PowerLab KiCad Assistant
Claude in a KiCad side panel: libraries, placement, routing and design reviews, the METU Power Lab way.
Install · Use · Privacy · Report a problem
🌐 19 languages for the panel and Claude's replies:
English · Türkçe · 简体中文 · 繁體中文 · Deutsch · Français · Español · Português (Brasil) · Italiano · Polski · Русский · Українська · العربية · فارسی · हिन्दी · 日本語 · 한국어 · Tiếng Việt · Bahasa Indonesia
A side panel for KiCad 10 that lets you ask Claude to do things in your design: create symbol and footprint libraries to the METU Power Lab standard, place and route boards by the lab's rules and review them, run ERC/DRC and explain the results, render 3D views, export fabrication files, and edit schematics and boards.
It runs Claude Code on your computer with your own Claude account, and gives it KiCad tools through KiCAD-MCP-Server.
Early version. Windows and KiCad 10 only. Expect rough edges and please report problems.
Example sessions (illustrative). Left: start screen with suggestions and a library update. Middle: Claude routes the board, then renders and checks it. Right: a question about an attached datasheet, with another file ready to send. The board is the lab's open-source Voltage Sensor Card.
What it looks like
1. Placement starts with a block plan. Claude draws the board's functional blocks on its outline and asks before it places anything. You can drag blocks, turn them or move them to the other side; then it places the parts block by block.
2. Routing by hand, by the lab rules. Claude routes in KiCad itself: power and gate drive first, 45° tracks, pads entered at their centres, GND pours kept whole and GND stitching vias last. check_routing and DRC check each step.
3. Then it reviews its own work. DRC, the lab rules and a 233-rule review handbook. Claude fixes what it can, checks again, and writes a review with what's left for you, saved as a PDF in your project.
The animations draw each board's finished parts and tracks in order; they show the result, not the time it took.
The lab's own router follows a routing plan made from the schematic, which Claude shows you first: gate drive, switch nodes, PWM and clocks keep their room; power and sense lines next; test points and LEDs give way. It checks every pin's way out, routes all nets at once and negotiates the overlaps, draws 45° tracks with pads entered at their centres and buses as bundles, and lets DRC have the last word: a join that would add a DRC error is left for Claude to route by hand. It never moves parts.
The numbers come from tools/route_quality.py (signal nets).
⚠️ Read this first
AI makes mistakes. Claude can get pinouts, footprints, pad sizes, ratings or connections wrong while sounding certain. Treat everything it produces as a draft:
- Check parts against the manufacturer datasheet.
- Run ERC and DRC yourself.
- Review the 3D view and the fabrication outputs before you order a board.
It edits your files. Claude changes schematic, board and library files directly. Keep your projects in git (or keep backups) so you can undo.
Your design data goes to Anthropic. Your messages, and any project files Claude reads, are processed by Anthropic under your Claude account and its terms. Don't use the assistant on designs that your NDA, employer or customer doesn't allow you to share with an AI service.
Privacy: what goes where
| Data | Where it goes | When |
|---|
| Your messages and the project files Claude reads | Anthropic, under your Claude account | Every time you send a message |
| Library parts you choose to share | A pull request to odtu/PowerLabKiCadLibraries, from your GitHub account | Only when you press Share and confirm the file list |
| Problem reports | A public issue on this repository | Only when you press Submit after reviewing the report |
| Library updates | Anonymous read from GitHub (git fetch) | When the panel opens, at most every 10 minutes |
| Plugin update check | Anonymous read from GitHub of the version number on this repository's stable branch; when it's newer, of that release's notes | When the panel opens or is shown, at most every 5 minutes |
Nothing else is sent to METU Power Lab. The panel has no analytics, telemetry or tracking.
Problem reports contain versions, the error and the panel's own stack trace. They never contain:
- project, board or sheet names
- part references or values, net names
- file contents or paths (replaced with placeholders)
- your messages or Claude's replies
- your selection or clipboard
Stays on your computer:
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
