r/KiCad

I come from an Altium background, so I’m used to tools like A365 for managing things like project history, libraries, design reviews, BOMs, releases, etc. What I liked about it was that it wrapped a lot of that functionality into a relatively simple, unified UI.

I know KiCad already has a strong ecosystem of plugins and add-ons, so I’m trying to understand what people are actually using in practice.

A couple questions:

1. What are your go-to plugins/add-ons for:

• Revision control / versioning
• Library management
• Part selection / BOM organization

Basically, what does the “standard stack” look like for a serious KiCad workflow today?

2. Beyond that... what’s missing?
What would you want to see in a cloud layer like this?

I’m currently exploring things like MCPs for AI-driven schematic reviews, but I’m much more interested in what real users actually need (or wish existed).

Any suggestions, opinions, or even “don’t build this, it already exists” takes are very welcome. Appreciate the help.

I'm perfectly aware of the KiCad devs' stance on Wayland. At the same time, Wayland is encroaching on the ecosystem more and more, with GNOME 50 removing all X11 dependencies and many major distros following suit, abandoning X11 completely. I think it's time to reevaluate this attitude. I can see GitLab having a bunch of Wayland-related tickets, and I think it's about time the devs started prioritising them more.

I have 2 Ubuntu systems, one is 24.04 LTS with an AMD iGPU, the other is more on the edge with 25.10 with a discrete nvidia GPU. KiCad 9 was...usable on both systems, with slightly different, but not necessarily breaking behaviour.

But ever since KiCad 10 came out, I see regressions that make it borderline impossible to use. The biggest of which is that many windows are refusing to update. For example, in the BOM window, when I click on a checkbox to include a specific field, I need to scroll the field list before the change is actually visible. But scrolling isn't working well either, because when I click a checkbox after scrolling, the wrong checkbox is selected. It looks like the window is one step behind at all times.

Did you experience something similar? What's your opinion on KiCad supporting Wayland in general?

I have some programming prowess, and I'd be happy to help out with this, though I'm feeling really insecure at the moment :D

https://preview.redd.it/693hrrc9w6wg1.png?width=1567&format=png&auto=webp&s=dcd7728a192d8e9dd68bd00b759963dd8bc48196

Hey there!

The attached image shows the placement of different components like LEDs, ICs, connector etc.
I'd like to know how can I place the components on the PCB layout section symmetrically right to the mm i.e. how to ensure that the space between the components is same throughout and also the distance of the components on the LEFT or RIGHT side from the boundary of the board.

So I'm looking at capacitors for a small build but all of the ones I'm finding have only a step file. Quick aside, Mouser is the only site that seems to have a footprint and 2D model, but the second login popup when you try and download is broken, and I'm on linux so I'm not setting up the library workarounds to run it. Anyways, for example this(https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/kemet/C0805C300K5RACAUTO/18127792) capacitor only has a step file from both the manufacturer and snapEDA. ultralibrarian's search is apparently broke right now as it throws a 500.30 error whenever I try and use it. As you can see I'm running into a roadblock in every way I try to find files for this and a few other capacitors I tried. What is the intended method of getting this thing in kicad? Do i have to make a custom symbol and footprint, or am I missing something?

What is the minimum trace width and spacing I should have for 24VAC running a maximum of about 400mA in any circuit?

Hello all!

nearly done with my biggest project to date! issue is, the reference schematic for this circuit was made in altium and it was my job to figure out how to translate that over to KiCAD, and functionally speaking, i think i managed to do something by using buses with global & local labels, but im not too sure of it working, so I wanted to ask a more experienced community if it functionally would be the same.

Thank you!

KiCAD

Altium

https://preview.redd.it/6r4f6hfbp0wg1.png?width=1254&format=png&auto=webp&s=d3dd50fe78cac85708998de866738c04b736e954

this is my first time drawing from a datasheet, and i'm trying to undersand it but its very difficult, and i'm 100% sure im doing some things wrong. could you share your thoughts? thank you

I'm doing a hierarchical sheet, which will be used four times in an enclosing sheet. I want a comparator op amp, but instead of four separate ones, it would be nice to use the four comparators in a quad package. Is there a way to do that?

