KiCad Context

A read-only MCP server for understanding KiCad projects. Point it at a board and an agent can answer "what is this" and "what's wrong with it" without loading the whole design into context.

Overview

The server reads a KiCad project and exposes it through seven tools. Every tool returns a compact summary and lets the agent drill down by ID; lists are capped and paginated, so context stays small even on large boards. Connectivity and ERC/DRC come from kicad-cli; component metadata comes from the exported netlist. Built for KiCad 10.

It only reads. There are no tools that edit, place, route, or export.

How to install

Requires only KiCad 10+ (for kicad-cli). The plugin ships a self-contained binary — no Python, uv, or network needed.

Installed as a plugin from this repo's marketplace.

Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add yigitabi5444/YSM-Kicad-MCP
/plugin install kicad-context@ysm

Claude Desktop / web:

1. Open the Customize menu in the left sidebar → Plugins tab.
2. Under Personal plugins, click + → Add marketplace → Add from a repository, and enter yigitabi5444/YSM-Kicad-MCP.
3. Click Browse plugins, find kicad-context, and click Install.

Pass a project path to any tool to use it.

The shipped binary is macOS (Apple Silicon). On another platform, run bash build.sh to rebuild bin/kicad-context-mcp for your OS.

Exposed tools

Tool	Returns
board_overview	Title, sheets, key ICs, power rails, connectors, part counts. Start here.
find	Paginated components, nets, or sheets matching a query.
component	One part: value, footprint, datasheet, fields, pin → net map.
net	Pins on a net, grouped by component, paginated.
trace	Pins connected to a given pin, bounded by depth (max 3).
power_tree	Regulators and the rails they feed.
checks	ERC or DRC results: counts by severity, then a capped detail list.

Changelog

0.1.0

• Initial release. Seven read-only tools, KiCad 10.

License

MIT, see LICENSE. KiCad itself is GPLv3 and is a separate install the server calls out to; it is not bundled here.