Let Claude design schematics and PCBs in KiCad
Konnect is a KiCad 10 plugin that lets Claude and other assistants design schematics and PCBs over MCP: 228 tools for schematic capture, layout, routing, ERC/DRC checks, JLCPCB part search and manufacturing exports, with skills that teach Claude KiCad conventions.
Source
ofrzeta on Hacker News · 2026-10-14 · Project link
Written in our own words. Credit to the original author. Link checked 2026-10-17.
What they did
Konnect is a KiCad 10 plugin that lets Claude and other assistants design schematics and PCBs over MCP: 228 tools for schematic capture, layout, routing, ERC/DRC checks, JLCPCB part search and manufacturing exports, with skills that teach Claude KiCad conventions.
Result (as claimed)
Beta, open source; 139 points on Hacker News.
Tools they used
Cost: Pricing depends on the tools you pick; check each official pricing page.
Set it up
Pick a contained repo or task
Start on a branch or side project where mistakes are cheap.
Install and configure
Set up Claude, KiCad. Read what it can run on your machine and limit permissions where possible.
Run it on a real task
Give it a well-scoped issue and let it work. Review the diff like any pull request.
Add guardrails
Keep tests and CI in the loop, and never let an agent push to main or touch production secrets unattended.
Copy the full setup prompt
Paste into your agent and it will walk you through the setup, asking before anything that sends, posts or spends.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Claude Code. Goal: Let Claude design schematics and PCBs in KiCad What the original author did: Konnect is a KiCad 10 plugin that lets Claude and other assistants design schematics and PCBs over MCP: 228 tools for schematic capture, layout, routing, ERC/DRC checks, JLCPCB part search and manufacturing exports, with skills that teach Claude KiCad conventions. Reported result (as claimed by the author): Beta, open source; 139 points on Hacker News. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50085553 Tools they used: Claude, KiCad Category: Dev & ops Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Codex. Goal: Let Claude design schematics and PCBs in KiCad What the original author did: Konnect is a KiCad 10 plugin that lets Claude and other assistants design schematics and PCBs over MCP: 228 tools for schematic capture, layout, routing, ERC/DRC checks, JLCPCB part search and manufacturing exports, with skills that teach Claude KiCad conventions. Reported result (as claimed by the author): Beta, open source; 139 points on Hacker News. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50085553 Tools they used: Claude, KiCad Category: Dev & ops Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Grok Bot. Goal: Let Claude design schematics and PCBs in KiCad What the original author did: Konnect is a KiCad 10 plugin that lets Claude and other assistants design schematics and PCBs over MCP: 228 tools for schematic capture, layout, routing, ERC/DRC checks, JLCPCB part search and manufacturing exports, with skills that teach Claude KiCad conventions. Reported result (as claimed by the author): Beta, open source; 139 points on Hacker News. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50085553 Tools they used: Claude, KiCad Category: Dev & ops Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
The Daily 5
Get five new use cases tomorrow morning
Free. Real sources. Unsubscribe any time.
Guides for this use case
How to build an MCP server for AI agents · How to use Claude Code skills and plugins · How to build hardware projects with AI agents
Related use cases
Manage your domain's DNS records from Claude or Codex
Tired of clicking through the LWS panel, the author built lws-mcp, an open-source MCP server so you can say "Add Stripe's DNS records" in Claude, Codex or Cursor and have it done and verified.
Have Grok Bot review while Claude codes through GitHub issues
Grok Bot runs a review team for code, security and design while Claude executes the work and checks in, all through GitHub issues.
Keep your Claude session warm with Claude-thermos
Built Claude-thermos so a Claude session stays warm instead of going cold between prompts.
Have Claude design better quantum circuits against an automatic scorer
Anthropic gave Claude plain-language specs for eight quantum circuits from chemistry, optimization, physics and number theory plus an evaluator that checks and scores each design. Working largely on its own, Claude beat the best published circuits, in some cases by an order of magnitude or more.