KiCad - the KiCad Bridge

@@ -1,157 +1,219 @@-# How the KiCad bridge compares+# How the KiCad Bridge compares -A factual audit of every notable AI and MCP automation for KiCad, done 2026-09-11 against the public repositories, their READMEs and their open issues, so the claim that this bridge is the most complete automation of KiCad available to an AI can be checked line by line rather than taken on faith. Star counts and last-push dates were read from GitHub on that day. Where we are behind, it says so.+An audit of the notable AI and MCP automation tools for KiCad, refreshed on **2026-10-04** (the first audit was 2026-09-11) against each tool's public repository, README, release notes and open issues. We build the Adom KiCad Bridge, so read this as one maker's view, written to be checkable line by line. Every author in this field is pushing KiCad automation forward, and several are ahead of us in areas the page names plainly. If anything about your tool is wrong, file it on our [issue tracker](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/kicad-bridge/issues) and we will correct it, usually the same day.++KiCad 11 (nightlies today, release expected around February 2027) changes this landscape for everyone, so each row of the matrix says what 11 does to it. The section [What KiCad 11 changes](#what-kicad-11-changes) has the detail.  ## The field -| Tool | Stars | Last push | Language | How it reaches KiCad | Platforms |-|---|---|---|---|---|---|-| [Adom KiCad Bridge](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/kicad-bridge) (this) | n/a (wiki) | daily | Rust, one native binary (1.0.x, insiders); Python 0.9.x on the public tier until promotion | IPC API, kicad-cli, file edit, background Win32 and UIA window control, Adom Bridge callbacks | Windows; macOS and Linux platform layers ready for their owners |-| [KiCAD-MCP-Server](https://github.com/mixelpixx/KiCAD-MCP-Server) | 2,198 | 2026-09-10 | Python and TypeScript | SWIG through KiCad's bundled Python, experimental IPC, kicad-cli, kicad-skip for schematics, a loopback GUI click plugin | Win, mac, Linux |-| [Konnect](https://github.com/mixelpixx/Konnect) | 619 | 2026-09-11 | Rust | IPC for PCB, own s-expression engine for schematics, kicad-cli | Windows primary |-| [kicad-happy](https://github.com/aklofas/kicad-happy) | 1,184 | 2026-09-01 | Python | File parsing only, read-only, no KiCad needed | all |-| [kicad-mcp](https://github.com/lamaalrajih/kicad-mcp) | 518 | 2025-10-17 | Python | File parsing, kicad-cli, launches KiCad by subprocess | all |-| [Seeed kicad-mcp-server](https://github.com/Seeed-Studio/kicad-mcp-server) | 127 | 2026-09-09 | Python | SWIG through bundled Python, text-parse fallback, kicad-cli | all |-| [kicad-mcp-pro](https://github.com/oaslananka/kicad-mcp-pro) | 84 | 2026-09-11 | Python 3.13 | File parsing, kicad-cli, 24 kipy IPC tools out of 387 | all, Tauri desktop app |-| [KiCad-AI-Assistant](https://github.com/paul356/KiCad-AI-Assistant) | 81 | 2026-09-09 | Python | In-KiCad action plugin with an embedded MCP server | Linux, Windows |-| [KiPilot](https://github.com/belaszalontai/kipilot-mcp) | 8 | 2026-08-30 | Python | kipy IPC only, KiCad 10 GUI must be running | Windows zip, others from source |-| [mcp-server-kicad](https://github.com/ProductOfAmerica/mcp-server-kicad) | 8 | 2026-08-15 | Python | Byte-preserving file edits, kicad-cli, pcbnew for zone fill and Freerouting | all |-| [kicad-agentic-mcp](https://github.com/nevenfo/kicad-agentic-mcp) | 3 | 2026-09-10 | Rust | IPC for PCB, s-expressions for schematics, kicad-cli verdicts | Windows tested |--Adjacent code-first tools that generate KiCad files rather than drive KiCad ([tscircuit](https://github.com/tscircuit/tscircuit), [atopile](https://github.com/atopile/atopile), Diode, JITX, Flux, Quilter, [DeepPCB](https://github.com/instadeepai/deeppcb-kicad-plugin)) are not in the matrix. None of them control a running KiCad.+| Tool | Stars | Last push | Latest release | License | How it reaches KiCad | Platforms |+|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|+| [Adom KiCad Bridge](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/kicad-bridge) (ours) | n/a (wiki) | daily | 1.0.53 public (signed), 1.0.55 insiders | MIT | IPC API, kicad-cli, file edit, background Win32 and UI Automation window control, Adom Bridge for screenshots, recording and input | Windows x64 (macOS and Linux need an owner's build) |+| [KiCAD-MCP-Server](https://github.com/mixelpixx/KiCAD-MCP-Server) | 2,567 | 2026-10-01 | v2.8.2 (09-25) | MIT | SWIG and IPC, kicad-skip, kicad-cli, an opt-in in-process GUI driver, AT-SPI on Linux | Win, mac, Linux |+| [Konnect](https://github.com/mixelpixx/Konnect) | 869 | 2026-10-04 | v0.13.0 (10-02) | AGPL-3.0 or commercial | IPC for PCB, its own s-expression engine for schematics, kicad-cli | Win, mac (universal), Linux |+| [kicad-happy](https://github.com/aklofas/kicad-happy) | 1,330 | 2026-09-13 | v2.2.1 (09-01) | MIT | File parsing, read-only, no KiCad needed | all |+| [kicad-mcp](https://github.com/lamaalrajih/kicad-mcp) | 524 | 2025-10-17 | none | MIT | File parsing, kicad-cli, launches KiCad by subprocess | all |+| [Seeed kicad-mcp-server](https://github.com/Seeed-Studio/kicad-mcp-server) | 137 | 2026-09-28 | none | MIT (pyproject) | SWIG, text-parse fallback, kicad-cli | all |+| [kicad-mcp-pro](https://github.com/oaslananka/kicad-mcp-pro) | 117 | 2026-10-04 | v3.37.0 (10-02) | MIT | File parsing, kicad-cli, kipy IPC | all, plus a Tauri desktop app |+| [KiCad-AI-Assistant](https://github.com/paul356/KiCad-AI-Assistant) | 101 | 2026-10-04 | 0.2.6 (10-04) | MIT | In-KiCad action plugin with an embedded MCP server | Linux, Windows |+| [KiPilot](https://github.com/belaszalontai/kipilot-mcp) | 11 | 2026-09-17 | v0.3.0 (09-17) | Apache-2.0 | kipy IPC only, KiCad GUI running (schematic editing on KiCad 11 nightlies) | Windows zip, others from source |+| [mcp-server-kicad](https://github.com/ProductOfAmerica/mcp-server-kicad) | 11 | 2026-10-04 | v0.20.1 (08-15) | MIT | Byte-preserving file edits, kicad-cli, pcbnew for zone fill and Freerouting | all |++Also audited, not in the matrix:++- [eda-agent](https://github.com/salitronic/eda-agent) (237 stars, Apache-2.0, active): Altium first, with KiCad and EasyEDA backends and its own place-and-route engine since 09-30. It is the closest peer to our multi-tool approach. It is not a matrix column because its KiCad backend is secondary to Altium, and marking it row by row would be guesswork.+- [kicad-agentic-mcp](https://github.com/nevenfo/kicad-agentic-mcp) (5 stars): derived from Konnect, with a plan, compile, transaction and verdict architecture and a published benchmark.