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Panelization CLI

The whole panelization process of KiKit's CLI is driven by a configuration structure. The configuration contains several categories (e.g., layout, tabs, framing). Each of the categories have number of named parameters (e.g., tabsCount). All categories and their parameters are described further below.

Note that you can use the pcbnew action plugin to interactively construct the panelization configuration structure.

Configurations

The configuration can be supplied to KiKit via a JSON file with comments and from the command line. The example of a configuration in a JSON file is the following

{
    // There can be C-like comments
    "layout": {
        "type": "grid",
        "rows": 1,
        "cols": 1,
        "hspace": "0mm",
        "vspace": "0mm",
        "rotation": "0deg",
        "alternation": "none",
        "renamenet": "Board_{n}-{orig}",
        "renameref": "{orig}"
    },
    "source": {
        "type": "auto",
        "tolerance": "1mm"
    },
    "tabs": {
        "type": "normal",
        "source": "none"
    },
    "cuts": {
        "type": "none"
    },
    "framing": {
        "type": "none",
        "thickness": "0mm",
    },
    "post": {
        "type": "auto",
        "millradius": "0mm",
        "copperfill": false
    }
}

KiKit accepts -p <configurationFile> option to specify one or more configurations. When multiple configurations are specified, they are composed into a single configuration. The later specified configurations overwrite parameters of the former specified configurations. This allows us to start with a basic configuration and have a number of small configurations specifying details.

To give and example, consider the two following configurations:

// A
{
    "tabs": {
        "type": "normal",
        "width": "3mm"
    },
    "framing": {
        "type": "frame"
    }
}

// B
{
    "framing": {
        "type": "rails"
        "width": "5mm"
    }
}

When we merge B into A, we get:

{
    "tabs": {
        "type": "normal",
        "width": "3mm"
    },
    "framing": {
        "type": "rails"
        "width": "5mm"
    }
}

You can also override every parameter from CLI. There is an option for each category, which accepts a semicolon-separated list of key-value pairs; e.g.:

--layout 'rows: 3; cols: 4'

The options from CLI have the highest priority - they override values from specified from the files. If you need to specify the character ;, you can escape it via \.

Therefore, a full invocation of KiKit for panelization can look like this: 

kikit panelize -p myDefault.json -p useVcuts.json -p myFrame.json
    --layout 'rows: 3; cols: 4'
    board.kicad_pcb panel.kicad_pcb.

Note the single quotes -- without them your shell will eat the spaces and the command will be interpreted badly. The command will use our default configuration, then it will override some options to use V-cuts and then it adds a frame specified by myFrame.json. Last we specify the panel size from CLI.

Note that KiKit always start with a default configuration (specified in the file default.json). There are also some configuration files shipped with KiKit. You can find them in the directory kikit/resources/panelizePresets. When you want to use them via option -p, just prefix their name with : and drop the suffix. E.g., for vcuts.json use -p :vcuts.

If you would like to inspect which configuration was used by KiKit, you can dump it into a file with the -d <filename> option.

Units

You can specify units in the configuration files and CLI. Always specify them as string, e.g., "2mm" or "0.5 inch" (do not forget the quotes in the JSON files).

Supported length units: mm, cm, dm, m, mil, inch, in.

Supported angle units: deg, °, rad.

Configuration categories

There are the following categories: layout, source, tabs, cuts, framing, and tooling.

Each category has a mandatory parameter type which dictates the style of that feature. Note that you can specify the type parameter in a simplified manner in the CLI by specifying it first and omitting the type word; e.g., --cuts 'mousebites, someParameter: 10cm'.

Layout

Types: grid, plugin

Common options:

  • hspace, vspace, space: Specify the gap between the boards. You can specify separately vertical and horizontal spacing or you can specify space to make them the same (it has higher priority).
  • rotation: Rotate the boards before placing them in the panel
  • renamenet, renameref: A pattern by which to rename the nets and references. You can use {n} and {orig} to get the board number and original name. Default values are Board_{n}-{orig} for nets and {orig} for references.
  • baketext: A flag that indicates if text variables should be substituted or not.

Grid

The boars are placed in a grid pattern connected by tabs. There are no special options.

