Render KiCad schematics, PCBs, symbols, and footprints into visual artifacts. Use when asked to view a KiCad object, generate SVG/PDF/PNG/JPEG outputs, inspect a design visually, produce before/after evidence, or prepare images for a vision-capable model.
This skill teaches the agent how to turn KiCad design artifacts into visual outputs.
It is the canonical ki-stack skill for:
Use this skill when the user asks to:
kicad-cli as the default render path.Locate kicad-cli:
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-cli-path
Detect the version:
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-version
If the input path is unclear, find likely KiCad files:
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-project-find <root>
Choose one of these target classes:
Map the request to the target class before choosing the command.
Examples:
pcb-2d or pcb-3dsymbolfootprintschematicUse the helper wrapper whenever possible.
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render schematic-svg design.kicad_sch out_dir
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render schematic-pdf design.kicad_sch design.pdf
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render pcb-svg board.kicad_pcb out_dir --layers F.Cu,F.SilkS,Edge.Cuts --mode-single
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render pcb-pdf board.kicad_pcb board.pdf --layers F.Cu,F.SilkS,Edge.Cuts --mode-single
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render pcb-render board.kicad_pcb board.png --width 1800 --height 1200 --side top
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render symbol-svg library.kicad_sym out_dir --symbol Device:R
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render footprint-svg my.pretty out_dir --footprint SOIC-8_3.9x4.9mm_P1.27mm
If the output is SVG but the downstream model needs PNG:
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-svg-to-png input.svg output.png
For render tasks, verification means:
Prefer a before/after loop for edit verification:
Always report:
References:
skills/ki-stack/references/render-recipes.mdskills/ki-stack/references/version-matrix.mdHelpers:
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-cli-pathskills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-versionskills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-project-findskills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-renderskills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-svg-to-pngkicad-cli is unavailable, stop and report BLOCKED.DONE: artifact created and path reportedDONE_WITH_CONCERNS: artifact created but format conversion or version caveat existsBLOCKED: no CLI or render command failed irrecoverablyNEEDS_CONTEXT: missing input path, missing target symbol/footprint name, or output format is unspecified