An Online Repository For KiCad Schematics

November 28, 2025 by Ian Bos 25 Comments

In the desktop 3D printing world, we’re fortunate to have multiple online repositories of models that anyone can load up on their machine. Looking to create a similar experience but for electronic projects, [Mike Ayles] created CircuitSnips — a searchable database of ready-to-use KiCad schematics available under open source licenses.

Looking for reference designs for LiPo chargers? CircuitSnips has you covered. Want to upload your own design so others can utilize it? Even better. Currently, there are over four thousand circuits on CircuitSnips, although not all have been put there purposely. To get the project off the ground, [Mike] scraped GitHub for open source KiCad projects. While this doesn’t run afoul of the licensing, there’s a mechanism in place for anyone who wants to have their project removed from the repository.

To scrape the depths of GitHub, [Mike] had to simplify the text expression for the KiCad projects using a tool he’s since released. For anyone so inclined, he’s even put the entire site on GitHub for anyone who wants to try their hand at running it locally.

CircuitSnaps fills a very specific space to post your circuit diagrams, but if you’re looking for somewhere to host your complete designs, we can’t fail to mention Hackaday’s own repository for hardware projects and hacks!

KiDoom Brings Classic Shooter To KiCad

November 26, 2025 by Maya Posch 8 Comments

As the saying goes: if it has a processor and a display, it can run DOOM. The corollary here is that if some software displays things, someone will figure out a way to make it render the iconic shooter. Case in point KiDoom by [Mike Ayles], which happily renders DOOM in KiCad at a sedate 10 to 25 frames per second as you blast away at your PCB routing demons.

Obviously, the game isn’t running directly in KiCad, but it does use the doomgeneric DOOM engine in a separate process, with KiCad’s PCB editor handling the rendering. As noted by [Mike], he could have used a Python version of DOOM to target KiCad’s Python API, but that’s left as an exercise for the reader.

Rather than having the engine render directly to a display, [Mike] wrote code to extract the position of sprites and wall segments, which is then sent to KiCad via its Python interface, updating the view and refreshing the ‘PCB’. Controls are as usual, though you’ll be looking at QFP-64 package footprints for enemies, SOIC-8 for decorations and SOT-23-3 packages for health, ammo and keys.

If you’re itching to give it a try, the GitHub project can be found right here. Maybe it’ll bring some relief after a particularly frustrating PCB routing session.

Making Actually Useful Schematics In KiCad

November 21, 2025 by John Elliot V 26 Comments

[Andrew Greenberg] has some specific ideas for how open-source hardware hackers could do a better job with their KiCad schematics.

In his work with students at Portland State University, [Andrew] finds his students both reading and creating KiCad schematics, and often these schematics leave a little to be desired.

To help improve the situation he’s compiling a checklist of things to be cognisant of when developing schematics in KiCad, particularly if those schematics are going to be read by others, as is the hope with open-source hardware projects.

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The Value Of A Worked Example

November 15, 2025 by Elliot Williams 11 Comments

I was looking over the week’s posts on Hackaday – it’s part of my job after all – and this gem caught my eye: a post about how to make your own RP2040 development board from scratch. And I’ll admit that my first thought was “why would you ever want to do that?” (Not a very Hackaday-appropriate question, honestly.) The end result will certainly cost more than just buying a Pi Pico off the shelf!

Then it hit me: this isn’t a project per se, but rather [Kai] was using it as an test run to learn the PCB-production toolchain. And for that, replicating a Pico board is perfect, because the schematics are easily available. While I definitely think that a project like this is a bit complicated for a first PCB project – I’d recommend making something fun like an SAO – the advantage of making something slightly more involved is that you run into all of the accompanying ~~problems~~ learning experiences. What a marvelous post-complete-beginner finger exercise!

And then it hit me again. [Kai]’s documentation of everything learned during the project was absolutely brilliant. It’s part KiCAD tutorial, part journal about all the hurdles of getting a PCB made, and just chock-full of helpful tips along the way. The quality of the write-up turns it from being just a personal project into something that can help other people who are in exactly the same boat, and I’m guessing that’s a number of you out there.

In the end, this was a perfect Hackaday project. Yes, it was “too simple” for those who have made their 30th PCB design. (Although I’d bet you could still pick up a KiCAD tip or two.) And yes, it doesn’t make economic sense to replicate mass-market devices in one-off. And of course, it doesn’t need that fun art on the board either. But wrap all these up together, and you get a superbly documented guide to a useful project that would walk you through 95% of what you’ll need to make more elaborate projects later on. Superb!