+- [kicad-harness](https://github.com/zxkmm/kicad-harness) (30 stars): an agent skill with SWIG and IPC recipes, region renders and datasheet footprints.+- [copperhead](https://github.com/copperheadhq/copperhead) (322 stars, Apache-2.0, v0.11.0): the fastest-growing new entrant. It goes from a brief to schematic, layout, Gerbers and firmware by editing KiCad files with a kicad-cli ERC and DRC loop, and edits an existing KiCad repository like a coding agent. It does not drive a running KiCad, so it sits with kicad-happy rather than in the matrix; its README is candid that the end-to-end loop is not yet proven.+- [kicad-tools](https://github.com/rjwalters/kicad-tools) (64 stars, MIT, v0.22.0): file-level tools with its own autorouter and placement optimizer (CUDA and Metal), a pure-Python DRC, JLCPCB integration and a demo gallery.+- [blwfish/kicad-mcp](https://github.com/blwfish/kicad-mcp) (23 stars): pcbnew through a subprocess bridge with Freerouting, and firmware-driven schematic generation.+- Idle since spring: [Huaqiu kicad-mcp](https://github.com/Huaqiu-Electronics/kicad-mcp) and [pcb-mcp](https://github.com/bunnyf/pcb-mcp).++Code-first tools that generate KiCad files rather than drive KiCad ([tscircuit](https://github.com/tscircuit/tscircuit), [atopile](https://github.com/atopile/atopile), Diode, JITX, Flux, Quilter, [DeepPCB](https://github.com/instadeepai/deeppcb-kicad-plugin)) are a different category and are not compared here.++## Credit where it is due++What each tool does best, in our honest reading. Several of these are things we do not do, or do not do as well.++- **KiCAD-MCP-Server** is the community's server: the most stars, the most outside contributors (v2.8.0 credits more than fifteen), and release notes precise enough to learn from. Its new opt-in GUI driver reaches menus, toolbars and dialogs on Windows and Linux.+- **Konnect** has the strictest correctness discipline in the field. Every mutation reports applied, refused or uncertain; evidence is labelled live, saved-file or CLI; releases are gated on real KiCad. It ships as one binary on three operating systems, installable from KiCad's own Plugin and Content Manager.+- **kicad-happy** has the deepest design review available (power tree, ESD, EMC, thermal) and is the only tool that generates and runs SPICE testbenches automatically, across ngspice, LTspice and Xyce with Monte Carlo. Its validation corpus is unmatched: 5,857 projects and 2.76 million checks, all but 9 passing. It works across Claude Code, Codex, Copilot CLI, Antigravity and opencode, and runs as a GitHub Action.+- **kicad-mcp** started this category, and many later servers learned from it.+- **Seeed kicad-mcp-server** does pin and pinmux analysis with device-tree and test-code generation, which nobody else does, and offers a free parts registry with no login.+- **kicad-mcp-pro** has the best engineering hygiene in the field: OpenSSF Best Practices Silver, SBOMs and checksums on releases, and a self-published parity matrix with its limits labelled. It also has the broadest analysis surface (signal integrity, power integrity, EMC, thermal, DFM).+- **KiCad-AI-Assistant** is the only tool whose chat lives inside KiCad itself, and it manages its own context budget carefully. Its documentation is bilingual.+- **KiPilot** was first to drive KiCad 11's schematic API live in the editor, with no file round-trip, and every mutation can be dry-run. It got there before we did.+- **mcp-server-kicad** has a byte-preserving write layer that refuses an edit rather than risk corrupting a file.  ## Feature matrix -Y = yes, P = partial, N = no. Column key:--| Column | Tool | Repository | Docs or site |-|---|---|---|---|-| Adom | Adom KiCad Bridge | [wiki.adom.inc/adom/kicad-bridge](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/kicad-bridge) | [Adom Hydrogen](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/hydrogen), [Adom Bridge](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-bridge) |-| MX | KiCAD-MCP-Server | [github.com/mixelpixx/KiCAD-MCP-Server](https://github.com/mixelpixx/KiCAD-MCP-Server) | [Platform guide](https://github.com/mixelpixx/KiCAD-MCP-Server/blob/main/docs/PLATFORM_GUIDE.md), [KiCad forum thread](https://forum.kicad.info/t/kicad-mcp-server/60704) |-| KN | Konnect | [github.com/mixelpixx/Konnect](https://github.com/mixelpixx/Konnect) | [Releases](https://github.com/mixelpixx/Konnect/releases) |-| HP | kicad-happy | [github.com/aklofas/kicad-happy](https://github.com/aklofas/kicad-happy) | README validation numbers on the repo |-| LA | kicad-mcp | [github.com/lamaalrajih/kicad-mcp](https://github.com/lamaalrajih/kicad-mcp) | [Glama listing](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/@lamaalrajih/kicad-mcp) |-| SD | Seeed kicad-mcp-server | [github.com/Seeed-Studio/kicad-mcp-server](https://github.com/Seeed-Studio/kicad-mcp-server) | [PulseMCP listing](https://www.pulsemcp.com/servers/seeed-studio-kicad) |-| PRO | kicad-mcp-pro | [github.com/oaslananka/kicad-mcp-pro](https://github.com/oaslananka/kicad-mcp-pro) | [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/kicad-mcp-pro/), [KiCad forum thread](https://forum.kicad.info/t/i-built-an-open-source-mcp-server-for-ai-assisted-kicad-workflows/68678) |-| AIA | KiCad-AI-Assistant | [github.com/paul356/KiCad-AI-Assistant](https://github.com/paul356/KiCad-AI-Assistant) | [KiCad forum thread](https://forum.kicad.info/t/kicad-ai-assistant-a-llm-powered-kicad-plugin/69770) |-| KP | KiPilot | [github.com/belaszalontai/kipilot-mcp](https://github.com/belaszalontai/kipilot-mcp) | [kipilot.org docs](https://www.kipilot.org/docs.html) |-| POA | mcp-server-kicad | [github.com/ProductOfAmerica/mcp-server-kicad](https://github.com/ProductOfAmerica/mcp-server-kicad) | [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/mcp-server-kicad/) |--Also audited, not in the matrix because they are too small or too different: [kicad-agentic-mcp](https://github.com/nevenfo/kicad-agentic-mcp), [eda-agent](https://github.com/salitronic/eda-agent), [Huaqiu kicad-mcp](https://github.com/Huaqiu-Electronics/kicad-mcp), [kicad-harness](https://github.com/zxkmm/kicad-harness), [codex-kicad-mcp](https://pypi.org/project/codex-kicad-mcp/), [pcb-mcp](https://github.com/bunnyf/pcb-mcp).