{"slug": "kicad", "name": "KiCad", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "Open-source electronics design automation suite for schematic capture and PCB layout.", "recommenders": 7, "commenters": 26, "warners": 1, "score": 10.535, "rising": 0.36, "first": "2025-11-26", "latest": "2026-10-30", "why": "HN commenters use it for hobby PCB design and like that it is an open-source tool with a Python API, plugins and handy project templates.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 7, "neutral": 18, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 2], "listed": true, "loved": ["Scriptable", "Hobby PCB design"], "caveat": "AI automation limits", "short_quote": "KiCAD comes with all the usual suspects, including Arduino and the various hats.  You can get pmod templates, etc.  They're actually really nice.", "icon": true, "domain": "kicad.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.kicad.org", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["KiCad"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters use it for hobby PCB design and like that it is an open-source tool", "cites": [{"id": 782430193, "item_id": 48901887, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48901887", "by": "rzzzwilson", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you get to the point of having PCBs made you can use KiCad to design the boards.", "excerpt": "Another vote for getting into the Arduino world, which includes the ESP32. To learn the basics there's still no better route than getting an Arduino Uno (or clone) starter kit and learning about digital electronics. The boards are programmed in C++ through the Arduino IDE. As you progress you could program larger-memory boards with python. Some people use other languages like Rust. You aren't limited to small AVR mic", "context": "retired software engineer with a microcontroller hobby", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What hardware hobby would you recommend to a software engineer?"}, {"id": 776588016, "item_id": 48536751, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48536751", "by": "Evan-Purkhiser", "date": "2026-06-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "spent 40 or so hours in KiCad learning how read IC reference documents, picking components, and of course, doing the PCB trace layout.", "excerpt": "Been learning electronic PCB design the last few weeks while retrofitting some IKEA window shades for Zigbee enabled motorization. I've really enjoyed the journey of 3D printing and being able to create all kinds of mechanically useful things over the last few years, but I had always wanted to go even further and incorporate some non-trivial custom electronics. For this project I had a space constraint for the motor ", "context": "learning PCB design", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (June 2026)"}, {"id": 804789776, "item_id": 50299361, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50299361", "by": "leptons", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm pretty amazed and happy with the results.", "excerpt": "So it took me more than a week to get around to putting the project together, but I finally did tonight. I just got done soldering the parts today (36 parts total). The only thing that was wrong was one capacitor had the wrong footprint size, but I was able to make it fit on the PCB. I hooked up my serial port ESP32 firmware flasher, got the firmware flashed on the first try. I connected to the ESP32 via wifi, plugge", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design for a fan dimmer", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10"}, {"id": 804193072, "item_id": 50262067, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50262067", "by": "bigyabai", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love KiCad.", "excerpt": "I love KiCad. My point is that most people would hate KiCad 1.0 just the same as they'd hate Blender 1.0. Critiquing early releases of FOSS is a \"throwing stones from glass houses\" sort of situation.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Everything"}, {"id": 760395841, "item_id": 47524740, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47524740", "by": "eblanshey", "date": "2026-03-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "start attracting more commercial usage, much like KiCad and Blender did in their spaces", "excerpt": "FreeCAD is really the only serious contender for CAD on Linux. I love how everything is hackable via Python APIs. Every release seems to fix more and more UX issues. I have very high hopes for it to eventually start attracting more commercial usage, much like KiCad and Blender did in their spaces. We need more open software like that.", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "FreeCAD Version 1.1 Released"}]}, {"text": " with a Python API, plugins and handy project templates.", "cites": [{"id": 801893731, "item_id": 50118358, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118358", "by": "ckemere", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "pin a few key traces (using the kicad python api)", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve had really good results recently with Fable 5.1. The typical process that it uses for routing is to pin a few key traces (using the kicad python api) and then use freerouting for the others. I\u2019ve also noticed that if I push hard for \u201ccarefully designed\u201d routes, eg for a 38 pin connector, it will write code and make much better looking results. I\u2019d say that at the moment it still requires you to look at its resul", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10"}, {"id": 804284737, "item_id": 50267796, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50267796", "by": "a2-_", "date": "2026-10-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "KiCad 10, tested on Windows.", "excerpt": "I design circuit boards as an hobby. Lot of times I would order one, wait for like two weeks, most of the time wouldn't work because it has a mistake, I have to fix it and order it again, it just keeps on going in a loop. To