Hi Seth and Shane, Thank you both so much for taking the time to provide such detailed and insightful feedback.
Seth, I really appreciate your candid feedback on the natural language circuit generation idea. Your core point about focusing on utility-focused AI that *assists* the engineer, rather than trying to be the engineer, makes perfect sense. The constraints around training data for complex designs, and the necessity of verification, are crucial takeaways for my senior project planning. Shane, on the other hand, it's truly awesome to see Circuit-Synth in action! Your work is fantastic. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on your bi-directional syncing developments. For my specific senior project, I've decided to align with the path that offers the most immediate, practical utility to the broadest user base. I'll be focusing on a proposal for the *Datasheet-enhanced Electrical Rules Check (ERC)*. Thank you both again for the mentorship and for sparking a great discussion. Best regards, Néhémie Le jeu. 30 oct. 2025 à 18:49, 'Seth Hillbrand' via KiCad Developers < [email protected]> a écrit : > Hi Néhémie, > > In answer to your first question, we do not have a current plan for AI/LLM > integration into KiCad. > > HQ Electronics maintains a fork that includes a form of AI integration at > https://gitlab.com/kicad-hq/kicad/-/tree/release/9.0?ref_type=heads > > That being said, the idea of natural language driven circuit generation is > one of the least helpful applications for LLMs out there. Not to pour cold > water on your idea but if you are looking for a senior project that will be > viewed positively by larger industry, I would strongly suggest that you not > take this route. No serious designer will want to incorporate even > simplistic designs from AI without doing the work to verify the design, > which likely takes as long or longer than just building it yourself. And > complex designs are out of the question because there are not enough > examples to train on. > > Instead, if you wanted to design something that makes people sit up and > take notice or that might be useful in KiCad as a whole, I would recommend > one of the following: > > 1. Datasheet-enhanced ERC. Have your AI ingest all of the datasheets for > each part and look for potential errors that normal ERC can't catch. For > example, voltage level mismatches between pins. > 2. Symbol/footprint/3d model generation. Have your AI read a datasheet > and general an atomic part based on the data with proper pin assignment. > Bonus points if you give the user symbol variants to choose from (do you > want your pins grouped by function or by number? Split into units or all > in one?) > 3. Symbol management. Have your AI read the datasheet for a symbol and > check if the pins match and if they are the correct type. > > The critical element in all of these options is that they have lots of > training data. And they are presenting information to the engineer using > them instead of trying to be the engineer. In this way, they can improve > the effectiveness of circuit designers. > > Seth > > [image: KiCad Services Corporation Logo] > Seth Hillbrand > *Lead Developer* > +1-530-302-5483 > Long Beach, CA > www.kipro-pcb.com [email protected] > > > On Wed, Oct 29, 2025 at 4:13 PM Néhémie Mukene <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Hello KiCad Developers, >> >> My name is Néhémie, and I am an engineering student working on my *Final-Year >> Project*. >> >> My proposed project involves exploring the integration of an *AI or >> Large Language Model (LLM)* into the KiCad ecosystem to facilitate *natural >> language-driven circuit generation*. The goal is to allow a user to >> generate an initial schematic and netlist simply by typing a functional >> description (e.g., "Design a 5V buck converter with 24V input and 2A >> output"). >> >> I am writing to this list to ask two main questions before finalizing my >> TFC scope: >> >> 1. >> >> Is anyone on the KiCad core development team or a major external >> contributor currently working on a formal AI/LLM integration project of >> this nature? >> 2. >> >> Are there existing external tools or plugins (beyond simple component >> creation) focused on AI-powered schematic or PCB layout generation that >> the >> project recommends looking into? >> >> I would love for my final-year work to be a meaningful contribution to >> the KiCad community. Any guidance on whether this is an area of interest, >> or suggestions for the most valuable way to approach AI integration (e.g., >> focusing on scripting/plugins vs. core features), would be greatly >> appreciated. >> >> Thank you for your time and for maintaining such a fantastic open-source >> tool. >> >> Best regards, >> >> Néhémie, >> >> ULC-Icam, 4th year >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "KiCad Developers" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/CAEKbVLhnaXu_iBfzdf_98S4irPOw72%2BTyMO0H6ZRjeDs0ra3AQ%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/CAEKbVLhnaXu_iBfzdf_98S4irPOw72%2BTyMO0H6ZRjeDs0ra3AQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "KiCad Developers" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/CAFdeG-pXKkaW4x%2B8bEy-oJ-QWUpVLZs1KnyG%3DXc8rC-JZ4hHbg%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/CAFdeG-pXKkaW4x%2B8bEy-oJ-QWUpVLZs1KnyG%3DXc8rC-JZ4hHbg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "KiCad Developers" group. 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