--| Feature | Adom | MX | KN | HP | LA | SD | PRO | AIA | KP | POA |-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-| One native binary, no runtime to provision, installed and updated by a sha-verified manifest | Y (1.0.x) | N | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| 97 verbs behind one describe, each with a hint, an example, related verbs and pitfalls the AI reads | Y | Y (233) | Y (217) | N | P | Y (387) | P | P | Y (109) | N |-| Install KiCad itself, silently, then verify | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| Launch KiCad, open a project or board in the GUI | Y | Y | P | N | Y | N | P | Y | N | N |-| Open the symbol, footprint, schematic, PCB editors and 3D viewer on a named part, in the background | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| Screenshot of the real KiCad windows, dialogs included, without stealing focus | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| Video recording of a narrated tour | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| Schematic read (netlist, connections, lint) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | P | Y |-| Schematic edit in place (symbols, wires, labels) | Y (1) | Y | Y | N | N | P | Y | Y | P | Y |-| BOM and netlist export | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |-| ERC and DRC with parsed results | Y | Y | Y | N | P | Y | Y | Y | N | Y |-| Board read (pads, nets, tracks, routing state) | Y | Y | Y | Y | P | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |-| Board edit through KiCad's IPC API as native undo steps | Y | P | Y | N | N | N | P | Y | Y | N |-| Autorouting: AI routing through the IPC verbs, plus Freerouting installed on demand into the bridge cache and removable on its own | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N | Y | N | N | Y |-| Gerber, drill, STEP, SVG, PDF export | Y | Y | Y | P | N | P | Y | P | P | Y |-| 3D image of a board or chip | Y (live viewer capture and kicad-cli render) | P | N | N | Y | N | Y | Y | N | N |-| 3D model diagnostics (missing, unresolved, wrong scale) | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| SPICE simulation from the schematic (KiCad's own ngspice netlist, run headless, results back to the AI) | P (2) | N | N | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| Library management: install symbol, footprint, 3D model, edit lib tables, heal, rescan | Y | Y | P | N | N | P | Y | Y | N | Y |-| PCM plugin and library install without the GUI | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| Dialog pre-emption and cleanup, with a screenshot of what was dismissed | Y | P | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| Foreground etiquette (never steal the user's screen, measured) | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| Progress with measured percent and ETA on slow verbs, mirrored to the taskbar | Y | N | P | N | Y | N | ? | N | N | N |-| Multi-machine: drive a named desktop from a cloud agent | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| Permission model with human-only grants and a reason per call | Y (Adom Bridge) | N | N | n/a | N | N | Y | N | Y | P |-| Caller identity and audit on every verb | Y | P | Y | N | N | N | P | N | N | N |-| Auto-update with an insiders tier | Y | N | N | N | N | N | P | N | N | N |-| Health and readiness verbs | Y | P | Y | N | N | N | Y | N | Y | N |-| Supported uninstall | Y | N | Y | P | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| Runs with no KiCad installed (service-kicad container, kicad-cli in the container, or KiCad on another box) | Y | N | N | Y | N | P | Y | N | N | Y |-| Tool discovery: bridges are the tools, ab describes and routes them, the wiki hosts community add-ons | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | P | N | N | N |-| Parts search companion (Mouser, DigiKey, JLCPCB, best-source pick) | Y | P | Y | Y | N | P | N | N | N | N |-| Parts wiki: community-contributed components, each one ready for the AI to use | Y | N | N | N | N | P | N | N | N | N |-| Cross-app library conversion into KiCad format (adom-lbr) | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| Datasheet straight to symbol and footprint (ds2sf) | Y | N | N | N | N | N | P | N | N | N |-| AI-first web dashboards for every KiCad surface, no KiCad window needed (adom-symbol, adom-footprint, adom-schematic, adom-2dboard) | Y | N | P | N | N | N | P | N | N | N |-| Drive KiCad from any AI (Claude, Codex, Antigravity, Grok, Kimi) with no per-AI MCP or plugin install | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| One bridge ecosystem: KiCad, Fusion, Altium, pup, native browser, Blender, SolidWorks share ab's verbs | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| Your wiki project is also your PCM repository | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |-| Backed by a funded company rather than one maintainer | Y (NSF-funded) | N | N | N | N | Y (Seeed) | N | N | N | N |-| Open source with staffed contribution management: community wiki issues answered by an always-on AI thread, PRs reviewed and merged by three developers on staff | Y | P (one maintainer) | P (one maintainer) | P | N (stale) | P | P (one maintainer) | P | P | P |--(1) Schematic edit in place ships in the native bridge 1.0.0 (six verbs, ERC-validated on every write, verified on KiCad 10.0.5). Not in the 0.9.x Python bridge.--(2) Planned, not started. KiCad 10 ships ngspice and a headless SPICE netlist export; the plan in the Simulation section below is ecosystem-wide (KiCad, Fusion, Altium) rather than a KiCad-only verb. kicad-happy is the only audited tool that runs SPICE today.--## Where we lead, with the evidence+Y = yes, P = partial, N = no. Marks for other tools come from their own documentation; marks for ours come from the native catalog and our gate runs. The last column says what KiCad 11 does to the row. -- **Window control that stays in the background.** No other tool opens KiCad's editors on a named part or captures the real window. The mechanism is a native menu walk with WM_COMMAND, UI Automation invoke, and PostMessage to one hwnd, all documented in the code with the measurements that led to them. The release gate on 2026-09-08 ran every window verb on two machines with the foreground-steal check on: 72 passed, 1 failed, 15 skipped on ConfRoomROG and 70, 3, 15 on winvm, and the six-beat narrated tour recorded on both. The native 1.0.0 binary passed the same gate on 2026-09-11 (71 pass, 4 fail, 15 skip; the fails were another session's Chrome windows and a cleanup-while-open, not verbs) with `kicad_demo` passing, and the etiquette loop's own event log shows every self-raise bounced exactly once.-- **A frontier model has already used it on a real board, on camera.