  • rows, cols: Specify the number of boards in the grid pattern
  • alternation: Specify alternations of board rotation.
    • none: Do not alternate
    • rows: Rotate boards by 180° on every next row
    • cols: Rotate boards by 180° on every next column
    • rowsCols: Rotate boards by 180° based on a chessboard pattern
  • vbackbone, hbackbone: The width of vertical and horizontal backbone (0 means no backbone). The backbone does not increase the spacing of the boards.
  • vboneskip, hboneskip: Skip every n backbones. I.e., 1 means place only every other backbone.
  • vbonefirst, hbonefirst: Specify first backbone to render. Allows to specify the offset when skipping backbones. The offset is indexed from 1.
  • vbonecut, hbonecut: true/false. If there are both backbones specified, specifies if there should be a vertical or horizontal cut (or both) where the backbones cross.

Plugin

Implements a custom layout based on a plugin.

  • code: the plugin specification. See (plugin documentation)[plugin.md] for more details
  • arg: text argument for the user plugin

Source

This option allows you to specify the source area, e.g., when multiple boards are present. You can read more about multi-board project here.

Types: auto, rectangle, annotation

Common options:

  • stack: specify the number of layers of the panel. Valid options are 2layer, 4layer, 6layer or inehrit (default). The use case for this option is when you design a multiple boards in a single desing and you separate them, however, one boards is e.g., 4 layer and one 2 layer. Then you design both of them as 4 layer and you specify stack: 2layer for the 2 layer one when panelizing or separating.

Auto

Find all board edges and use them to construct source rectangle. Suitable for most cases when there is only a single board in the design. Note that might want to increase tolerance or specify the source area explicitly via rectangle if you have components sticking out of your design.

  • tolerance: KiKit extracts only board items that fit fully into the source area (including all drawings on all layers). Tolerance enlarges the source area by given amount, to e.g., not omit KiKit annotations for tabs or connectors sticking out of the board.

Rectangle

Specify the source rectangle explicitly.

  • tlx, tly, brx, bry: specify the coordinates (via length units) of the rectangle via top-left and bottom-right corner.

Annotation

KiKit offers you to place an annotation footprint kikit:Board into your design file to name the board. The area is determined by a bounding box of the lines in the Edge.Cuts layer that the arrows point to. Note that the tip of the arrow must lie on the PCB edge or slightly outside of it.

  • ref: specify the annotation symbol reference
  • tolerance: see above

Tabs

Types: fixed, spacing, full, annotation, plugin

Place tabs. To make some of the options clear, please see the explanation of tab placement process.

Fixed

Place given number of tabs on the PCB edge. The tabs are spaced uniformly. If you need a custom tab placement (e.g., to avoid critical feature), see type annotation.

  • vwidth, hwidth, width: The width of tabs in the vertical and horizontal direction. width overrides both.
  • vcount, hcount: Number of tabs in a given direction.
  • mindistance: Minimal spacing between the tabs. If there are too many tabs, their count is reduced.

Spacing

Place tabs on the PCB edges based on spacing.

  • vwidth, hwidth, width: The width of tabs in the vertical and horizontal direction. width overrides both.
  • spacing: The maximum spacing of the tabs.

Full

Create tabs that are full width of the PCB. Suitable for PCBs separated by V-Cuts. This mode does not make much sense for mousebites in practice. Note that in this mode the cuts do not faithfully copy the PCB outline and, instead, they cut the bounding box of the PCB. There are no other options.

  • cutout: When your design features open pockets on the side, this parameter specifies extra cutout depth in order to ensure that a sharp corner of the pocket can be milled. The default is 1 mm.
  • patchcorners: The full tabs are appended to the nearest flat face of the PCB. If the PCB has sharp corners, you want to add patches of substrate to these corners. However, if the PCB has fillet or miter, you don't want to apply the patches.

Corner

Create tabs in the corners of the PCB.

  • width: The width of tabs

Annotation

Add tabs based on PCB annotations. Place a footprint kikit:Tab at the edges of your PCB. You can edit the text field prefixed with KIKIT: to adjust the tab parameters. If you want to specify a custom tab symbol (e.g., with predefined) width, you can specify tabfootprints as a list of footprints separated by comma. For example: myLib:Tab2mm, myLib:Tab3mm.

The individual tabs can have the following properties specified in the text field of the component as KIKIT:<propertyname>:

  • width: width of the tab.