avoid this situation I built free KiCad plugin that checks your board before you order it. If you click \"Check design\" and in a second you get a list of things that you double-check, each with it", "context": "circuit board hobbyist", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: VelaTrace KiCad plugin: Catch PCB mistakes before you order the board"}, {"id": 780705488, "item_id": 48794093, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48794093", "by": "JKCalhoun", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Currently I use a JLCPCB plug-in to do this in KiCAD.", "excerpt": "I like all the utility you have already built in. My selfish suggestion would be to add support to populate the part numbers for all the components from LCSC's database. JLCPCB wants these numbers in order to assemble a PCB. (Currently I use a JLCPCB plug-in to do this in KiCAD.)", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: KiCad in the Browser"}, {"id": 766947872, "item_id": 47934242, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47934242", "by": "ua709", "date": "2026-04-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KiCAD comes with all the usual suspects, including Arduino and the various hats.  You can get pmod templates, etc.  They're actually really nice.", "excerpt": "Your analogy is more spot on that you may know. The syntax is just a bit off ;) \"File > New Project from Template\" KiCAD comes with all the usual suspects, including Arduino and the various hats. You can get pmod templates, etc. They're actually really nice. I use the pmod template all the time because it saves time and they're convenient to plug into Arty dev boards. PCBs are so cheap and quick I'll often make a qui", "context": "makes quick PCBs for Arty dev boards", "use_case": "PCB design from templates", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open-Source KiCad PCBs for Common Arduino, ESP32, RP2040 Boards"}]}, {"text": " The most common caveat is that it was not built for AI-driven design,", "cites": [{"id": 793928065, "item_id": 49620504, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49620504", "by": "seveibar", "date": "2026-09-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "KiCad wasn't built for AI-gen with things like automatic routing/placement", "excerpt": "Many of the new agentic electronic design tools are KiCad-based, which is fine, but for people creating new EDA tools I'd encourage them to take a look at tscircuit (open-source, MIT). KiCad wasn't built for AI-gen with things like automatic routing/placement, supplier footprint orientation checking, connector orientation checking and other features that will be required as more people expect extensive validation for", "context": "", "use_case": "circuit design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Copperhead \u2013 Cursor for circuit boards"}]}, {"text": " and attempts to have LLMs or computer-use agents draw schematics or route boards in it give mixed results.", "cites": [{"id": 801883730, "item_id": 50117733, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50117733", "by": "rutierut", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I tried to use KiCAD through computer-use. This doesn't produce great results.", "excerpt": "After the OAI demo, like many others, I tried to use KiCAD through computer-use. This doesn't produce great results. I have found the best results through a mix of Happy[0], this repo, and computer use to fill in the blanks. It is _really_ good at the stackup and part config, but creates some absolutely terrible routes. It will snake tiny traces through some SMD pins even though there is plenty of space available out", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10"}, {"id": 801892706, "item_id": 50118294, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118294", "by": "the__alchemist", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "to do the schematic in KiCad", "excerpt": "I will give this a try! I feel like AI should be able to automate this process (Schematic and/or PCB). I made a new design 2 months ago; tried to get Claude and COdex to do the schematic in KiCad, and they were not effective. Made a mess of it for an initial build, and edits later. I didn't bother with the component placement and routing. I did find LLMs to be very effective on answering questions about routing, part", "context": "embedded developer using Rust", "use_case": "PCB schematic design", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10"}, {"id": 793149441, "item_id": 49571840, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49571840", "by": "mapontosevenths", "date": "2026-09-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I just gave it kicad and it wrote python to route it.", "excerpt": "They actually can route just fine. I used Sol to design and route mine from start to finish. Sent it to PCBWay and had a working prototype in a few weeks. It was a pretty simple rp2040 based thing, similar to Adadfruits USB feather.I just gave it kicad and it wrote python to route it. The board was probably larger than it had to be, and two of the silkscreens were swapped, but it worked on the first go. FWIW - Comput", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Can AI design circuit boards yet?"