** The [adom/codex page](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/codex) carries four real KiCad window recordings of GPT-6 Astra routing through this bridge from a Hydrogen container: six nets, a 24-net crossbar, a first pass on the public Teazzers Solenoid Driver RP2040, and the [narrated full rerun](https://wiki.adom.inc/api/pages/adom/codex/files/videos/04-public-adom-solenoid-full-routing-narrated.mp4) that strips 484 segments and 58 vias from a copy and rebuilds it to 1,463 segments and 33 vias with zero unconnected items under native DRC. The [method log](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/codex/files/docs/ASTRA-KICAD.md) names every bridge and ab verb used. No other tool on this page has a comparable public record.-- **Dialogs.** The bridge seeds KiCad's settings so the first-run wizard never appears, sweeps transient dialogs after every verb, refuses to click Cancel on progress dialogs, and attaches a screenshot of anything it dismissed. The nearest competitor has one environment variable that auto-confirms a reload prompt.-- **Install to uninstall.** `kicad_upgrade` performs the silent official KiCad install and verifies with kicad-cli; `kicad_uninstall` removes only our artifacts. ab polls the manifest every four hours and insiders get builds before the public tier. The audit found one competitor with a supported uninstall and none with an update path.-- **Library and PCM.** Symbol, footprint and 3D install with lib-table registration, an Adom library that heals itself, in-place rescan verified in the editor, and PCM installs that reproduce KiCad's own on-disk layout. Three competitors author parts; none touch PCM.-- **Cloud to desktop.** Every verb is addressable by machine name from a container, with the caller's thread and reason stamped on the request by Adom Bridge. Every competitor assumes the agent runs on the same desktop as KiCad or fully headless.-- **Routing, both ways.** The AI routes through `kicad_route_net` as native undo steps with a DRC check per step; Freerouting is offered every time and installed only when the user says yes (88 MB, its own runtime, nothing on the PC), lands its copper the same way, and uninstalls on its own. Verified 2026-09-12: the six-net fixture routed by Freerouting in 3 s through the live editor, six undo steps, zero errors, zero unconnected.-- **Volume of releases.** 290 Python insiders builds since 0.9.60 and the native 1.0.x line since 2026-09-12, each staged on a test box and verified before the manifest moved, with the bug history public on the [issue tracker](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/kicad-bridge/issues).+| Column | Tool |+|---|---|+| Adom | Adom KiCad Bridge |+| MX | KiCAD-MCP-Server |+| KN | Konnect |+| HP | kicad-happy |+| LA | kicad-mcp |+| SD | Seeed kicad-mcp-server |+| PRO | kicad-mcp-pro |+| AIA | KiCad-AI-Assistant |+| KP | KiPilot |+| POA | mcp-server-kicad |++### Driving KiCad itself++| Feature | Adom | MX | KN | HP | LA | SD | PRO | AIA | KP | POA | With KiCad 11 |+|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|+| Tool catalog the AI reads, each verb with a hint, example, related verbs and pitfalls | Y (119) | Y (244) | Y (228) | N | P | P | Y (387) | Y (115) | Y (135) | P (109) | unchanged |+| One native binary, no runtime, installed and updated from a sha-verified manifest | Y (signed since 1.0.53) | N | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Install KiCad itself, silently, then verify | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Launch KiCad, open a project or board in the GUI | Y | Y | P | N | Y | N | P | Y | P | N | `OpenDocument` helps everyone, headless only for now |+| Open the symbol, footprint, schematic and PCB editors and the 3D viewer at a named part | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | `OpenLibraryItem` makes this easier for everyone |+| Keep KiCad out of the user's way | P (1) | N | N | n/a | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged: the editors still take focus |+| Screenshot of the real KiCad windows, dialogs included, while covered | Y | P (2) | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Video recording of KiCad or the whole desktop, while covered, with system audio | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Taskbar status: a badge while an AI drives the window, live progress on the button | Y | N | N | N | N | N | P (3) | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Dialog handling: pre-empt the setup wizard, sweep transient dialogs, screenshot what was dismissed | Y | P | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | still needed: errors stay dialogs in 11 |+| Drive KiCad on another computer, by name, from a cloud agent | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Runs with no desktop KiCad (shared KiCad service, kicad-cli in your container, or KiCad on another box) | Y | N | N | Y | N | P | Y | N | N | Y | `kicad-cli api-server` lets every tool run the API headless |++### Design work++| Feature | Adom | MX | KN | HP | LA | SD | PRO | AIA | KP | POA | With KiCad 11 |+|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|+| Schematic read (netlist, connections, lint) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | P | Y | schematic API for everyone |+| Schematic edit in place (symbols, wires, labels) | Y (4) | Y | Y | N | N | P | Y | Y | Y (on 11 nightly) | Y | live, native edits replace file rewrites for everyone |+| Board read (pads, nets, tracks, routing state) | Y | Y | Y | Y | P | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | unchanged |+| Board edit through KiCad's IPC API as native undo steps (ours: placement with courtyard checks, routing, pours and zone plans, silkscreen) | Y | P | Y | N | N | N | P | Y | Y | N | unchanged |+| Autorouting: AI routing through the API, and Freerouting installed on demand | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N | Y | P | N | Y | unchanged |+| ERC and DRC with parsed results | Y | Y | Y | N | P | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | still no live DRC over IPC |+| BOM and netlist export | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | unchanged |+| Gerber, drill, STEP, SVG, PDF export | Y | Y | Y | P | N | P | Y | P | Y | Y | export jobs over IPC for everyone |+| 3D image of a board or chip | Y | P | N | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | `RunBoardJobExportRender` for everyone |+| 3D model diagnostics (missing, unresolved, wrong scale, hidden) | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Design review depth (power tree, ESD, EMC, thermal, SI/PI) | P | P | P | Y | N | P | Y | P | N | N | unchanged |+| SPICE simulation run from the schematic | N (5) | N | N | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |++### Libraries and parts++| Feature | Adom | MX | KN | HP | LA | SD | PRO | AIA | KP | POA | With KiCad 11 |+|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|+| Install