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pcb-layout

pcb-layout is a skill for Claude Code from ProductOfAmerica/mcp-server-kicad. It costs 54 tokens per session (4,410 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A KiCad skill for laying out a printed circuit board after the circuit schematic and netlist are ready. A netlist is the list of electrical connections that the board must implement.

In plain words
What is it for?
It helps place footprints, route traces, add vias and copper zones, and plan board layers, ground planes, and stackups.
Why use it?
It guides component placement, trace routing, vias, copper zones, and layout decisions such as trace widths and spacing.

Skill for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: shipped in a Claude Code plugin. Also seen: names the TodoWrite tool.

Part of the kicad plugin — 6 skills, 1 agent, 2 hooks, 1 MCP server shipped together

not rated 8repo +3 28d ago A scan 54 tokens original MIT

Good fit It helps place footprints, route traces, add vias and copper zones, and plan board layers, ground planes, and stackups.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/productofamerica/mcp-server-kicad/pcb-layout
View source ↗ ProductOfAmerica/mcp-server-kicad pypi.org
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add ProductOfAmerica/mcp-server-kicad --skill pcb-layout
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ProductOfAmerica/mcp-server-kicad

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install kicad, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 6 skills, 1 agent, 2 hooks, 1 MCP server.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for pcb-layout

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/productofamerica/mcp-server-kicad/pcb-layout/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/productofamerica/mcp-server-kicad/pcb-layout)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/productofamerica/mcp-server-kicad/pcb-layout"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/productofamerica/mcp-server-kicad/pcb-layout/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for pcb-layout

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/productofamerica/mcp-server-kicad/pcb-layout"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/productofamerica/mcp-server-kicad/pcb-layout.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 54 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 4,410 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00054 $0.04410
Opus 5 $0.00027 $0.02205
Sonnet 5 $0.00011 $0.00882
Haiku 4.5 $0.00005 $0.00441

Measured 12d ago against content hash 20db40d960c9, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-12, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

pcb-layout scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 12d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

skills/pcb-layout/SKILL.md · 403 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 403 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

EVERY KiCad operation has a corresponding MCP tool. Do NOT claim a tool does not exist without first listing all available tools. Key tools that MUST be used instead of file writes:

  • add_symbol — create custom symbol definitions in .kicad_sym files
  • create_symbol_library — create new .kicad_sym library files
  • create_schematic — create new .kicad_sch files
  • create_project — create new .kicad_pro project files If you find yourself thinking "there's no MCP tool for this," you are wrong. Check the tool list again.

KiCad PCB Layout

Place footprints and route traces to produce a manufacturable board. This skill assumes you have a completed schematic with a netlist.

Response Format

When this skill activates, print exactly:

Using pcb-layout to place footprints and route traces.

Then proceed directly to the Pre-flight Checks. This is a mechanical execution phase — do not ask the user what to do unless board size or layer count is ambiguous and not specified in specs/bom.md.

Report progress at natural milestones: after footprint placement, after critical trace routing, after autoroute, after post-route refinement. Keep status updates to one line each.

MCP Tools for This Skill

These are the kicad MCP tools you should be using during PCB layout:

Reading / inspection:

  • list_pcb_footprints — list footprints on the board
  • list_pcb_traces — list traces on the board
  • list_pcb_nets — list nets on the board
  • list_pcb_zones — list zones on the board
  • list_pcb_layers — list layers on the board
  • list_pcb_graphic_items — list graphic items on the board
  • get_board_info — get board outline, layer count, design rules
  • get_footprint_pads — get pad positions and net assignments
  • get_footprint_bounds — get board-coordinate bounding box of a placed footprint
  • check_placement — check if placing a footprint at (x, y) violates keepout or board edge

Read the full file on GitHub · 403 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 12d ago First seen · 403 lines · 54 tokens per session scan A 20db40d960c9

Subscribe to this mod's changes

pcb-layout is a skill published in the GitHub repository ProductOfAmerica/mcp-server-kicad (8 stars, last pushed 28d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 54 tokens to every session and 4,410 once invoked, about $0.0003 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

Claude CodeHardware and IoTaiclaudedrcedaelectronics
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