Plugin

Tabs based on a plugin.

  • code: the plugin specification. See (plugin documentation)[plugin.md] for more details
  • arg: text argument for the user plugin

Cuts

Specify how to perform the cuts on the tabs separating the board.

Types: none, mousebites, vcuts, layer, plugin

None

Do not perform any cuts

Mousebites

Use mousebites to

  • drill - specify drill size for the bites
  • spacing - specify the spacing of the holes
  • offset - specify the offset, positive offset puts the cuts into the board, negative puts the cuts into the tabs
  • prolong - distance for tangential prolongation of the cuts (to cut through the internal corner fillets caused by milling)

V-Cuts

  • clearance - specify clearance for copper around V-cuts
  • cutcurves - true/false - specify if curves should be approximated by straight cuts (e.g., for cutting tabs on circular boards)
  • offset - specify the offset, positive offset puts the cuts into the board, negative puts the cuts into the tabs
  • layer - specify the layer to render V-cuts on.

Layer

When KiKit reports it cannot perform cuts, you can render the cuts into a layer with this option to understand what's going on. Shouldn't be used for the final design.

  • layer - specify the layer to render the cuts on.
  • prolong - distance for tangential prolongation of the cuts. It has the same meaning as mousebites.

Plugin

Cuts based on a plugin.

  • code: the plugin specification. See (plugin documentation)[plugin.md] for more details
  • arg: text argument for the user plugin

Framing

KiKit allows you to frame the panel with a full frame, or bottom/top or left/right rails.

Types: none, railstb, railslr, frame, tightframe, plugin Common options:

  • hspace, vspace, space - specify the space between PCB and the frame/rail. space overrides hspace and vspace.
  • width - specify with of the rails or frame
  • fillet, chamfer - fillet/chamfer frame corners. Specify radius or chamfer size. You can also separately specify chamferwidth and chamferheight to create a non 45° chamfer.
  • mintotalheight, mintotalwidth – if needed, add extra material to the rail or frame to meet the minimal requested size. Useful for services that require minimal panel size.

Railstb/Railslr

Add rail (either on top and bottom or on left and right) to the panel.

Frame

Add a frame around the board.

  • cuts - one of none, both, v, h - specify whether to add cuts to the corners of the frame for easy removal. Default both.

Tighframe

Add a frame around the board which fills the whole area of the panel - the boards have just a milled slot around their perimeter.

  • slotwidth - width of the milled slot.

Plugin

Frame based on a plugin.

  • code: the plugin specification. See (plugin documentation)[plugin.md] for more details
  • arg: text argument for the user plugin

Tooling

Add tooling holes to the (rail/frame of) the panel. The holes are positioned by

Types: none, 3hole, 4hole, plugin

Common options:

  • hoffset, voffset - specify the offset from from panel edges
  • size - diameter of the holes
  • paste - if true, the holes are included in the paste layer (therefore they appear on the stencil).
  • solderMaskMargin - diameter of solder mask (optional)

Plugin

Tooling based on a plugin.

  • code: the plugin specification. See (plugin documentation)[plugin.md] for more details
  • arg: text argument for the user plugin

Fiducials

Add fiducial to the (rail/frame of) the panel.

Types: none, 3fid, 4fid, plugin

Common options:

  • hoffset, voffset - specify the offset from from panel edges
  • coppersize, opening - diameter of the copper spot and solder mask opening
  • paste - if true, the fiducials are included in the paste layer (therefore they appear on the stencil).

Plugin

Fiducials based on a plugin.

  • code: the plugin specification. See (plugin documentation)[plugin.md] for more details
  • arg: text argument for the user plugin

Text

Add text to the panel. Allows you to put a single block of text on panel. You can use variables enclosed in {}. E.g. {boardTitle} | {boardDate}. The list of all available variables in listed bellow. You can also use the variables specified in the project. They are prefixed with user-. That is, to include your variable revision in KiKit text, use formatting string Rev: {user-revision}. In the case you need more independent texts on the panel, you can use sections names text2, text3 and text3 to add at most 4 text. All these sections behave the same and accept the same options.

If you need more texts or more sophisticated placing options, see script option from postprocess.