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Scriptable", "summary": "Its Python API and plugin support let users automate routing, part numbering and design checks.", "quotes": [{"id": 801893731, "item_id": 50118358, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118358", "by": "ckemere", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "pin a few key traces (using the kicad python api)", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve had really good results recently with Fable 5.1. The typical process that it uses for routing is to pin a few key traces (using the kicad python api) and then use freerouting for the others. I\u2019ve also noticed that if I push hard for \u201ccarefully designed\u201d routes, eg for a 38 pin connector, it will write code and make much better looking results. I\u2019d say that at the moment it still requires you to look at its resul", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10"}, {"id": 780705488, "item_id": 48794093, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48794093", "by": "JKCalhoun", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Currently I use a JLCPCB plug-in to do this in KiCAD.", "excerpt": "I like all the utility you have already built in. My selfish suggestion would be to add support to populate the part numbers for all the components from LCSC's database. JLCPCB wants these numbers in order to assemble a PCB. (Currently I use a JLCPCB plug-in to do this in KiCAD.)", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: KiCad in the Browser"}, {"id": 804284737, "item_id": 50267796, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50267796", "by": "a2-_", "date": "2026-10-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "KiCad 10, tested on Windows.", "excerpt": "I design circuit boards as an hobby. Lot of times I would order one, wait for like two weeks, most of the time wouldn't work because it has a mistake, I have to fix it and order it again, it just keeps on going in a loop. To avoid this situation I built free KiCad plugin that checks your board before you order it. If you click \"Check design\" and in a second you get a list of things that you double-check, each with it", "context": "circuit board hobbyist", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: VelaTrace KiCad plugin: Catch PCB mistakes before you order the board"}]}, {"label": "Hobby PCB design", "summary": "Hobbyists and learners use it to design their own boards for microcontroller projects.", "quotes": [{"id": 782430193, "item_id": 48901887, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48901887", "by": "rzzzwilson", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you get to the point of having PCBs made you can use KiCad to design the boards.", "excerpt": "Another vote for getting into the Arduino world, which includes the ESP32. To learn the basics there's still no better route than getting an Arduino Uno (or clone) starter kit and learning about digital electronics. The boards are programmed in C++ through the Arduino IDE. As you progress you could program larger-memory boards with python. Some people use other languages like Rust. You aren't limited to small AVR mic", "context": "retired software engineer with a microcontroller hobby", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What hardware hobby would you recommend to a software engineer?"}, {"id": 776588016, "item_id": 48536751, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48536751", "by": "Evan-Purkhiser", "date": "2026-06-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "spent 40 or so hours in KiCad learning how read IC reference documents, picking components, and of course, doing the PCB trace layout.", "excerpt": "Been learning electronic PCB design the last few weeks while retrofitting some IKEA window shades for Zigbee enabled motorization. I've really enjoyed the journey of 3D printing and being able to create all kinds of mechanically useful things over the last few years, but I had always wanted to go even further and incorporate some non-trivial custom electronics. For this project I had a space constraint for the motor ", "context": "learning PCB design", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (June 2026)"}, {"id": 804789776, "item_id": 50299361, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50299361", "by": "leptons", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm pretty amazed and happy with the results.", "excerpt": "So it took me more than a week to get around to putting the project together, but I finally did tonight. I just got done soldering the parts today (36 parts total). The only thing that was wrong was one capacitor had the wrong footprint size, but I was able to make it fit on the PCB. I hooked up my serial port ESP32 firmware flasher, got the firmware flashed on the first try. I connected to the ESP32 via wifi, plugge", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design for a fan dimmer", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10"}]}, {"label": "Open source", "summary": "Commenters love it as open-source software, cite it as gaining commercial use, and donate to support it.", "quotes": [{"id": 804193072, "item_id": 50262067, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50262067", "by": "bigyabai", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love KiCad.", "excerpt": "I love KiCad. My point is that most people would hate KiCad 1.0 just the same as they'd hate Blender 1.0. Critiquing early releases of FOSS is a \"throwing stones from glass houses\" sort of situation.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Everything"}, {"id": 760395841, "item_id": 47524740, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47524740", "by": "eblanshey", "date": "2026-03-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "start attracting more commercial usage, much like KiCad and Blender did in their spaces", "excerpt": "FreeCAD is really the only serious contender for CAD on Linux. I love how everything is hackable via Python APIs. Every release seems to fix more and more UX issues. I have very high hopes for it to eventually start attracting more commercial usage, much like KiCad and Blender did in their spaces. We need more open software like that.", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "FreeCAD Version 1.1 Released"}, {"id": 759314672, "item_id": 47457167, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47457167", "by": "fleventynine", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Just donated $250; I'm trying to get in the habit of supporting the open source projects I use", "excerpt": "Just donated $250; I'm trying to get in the habit of supporting the open source projects I use similarly to the cost of their proprietary competitors.", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "KiCad 10.0.0 Release"}]}, {"label": "AI-assisted editing", "summary": "Some report good results having LLMs edit, debug