KiCad Make (kmake)

Copyright (c) 2019-2025 Antmicro

This is a simple utility that automates handling of KiCad projects. kmake provides a unified way to generate KiCad production files and manage project structure. The script can be used locally and in conjunction with CI infrastructure. Kmake is developed with KiCad 8+ and a CI environment in mind. It uses the KiCad CLI where possible and kiutils for functions that require raw file manipulation.

KiCad 8 files should be fully supported (they will be upgraded on fly), however this has not been extensively tested.

Documentation

Visit the kmake documentation for more information about usage and development of kmake.

Installation

Requirements

kmake depends on the following packages:

• KiCad 9.0.x
• python >= 3.7

Installation (Debian)

1. Install requirements

   sudo apt install kicad python3 pipx
   pipx ensurepath
   

2. Clone and install kmake repository:

   pipx install 'git+https://github.com/antmicro/kicad-make.git'
   

Usage

Important: All commands should be issued from the KiCad project root directory.

To show available functionalities run:

cd <KiCad project directory>
kmake --help

Version

As an convention, the kmake version is derived from the KiCad version supported by the release. For example, kmake version 9.0.x supports KiCad version 9.0.x.

To check which version of kmake is installed in your system, run:

kmake version

Licensing

This project is licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.