symbols, footprints and 3D models, edit lib tables, heal, rescan, uninstall | Y | Y | P | N | N | P | Y | Y | N | Y | library-table commands and `ReloadLibrary` for everyone |+| PCM plugin and library install without the GUI | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged: no PCM API in 11 |+| Your wiki project is also a KiCad PCM repository | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Cloud Libraries: collect parts on the wiki, install them into KiCad (or Fusion, Altium) in one step | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Parts search (Mouser, DigiKey, JLCPCB, best-source pick) | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | P | Y | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Datasheet straight to symbol and footprint | Y | N | N | N | N | N | P | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Symbols that show the chip: the part's real 3D package outline drawn into the symbol body as native KiCad lines, and pins sorted into captioned groups by function (Power, Ground, I2C, Control) from the datasheet | Y (8) | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Cross-tool library conversion into KiCad (Altium, Fusion and others) | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |++### Around the tool++| Feature | Adom | MX | KN | HP | LA | SD | PRO | AIA | KP | POA | With KiCad 11 |+|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|+| Works from any AI without a per-AI install (Claude, Codex, Antigravity, Grok, Kimi) | Y | N | P | P | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Grok Bot and its remote computer, driven from the same workspace | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |+| One bridge ecosystem: KiCad, Fusion, Altium, browsers, Blender, SolidWorks share one host's verbs | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Permission model with human-only grants and a reason on every call | Y | N | N | n/a | N | N | Y | N | Y | P | unchanged |+| Caller identity and audit on every verb | Y | P | Y | N | N | N | P | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Auto-update with an early-access tier | Y | N | N | N | N | N | P | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Supported uninstall | Y | N | Y | P | N | N | N | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Supply-chain hygiene (signed binaries or OpenSSF badge, SBOM, checksums) | P (signed exe) | N | P | N | N | N | Y | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Runs on macOS and Linux | N (6) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | P | P | Y | unchanged |+| Backed by a funded organization | Y (NSF) | N | P (commercial license) | N | N | Y (Seeed) | N | N | N | N | unchanged |+| Contributions handled by paid staff, with measured turnaround | Y (7) | P (one maintainer, many contributors) | P | P | N (idle) | P | P | P | P | P | unchanged |++(1) What we do: boards and the 3D viewer open behind the user's window, menus are posted to a single window, the 3D view is driven with no focus, and the taskbar badge shows when an AI is driving. What we cannot do on one machine: KiCad 10.0.5's Symbol Editor comes to the front and takes the keyboard, and the Footprint Editor takes keyboard focus, whatever the caller asks for ([measured, with video](kicad-wishlist.md)). Pushing the window back afterwards interrupted users more than it helped, so that guard is off by default since 1.0.50. The complete answer today is to run KiCad on a second computer and drive it through the mesh, so nothing ever lands on your screen.++(2) Opt-in GUI driver that copies the frame's screen rectangle, so the window has to be visible.++(3) MCP progress milestones on exports, not measured progress.++(4) Our schematic verbs write the file format and run kicad-cli ERC after every write, then reload the editor. KiPilot already edits live through the KiCad 11 schematic API; we move to it as 11 stabilises.++(5) Planned, not started. kicad-happy is the tool to use for simulation today.++(6) The bridge has macOS and Linux platform layers, but each needs an owner's build and test before we mark it supported.++(7) The KiCad Bridge page has had 118 issues since June; 105 are closed, half of them within 16.5 hours, and issues from people other than the project lead closed in a median of 12.2 hours. Three developers on staff review pull requests across the Adom bridges. All 20 pull requests so far came from our own contributors and merged in a median of 8 minutes; we have not yet had one from outside, and we would like to.++(8) [adom-symbol](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-symbol) bakes the chip's outline (rendered from the manufacturer's STEP by chip-thumbnailer, with the part number lasered on) into the middle of the symbol as real polylines, fitted between the pin-name columns so it never covers a pin. Pins come grouped by function from the datasheet extraction, with bold group captions, in two-column, square or square-grouped layouts. A schematic then reads like the board: you can see which package each part is. adom-lbr carries the same drawing and captions into native Altium and Fusion libraries, so the part looks the same in all three tools. Any wiki component page can offer every layout variant, generated in the browser, as a `.kicad_sym` download.++## What KiCad 11 changes++We read the KiCad 11 nightlies (the `master` API definitions, 2026-10-04) so the comparison does not age badly. KiCad 11 closes many gaps that every tool on this page works around:++- `kicad-cli api-server` runs the IPC API headless, with no windows at all. Any tool can then do board and schematic work without a desktop KiCad.+- `OpenDocument`, `CloseDocument`, `CloseAllDocuments`, `SaveDocument` and `GetDocumentModifiedState` (open and close are headless-only for now).+- `OpenLibraryItem` opens the Symbol or Footprint Editor at a library item.+- Library tables: read, add, update, delete, `ReloadLibrary`, `LoadAllLibraries`, library status.+- `RefillZones` by zone id, synchronous in headless sessions.+- `RunBoardJobExportRender` and export jobs (Gerber, drill, ODB++, IPC-2581, PDF, SVG and more) over IPC.+- The schematic API (KiCad issue #2077), which KiPilot already drives. KiCad lead developer Jon Evans wrote on [the forum](https://forum.kicad.info/t/66611/37) on 2026-09-19 that it will be marked stable only at the final KiCad 11 release, so expect breaking changes until then.++What KiCad 11 does not change, and where the bridge's desktop work keeps mattering:++- The Symbol and Footprint Editors still take focus when they open.+- Errors still appear only as dialogs; there is no error, log or event channel in the API.