altium-mcp (coffeenmusic)
MCP server and Altium scripting bridge that let an AI client query and manipulate Altium Designer projects, schematics, layouts and output jobs through Python.
What it does and how it connects
altium-mcp is a Model Context Protocol server that provides an interface to interact with Altium Designer through Python, letting Claude control or ask questions about an Altium project. The README tagline is to use Claude to control or ask questions about your Altium project.
Example commands in the README include running all output jobs, creating schematic symbols and PCB footprints from an attached datasheet, finding a symbol in a library, duplicating a selected layout, showing and hiding layers, listing parts by manufacturer, placing selected parts with best practices for a switching regulator and verifying clearances, auto-placing silkscreen and fixing designators, listing length matching rules, checking fabrication readiness including unsaved documents and ERC errors, and drawing a schematic of an LED with a current-limiting resistor on a new sheet.
Installation is easiest through Claude Code pointed at the repo, and the server needs Python 3.10 to 3.14. The README links a YouTube walkthrough and documents symbol placement rules that live in the extension install folder and are replaced on update, so users are told to keep a copy.
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.
- Altium Monkey
A Python toolkit for reading, writing, analyzing, and rendering Altium files directly from automation, without an MCP server.
- pcb-copilot (ee-in-a-box)
An MCP server that gives Claude question-and-answer access to a PCB schematic snapshot exported from Altium, with no Altium license required.
- SnapMagic Copilot
A commercial AI design copilot that auto-completes circuit board designs with recommendations and natural language interaction.
Recurring errors it addresses
Error Index entries this tool is built to reduce or work around.
- 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
- The Altium MCP sandbox script failed between PreProcess and PostProcess, breaking Altium undo history until restart, and the agent could not read error dialogs drawn as non-windowed labels.Error Index
Sources
Not verified
- No independent user voice found: recent pull request activity is contributor feature work.
- Pricing: none stated on the repo.
- A named individual builder beyond the repository owner handle coffeenmusic
Last verified November 6, 2026. Listings are informational. The evidence score measures public, verifiable evidence and is not an endorsement or a compatibility claim.