KiCad - the KiCad Bridge

Launch and drive KiCad on the user's laptop (KiCad 7/8/9/10 supported, multi-version side-by-side) from this container via the adom-bridge CLI. Open schematics/boards/symbols/footprints, run DRC, install sym-lib-table / fp-lib-table libraries, show the 3D viewer, capture KiCad window screenshots, send keyboard shortcuts and click coordinates. Trigger words: kicad, open schematic, open board, open pcb, open symbol, open footprint, KiCad symbol editor, KiCad footprint editor, KiCad 3D viewer, run DRC, install KiCad library, sym-lib-table, fp-lib-table, KiCad screenshot, kicad_send_key, kicad_click, kicad_window_info, kicad_screenshot_all, close KiCad, kicad versions, kicad_list_versions, KiCad bridge, PCM, Plugin and Content Manager, PCM repository, kicad_pcm_install, kicad_pcm_add_repository, PCM update.

Add standard KiCad 3D models to a .kicad_pcb file (especially tscircuit exports that ship without model references), open the 3D viewer in KiCad on the user's desktop, and screenshot to verify. Trigger words — 3d models in kicad, kicad 3d viewer, alt+3, no 3d chips, missing 3d models, add 3d models, kicad 3d screenshot, show me 3d in kicad, prove 3d works, kicad models missing.

How to route a KiCad board through the Adom KiCad Bridge, and how to choose between the two engines the bridge offers: AI routing (the AI plans each trace and commits it through kicad_route_net as a native undo step with a DRC check; recommended) and Freerouting (a deterministic autorouter, installed on demand into the bridge cache, about 141 MB, uninstallable on its own). Covers asking the user which engine they want, the AI routing recipe, kicad_autoroute, kicad_freerouting status install uninstall, what Freerouting bundles (its own Java runtime, nothing installed on the PC), and verification. Trigger words: autoroute, autorouter, route the board, route this pcb, freerouting, install freerouting, uninstall freerouting, ai routing, route_net, routing engine, which router, traces, unrouted nets.

DEVELOPER-only skill (user-invocable:false). THE background-first window contract for the KiCad bridge - every KiCad window ALWAYS opens and stays in the BACKGROUND, never taking the user's foreground, because users are typing in their AI threads while the bridge works. Read BEFORE writing or changing ANY code that launches, raises, shows, clicks, or types into a KiCad window (open_* verbs, launch, demo, place_footprint, install_* editors, dialog handling). Covers the focus-guardian mechanism, the dispatcher wiring, the SW_SHOWNOACTIVATE rules, why screenshots keep working on background windows, and the test-suite enforcement. Trigger words - background window, foreground steal, focus steal, window takeover, no-foreground, open in background, focus guardian, SW_SHOWNOACTIVATE, restore foreground, window discipline, disruptive windows.

How to contribute to the Adom KiCad Bridge when you hit a bug or a missing verb - where the source lives (this wiki page's own repo, adom/kicad-bridge), how to clone it, build the native Rust bridge, test it, run a private copy without replacing the shared runtime, and send the fix back as a branch PR the owner can merge. Read this the moment your AI has to WORK AROUND the bridge instead of using it. Trigger words - kicad bridge bug, kicad bridge workaround, fix the kicad bridge, kicad-bridge source, kicad-bridge PR, contribute to the kicad bridge, submit a pr to kicad-bridge, kicad verb missing, kicad_ verb wrong reply, patch the bridge, build the kicad bridge, adom-wiki pr create adom/kicad-bridge.

DEVELOPER-only skill (user-invocable:false — installed for maintainers, never offered to everyday users). Building/debugging the Adom Bridge KiCad bridge: architecture, the 4 control surfaces, how to add a verb, and every fresh-machine gotcha this bridge has hit. Trigger words — kicad bridge dev, edit kicad bridge, add kicad verb, kicad bridge architecture, debug kicad bridge, kicad control surfaces, kicad fresh machine.

DEVELOPER-only skill (user-invocable:false — maintainers, never everyday users). The complete recipe for making/refreshing the kicad-bridge page hero in the Adom bridge-family style (matching Pup and Fusion), getting it through the Hero Studio human gate, and applying it to the page + pkg. Encodes every measured layout number, the brand font doctrine, the real-window vitrine capture workflow, and the gate/publish traps we hit shipping the first one. Trigger words — kicad hero, hero image, new hero, refresh hero, hero studio, HERO_STUDIO_REQUIRED, HERO_REQUIRED, bridge family hero, page billboard.

DEVELOPER-only PUBLISH skill (user-invocable:false — for maintainers, never offered to everyday users). The exact recipe to ship a new version of the Adom Bridge KiCad bridge to wiki.adom.inc: version lockstep, the zip build, adom-wiki repo push + release create, the skills pkg, pushing to a target Bridge, and verify steps. Trigger words — publish kicad bridge, release kicad bridge, ship kicad bridge, bump kicad bridge, kicad bridge manifest, kicad bridge pkg.

