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KiKit CLI interface

KiKit offers a simple CLI interface to perform common tasks easily. You can obtain help of the interface by calling kikit --help.

The interface is structured into nested commands. On the top level, there are the following commands available:

  • drc: Validate design rules of the board
  • export: Export KiCAD boards
  • fab: Export complete manufacturing data for given fabrication houses
  • modify: Modify board items
  • panelize: Panelize boards
  • present: Prepare board presentation
  • separate: Separate a single board out of a multi-board design.
  • stencil: Create solder paste stencils

Export commands

  • kikit export gerber <boardFile> [<outputDir>] - export gerber files of boardFile to outputDir. If no dir is specified, a new one <boardFile>-gerbers is created.
  • kikit export dxf <boardFile> [<outputDir>] - export board outline and paste layers to DXF. The main use case for this command is making 3D printed solder paste stencils.

Panelize commands

Read more in a separate documentation section or see a walkthrough.

Separate commands

Read more in a separate documentation section.

Stencil commands

Read more in a separate documentation section.

Present commands

  • kikit present boardpage --name <pagename> -d <descriptionFile> -b <name comment boadfile> -r <resource> --template <template> --repository <url> <outputdir> - generate single webpage providing board preview and a possibility to download board files (gerbers and sources). See an example of such page.
    • The description is a path to a markdown file with the main page content.
    • You can specify multiple resources via -r or --resource. Resources are files which will be copied to the output directory. Useful for images referred from description
    • You can specify multiple boards via -b or --board
    • Template is an optional argument which is either a path to a custom template or a name of built-in templates (currently, there is only one: default). See template documentation for more information about templates.

Modify commands

  • kikit modify references --show/--hide --pattern <pattern> <board> hide or show all references on the board matching a regular pattern.

  • kikit modify values --show/--hide --pattern <pattern> <board> is the same as above, just with footprint values.