+- `RunAction` exists but is explicitly not a stable API, and is registered only in the board editor.+- No control of the open 3D viewer, no PCM API, no live DRC over IPC, and one API server per machine on Windows.++We have asked the KiCad developers for the second list, with measurements and videos, in [our KiCad wishlist](kicad-wishlist.md). -## Gaps the audit found, and where they stand+## Where we lead, with the evidence -- **Schematic editing.** Closed in 1.0.0. Konnect, KiCAD-MCP-Server, kicad-mcp-pro and mcp-server-kicad rewrite `.kicad_sch` on disk because KiCad 10 has no schematic API, with the same caveat in every README (close and reopen the editor to see the change). Our six schematic verbs write the same file format, run kicad-cli ERC after every write, and reload the editor through the bridge. We switch to the KiCad 11 schematic API the day it lands.-- **Autorouting.** Closed in 1.0.1. Four tools wrap Freerouting. `kicad_autoroute` offers two engines and its hints tell the AI to ask the user which they want. The AI engine is the recommendation: the routing verbs land each trace as a native undo step with a DRC check, and GPT-6 Astra in Codex has shown that a frontier model routes a real board this way, with Claude Fable 5.1 driving the same verbs. Freerouting is installed only when the user says yes (88 MB, its own runtime, nothing installed on the PC) and is removable on its own.-- **Zero-install distribution.** Closed in 1.0.0. kicad-mcp-pro runs from `uvx`; Konnect is one static binary with PCM install. This bridge is one 4 MB Windows executable with no runtime, installed and updated by Adom Bridge with a sha-verified zip. The ab requirement stays, and it is the price of everything in the ecosystem section below.-- **SPICE simulation.** Open. kicad-happy generates testbenches for recognised subcircuits and runs them through a locally installed ngspice, LTspice or Xyce. The plan is in the Simulation section below.+- **Real boards, on camera, with the numbers.** The [ESC G431 demo](esc-demo.md) is a public 149-part, 4-layer drone ESC placed and routed from scratch through the bridge by Claude Fable 5.1, GPT-6 Astra and Freerouting, with wall clock, tokens, dollars, result quality and the caveats (an electrical review found power-path and thermal issues in one layout despite clean DRC). The [adom/codex page](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/codex) has GPT-6 Astra routing a public board through the bridge, recorded.+- **The desktop around KiCad.** Background screenshots of covered windows with their dialogs, native video recording of a window or the desktop, the taskbar badge and progress bar, and posted menu commands. Recorded examples are on the [wishlist page](kicad-wishlist.md).+- **A second computer.** Adom Bridge's mesh lets an AI in any container drive KiCad on a named machine, so the user's own screen is never touched.+- **Install to uninstall.** Silent KiCad install with verification, a signed single binary updated from a sha-verified manifest with an early-access tier, and a supported uninstall.+- **Libraries end to end.** Install, heal, rescan and uninstall; PCM installs that match KiCad's own layout; any wiki page as a PCM repository; Cloud Libraries from the wiki into KiCad in one step.+- **Breadth of verbs, all tested.** 119 verbs, run as a full battery before releases (119 passed, 0 failed on one gate machine for 1.0.52). -## Three claims we chose not to match, and why+## Where others lead -- **Reading KiCad files without KiCad (kicad-happy).** kicad-happy's parsers for `.kicad_sch` and `.kicad_pcb`, validated against 6,845 schematics, re-implement a reader KiCad already ships and must chase every format change KiCad makes. This bridge automates KiCad, so KiCad reads its own files, and a corpus number is 100 percent by construction. Where no desktop KiCad exists we still use KiCad's own reader, three ways: the shared `service-kicad` container, kicad-cli installed into the user's own container on request, or a desktop elsewhere driven by name through Adom Bridge. The bridge parses files itself only for checks KiCad does not offer (lint, library heal, netlist tracing) and hands every verdict that matters (ERC, DRC, exports, simulation) to KiCad.-- **Permission profiles inside the tool (kicad-mcp-pro).** Wrong layer. The judgment of what to do and when belongs to the model and its harness. Claude Code's modes (manual approval per edit, plan, auto with a safety check, bypass) and Codex's approval policy already give the user that dial, and Claude Fable 5.1 and GPT-6 Astra exercise it well. Below that, Adom Bridge gates the desktop actions that are genuinely risky (shell, synthetic input, file writes, process control) with human-only, timed grants: once per verb, one hour, 24 hours, or auto, with a reason on every gated call. A third profile system inside one bridge adds a place to misconfigure and covers nothing the two existing layers do not.-- **A tool-discovery economy (Konnect).** Konnect's claim is context economy: a 2K-token starter kit and on-demand toolsets instead of a 23K-token listing of 226 tools, from a time when models needed help finding tools. Our answer is the Adom Bridge SDK pattern: a skill for every verb, written to work for Claude and Codex, a `describe` that lists every verb, and per-verb self-description with a hint, an example, related verbs and pitfalls, plus the wiki's auto-discovery of skills by trigger. Grouping and querying the verb list are cheap additions if a model ever asks for them. Konnect makes no claim about context compaction, and neither will we: each model manages its own context window, and a KiCad bridge has no standing to second-guess it.+- **Cross-platform.** Every other tool runs on macOS or Linux; we are Windows-only until our platform owners finish their builds.+- **Simulation and analysis depth.** kicad-happy (SPICE, corpus validation) and kicad-mcp-pro (SI, PI, EMC, thermal, DFM) go deeper on design review than we do.+- **Supply-chain hygiene.** kicad-mcp-pro's OpenSSF Silver, SBOMs and checksums set the bar; we sign our executable but publish no SBOM yet.+- **Community size.** KiCAD-MCP-Server has thousands of stars and many outside contributors. We live on our own wiki rather than GitHub, which makes us harder to find, and we have no outside pull requests yet.+- **KiCad 11 schematic API.** KiPilot is there first.+- **Chat inside KiCad.