DEVELOPER-only skill (user-invocable:false). The standard end-to-end verb test for the KiCad bridge - one runner that exercises EVERY kicad_* verb in the live catalog (118 as of 1.0.37) against a real Windows box with real sample files (the rp2040 tour pack), the way an actual user's AI drives them. Coverage-enforced: a new verb without a test turns the run red. Run it daily pre-release, after every runtime publish, and after any Adom Bridge (ab) core update. Trigger words - test the kicad bridge, verb test, daily test, test all verbs, regression test kicad, verb coverage, run_verb_tests, pre-release check, are any verbs failing.

After a board is 100 percent routed, the next step every AI on the KiCad Bridge takes before calling it done: copper pours. Which nets get a pour and why (current, heat, and copper retention, because InstaPCB's ablation process mills copper away, so every square millimetre kept is copper not removed), which nets never get one (switching nodes, crystal and clock, high-impedance analog, current-sense Kelvin paths, anything whose capacitance or impedance the pour would change, and anything that would make a ground loop), how to set priorities so small pours win inside big ones, thermal versus solid connections, 2-layer versus 4-layer strategy, the offline gate (tools/add_pours.py then KiCad's DRC), landing pours live with kicad_add_zone, measuring what stayed with kicad_zone_state, and the second loop: moving a trace or a part so a pour can carry the current or spread the heat. Trigger words: copper pour, pours, zone, zones, ground pour, power pour, polygon pour, copper fill, fill zones, ablation, copper ablation, retain copper, maximize copper, heatsink copper, thermal copper, current carrying, kicad_add_zone, kicad_zone_state, add a zone, pour the ground, pour VBAT, InstaPCB copper.

Foundational rules for interacting with KiCad on the user's desktop via adom-desktop. Read BEFORE any kicad_open_board, kicad_open_3d_viewer, kicad_send_key, or kicad_screenshot_all call. Covers state checks, window management, dialog handling, file updates, and the 3D viewer workflow. Trigger words — open in kicad, kicad desktop, send to kicad, kicad 3d viewer, kicad screenshot, kicad dialog, kicad file warning, open board in kicad, kicad pcb editor.

How an AI gets a KiCad board to 100 percent routed through the Adom KiCad Bridge, the way a human does it: place for routability, route, and when routing cannot close, go back and move the parts that block it, then route again, to the bitter end. A board with unconnected items is a failed take, never a result. Covers the placement rules that make routing possible (escape bands around fine-pitch ICs, passives at the pin they serve, crystal and its capacitors at the oscillator pins, test points and indicators out of the escape lanes), the routing order (planes and stubs first, shortest nets first, power wide), the levers to pull when connections fail (route the failed nets first, smaller vias where the rules allow, rip-up, then placement changes), the offline DRC gate before anything touches the live board, the live landing through kicad_move_footprint and kicad_route_net, and how to report the true wall clock from the human's prompt to the finished board. Trigger words: 100% routed, fully routed, unconnected items, unrouted nets, ratsnest left, routing failed, cannot route, go back to placement, move parts to route, place and route, placement for routing, escape routing, fine pitch escape, route to completion, finish the routing, place the board, route the board, kicad_move_footprint, kicad_route_net, placement loop, routing loop.

Run a guided KiCad tour on the user's laptop via adom-desktop — install a custom symbol library, walk the user through Symbol Editor → Footprint Editor → Schematic Editor → PCB Editor → 3D Viewer, then export gerbers. Two prebuilt packs ship under plugins/kicad/tour-pack/ (single resistor, fast) and plugins/kicad/tour-pack-rp2040/ (RP2040 breakout board, comprehensive). Trigger words — kicad tour, walk me through kicad, kicad demo, show me kicad, rp2040 breakout, resistor demo, kicad showcase, end-to-end kicad, send symbol and footprint, kicad export gerbers, gerbers for jlcpcb, gerbers for instapcb, kicad 3d board, kicad design walkthrough.

Driving KiCad's UI through Windows UI Automation (the desktop_ui_* verbs) instead of clicks and keystrokes, and the measured truth about which calls steal the user's foreground window. READ THIS BEFORE adding any verb that touches a KiCad window, before "just sending a keystroke", and before believing a response field that says a call stayed in the background. Carries the per-window control catalog (project manager, symbol editor, footprint editor, schematic editor, PCB editor, 3D viewer), the z-order measurement method, and the foreground-guard contract. Trigger words - uia, ui automation, desktop_ui_tree, desktop_ui_click, desktop_ui_select, desktop_ui_expand, foreground, focus steal, raised the window, z-order, background automation, drive kicad ui, automation id, control tree, send_key, kicad_click.

The no-AI lane: how a wiki page drives KiCad through Adom Bridge web control, calling the SAME core verbs an AI calls directly. Covers staging a file onto the user's machine over the transport (write_file / write_file_chunk), the one-verb Cloud Library bundle install, the capture/proof contract, and the restart contract that never closes a user's KiCad. Read before wiring any web page to a kicad_* verb, before rendering install status or a proof frame in a page, or when a verb returns restartNeeded or proofSkipped. Trigger words - web control, webcontrol, no-AI lane, cloud library, cloud libraries export, install library bundle, kicad_install_library_bundle, installLibraryBundle, stage a zip, write_file_chunk, restartNeeded, proofSkipped, thumbnailDataUrl, wiki export button, one-verb install.