or route KiCad designs via scripts.", "quotes": [{"id": 793765890, "item_id": 49610368, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49610368", "by": "tadasv", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "edit/debug kicad schematics", "excerpt": "I used claude and gemini to edit/debug kicad schematics. And it was pretty good. What is the point of this agent?", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB schematics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Copperhead \u2013 Cursor for circuit boards"}, {"id": 793149441, "item_id": 49571840, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49571840", "by": "mapontosevenths", "date": "2026-09-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I just gave it kicad and it wrote python to route it.", "excerpt": "They actually can route just fine. I used Sol to design and route mine from start to finish. Sent it to PCBWay and had a working prototype in a few weeks. It was a pretty simple rp2040 based thing, similar to Adadfruits USB feather.I just gave it kicad and it wrote python to route it. The board was probably larger than it had to be, and two of the silkscreens were swapped, but it worked on the first go. FWIW - Comput", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Can AI design circuit boards yet?"}, {"id": 801927457, "item_id": 50120466, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50120466", "by": "i2cjak", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "the reason for forking KiCad is to use the upstream/yet to be released IPC API features", "excerpt": "glad you're trying it out. the reason for forking KiCad is to use the upstream/yet to be released IPC API features for schematic and PCB manipulation, vs. having the LLM directly edit or have to interact with S-expressions. Many ways to skin a cat. I use Backplane more for overall \"acceleration\" of hardware vs. proompt -> product stuff (this is still mostly slop imo)", "context": "builds an AI-assisted KiCad fork", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10"}]}, {"label": "Templates", "summary": "Built-in templates for Arduino, hats and pmod boards save time.", "quotes": [{"id": 766947872, "item_id": 47934242, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47934242", "by": "ua709", "date": "2026-04-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KiCAD comes with all the usual suspects, including Arduino and the various hats.  You can get pmod templates, etc.  They're actually really nice.", "excerpt": "Your analogy is more spot on that you may know. The syntax is just a bit off ;) \"File > New Project from Template\" KiCAD comes with all the usual suspects, including Arduino and the various hats. You can get pmod templates, etc. They're actually really nice. I use the pmod template all the time because it saves time and they're convenient to plug into Arty dev boards. PCBs are so cheap and quick I'll often make a qui", "context": "makes quick PCBs for Arty dev boards", "use_case": "PCB design from templates", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open-Source KiCad PCBs for Common Arduino, ESP32, RP2040 Boards"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "AI automation limits", "summary": "Commenters say it wasn't built for AI generation and LLM or computer-use attempts produce poor schematics or routes.", "quotes": [{"id": 793928065, "item_id": 49620504, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49620504", "by": "seveibar", "date": "2026-09-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "KiCad wasn't built for AI-gen with things like automatic routing/placement", "excerpt": "Many of the new agentic electronic design tools are KiCad-based, which is fine, but for people creating new EDA tools I'd encourage them to take a look at tscircuit (open-source, MIT). KiCad wasn't built for AI-gen with things like automatic routing/placement, supplier footprint orientation checking, connector orientation checking and other features that will be required as more people expect extensive validation for", "context": "", "use_case": "circuit design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Copperhead \u2013 Cursor for circuit boards"}, {"id": 801883730, "item_id": 50117733, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50117733", "by": "rutierut", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I tried to use KiCAD through computer-use. This doesn't produce great results.", "excerpt": "After the OAI demo, like many others, I tried to use KiCAD through computer-use. This doesn't produce great results. I have found the best results through a mix of Happy[0], this repo, and computer use to fill in the blanks. It is _really_ good at the stackup and part config, but creates some absolutely terrible routes. It will snake tiny traces through some SMD pins even though there is plenty of space available out", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10"}, {"id": 801892706, "item_id": 50118294, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118294", "by": "the__alchemist", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "to do the schematic in KiCad", "excerpt": "I will give this a try! I feel like AI should be able to automate this process (Schematic and/or PCB). I made a new design 2 months ago; tried to get Claude and COdex to do the schematic in KiCad, and they were not effective. Made a mess of it for an initial build, and edits later. I didn't bother with the component placement and routing. I did find LLMs to be very effective on answering questions about routing, part", "context": "embedded developer using Rust", "use_case": "PCB schematic design", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10"}]}, {"label": "Past UX pain", "summary": "One commenter found it painful to use before its big UX overhaul.", "quotes": [{"id": 795190192, "item_id": 49699387, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49699387", "by": "petsfed", "date": "2026-09-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used KiCad (but that was prior to their big UX overhaul so it was pretty painful)", "excerpt": "I used