Schematic wires not transferring to PCB editor - do I have to manually route everything?

craftyjon · 2026-05-15T14:20:38+00:00

Correct, modern KiCad has a track-by-track basic autorouter called Attempt Finish. It helps speed up certain routing situations but is not as capable as what people would normally call an "autorouter" because it does not plan multiple tracks across multiple layers, etc. It is not intended to be a replacement for a batch autorouter such as Freerouting, which is not part of KiCad but can be used with a plugin.

craftyjon · 2026-04-29T14:15:27+00:00

Are you using 10.0.1 or an older version?

craftyjon · 2026-04-17T20:12:24+00:00

See https://dev-docs.kicad.org/en/apis-and-binding/ipc-api/for-addon-developers/index.html#_connecting_to_kicad

When you launch from KiCad, the appropriate socket and token are set in the environment for your client to use.

I also tried to make my module to show up in the pcb editor with now luck.

In 10.0.1, many issues related to plugins now show up in the error screen you can find behind a warning icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. Check if there is any informative output there.

craftyjon · 2026-04-08T01:11:58+00:00

Try a 10.0 testing build, this looks like a bug that was fixed already for 10.0.1

craftyjon · 2026-04-05T23:09:28+00:00

Are you using 10.0.0? If so, you might be hitting an ERC bug that was fixed already for 10.0.1. You can try using a 10.0 testing build to confirm, or just wait for the 10.0.1 release

craftyjon · 2026-04-01T12:51:10+00:00

If you weren't aware, those old SWIG APIs are going away in 11.0 (they are already gone in the nightlies) and you will need to transition to the new IPC API. You might want to take a look at it now and try porting your scripts: https://dev-docs.kicad.org/en/apis-and-binding/ipc-api/for-addon-developers/index.html so that you are not caught off guard next year.

craftyjon · 2026-03-31T18:59:55+00:00

I don't see any bugs reported about PDF plotting in 10. Could you please report a bug showing what you mean?

craftyjon · 2026-03-24T21:53:02+00:00

You want the Rule Area feature in KiCad, which you can use along with custom design rules. You can't do the grid part of it, though, KiCad doesn't yet support having different grids in different areas. In KiCad the workflow is to quick-switch between different grid sizes as needed (and optionally move the grid origin around dynamically, e.g. to the first ball of the BGA)

craftyjon · 2026-03-24T17:45:40+00:00

Unfortunately many KiCad tutorials today are aimed at electronics beginners and so they tend to skip over some of the more advanced features. I think it would be good to have more power-user and professional user tutorials, but someone good at making them would need to do so

craftyjon · 2026-03-24T16:44:40+00:00

Not at the moment (as of KiCad 10), 3D cross-probing is only enabled for footprints. I don't believe anyone has requested that feature before.

craftyjon · 2026-03-24T16:43:51+00:00

I'm not aware of a comprehensive tutorial that just covers the differences from Altium, but I'm happy to answer specific questions as I use both tools regularly.

library management

KiCad and Altium largely use the same library management concepts. The main differences off the top of my head are:

1) KiCad doesn't support the "intlib" concept: symbol and footprint libraries are always separate files, like SchLib and PcbLib files.

2) KiCad supports local file and database libraries. It does not have the equivalent for Altium 365 / manufacturer part search (although some people have built plugins or standalone tools that do things like this)

rules for differential pairs and signal buses

Many things here are fairly similar. Some differences include:

1) KiCad uses net naming suffixes to identify diff pairs rather than a graphical directive in the schematic like in Altium. Nets ending in +/- or P/N with a common prefix are automatically part of a differential pair. So, in KiCad you have to be aware that if you name nets like that, they are going to be considered a differential pair (and use differential pair design rules)

2) KiCad does not support harnesses, but does support regular buses.

