PCBCraft

A Rust EDA application, MCP-first, with one window and tabbed workspaces.

GPL-3.0-or-later. Inspired by KiCad workflows and the SolidCraft / Craft application architecture. Uses the pinned craft-ui library from storytold/craft-libs.

Status: first working foundation, not a KiCad replacement yet. The current vertical slice is a flat schematic → assigned SMD PCB → basic routing → checks → KiCad board export. The complete EDA roadmap is in ROADMAP.md.

• One native Rust window with Schematic, PCB Layout, Libraries and Checks tabs; project browser and properties remain docked in the same window.
• Dark default, light theme, persistent accent and grid preferences, zoom around the cursor, middle-button pan, symbol previews and drag-to-move.
• Periodic project recovery and recovery on normal close, using application storage.
• Original resistor, capacitor, LED and two-pin connector symbols; explicit logical nets and pin-to-pin orthogonal wire presentations.
• Background search and geometry previews of installed KiCad symbol/footprint libraries, including inherited definitions. Place supported symbols with independently movable schematic units within one physical package, assign matching front SMD or plated through-hole footprints, and embed used definitions.
• Symbol and footprint editors in the Libraries tab: editable pins, unit membership, pad/drill dimensions, and line/rectangle/circle/arc/polyline/text graphics. Save undoable project-library definitions and reusable .pcbcraft-lib collections.
• Schematic-to-PCB sync retains existing placements and reconciles pad nets.
• Real circle/rectangle/roundrect/oval front SMD and plated through-hole pads, circular/oval offset drills, plus generic starter pads; straight or two-segment orthogonal tracks; airwires from actual same-layer copper connectivity.
• Editable rectangular board width/height and dimensioned circular cutouts, exported as Edge.Cuts. Constrained/parametric outline sketches are planned.
• Initial pin assignment/net-population checks and copper short, clearance, board-edge, cutout and unrouted checks with affected object IDs.
• 26 engine commands, discoverable schemas, atomic batches, stable IDs, revision guards, 32-step undo/redo and validated atomic project saves.
• 44 MCP tools: every engine command plus library discovery/search/inspection, design inspection, checks, persistence, export and PNG previews. Headless or bridged into the actual running desktop.
• Rust browser entry point; the shared UI and engine compile to WebAssembly. Browser host-file open/save/export are not implemented yet.

Install Rust 1.95+ and window-system development libraries. On Ubuntu:

sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config libxkbcommon-dev libwayland-dev \
  libx11-dev libxi-dev libxrandr-dev libxcursor-dev libgl1-mesa-dev
rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown
cargo run -p pcbcraft -- --sample --control 127.0.0.1:7991
cargo run -p pcbcraft -- --project led.pcbcraft --tab pcb

WSLg can display the Linux app on Windows. For automated UI capture without a desktop, use Xvfb with --capture:

xvfb-run -a -s '-screen 0 1600x1100x24' \
  env -u WAYLAND_DISPLAY WGPU_BACKEND=vulkan \
  cargo run -p pcbcraft -- --sample --capture /tmp/pcbcraft.png

Windows can also build natively with cargo run -p pcbcraft -- --sample.

Load LED example, or press A to select a symbol and click to place it. Press W, then click two pin circles to connect them. A new net is created atomically if neither pin is assigned; conflicting existing nets are rejected. Click Sync to PCB to generate footprints. Press X and click two same-net pads to route between them. Open Checks to inspect remaining findings. Save the native .pcbcraft project or export its board to .kicad_pcb.

The route tool is a simple orthogonal pad-to-pad operation. It does not avoid obstacles; inspect its clearance findings. Footprint movement does not drag tracks. Wire crossings do not implicitly join logical nets.

Install KiCad's symbol and footprint libraries, then open Libraries. Search a symbol, preview it and choose Place in schematic. Select its placed component, choose Assign footprint in Libraries, and assign a package whose numbered pads match its pins. Sync to PCB retains placement and reports symbols that still need footprints. The project embeds used geometry, so reopening needs no library installation. The desktop discovers Linux, Windows and Ubuntu WSL library folders; custom paths and KICAD10_SYMBOL_DIR / KICAD10_FOOTPRINT_DIR are supported.

Multi-unit symbols share one component/reference, physical pin map and footprint; each unit can move/rotate independently. Select its drawing or choose the unit in Properties. All units, including separate power units, are initially placed. Placement supports up to 32 units, 64 unique physical pins, and front SMD/plated through-hole circle/rect/roundrect/oval pads. Repeated common pin numbers across units, unsupported graphical pin styles, NPTH mechanical holes, back SMD placement, 3D models, footprint copper graphics and general KiCad project import remain planned. Rounded-pad clearance uses sampled outlines with a small conservative error bound; connectivity uses inscribed pad bounds and can conservatively flag corner contacts. See library formats, limits and provenance.

Choose Edit a copy, New symbol, or New footprint inside Libraries to author a definition. Edit pins/pads and drawing primitives with a live preview, then save to Project library. Save/load a .pcbcraft-lib collection to reuse it elsewhere. Original nodes and attribution notices are retained for imported copies; native libraries reject unknown data fields rather than discarding them. Library edits do not silently change placed definitions. Reassign a revised footprint or place a revised symbol explicitly. KiCad library writing and advanced interactive library drawing remain planned.

The portable examples/dual-amplifier.pcbcraft demonstrates three LM358 units, one edited DIP8 package with an offset oval drill, and front/back routing.

These are the initial KiCad-style defaults, not a complete configurable KiCad keymap.

cargo run -p pcbcraft-cli -- commands
cargo run -p pcbcraft-cli -- sample --out led.pcbcraft
cargo run -p pcbcraft-cli -- run examples/led-indicator.json --save led.pcbcraft --export led.kicad_pcb
cargo run -p pcbcraft-cli -- checks --project led.pcbcraft
cargo run -p pcbcraft-cli -- snapshot --sample --view pcb --out led.png
cargo run -p pcbcraft-cli -- mcp
cargo run -p pcbcraft-cli -- mcp --connect 127.0.0.1:7991

See docs/mcp.md for client configuration and request examples. MCP uses JSON-RPC over newline-delimited stdio. Logs/errors go to stderr.

cargo xtask ci  # formatting, clippy, tests, UI/engine/browser wasm checks
cargo build -p pcbcraft -p pcbcraft-cli
# Browser: install Trunk, then:
cd apps/pcbcraft-web && trunk serve

Keep build products outside the mounted Windows tree in WSL for better filesystem performance, e.g. CARGO_TARGET_DIR=$HOME/.cache/pcbcraft-target.

Architecture: docs/architecture.md. Agent instructions: AGENTS.md. Provenance: ATTRIBUTION.md.

PCBCraft is licensed under GNU GPL version 3 or later; see LICENSE. Third-party dependencies retain their own licenses and notices. No KiCad source implementation has been copied or ported in this initial version. KiCad is an independent project; PCBCraft is not affiliated with or endorsed by the KiCad team. KiCad library fixtures retain CC-BY-SA 4.0 with the design-output exception; the data license is separate from the Rust application's GPL license.