to work with several Apple MEs, and one EE, when they moved to the startup I was at. They were all very skilled and pragmatic engineers. While there is some tribal knowledge benefits to getting really fluent with a given CAD suite, foundationally they are just tools, so when our startup migrated from one CAD suite to another, there was pretty minimal churn. You only have to go through one project management so", "context": "startup engineer", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple's Dimensional Drawings"}]}, {"label": "3D model workflow", "summary": "One user makes 3D models through a multi-step OpenSCAD conversion chain with manual coloring.", "quotes": [{"id": 800572145, "item_id": 50035759, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035759", "by": "dvh", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use openscad for all my kicad 3d models", "excerpt": "I use openscad for all my kicad 3d models via scad->off->obj->(manually edit in mm3d to add colors)->wrl->kicad It's not as bad as it looks, it's all automatic except adding colors which takes about 2 minutes.", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}]}, {"label": "Mouse preferred", "summary": "One commenter finds a mouse more natural than a trackpad for using it.", "quotes": [{"id": 796833392, "item_id": 49802087, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49802087", "by": "andruby", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Mouse has better ergonomics for accurate pointing, and is more natural in some apps (eg KiCAD).", "excerpt": "My home setup has both a trackpad and mouse (and a separate keyboard). I like them both. In practice I use 65% mouse and 35% trackpad I think. Trackpad is great for horizontal (or 2d) scrolling and gestures. Mouse has better ergonomics for accurate pointing, and is more natural in some apps (eg KiCAD).", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "I said no and Apple said yes"}]}], "who": [{"by": "a2-_", "context": "circuit board hobbyist", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50267796", "date": "2026-10-28"}, {"by": "i2cjak", "context": "builds an AI-assisted KiCad fork", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50120466", "date": "2026-10-16"}, {"by": "the__alchemist", "context": "embedded developer using Rust", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118294", "date": "2026-10-16"}, {"by": "petsfed", "context": "startup engineer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49699387", "date": "2026-09-14"}, {"by": "matheusmoreira", "context": "hobbyist building a handheld cyberdeck", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49106520", "date": "2026-07-29"}, {"by": "rzzzwilson", "context": "retired software engineer with a microcontroller hobby", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48901887", "date": "2026-07-13"}, {"by": "cjshearer", "context": "keyboard hobbyist building a split keyboard", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48809044", "date": "2026-07-06"}, {"by": "Evan-Purkhiser", "context": "learning PCB design", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48536751", "date": "2026-06-14"}, {"by": "ua709", "context": "makes quick PCBs for Arty dev boards", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47934242", "date": "2026-04-28"}, {"by": "ikidd", "context": "runs a farm, former IT person", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46415563", "date": "2025-12-28"}], "tags": ["for hobbyists", "for PCB beginners", "scriptable", "for Linux users"], "use_cases": ["pcb design", "pcb design for a fan dimmer", "pcb schematic design", "circuit design", "pcb schematics", "pcb design for cyberdeck"], "compared": [{"slug": "claude", "name": "Claude", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "openscad", "name": "OpenSCAD", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "freecad", "name": "FreeCAD", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "backplane", "name": "Backplane", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50085553", "title": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10", "mentions": 5}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49610059", "title": "Show HN: Copperhead \u2013 Cursor for circuit boards", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50267795", "title": "Show HN: VelaTrace KiCad plugin: Catch PCB mistakes before you order the board", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50244735", "title": "Everything", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49984349", "title": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49797982", "title": "I said no and Apple said yes", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 2}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 3, "recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 4, "warn": 1}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 6, "recommend": 2}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804789776, "item_id": 50299361, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50299361", "by": "leptons", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm pretty amazed and happy with the results.", "excerpt": "So it took me more than a week to get around to putting the project together, but I finally did tonight. I just got done soldering the parts today (36 parts total). The only thing that was wrong was one capacitor had the wrong footprint size, but I was able to make it fit on the PCB. I hooked up my serial port ESP32 firmware flasher, got the firmware flashed on the first try. I connected to the ESP32 via wifi, plugge", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design for a fan dimmer", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10"}, {"id": 804284737, "item_id": 50267796, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50267796", "by": "a2-_", "date": "2026-10-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "KiCad 10, tested on Windows.", "excerpt": "I design circuit boards as an hobby. Lot of times I would order one, wait for like two weeks, most of the time wouldn't work because it has a mistake, I have to fix it and order it again, it just keeps on going in a loop. To avoid this situation I built free KiCad plugin that checks your board before you order it. If you click \"Check design\" and in a second you get a list of things that you double-check, each with it", "context": "circuit board hobbyist", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: VelaTrace KiCad plugin: Catch PCB mistakes before you order the board"}, {"id": 804193072, "item_id": 50262067, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50262067", "by": "bigyabai", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love KiCad.", "excerpt": "I love KiCad. My point is that most people would hate KiCad 1.0 just the same as they'd hate Blender 1.0. Critiquing early releases of FOSS is a \"throwing stones from glass houses\" sort of situation.