altium-designer-mcp
MCP server for AI-assisted management of Altium Designer component libraries.
What it does and how it connects
altium-designer-mcp is an MCP server that gives an AI assistant file I/O and primitive-placement tools for Altium Designer .PcbLib footprint and .SchLib symbol libraries. The split of work is explicit in the README: the AI does the engineering, such as IPC-7351B pad sizes, courtyards, datasheet interpretation and style, while the server reads and writes the binary library files, which the README describes as an undocumented OLE compound format that is easy to corrupt.
The server exposes 34 tools covering read and write of both library types, inspection and ASCII-art previews, comparison and diffing, in-place edits, component management, library operations such as merge, export, import, validation and repair, STEP model extraction, and automatic backups with restore. It works with Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Antigravity, VS Code Copilot and any other stdio MCP client, on Windows, Linux and macOS.
The scope is libraries only. The README states the server does not drive a live Altium session or a schematic or PCB document; it creates and maintains any component in the library files, not just pre-programmed package types.
Alternatives
Compare side by side- eda-agent
An MCP server that drives a live Altium Designer session through a DelphiScript bridge, with an optional KiCad backend, rather than working on library files only.
Recurring errors it addresses
Error Index entries this tool is built to reduce or work around.
- An Altium agent tool reading saved PcbDoc files treated arc edges of copper pours as straight lines, so a point near a rounded pour edge counted as outside the pour, feeding via connectivity, DRC net lookups and the pour index.Error Index
- An Altium agent tool sized back drills the way Altium's help says (hole plus 2 times the oversize, giving 0.8 mm), while Altium's own Draftsman drill table and the board's hole list both say 0.5 mm (hole plus the oversize once).Error Index
- Symbols an agent creates in an Altium SchLib never mark the library as modified, so closing Altium throws them away without asking.Error Index
- tools that succeeded report failure (a moved part reports failure on decimal-comma locales; a net class that gained nets reports nets_added: 0), so an agent may retry a completed action or tell the user it failed.Error Index
- with a schematic or library focused, every PCB tool quietly runs on the first .PcbDoc (often a panel drawing with no parts), returning empty/wrong data, and misreports "no designators given" when designators were given but not found.Error Index
Sources
Not verified
- Pricing: none stated on the repo.
- Real user voices: no real linked post read for this page.
- A named individual builder beyond the repository owner organization embedded-society
Last verified November 6, 2026. Listings are informational. The evidence score measures public, verifiable evidence and is not an endorsement or a compatibility claim.