Xyce Studio
Desktop GUI for the Xyce circuit simulator with waveform visualization, launched as a KiCad plugin from the schematic editor.
What it does and how it connects
Xyce Studio is a native desktop UI for the Xyce circuit simulator from Sandia National Labs. It is not a simulator itself: it drives the Xyce executable, which the user installs separately. It ships as a KiCad plugin launched from the schematic editor over IPC, and as a standalone macOS application for loading netlists, running simulations, and visualizing output.
Features stated in the README are a SPICE-style netlist editor with syntax coloring, a simulation command dialog covering Transient, AC, DC, Harmonic Balance, Noise, Operating Point, and Linear analyses, interactive charts with expression plotting, zoom, FFT calculations, and parametric step filtering, plus persistent plugin configuration for the Xyce executable path. The KiCad plugin connects through NNG IPC and the vendored KiCad protobuf API.
The KiCad plugin installs from the latest release zip through the KiCad Plugin Manager, after the KiCad API is enabled in Preferences. The standalone app opens netlist files and Xyce simulation output files directly, and does not connect to KiCad. Full user documentation is on the project docs site.
What engineers report
For an AC analysis, a chart series created from a complex solution variable (e.g. V(/lowpass)) is evaluated as real(V) rather than abs(V).
2026-11-01Read the original
Alternatives
Compare side by side- ltspice-mcp
An MCP server that lets LLMs design and simulate SPICE circuits through LTspice and ngspice, rather than a desktop GUI for Xyce.
- kicad-mcp (blwfish)
An MCP server that drives a full KiCad workflow from description to fab files, rather than a simulator GUI launched from KiCad.
- KiSkill
Claude Code skills plus a headless engine for full KiCad control, rather than a waveform GUI for a circuit simulator.
- kicad-happy
Agent skills for reviewing KiCad designs, rather than a simulator GUI with waveform visualization.
Recurring errors it addresses
Error Index entries this tool is built to reduce or work around.
- For an AC analysis, the chart plots the real part of the result instead of its magnitude. On the stock KiCad Sallen-Key demo, that shows a fake 50 dB notch at f0 on a circuit with no zeros. The solver data matches ngspice to 7.3 mdB, so the bug is only in the plot, which is what people look at.Error Index
- 15 public Xyce regression decks run through ngspice and spice-ts: 12 failed in both engines, mostly on Xyce measurement syntax and dialect rejections, and all six AC decks failed; SPICE netlists still do not travel between simulators.Error Index
Sources
Not verified
- Pricing: none stated on the repo or docs site.
Last verified November 6, 2026. Listings are informational. The evidence score measures public, verifiable evidence and is not an endorsement or a compatibility claim.