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Everything"}, {"id": 801927457, "item_id": 50120466, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50120466", "by": "i2cjak", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "the reason for forking KiCad is to use the upstream/yet to be released IPC API features", "excerpt": "glad you're trying it out. the reason for forking KiCad is to use the upstream/yet to be released IPC API features for schematic and PCB manipulation, vs. having the LLM directly edit or have to interact with S-expressions. Many ways to skin a cat. I use Backplane more for overall \"acceleration\" of hardware vs. proompt -> product stuff (this is still mostly slop imo)", "context": "builds an AI-assisted KiCad fork", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10"}, {"id": 801893731, "item_id": 50118358, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118358", "by": "ckemere", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "pin a few key traces (using the kicad python api)", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve had really good results recently with Fable 5.1. The typical process that it uses for routing is to pin a few key traces (using the kicad python api) and then use freerouting for the others. I\u2019ve also noticed that if I push hard for \u201ccarefully designed\u201d routes, eg for a 38 pin connector, it will write code and make much better looking results. I\u2019d say that at the moment it still requires you to look at its resul", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10"}, {"id": 801892706, "item_id": 50118294, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118294", "by": "the__alchemist", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "to do the schematic in KiCad", "excerpt": "I will give this a try! I feel like AI should be able to automate this process (Schematic and/or PCB). I made a new design 2 months ago; tried to get Claude and COdex to do the schematic in KiCad, and they were not effective. Made a mess of it for an initial build, and edits later. I didn't bother with the component placement and routing. I did find LLMs to be very effective on answering questions about routing, part", "context": "embedded developer using Rust", "use_case": "PCB schematic design", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10"}, {"id": 801883730, "item_id": 50117733, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50117733", "by": "rutierut", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I tried to use KiCAD through computer-use. This doesn't produce great results.", "excerpt": "After the OAI demo, like many others, I tried to use KiCAD through computer-use. This doesn't produce great results. I have found the best results through a mix of Happy[0], this repo, and computer use to fill in the blanks. It is _really_ good at the stackup and part config, but creates some absolutely terrible routes. It will snake tiny traces through some SMD pins even though there is plenty of space available out", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI-assisted PCB design for KiCad 10"}, {"id": 800572145, "item_id": 50035759, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035759", "by": "dvh", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use openscad for all my kicad 3d models", "excerpt": "I use openscad for all my kicad 3d models via scad->off->obj->(manually edit in mm3d to add colors)->wrl->kicad It's not as bad as it looks, it's all automatic except adding colors which takes about 2 minutes.", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 796833392, "item_id": 49802087, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49802087", "by": "andruby", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Mouse has better ergonomics for accurate pointing, and is more natural in some apps (eg KiCAD).", "excerpt": "My home setup has both a trackpad and mouse (and a separate keyboard). I like them both. In practice I use 65% mouse and 35% trackpad I think. Trackpad is great for horizontal (or 2d) scrolling and gestures. Mouse has better ergonomics for accurate pointing, and is more natural in some apps (eg KiCAD).", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "I said no and Apple said yes"}, {"id": 795190192, "item_id": 49699387, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49699387", "by": "petsfed", "date": "2026-09-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used KiCad (but that was prior to their big UX overhaul so it was pretty painful)", "excerpt": "I used to work with several Apple MEs, and one EE, when they moved to the startup I was at. They were all very skilled and pragmatic engineers. While there is some tribal knowledge benefits to getting really fluent with a given CAD suite, foundationally they are just tools, so when our startup migrated from one CAD suite to another, there was pretty minimal churn. You only have to go through one project management so", "context": "startup engineer", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple's Dimensional Drawings"}, {"id": 793928065, "item_id": 49620504, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49620504", "by": "seveibar", "date": "2026-09-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "KiCad