Types: none, simple

Common options:

  • text - The text to be displayed. Note that you can escape ; via \
  • anchor - Origin of the text. Can be one of tl, tr, bl, br (corners), mt, mb, ml, mr (middle of sides), c (center). The anchors refer to the panel outline. Default mt
  • hoffset, voffset - specify the offset from anchor. Respects KiCAD coordinate system. Default 0mm.
  • orientation - specify the orientation (angle). Default 0deg
  • width, height - width and height of the characters (the same parameters as KiCAD uses). Default 1.5mm.
  • hjustify - justification of the text. One of left, right, center. Default center.
  • vjustify - justification of the text. One of top, bottom, center. Default center
  • thickness - stroke thickness. Default 0.3mm.
  • layer - specify text layer
  • plugin - specify the plugin that provides extra variables for the text

Available variables in text

  • date - formats current date as <year>-<month>-<day>
  • time24 - formats current time in 24-hour format
  • year, month, day, hour, minute, second - individual variables for any date format
  • boardTitle - the title from the source board
  • boardDate - the date from the source board
  • boardRevision - the revision from the source board
  • boardCompany - the company from the source board
  • boardComment1-boardComment9 - comments from the source board

You can get extra variables by providing custom text plugin via the plugin field.

Page

Sets page size on the resulting panel and position the panel in the page. The type of style dictates paper size. The default inherit option inherits paper size from the source board. This feature is not supported on KiCAD 5

Types: inherit, custom, A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A, B, C, D, E, USLetter, USLegal, USLedger, A0-portrait, A1-portrait, A2-portrait, A3-portrait, A4-portrait, A5-portrait, A-portrait, B-portrait, C-portrait, D-portrait, E-portrait, USLetter-portrait, USLegal-portrait, USLedger-portrait

Common options:

  • anchor - Point of the panel to be placed at given position. Can be one of tl, tr, bl, br (corners), mt, mb, ml, mr (middle of sides), c (center). The anchors refer to the panel outline. Default mt
  • posx, posy - the position of the panel on the page. Default 50% for posx and 20mm for posy.

Custom

Instead of the pre-defined paper size you can also specify a custom paper size via width and height.

Copperfill

Fill non-board areas of the panel with copper.

Types: none, solid, hatched, hex

Common options:

  • clearance - optional extra clearance from the board perimeters. Suitable for, e.g., not filling the tabs with copper.
  • edgeclearance - specifies clearance between the fill and panel perimeter.
  • layers - comma-separated list of layer to fill. Default top and bottom. You can specify a shortcut all to fill all layers.

Solid

Fill with solid copper.

Hatched

Use hatch pattern for the fill.

  • width - the width of the strokes
  • spacing - the space between the strokes
  • orientation - the orientation of the strokes

Hex

Use hexagon pattern for the fill.

  • diameter – diameter of the hexagons
  • spacing – space between the hexagons
  • threshold – a percentage value that will discard fragments smaller than given threshold

Post

Finishing touches to the panel.

Types: auto

Common options:

  • copperfill - fill tabs and frame with copper (e.g., to save etchant or to increase rigidity of flex-PCB panels)
  • millradius - simulate the milling operation (add fillets to the internal corners). Specify mill radius (usually 1 mm). 0 radius disables the functionality.
  • millradiusouter ­– same as the previous one, modifies only board outer counter. No internal features of the board are affected.
  • reconstructarcs - the panelization process works on top of a polygonal representation of the board. This options allows to reconstruct the arcs in the design before saving the panel.
  • refillzones – refill the user zones after the panel is build. This is only necessary when you want your zones to avoid cuts in panel.
  • script - a path to custom Python file. The file should contain a function kikitPostprocess(panel, args) that receives the prepared panel as the kikit.panelize.Panel object and the user-supplied arguments as a string - see scriptarg. The function can make arbitrary changes to the panel - you can append text, footprints, alter labels, etc. The function is invoked after the whole panel is constructed (including all other postprocessing). If you try to add a functionality for a common fabrication houses via scripting, consider submitting PR for KiKit.
  • scriptarg: An arbitrary string passed to the user post-processing script specified in script
  • origin - specify if the auxilary origin an grid origin should be placed. Can be one of tl, tr, bl, br (corners), mt, mb, ml, mr (middle of sides), c (center). Empty string does not changes the origin.
  • dimensions - true or false. Draw dimensions with the panel size.