Kicad Studio Kit

KiCad Studio Kit is the VS Code extension repository. The MCP server is developed and released separately. This repository owns only the extension-side MCP discovery, configuration, compatibility metadata, and user experience — see ADR 0009 and repository structure.

Open KiCad Studio PCB and schematic previews can refresh automatically when external tools save the underlying design files, without relying on MCP. Live viewer refresh documents the event-driven behavior, resource limits, unsaved-edit safeguards and limitations.

The coverage badge reports the configured Jest unit denominator, not every shipped source file. Exclusion ownership and the separate critical-module ratchet are documented in the testing strategy.

This repository contains:

• the KiCad Studio VS Code extension (apps/vscode-extension) — the only released product here;
• private shared test infrastructure (packages/test-harness, packages/kicad-fixtures);
• the extension-side MCP integration contract and compatibility metadata.

The KiCad MCP Pro server (kicad-mcp-pro) — its Python source, npm launcher, container image, and MCP Registry listing — lives in KiCad MCP Pro.

Repository maturity and standards

Historical OpenSSF Best Practices Silver (MIT-licensed period): The Silver evidence is preserved for traceability, not presented as a current FLOSS badge. Since the licensing transition, project-authored source is available under PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0, which is not an OSI-approved open-source license. Security, release, provenance, and governance checks continue to operate independently of historical badge status.

Version Baseline

This repository's local release surface is:

• VS Code extension: oaslananka.kicadstudiokit (2.1.1)

The Python package kicad-mcp-pro, container image, and MCP Registry listing are released from KiCad MCP Pro.

KiCad Compatibility

KiCad Studio Kit treats KiCad 10.0.x as the primary tested line, keeps KiCad 9.x as deprecated best-effort compatibility after upstream EOL, and keeps KiCad 8.x as deprecated file-level compatibility. The canonical matrix, tested patch versions, CI coverage level, and feature gates are maintained in docs/support-matrix.md and compatibility.yaml.

Local Validation

corepack enable
corepack pnpm run dev:doctor
corepack pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
corepack pnpm --dir apps/vscode-extension exec playwright install chromium
corepack pnpm run check:forbidden-refs
corepack pnpm run check:version
corepack pnpm --filter kicadstudiokit run check
corepack pnpm --filter kicadstudiokit run package

Product-scoped entrypoints are available from the root:

corepack pnpm run check:kicad-studio

corepack pnpm --dir packages/test-harness run check
corepack pnpm run check:protocol-schemas
corepack pnpm run check:compatibility-contract
corepack pnpm run check:dev-doctor

Python/MCP server checks run from the KiCad MCP Pro repository.

For a reproducible VS Code Dev Containers or GitHub Codespaces environment, use the checked-in devcontainer configuration. The container sets up Node, pnpm, Python, uv, Playwright, shellcheck, actionlint, GitHub CLI, and best-effort KiCad CLI support for root checks and MCP tests. For a least-privilege VPS without a container daemon, use the checked-in rootless validation-host profile.

Install

Install the extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace or Open VSX, or build it locally:

corepack enable
corepack pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
corepack pnpm run package:kicad-studio

Usage

Open a workspace containing a KiCad project and use the KiCad Studio activity bar views and commands. See docs/getting-started.md for the guided workflow and docs/extension/commands.md for the command catalog.

Architecture

• Searchable documentation site
• Repository structure
• Product boundaries
• Release model
• Testing strategy
• Dev container
• Rootless validation host
• KiCad fixture corpus
• Integration model
• Agent onboarding
• MCP client config examples
• VS Code MCP workspace example

Examples

• Examples overview
• LED Basic KiCad example
• MCP Workflow Demo

Publishing

Publishing is handled by GitHub Actions workflows under .github/workflows. External setup for environments, marketplace secrets, and trusted publishers is documented in docs/publishing.md. The structured preview (beta) program and tester feedback loop for the stable 1.x line are documented in docs/beta-program.md.

Maintenance

Dependency update policy, dashboard triage, and security-update handling are documented in docs/dependency-lifecycle.md. Compatibility support states and release gates are documented in docs/support-matrix.md. Canonical repository and portfolio workflow status are recorded in CANONICAL.md, .repo-health.yaml, and docs/reusable-workflows.md. Telemetry and error reporting are opt-in, disabled by default, and documented in docs/telemetry.md.

Contributing

Read CONTRIBUTING.md and run corepack pnpm run check before opening a pull request.

License

Current KiCad Studio Kit project-authored source is available under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0. Commercial use requires a separate written license; see LICENSING.md and COMMERCIAL-LICENSING.md. Earlier revisions already published under MIT remain available under the MIT terms that applied when they were published.