wasn't built for AI-gen with things like automatic routing/placement", "excerpt": "Many of the new agentic electronic design tools are KiCad-based, which is fine, but for people creating new EDA tools I'd encourage them to take a look at tscircuit (open-source, MIT). KiCad wasn't built for AI-gen with things like automatic routing/placement, supplier footprint orientation checking, connector orientation checking and other features that will be required as more people expect extensive validation for", "context": "", "use_case": "circuit design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Copperhead \u2013 Cursor for circuit boards"}, {"id": 793765890, "item_id": 49610368, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49610368", "by": "tadasv", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "edit/debug kicad schematics", "excerpt": "I used claude and gemini to edit/debug kicad schematics. And it was pretty good. What is the point of this agent?", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB schematics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Copperhead \u2013 Cursor for circuit boards"}, {"id": 793149441, "item_id": 49571840, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49571840", "by": "mapontosevenths", "date": "2026-09-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I just gave it kicad and it wrote python to route it.", "excerpt": "They actually can route just fine. I used Sol to design and route mine from start to finish. Sent it to PCBWay and had a working prototype in a few weeks. It was a pretty simple rp2040 based thing, similar to Adadfruits USB feather.I just gave it kicad and it wrote python to route it. The board was probably larger than it had to be, and two of the silkscreens were swapped, but it worked on the first go. FWIW - Comput", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Can AI design circuit boards yet?"}, {"id": 785704320, "item_id": 49106520, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49106520", "by": "matheusmoreira", "date": "2026-07-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I've actually downloaded KiCad and just started using it", "excerpt": "Sorry for the late reply. > Do you have any specific projects you'd like to build? Post here and we can talk through it. Sure thing. Yeah, I wanted to build a handheld cyberdeck, like these: https://www.clockworkpi.com/uconsole https://hackaday.com/2025/02/27/a-precisely-elegant-cyberdeck-handheld/ https://hackaday.io/project/202522-cyberdeck-handheld https://youtu.be/u8kYHgKKhjY https://youtu.be/IB5OJr_MimQ The trut", "context": "hobbyist building a handheld cyberdeck", "use_case": "PCB design for cyberdeck", "switched_from": "", "story": "I learned PCB design, 3D printing and C just to listen to music"}, {"id": 782430193, "item_id": 48901887, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48901887", "by": "rzzzwilson", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you get to the point of having PCBs made you can use KiCad to design the boards.", "excerpt": "Another vote for getting into the Arduino world, which includes the ESP32. To learn the basics there's still no better route than getting an Arduino Uno (or clone) starter kit and learning about digital electronics. The boards are programmed in C++ through the Arduino IDE. As you progress you could program larger-memory boards with python. Some people use other languages like Rust. You aren't limited to small AVR mic", "context": "retired software engineer with a microcontroller hobby", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What hardware hobby would you recommend to a software engineer?"}, {"id": 780944704, "item_id": 48809044, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48809044", "by": "cjshearer", "date": "2026-07-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "convert kicad geometry primitives to cadquery", "excerpt": "Gonna shill my project, a 34 key solar powered split keyboard https://github.com/cjshearer/cweep. Each half should end up just a bit wider than a smartphone (114mm x 86mm). I'm still working on the case generation, which is intended to have a metal backplate for magnetic mounting, but I've gotten distracted developing a generic method to convert kicad geometry primitives to cadquery, so others can benefit from this w", "context": "keyboard hobbyist building a split keyboard", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Like Small Keyboards"}, {"id": 780705488, "item_id": 48794093, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48794093", "by": "JKCalhoun", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Currently I use a JLCPCB plug-in to do this in KiCAD.", "excerpt": "I like all the utility you have already built in. My selfish suggestion would be to add support to populate the part numbers for all the components from LCSC's database. JLCPCB wants these numbers in order to assemble a PCB. (Currently I use a JLCPCB plug-in to do this in KiCAD.)", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: KiCad in the Browser"}, {"id": 776588016, "item_id": 48536751, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48536751", "by": "Evan-Purkhiser", "date": "2026-06-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "spent 40 or so hours in KiCad learning how read IC reference documents, picking components, and of course, doing the PCB trace layout.", "excerpt": "Been learning electronic PCB design the last few weeks while retrofitting some IKEA window shades for Zigbee enabled motorization. I've really enjoyed the journey of 3D printing and being able to create all kinds of mechanically useful things over the last few years, but I had always wanted to go even further and incorporate some non-trivial custom electronics. For this project I had a space constraint for the motor ", "context": "learning PCB design", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (June 2026)"}, {"id": 766947872, "item_id": 47934242, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47934242", "by": "ua709", "date": "2026-04-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "KiCAD comes with all the usual suspects, including Arduino and the various hats.  