** KiCad-AI-Assistant is the only one. -## Simulation: the plan+## Where we chose a different approach -Verified on ConfRoomROG (KiCad 10.0.5, 2026-09-12): KiCad ships `ngspice.dll` in its bin folder and the `Simulation_SPICE` symbol library, and `kicad-cli sch export netlist --format spice` (also `spicemodel`) writes a SPICE netlist from any schematic with no GUI. The GUI simulator itself has no API and no CLI runner, so the run happens outside KiCad. Fusion and Altium export SPICE netlists too, so the runner is an ecosystem service rather than a KiCad verb:+Respectfully, three places where we looked at what others built and went another way: -- **A SPICE runner in the container** (working name `adom-spice`): ngspice in batch mode, a C program installed with apt in the user's ah container or hosted on `service-kicad`, no runtime. Input is a netlist plus a testbench (analysis lines, sources, probes); output is raw vectors and plots rendered for Hydrogen. Agnostic to the EDA tool that produced the netlist.-- **Bridge verbs**: `kicad_export_spice` (kicad-cli) and `kicad_simulate` (export, run, results back), with the AI writing the testbench from the schematic's Simulation_SPICE fields and models coming from the parts wiki, where a part carries its SPICE model next to its symbol, footprint and 3D model.-- **Later**: open KiCad's own Simulator window on the result for the user, the same way the other editors are opened in the background.+- **Reading KiCad files without KiCad.** kicad-happy's parsers, validated against tens of thousands of files, are an impressive piece of work. We chose to let KiCad read its own files, through a shared KiCad service, kicad-cli in the user's container, or KiCad on another machine, so format changes in new KiCad versions reach us for free. We parse files ourselves only for checks KiCad does not offer.+- **Permission profiles inside the tool.** kicad-mcp-pro's profiles are a careful design. We put that control in two other layers instead: the AI harness (Claude Code's and Codex's approval modes) and Adom Bridge, which gates risky desktop actions (shell, synthetic input, file writes, process control) behind human-only, timed grants with a reason on every call.+- **Toolsets and context budgets.** Konnect's starter kit and on-demand toolsets are a thoughtful answer to large tool lists. We went with per-verb self-description and skills the AI discovers by trigger. Either works; both are better than dumping hundreds of tools into the context. -Status: planned, tracked on the [issue tracker](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/kicad-bridge/issues), not started.+## The ecosystem around the bridge -## What nobody else does at all+Most tools on this page are a KiCad tool. This bridge is one part of an environment built for hardware work, and the AI uses the parts together. -From the audit, no tool in the field does any of these: real window screenshots, video, driving a desktop from a cloud agent, per-call caller identity plus approval, PCM installs, dialog handling beyond one env var, auto-update, silent KiCad install, foreground etiquette, or 3D model diagnostics. Each item is a verb you can call today.+| Companion | What it adds |+|---|---|+| [Hydrogen](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/hydrogen) | One workspace where Claude, Codex, Antigravity, Grok and Kimi drive KiCad through the same bridge, with no per-AI MCP setup. |+| [Adom Bridge](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-bridge) | The desktop host for every bridge: KiCad, Fusion, Altium, browsers, Blender, SolidWorks. Screenshots, window control, native video recording, taskbar status, files, permissions, identity, and the mesh that reaches other machines by name. |+| [Grok Bridge](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/grok-bridge) | Grok Bot and its remote computer, driven from Hydrogen next to the other AIs. |+| [service-kicad](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/service-kicad) | Headless KiCad as a shared service or kicad-cli in your container: DRC, ERC, Gerbers, STEP, GLB, renders, library lookups. |+| [adom-parts-search](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-parts-search) | Mouser, DigiKey and JLCPCB in one search with a best-source pick. |+| Cloud Libraries | Add parts on the wiki to your own cloud library, check KiCad, Fusion and Altium availability, and install the bundle into KiCad in one step. |+| The parts wiki | Community components with symbol, footprint, 3D model and provenance, ready for the AI. A missing part added by one user is there for everyone after. |+| [adom-lbr](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-lbr) and [adom-ds2sf](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-ds2sf) | Library conversion across CAD formats, and datasheet straight to symbol and footprint. |+| [adom-symbol](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-symbol), [adom-footprint](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-footprint), [adom-schematic](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-schematic), [adom-2dboard](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-2dboard) | Web views of every KiCad surface, so the AI and the user can look at a part or board without opening KiCad. |+| Wiki PCM repositories | Every wiki page is git with anonymous file URLs, so a project on the wiki is also a KiCad PCM repository. See [Your wiki page as a KiCad PCM repository](pcm.md). |+| People and funding | Adom is funded by the National Science Foundation to build and maintain this for the long term, and three developers on staff review contributions across the bridges. CERN has backed KiCad itself since 2014; we would like the AI layer on top of it to have the same kind of staying power. | -Nor does any of them come with what surrounds this bridge, which is the larger difference.+## Simulation: the plan -## The ecosystem around the bridge+KiCad 10 ships ngspice and writes a SPICE netlist headless (`kicad-cli sch export netlist --format spice`); the GUI simulator has no API. Our plan is a SPICE runner in the container (ngspice in batch mode, results back to the AI and rendered in Hydrogen) with `kicad_export_spice` and `kicad_simulate` verbs, and models carried on parts wiki pages. It is planned, not started, and tracked on the [issue tracker](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/kicad-bridge/issues). Until then, kicad-happy is the tool for this. -Every other tool on this page is a KiCad tool. This bridge is one part of an environment built for hardware work, and the AI uses the parts together. When GPT-6 Astra in Codex built the TMF8829 depth lab project, it lived in the web dashboards in Hydrogen and reached for the KiCad window only when it needed KiCad's own verdict.