kicad-action

GitHub Action to automate KiCad tasks, e.g. check ERC/DRC on pull requests or generate production files for releases.

Features

• Run Electrical Rules Check (ERC) on schematic
• Run Design Rules Check (DRC) on PCB
• Generate PDF and BOM from schematic
• Generate Gerbers ZIP from PCB

Example

on: [push]

jobs:
  kicad_job:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: My KiCad job
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Export production files
        id: production
        uses: sparkengineering/kicad-action@v3
        if: '!cancelled()'
        with:
          kicad_sch: my-project.kicad_sch
          sch_pdf: true # Generate PDF
          sch_bom: true # Generate BOM
          kicad_pcb: my-project.kicad_pcb
          pcb_gerbers: true # Generate Gerbers

      # Upload production files only if generation succeeded
      - name: Upload production files
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: ${{ !cancelled() && steps.production.conclusion == 'success' }}
        with:
          name: Production files
          path: |
            ${{ github.workspace }}/sch.pdf
            ${{ github.workspace }}/bom.csv
            ${{ github.workspace }}/gbr.zip

      - name: Run KiCad ERC
        id: erc
        uses: sparkengineering/kicad-action@v3
        if: '!cancelled()'
        with:
          kicad_sch: my-project.kicad_sch
          sch_erc: true

      - name: Run KiCad DRC
        id: drc
        uses: sparkengineering/kicad-action@v3
        if: '!cancelled()'
        with:
          kicad_pcb: my-project.kicad_pcb
          pcb_drc: true

      # Upload ERC report only if ERC failed
      - name: Upload ERC report
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: ${{ failure() && steps.erc.conclusion == 'failure' }}
        with:
          name: erc.rpt
          path: ${{ github.workspace }}/erc.rpt

      # Upload DRC report only if DRC failed
      - name: Upload DRC report
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: ${{ failure() && steps.drc.conclusion == 'failure' }}
        with:
          name: drc.rpt
          path: ${{ github.workspace }}/drc.rpt

See this example working in the action runs of this repository.

Configuration

Option	Description	Default
kicad_sch	Path to .kicad_sch file
sch_erc	Whether to run ERC on the schematic	false
sch_erc_file	Output filename of ERC report	erc.rpt
sch_pdf	Whether to generate PDF from schematic	false
sch_pdf_file	Output filename of PDF schematic	sch.pdf
sch_bom	Whether to generate BOM from schematic	false
sch_bom_file	Output filename of BOM	bom.csv
sch_bom_preset	Name of a BOM preset setting to use
report_format	ERC/DRC report file format (json or report)	report
kicad_pcb	Path to .kicad_pcb file
pcb_drc	Whether to run DRC on the PCB	false
pcb_drc_file	Output filename for DRC report	drc.rpt
pcb_gerbers	Whether to generate Gerbers from PCB	false
pcb_gerbers_file	Output filename of Gerbers	gbr.zip

Roadmap

• Add support for more configuration options, e.g. BOM format or Gerber layers
• Add a way to specify KiCad version to use
• Better detect if steps of this action fail
• Find a better way to enforce the default output files extensions depending on the format requesed

Contributing

Contributions, e.g. in the form of issues or pull requests, are greatly appreciated.