Surely you do “finger exercises” too. Why not write them up, and share the learning? And send them our way – we know just the audience who will want to read it.

RP2040 From Scratch: Roll Your Own Dev Board Magic

November 10, 2025 by Matt Varian 15 Comments

Have you ever looked at a small development board like an Arduino or an ESP8266 board and thought you’d like one with just a few different features? Well, [Kai] has put out a fantastic guide on how to make an RP2040 dev board that’s all your own.

Development boards are super useful for prototyping a project, and some are quite simple, but there’s often some hidden complexity that needs to be considered before making your own. The RP2040 is a great chip to start your dev-board development journey, thanks to its excellent documentation and affordable components. [Kai] started this project using KiCad, which has all the features needed to go from schematics to final PCB Gerber files. In the write-up, [Kai] goes over how to implement USB-C in your design and how to add flash memory to your board, providing a place for your program to live. Once the crystal oscillator circuit is defined, decoupling capacitors added, and the GPIO pins you want to use are defined, it’s time to move to the PCB layout.

In the PCB design, it starts with an outside-in approach, first defining the board size, then adding the pins that sit along the edges of that board, followed by the USB connector, and then moving on to the internal components. Some components, such as the crystal oscillator, need to be placed near the RP2040 chip, and the same goes for some of the decoupling capacitors. There is a list of good practices around routing traces that [Kai] included for best results, which are useful to keep in mind once you have this many connections in a tight space. Not all traces are the same; for instance, the USB-C signal lines are a differential pair where it’s important that D+ and D- are close to the same length.

Finally, there is a walk-through on the steps needed to have your boards not only made at a board house but also assembled there if you choose to do so. Thanks [Kai] for taking the time to lay out the entire process for others to learn from; we look forward to seeing future dev-board designs. Be sure to check out some of our other awesome RP2040 projects.

Connector-Free Zone: PCB Edge As USB-C Interfaces

October 27, 2025 by Matt Varian 37 Comments

Sometimes when you’re making a PCB that you plan on programming over USB, but you only plan on plugging in a couple of times, it would be nice to make that connection without another BOM item. Over on GitHub [AnasMalas] has released a PCB edge USB-C connection symbol/footprint to do just that!

This isn’t the first PCB edge USB-C connector we’ve seen, but this one has some nice features. It’s available in both KiCad and EasyEDA formats, allowing you to easily add it into your preferred ECAD software. As well as supporting multiple software packages, there are two versions included: a 10-pin and 14-pin version. The 10-pin version has, on each side, 2 USB voltage pins, 2 ground pins, and a CC1 or CC2 pin on its respective side; this version is ideal if you’re looking to just supply power via the connector. The 14-pin version has all the pins of the 10-pin version with the addition of four data-positive and data-negative pins needed to relay information to the board, ideal if you’re planning on programming a microcontroller with this connection.

One important note is that, while most PCBs default to 1.6 mm thickness, if you use this connector you’ll need to drop that down to ~0.8 mm to properly interface with a common USB cable. [AnasMalas] also suggests using ENIG board finish to preserve the connectors on your USB cable.

For such a small and common connector, USB-C holds a ton of potential. Be sure to check out our series all about USB-C for more details.

Thanks to [Ben] for the tip.

Screenshot of the cheatsheet being developed in Inkscape

Improve Your KiCad Productivity With These Considered Shortcut Keys

July 17, 2025 by John Elliot V 15 Comments

[Pat Deegan] from Psychogenic Technologies shows us two KiCad tips to save a million clicks, and he made a video to support it, embedded below.

In the same way that it makes sense for you to learn to touch type if you’re going to be using a computer a lot, it makes sense for you to put some thought and effort into your KiCad keyboard shortcuts keys, too.

In this video [Pat] introduces the keymap that he has come up with for the KiCad programs (schematic capture and PCB layout) and explains the rules of thumb that he used to generate his recommended shortcut keys, being:

one handed operation; you should try to make sure that you can operate the keyboard with one hand so your other hand can stay on your mouse
proximity follows frequency; if you use it a lot it should be close to hand
same purpose, same place; across programs similar functions should share the same key
birds of a feather flock together; similar and related functionality kept in proximate clusters
typing trounces topography; if you have to use both hands for typing you have to take your hand off the mouse anyway so then it doesn’t really matter where on the keyboard the shortcut key is

You can find importable KiCad keymaps and customizable SVG cheatsheets in the downloads section.

[Pat]’s video includes some other tips and commentary, but for us the big takeaway was the keymaps. He’s also got a course that you can follow along with for free. And if you haven’t been keeping abreast of developments, KiCad is now at version 9, as of February this year.

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