You can get pmod templates, etc.  They're actually really nice.", "excerpt": "Your analogy is more spot on that you may know. The syntax is just a bit off ;) \"File > New Project from Template\" KiCAD comes with all the usual suspects, including Arduino and the various hats. You can get pmod templates, etc. They're actually really nice. I use the pmod template all the time because it saves time and they're convenient to plug into Arty dev boards. PCBs are so cheap and quick I'll often make a qui", "context": "makes quick PCBs for Arty dev boards", "use_case": "PCB design from templates", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open-Source KiCad PCBs for Common Arduino, ESP32, RP2040 Boards"}, {"id": 760896449, "item_id": 47556028, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47556028", "by": "peteforde", "date": "2026-03-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "implementing my own take on the cascade design in KiCAD", "excerpt": "Several weeks ago, I spent about a week fully reverse engineering a Stereomaker pedal. It accepts a mono signal and produces a stereo field using a 5-stage all-pass filter to mess with the phase without the use of delay (which sounds cheesy and creates a result that doesn't mix well back to mono). I've not really worked with audio circuits previously, and I'd been intimidated to approach the domain. My journey was ra", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB circuit design", "switched_from": "", "story": "The risk of AI isn't making us lazy, but making \"lazy\" look productive"}, {"id": 760395841, "item_id": 47524740, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47524740", "by": "eblanshey", "date": "2026-03-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "start attracting more commercial usage, much like KiCad and Blender did in their spaces", "excerpt": "FreeCAD is really the only serious contender for CAD on Linux. I love how everything is hackable via Python APIs. Every release seems to fix more and more UX issues. I have very high hopes for it to eventually start attracting more commercial usage, much like KiCad and Blender did in their spaces. We need more open software like that.", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "FreeCAD Version 1.1 Released"}, {"id": 759314672, "item_id": 47457167, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47457167", "by": "fleventynine", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Just donated $250; I'm trying to get in the habit of supporting the open source projects I use", "excerpt": "Just donated $250; I'm trying to get in the habit of supporting the open source projects I use similarly to the cost of their proprietary competitors.", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "KiCad 10.0.0 Release"}, {"id": 743542343, "item_id": 46471396, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46471396", "by": "Alupis", "date": "2026-01-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Flatpaks to install many GUI apps, such as FreeCAD, KiCad, Darktable, Steam, Reaper, and a lot more.", "excerpt": "I've used Fedora on my laptop for over a decade. I switched my main home workstation to Fedora in 2023, and haven't looked back since. My workstation runs Kinoite[1], an immutable/atomic version of Fedora. I started with Fedora 38, and now am running 43. Flawless major-release upgrades. I develop using distrobox[2] (pet containers) on podman. It \"Just Works\". Nearly 99% of my Steam library is playable on Fedora too. ", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 will be my year of the Linux desktop"}, {"id": 742649009, "item_id": 46415563, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46415563", "by": "ikidd", "date": "2025-12-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "punched up some boards on kicad", "excerpt": "10X. 100X. I have very, very little time for programming anymore, but I have a lot of ideas for things I never had time to make. In the last 6 months I've built (with the $20/mo plan from Cursor): - shared tasks app that tracks fleet maintenance on my farm, with a personal tasks view. We can now search part numbers by equipment or refer back to previous work to look up invoices, as well as actually get jobs lined up ", "context": "runs a farm, former IT person", "use_case": "designing circuit boards", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: By what percentage has AI changed your output as a software engineer?"}, {"id": 740285810, "item_id": 46267863, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46267863", "by": "mikeayles", "date": "2025-12-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I created a fork of toon for Kicad", "excerpt": "I'm currently working on something that lets you describe a hardware product in plain English and get actual manufacturable files out \u2014 PCB, enclosure, firmware, the lot. Very early days still. Whilst I created a fork of toon for Kicad (called TOKN (https://www.mikeayles.com/#tokn)), with the intention of using a reduced token format to generate schematics using LLM's, I could get the models to follow the syntax corr", "context": "", "use_case": "schematics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (December 2025)"}, {"id": 736991504, "item_id": 46061969, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46061969", "by": "danishSuri1994", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "The world needs more playful abuse of serious tools.", "excerpt": "This is one of those projects where the implementation is more interesting than the meme. Rendering DOOM isn\u2019t the impressive part, hijacking a PCB editor\u2019s rendering pipeline and making it behave like a real-time vector engine is. The part I love most is how many unrelated systems had to cooperate: extracting geometry directly from DOOM\u2019s drawsegs/vissprite internals mapping sprite classes to physical component foot", "context": "", "use_case": "PCB design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: KiDoom \u2013 Running DOOM on PCB Traces"}]}