Tom

Hi there.

I would like to ask...with the new KiCad IPC python API my scripts should connect to a running KiCad. The thing is, it is not uncommon for our workflow to have multiple instances of kicad opened (working on multiple pcbs and so on).

I can't find a way to connect to a different kicad other that the first opened one.

I also tried to make my module to show up in the pcb editor with now luck. I tried even examples from github. Would you guys have any common mistakes or tips?

Unfortunately I cannot share any files because of company policy :/

Having a hard time finding a terminal I can add to a custom pcb Im working on that will work the same as a Female crimp on terminal (if that even exists). The wires that need to connect to the pcb all have male end crimp ons so Im trying to make an adaptor pcb that is plug and go. Very simple basic stuff. Just need to get a component that is compatible with a male crimp on terminal. Im new to Kicad and this is my first time making a pcb on software. If you have any recommendations I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks. Here is a pic of the female connector that Im looking for.

https://preview.redd.it/7lr4nmeesjvg1.jpg?width=864&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dfae745e1ed11a8d60bffb39df0b9da23c8c032a

I am designing a 4 layer carrier board for raspberry CM4 and not sure of the type of layer stack up to use .My design has a 12V supply stepped down to 5V for the CM4 and a separate 3.3V for my RS-485 channels .These two channels have independent and separate grounds attaining galvanic isolation.The signals on my carrier board includes I2C SPI UART and the high speed Rs-485 signals and other booting signals .Which stack up should i use and how do i handle the different grounds within the stack up ?How do i reduce EMI and ensure reliable power for my board??

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to create a demo board for an interactive session I am hosting about PCB Design and decided to use KiCAD for the first time to allow people to try doing their own versions for free (I'm still learning how to do the things I am used to doing in Cadence/Altium)

Aiming for as simple as possible, so no battery or power management, no uC (hence why I2C pins and FD are not used). The board will use energy harvesting when in range with a compatible device and light up an LED, then transfer info like linkedin/personal website etc over the NFC protocol.

As of now, I quickly designed a 2 layer card (0.8 mm thick) with rounded corners, used 0603 passives and the NT3H2111W0FTTJ as the NFC chip with TSSOP-8 package for hand soldering practice for people in a future session. Additionally, I am using a Class 5 NFC antenna that NXP has as a reference file in their Antenna Design guide zip file. I struggled with porting this into KiCAD as a footprint as the reference file came as an EAGLE pcb so I used AI to port over all the antenna coil tracks into a file that I could import into KiCAD as part of my footprint library.

These are some of my main concerns/questions:

1. Don't really trust the hacky AI process I used for the antenna coil footprint. I would love a doublecheck to see if there's anything that could have been messed up with the antenna footprint or better yet, a more foolproof way of getting the antenna coil as a footprint on its own.
2. Is using a solder mask text layer overlaid on the text on copper layer a good way to expose these properly?
3. Is there an easy way to port JLC PCB capabilities into KiCAD Design rules instead of tweaking values manually?
4. Is there enough clearance between the antenna coil and the GND planes?
5. If I plan to share this design and put it on Github for people to download, are there any good recommendations for how to apply the license?
6. I want people to be able to add cool designs on their cards (myself included) and ideally something not AI-generated. Are there free options for getting cool designs as SVGs that can be imported into KiCAD projects?
7. Any other things I may have missed?

Can also attach board files as needed. Thanks in advance!

Board Characteristics

Schematic

All Layers (white background)

Top Layers

Bottom Layers (flipped)

Front of card (3D render)

Back of Card (3D render) (flipped)

I'm running KiCad 9.0.8-1.F43. I'm trying to open a schematic that has the following on the top line:

"EESchema Schematic File Version 4" It was created in 2020.

When I open it in the schematic editor I get the following error:

"'/home/me/Downloads/xxx.sch' is not a KiCad schematic file. Use File -> Import for non-KiCad schematic files."

When I attempt to import the file I get the following error:

"No loader can read the specified file: '/home/me/Downloads/xxx.sch'."

How do I open this file ?

Thanks