+## Independent testing -| Companion | What it adds |-|---|---|-| [Hydrogen](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/hydrogen) | One workspace where Claude, Codex, Antigravity, Grok and Kimi all drive KiCad through the same bridge. No MCP server or plugin to install per AI. |-| [Adom Bridge](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-bridge) | The desktop host that has grown into a small operating system for bridges: KiCad, Fusion, Altium, pup, the native browser, Blender, SolidWorks. Screenshots, window control, recording, files, permissions and identity are ab verbs, so a new bridge never re-implements them and hardware work that spans CAD tools runs through one door. |-| [service-kicad](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/service-kicad) | A shared headless KiCad service and a kicad-cli install for your own container. DRC, ERC, gerbers, STEP, GLB, renders and library lookups with no KiCad on any desktop. |-| [adom-parts-search](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-parts-search) | Mouser, DigiKey and JLCPCB in one search with a best-source recommendation, as a CLI and a Hydrogen app. |-| The parts wiki | Community-contributed components on wiki.adom.inc, each with symbol, footprint, 3D model and provenance ready for the AI. A part that is missing gets added by the user who needs it, and every user's AI gets it from then on. |-| [adom-lbr](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-lbr) | Library conversion across the popular CAD formats so existing work lands in KiCad format. |-| [adom-ds2sf](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-ds2sf) | Datasheet PDF straight to a KiCad symbol and footprint with provenance. |-| [adom-symbol](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-symbol), [adom-footprint](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-footprint), [adom-schematic](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-schematic), [adom-2dboard](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/adom-2dboard) | AI-first web dashboards for every KiCad surface. The AI (and the user) sees symbols, footprints, schematics and boards instantly without opening KiCad, drives them over a live channel, and opens the real KiCad window only for the steps that need it. |-| Wiki PCM repositories | The wiki is an AI-first, GitHub-style repository host built for electronics: component widgets, symbol, footprint, 3D chip, schematic, 2D board and 3D board viewers, chip thumbnails, and service-occt for geometry. Because every page is git under the hood with anonymous file URLs, a project stored on the wiki is also a KiCad PCM repository: bump a version, push, and KiCad's Plugin and Content Manager shows the update. See [Your wiki page as a KiCad PCM repository](pcm.md). |-| Tool discovery | Every verb has a skill that works for Claude and Codex, ab's `describe` lists every verb and each verb self-describes with a hint, an example, related verbs and pitfalls, and the wiki auto-discovers skills and bridges by trigger. No starter kits, no toolset loading, no context hints to the model. |-| Contributions | Every Adom bridge is open source on the wiki. Anyone can file an issue on the page or send a PR. A constantly running AI thread watches the issues and resolves them fast, and three software developers on staff manage PRs across all of the EDA automation bridges, so a community fix lands in days, not months. The audit found no other KiCad automation project with staffed contribution management; most are one maintainer, and the most-starred one (kicad-mcp) has been idle since October 2025 with an open security report. |-| Funding | Adom is a funded company (National Science Foundation) with this ecosystem as its focus, which is a claim a single maintainer cannot make and which matters for anyone deciding what to build on. |--## The parts of this that are not ours to claim--- OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra announcement showed Astra driving KiCad's GUI in a lab demo that nobody can install. The public, reproducible version of that exists on our side: Astra running in Codex inside Hydrogen, routing real boards through this bridge while the KiCad window is recorded. See the evidence bullet above.-- Diode and atopile have the only public benchmark numbers for AI board design (EEBench). Those measure design quality of generated boards, not automation of KiCad, so they are not comparable to anything here.-- KiCad developers have said on the forum that the MCP scene is "experiments you run, not products you install once." The evidence that we are the exception is the release gate, the tour recordings and the issue tracker, not this page.+devbisme has started [trialling AI design tools in public](https://github.com/devbisme/ai-circuit-design-tests). So far he has tested one (his own SKiDL skills for Claude Code): eight runs of a dual-ADC USB board produced ERC-clean netlists that still had real defects, which an independent review agent caught. His verdict, "netlist you would review, not netlist you would fabricate", is the right bar for every tool on this page, ours included. We would welcome the KiCad Bridge in his trials, and our [ESC G431 fixture](esc-demo.md) is public for anyone who wants to run another tool against the same board.  ## Method -Twelve repositories were checked on 2026-09-11: README, install docs, tool lists, release assets, open issues. Stars, last push and license came from the GitHub API that day. A feature is marked Y only when the tool's own documentation names it. Marks for this bridge come from the native catalog (`kicad_describe`, 97 verbs in 1.0.1) and the gate reports of 2026-09-08 (Python) and 2026-09-11 (native). Anyone who finds a mark wrong can file it on the [issue tracker](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/kicad-bridge/issues) and it will be corrected.+Seventeen repositories were checked on 2026-10-04, along with the KiCad forum threads where these tools are discussed: README, install docs, tool lists, release notes and assets, open issues. Stars, last push, releases and licenses came from the GitHub API that day. A feature is marked Y only when the tool's own documentation names it; where we could not verify, we marked the lower value and invite the author to correct us. Marks for the Adom KiCad Bridge come from the native catalog (119 verbs in 1.0.52 and later), the verb battery, and the measurements on the [wishlist page](kicad-wishlist.md). KiCad 11 notes come from the `master` branch API definitions on 2026-10-04. Corrections are welcome on the [issue tracker](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/kicad-bridge/issues).