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For developers

KiCad plugin

CircuitNinja for KiCad works inside the PCB Editor. It sets our manufacturing rules, checks the board, exports the manufacturing files and uploads them to an order.

Free · KiCad 9.0.9.1 or later and 10.x · Windows and Linux

How to installView on GitHub

What it does

Four tools, opened from one CircuitNinja button in the PCB Editor toolbar.

Set manufacturing rulesApplies our manufacturing limits to your project, so KiCad's own checks use them.
Check manufacturabilityRuns our checks and takes you to each finding on the board.
Export manufacturing filesBuilds one ZIP of fabrication files and reports, ready for the CircuitNinja order form.
Upload to web appSends the board to a draft order in your CircuitNinja account. You check it and place the order in the browser.
The CircuitNinja menu in KiCad: Set manufacturing rules, Check manufacturability, Export manufacturing files, Upload to web app, and the signed-in account.
The CircuitNinja menu in the PCB Editor.

Install

CircuitNinja for KiCad is installed from our GitHub repository. You add the repository to KiCad once.

From our repository. Recommended. KiCad then offers new versions on its own.

  1. 1

    In the KiCad Project Manager, open Plugin and Content Manager.

  2. 2

    Click Manage… next to the repository list, then Add Existing.

  3. 3

    Paste this address into Add Repository, click OK, then Save.

    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CircuitNinjaPCB/kicad-plugin/main/releases/repository.json
  4. 4

    Choose CircuitNinja for KiCad in the repository dropdown. Find the CircuitNinja for KiCad package, click Install, then Apply Pending Changes.

From a ZIP file. For a computer without access to GitHub. Install each new version the same way.

  1. 1

    Download com.circuitninja.kicad-<version>.zip from the releases folder on GitHub. Keep it zipped. GitHub's Download ZIP button gives the source code, which KiCad cannot install.

  2. 2

    In Plugin and Content Manager, click Install from File… and choose the ZIP.

Then, either way

  1. •

    Open Preferences › Preferences… › Plugins and turn on Enable KiCad API. If KiCad asks for a Python interpreter, choose 3.10 or newer.

  2. •

    Restart KiCad and open your board in the PCB Editor. On the first start KiCad prepares the plugin's Python environment. This needs an internet connection and takes a minute.

  3. •

    Click the CircuitNinja icon in the PCB Editor toolbar to open the four tools.

Compatibility

KiCad
9.0.9.1 or later 9.x, and 10.x
Systems
Windows, Linux (a native install)
Python
3.10 or newer. KiCad installs the plugin's dependencies.
Not supported
macOS, Linux AppImage, KiCad 8 and older, KiCad 9 before 9.0.9.1, KiCad 11 or later

On Linux, if the plugin windows do not open, install the libxcb-cursor0 package (Debian, Ubuntu: sudo apt install libxcb-cursor0).

Source code, releases and bug reports: github.com/CircuitNinjaPCB/kicad-plugin

Ready to order?

Upload from KiCad, or drop the exported ZIP into the price calculator.

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Install the plugin