Ki stack render

Skill Milind220/Ki-Stack/skills/ki-stack/ki-stack-render

Deep KiCad skills for coding agents

Install

npx -y skills add Milind220/Ki-Stack --skill ki-stack-render

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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.

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SKILL.md

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ki-stack-render

Purpose

This skill teaches the agent how to turn KiCad design artifacts into visual outputs.

It is the canonical ki-stack skill for:

schematic rendering
PCB 2D rendering
PCB 3D raster rendering
symbol rendering
footprint rendering
SVG to PNG conversion when raster images are needed
before/after visual verification

When to use it

Use this skill when the user asks to:

render a schematic sheet or whole schematic
render a board or a specific layer set
get a visual look at a symbol or footprint
export PDF or SVG deliverables
generate a PNG/JPEG screenshot-like artifact
verify that a change actually looks correct

Shared assumptions

Prefer kicad-cli as the default render path.
Prefer deterministic exports over GUI screenshots.
If the model needs raster images and the CLI emits SVG, convert the SVG to PNG.
Always report exact command lines and output paths.

Phase 1: Orient

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>
```

Phase 2: Identify render target

Choose one of these target classes:

schematic
pcb-2d
pcb-3d
symbol
footprint

Map the request to the target class before choosing the command.

Examples:

"Show me this board" -> pcb-2d or pcb-3d
"Render this symbol" -> symbol
"Give me a screenshot of the footprint" -> footprint
"Visualize page 2 of the schematic" -> schematic

Phase 3: Render

Use the helper wrapper whenever possible.

Schematic SVG

skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render schematic-svg design.kicad_sch out_dir

Schematic PDF

skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render schematic-pdf design.kicad_sch design.pdf

PCB SVG

skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render pcb-svg board.kicad_pcb out_dir --layers F.Cu,F.SilkS,Edge.Cuts --mode-single

PCB PDF

skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render pcb-pdf board.kicad_pcb board.pdf --layers F.Cu,F.SilkS,Edge.Cuts --mode-single

PCB 3D PNG/JPEG

skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render pcb-render board.kicad_pcb board.png --width 1800 --height 1200 --side top

Symbol SVG

skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render symbol-svg library.kicad_sym out_dir --symbol Device:R

Footprint SVG

skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render footprint-svg my.pretty out_dir --footprint SOIC-8_3.9x4.9mm_P1.27mm

Phase 4: Convert if needed

If the output is SVG but the downstream model needs PNG:

skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-svg-to-png input.svg output.png

Phase 5: Verify

For render tasks, verification means:

the command succeeded
the output file exists
the output format matches what the user asked for
if this is a before/after check, both paths are preserved and clearly labeled

Prefer a before/after loop for edit verification:

render before
perform edit
render after
report both artifact paths

Phase 6: Report

Always report:

render target type
command used
output path(s)
any conversion steps used
any version-specific caveats

Helper assets

References:

skills/ki-stack/references/render-recipes.md
skills/ki-stack/references/version-matrix.md

Helpers:

skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-cli-path
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-version
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-project-find
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-render
skills/ki-stack/bin/kicad-svg-to-png

Guardrails

If kicad-cli is unavailable, stop and report BLOCKED.
If the input type is ambiguous, identify the file type before rendering.
If a command fails, capture stderr and try a narrower invocation rather than guessing.
If the user wants a GUI screenshot specifically, say that this skill produces deterministic exports rather than true live GUI screenshots.

Completion states

DONE: artifact created and path reported
DONE_WITH_CONCERNS: artifact created but format conversion or version caveat exists
BLOCKED: no CLI or render command failed irrecoverably
NEEDS_CONTEXT: missing input path, missing target symbol/footprint name, or output format is unspecified