openkonnect
Phase 0 MCP server for KiCad 10 over its IPC API; exposes read-only session and board inspection plus save, sync and handoff tools, with driving tools still planned.
Summary rewritten from the vendor site because the catalog version did not match it.
What it does and how it connects
openkonnect is an MIT-licensed, clean-room MCP server that lets an LLM agent drive a running KiCad 10: schematic, layout, placement, routing, design review and manufacturing tools, through KiCad's IPC API. It is built on kicad-tools, and its status is Phase 0 bootstrap.
In Phase 0 the MCP server runs and exposes read-only tools that inspect the session and the open board, plus the save, sync and handoff tools that write files or reload the editor. Read-only tools report session status, list KiCad instances, summarize the open board with unsaved changes included, list footprints and nets with positions and net classes, read the editor selection, list the live pads of named footprints, and select in the editor the items that findings point at. The handoff protocol covers saving before an external write, syncing from disk after one, and running one allow-listed kct write command through the whole check, save, run and reload sequence.
Setup needs uv and Python 3.10 or newer, plus KiCad 10 with its API server enabled in Preferences, Plugins, and a restart. The server speaks MCP over stdio. The README and spec point to a roadmap and a capabilities document for what each tool does, and the project's own tests run against a fake IPC backend except where marked `live_kicad`.
Alternatives
Compare side by side- Copperpour
A native KiCad 10 plugin and MCP server for full schematic and PCB design, rather than a Phase 0 server that inspects the session and board.
- konnect-maintained
Maintained KiCad MCP tooling from the archived Konnect project, rather than a clean-room Phase 0 server.
- kicad-mcp-pro
An MCP server that drives KiCad workflows with profile gated tools, rather than a Phase 0 server that inspects the session and board.
- kicad-mcp (draganito)
A compact Rust MCP server that drives a running KiCad 10 PCB editor over the IPC API, rather than a Phase 0 server that inspects the session and board.
Recurring errors it addresses
Error Index entries this tool is built to reduce or work around.
- kicad-tools writes KiCad files on disk while a person may have the board open, so stale-editor saves of old state or tool writes can silently discard unsaved human edits, and vice versa.Error Index
- The KiCad 10 IPC API has no modified since save query, serves only the PCB editor, and has no documented zoom, highlight, or DRC request, so the session layer must treat unknown as dirty.Error Index
- A save that reports success but leaves the file unchanged now counts as save_failed, schematic reload cannot be done at all, and user edits during an agent command cause refusal.Error Index
- The board outline was built from KiCad's bounding boxes, which include the Edge.Cuts line width. Origin came out as (99.95, 49.95) instead of (100, 50), so every board-frame point the tool translated back to the file landed 50 um off. CI used a fake backend with a hand-written outline and never saw it; the first live-KiCad run did.Error Index
- The first status call right after KiCad 10.0.7 starts can report the board path as the fixtures directory with no filename. Later calls are fine; it looks like KiCad answers over IPC before the document has fully loaded.Error Index
Sources
Not verified
- Pricing: none stated on the repo.
- Real user voices: no real linked post read for this page; recent issues are by the maintainer or an automation bot.
- No GitHub releases exist, so latest release fields are null.
- The catalog one-liner says the server currently exposes only read-only session and board status; the README also lists save, sync and handoff tools that write files, so the one-liner was rewritten.
- A named individual builder beyond the repository owner handle rjwalters; the LICENSE file names RJ Walters as copyright holder.
Last verified November 6, 2026. Listings are informational. The evidence score measures public, verifiable evidence and is not an endorsement or a compatibility claim.