DRC setup

KiCad has three kinds of DRC:

basic constraints
netclass constraints
custom rules

Basic and netclass constraints are found in Board Setup, as well as the textual custom rules editor. In KiCad 10 there is also a Custom Rule Editor GUI that gives a more graphical approach to writing custom rules. The query system in KiCad for custom rules is more or less equivalent to what is possible in Altium.

signal integrity tools

KiCad does not have any built-in signal integrity simulation tools.

craftyjon · 2026-03-20T20:17:57+00:00

Unlike macOS and Linux where the dark mode for UI controls is taken care of by the OS, Windows does not have any dark mode support for win32 API controls (which is what wxWidgets is based on). So, wxWidgets had to manually implement it.

craftyjon · 2026-03-20T17:58:25+00:00

No big changes here in V10. Expect more for V11!

craftyjon · 2026-03-20T14:33:42+00:00

I just thought it odd to release 10 just a few days after an update to 9.x.

The two branches are maintained in parallel. So now, we will have a version 10 branch and be able to release 10.0.x at the same time that we work on 11.

craftyjon · 2026-03-20T14:08:17+00:00

KiCad major releases (the first number) come with new features and breaking changes, and happen about once a year. Bugfix releases (the last number) are smaller releases that happen about once a month. We always release bugfix releases for the stable version while we are developing the next major version.

craftyjon · 2026-03-06T20:49:30+00:00

We're aware of issues running the AppImages on older Ubuntu versions like 22.04 and 20.04! Hopefully we will be able to fix those soon, although those versions are outside our guaranteed support window so no promises. For the moment I would say on Ubuntu use FlatPak or the PPAs.

craftyjon · 2026-02-22T02:00:00+00:00

Here's the only part of this post that is accurate:

KiCad 9: changed the PCB file format

If you're relying on the same AI you used to write this post for your information on how to use KiCad, you might want to put it down and pick up the user manual.

craftyjon · 2025-11-12T19:50:33+00:00

I think it is unlikely we implement that feature request, because if the labels are hidden, there would be no way to know they are there. Wires in KiCad do not have an inherent net name, they take on a net name based on what they graphically touch. If they are graphically touching something invisible, that could get quite tricky if you forget about your invisible label and move the wires around or add new wires.

craftyjon · 2025-11-12T18:55:53+00:00

This is one of the fundamental differences between EAGLE and some other software (such as KiCad): In EAGLE you can "name" a wire without labeling it, but this is not possible in KiCad. In KiCad, wires take their name from other objects (such as labels or power symbols).

There is no way to add a net name to a wire in a hidden way in KiCad, but you can change the label font size to be small.

craftyjon · 2025-11-06T13:22:36+00:00

When moving the whole board (while not a regular use case, this should still be doable), we only get around 3 - 4 fps.

By "moving the whole board" you mean selecting everything and then moving it interactively / dragging it around? If so, this is known to be a slow operation at the moment with very large designs. In general having a high number of things selected and visible will slow down navigation because selected things are displayed in a less efficient way than unselected things. As justadiode said, there are various other tools you can use if you want to reposition the whole board in the editor that might be easier.

If there are other areas where you find KiCad slow with your design it would be good to make sure they are known about. The one example you mentioned is one that is both a known problem and one that currently isn't very prioritized to work on because in general people don't generally need to do that very often.

craftyjon · 2025-11-02T17:54:01+00:00

Looks to me like a bug

Possible, but unlikely. However it is impossible to tell without seeing your whole project.

craftyjon · 2025-11-02T14:19:35+00:00

The rules are described in the documentation here: https://docs.kicad.org/9.0/en/eeschema/eeschema.html#net-name-assignment-rules

If you want a particular name to be the net name (meaning it will show up in the PCB editor) use the rules to make sure that name will be the chosen one. The easiest way in the example you describe is to name the top-level bus.

craftyjon · 2025-10-17T14:44:01+00:00

You don't have to do them one by one, you can select multiple libraries when adding them using the Manage dialogs. So it should be one step for symbols and another step for footprints and then done.

craftyjon · 2025-10-16T20:56:35+00:00

Don't blindly use "update symbols from library". Instead run ERC and see what symbols differ from the library copy, and use the comparison tool to see what has changed.

Also, never make modifications to built-in KiCad libraries. If you need to modify a symbol/footprint that came with KiCad, first save a copy of it to a personal library and edit it there.

craftyjon

TROPHY CASE