Project goals

• provide a sensible default structure and scripts for managing KiCad projects
• automate everything that can be automated with continuous integrations scripts (e.g., update BOMs, produce manufacturing files, run tests, generate documentation, etc.)
• configure git and KiCad to play nicely together
• support customization via command line arguments, environment variables, etc.
• make everything easy to install/setup/use
• make awesome documentation

Install

> pip install kicad_helpers

Setup a new project

Open a command line shell and navigate to the directory containing your KiCad project. Then run kh_update to apply various project templates to the project directory:

> cd kicad/project/path
> kh_update

By default, this will install the following templates:

• .github/workflows/build.yml: a github workflow for updating the BOM, producing manufacturing files, running tests, generating documentation, etc.
• kitspace.yaml: metadata file for the kitspace service
• .kicad_helpers_config/config.kibot.yaml: configuration file for KiBot which allow automation of various KiCad actions
• .kicad_helpers_config/manufacturers/PCBWay.kibot.yaml: KiBot configuration to generate manufacturing files for PCBWay

To overwrite existing templates, run kh_update with the --overwrite flag:

> kh_update --v --overwrite

Render kitspace.yaml template.
Render settings.ini template.
Render .github/workflows/build.yml template.
Render .kicad_helpers_config/drc.yaml template.
Render .kicad_helpers_config/erc.yaml template.
Render .kicad_helpers_config/pcb_pdf.yaml template.
Render .kicad_helpers_config/pcb_svg.yaml template.
Render .kicad_helpers_config/sch_pdf.yaml template.
Render .kicad_helpers_config/sch_svg.yaml template.
Render .kicad_helpers_config/manufacturers/default.yaml template.
Render .kicad_helpers_config/manufacturers/PCBWay.yaml template.
Render tests/Tests.ipynb template.
"*.pro filter=kicad_project" already exists in /home/ryan/dev/python/kicad-helpers/_temp/.gitattributes
"*.sch filter=kicad_sch" already exists in /home/ryan/dev/python/kicad-helpers/_temp/.gitattributes
Add filters to git config.
"_autosave*" already exists in /home/ryan/dev/python/kicad-helpers/_temp/.gitignore
"*bak" already exists in /home/ryan/dev/python/kicad-helpers/_temp/.gitignore
"*.xml" already exists in /home/ryan/dev/python/kicad-helpers/_temp/.gitignore
".ipynb_checkpoints" already exists in /home/ryan/dev/python/kicad-helpers/_temp/.gitignore
"*-erc.txt" already exists in /home/ryan/dev/python/kicad-helpers/_temp/.gitignore
"*-drc.txt" already exists in /home/ryan/dev/python/kicad-helpers/_temp/.gitignore
"kibot_errors.filter" already exists in /home/ryan/dev/python/kicad-helpers/_temp/.gitignore

To see the options that are available, run the command:

> kh_update --help

usage: kh_update [-h] [--v] [--overwrite] [--root ROOT]

Setup a new project (or update an existing project) with templates from the `kicad_helpers/templates` directory. Also
installs git filters to prevent insignificant changes to the kicad `*.pro` and `*.sch` files from being tracked by git
(see https://jnavila.github.io/plotkicadsch/ for more details).

optional arguments:
  -h, --help   show this help message and exit
  --v          verbose (default: False)
  --overwrite  overwrite existing templates (default: False)
  --root ROOT  project root directory (default: .)

Export a BOM from the KiCad schematic

> kh_sch_to_bom --v

/home/ryan/miniconda3/envs/kh/bin/python3.9 -m kifield -r --nobackup --overwrite --group -aq -x /home/ryan/dev/python/kicad-helpers/_temp/40-channel-hv-switching-board.sch -i /home/ryan/dev/python/kicad-helpers/_temp/manufacturing/default/40-channel-hv-switching-board-BOM.csv

Import data from the BOM into the KiCad schematic

> kh_sch_to_bom --v

/home/ryan/miniconda3/envs/kh/bin/python3.9 -m kifield -r --nobackup --overwrite --fields ~quantity -x /home/ryan/dev/python/kicad-helpers/_temp/manufacturing/default/40-channel-hv-switching-board-BOM.csv -i /home/ryan/dev/python/kicad-helpers/_temp/40-channel-hv-switching-board.sch

Run all tests in the tests directory

> kh_test

testing /home/ryan/dev/python/kicad-helpers/_temp/tests/Tests.ipynb
All tests are passing!

Contributors

• Ryan Fobel (@ryanfobel)