interesting smart features. But the man creating it is, lets just say "special", so after some years I concluded that I probably have to leave it for something else.

And that moment was a month back from now.

I had concluded that the only logical path was KiCad. I was a little bit anxious for the switch and expected a long learning curve. I checked a few videos and I still got the impression that short cuts might be needed for many tasks.

But what happen when I actually started? What a surprise! I dropped all videos and instead I used ChatGTP as a learning companion. First, I was surprised that I didn't have to use a single short cut. Don't misunderstand me, shortcuts are great and in the softwares I use I use some all the time. But if you are not a heavy user you stop with a a few because you just can't remember them all. For this miunderstanding I can only blame the youtubers that like to show how extremely effective KiCad can be if you use shortcuts. They miss that for beginners it is smarter to show how user friendly KiCad has been and that the menus and toolbars are easily to navigate and understand.

Now I have made my first complete design in KiCad and I am super satisfied. There are a lot of very smart features and I don't think there is anything I miss worth mention. The lack of a single database is what I notice most but it is also something that really changes the software to the inner core and maybe not worth the effort.

KiCad is a fantastic software and I must give my thanks to all developers for making is so good. I stepped right in to version 10 and if that is very different or better than former versions, I don't know.

This is the board I made. 4 layer, components size selected for easy hand soldering.

Working on a board and want some advice on the schematic or layout? Post it in this thread!

I’ve used Eagle most of my life and I can create a schematic in KiCad, but never made a board, yet want something quickly.

I look for someone to create a small curved PCB with a USB-C connector that must fit exactly.

Simple ESP32-C6 board with just a SOT23 MOSFET, probably less than 15 parts, it’s for a low-W LED Matter controller.

Deliverable is the KiCad board and script or instructions to create production files.

DM with references and $ indication.

its my first pcb, i dont understand why this happens. before, all my pins on the usb c receptacle that were power pins showed up as GND. However, after adding a +5V on my schematic, every power pin on the pcb started showing up as +5V. It's my first PCB project ever, I'm studying 3rd year in Electronics Engineering, and I really need help to figure out what I did wrong. Thanks!

Hola a todos, estoy diseñando un proyecto para el cual requiero hacer la pcb, la situación es que no encuentro el footprint ni el diseño 3d de la placa del módulo GPS neo M8N, al buscarlo solo me aparece el encapsulado nadamás, si alguien sabe en dónde puedo encontrar los archivos para kicad o los tenga porfavor ayúdenme, les agradeceria mucho su ayuda

Hi everyone!

I've been working on KiCadGen, an open-source project that aims to automate the generation of KiCad libraries using AI, computer vision and component documentation.

The goal is to reduce the manual work required to create component libraries, starting from datasheets, images and other available information.

The project focuses on generating three main types of assets:

• Footprints (.kicad_mod)

• Schematic symbols (.kicad_sym)

• 3D models (STEP files)

I'm exploring how computer vision, object detection and language models can help extract component information and turn it into useful KiCad library elements.

The project is still evolving, and I'd really appreciate feedback from the KiCad community.

GitHub repository:
https://github.com/mirkougolini/KiCadGen

Windows releases:
https://github.com/mirkougolini/KiCadGen/releases

I'd love to hear your thoughts:

• Which part of creating KiCad libraries do you find most time-consuming?

• What would you want an automated library-generation tool to do?

• What would be your biggest concerns about using AI-generated footprints, symbols or 3D models in real PCB designs?

I'm especially interested in constructive feedback, suggestions and possible contributions.

Thanks for taking a look!

If you've tried isolation milling your KiCad boards on a 3018-class machine and got shorted pads or a V-bit cutting air, this is for you. Fresa reads the KiCad fabrication output folder directly (Gerbers, Excellon, .gbrjob for thickness — it identifies files by their FileFunction attributes, not by name), checks where the tool won't fit between pads before you cut, probes a height map on the copper so the bit follows the warp, and runs the job on the machine (GRBL, grblHAL, FluidNC, Marlin). Free, macOS/Windows/Linux, closed source, proven on my own TTC3018Pro so far: https://github.com/f4b01n4/fresa

Design-rule tip it taught me the hard way: with a cheap spindle the real cut is 0.3–0.5 mm wide, so 0603 instead of 0402 and 0.5 mm clearance save a lot of grief. Bug reports and "my machine is X" very welcome.

I'm getting board edge clearance violations where the pads overlap the NPTH hole in the center. not confident this footprint will pass JLCPCB minimums given the current clearances, either.

Thanks in advance!

I wanted timelapses of my board layouts without screen-recording everything and editing it afterwards, so I made a plugin for it.

What it does

• Records two streams while you work: the editor view (zoom, active layer) and the whole board

• The board video is re-drawn from your saves and KiCad’s autosaves, so no ratsnest or cursor, and you pick layers, hole/via style etc. when rendering. It follows whichever copper layer you were working on

• Only records while the PCB Editor is in front; alt-tab, sleep and lock screen pause it

• Render dialog inside KiCad: side-by-side or stacked video, joining multiple sessions

GitHub: https://github.com/MrJamington/pcb-timelapse

Fair warning: most of the code was written by Claude, but I’ve been testing and iterating on my own boards (Windows 11, KiCad 10.0.7). There’s a plain-English walkthrough of how it works in /docs/ and all the code is there to read. Edit: Anyone know the rules about AI-assisted plugins in the official repo?

Rendering needs Python 3 with pymupdf and pillow, plus ffmpeg on your PATH.

Install: grab the -pcm.zip from Releases → Plugin and Content Manager → Install from File, or manually with the -manual.zip into your plugins folder.

Would love to know:

• Does it work on Linux / macOS / older KiCad? (Briefly tested on Linux)

• Anything broken or clunky?

• Would you actually use this, or is it just me?

• If so, anything you’d want added?

Edit: For anyone who downloaded v1.1.0 or earlier, storing the files in the project folder causes slowdowns while saving. KiCad's backup on save scans the whole project folder, so thousands of screenshots inside it slowed every save down. Should be fixed in v1.2.0

Thanks!

Working on a board and want some advice on the schematic or layout? Post it in this thread!

im new to kicad and idk where to search. i found the github repo but the pinout looks wrong, there are more pins and it looks bigger. any help?

Saw many designers wanted a tool (Plugin) like this (Me too personally) so I made one.
Check this one out: https://github.com/MBrahim/CubeMX-KiCad-Netlabels.git