KiCad import guide

CircuitHub currently supports KiCad versions 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

We support the latest stable version of KiCad (currently version 10). Older KiCad versions are supported on a best-effort basis and may be upgraded to the latest stable version during processing. KiCad generally provides good backward compatibility with recent releases.

Required files

For KiCad version 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10:

• One project file, where the name ends in .kicad_pro.
• One board file, where the name ends in .kicad_pcb.
• One or more schematic files, where the names end in .kicad_sch.

For KiCad version 4 and 5:

• One board file, where the name ends in .kicad_pcb.
• One symbol library cache file, where the name ends in -cache.lib.
• One or more schematic files, where the names end in .sch.

Optional BOM

For all versions of KiCad you can also additionally upload a BOM in either .csv or .tsv that conforms to the supported format.

Single design

For all versions of KiCad only upload files related to a single design at a time, supplying files from different designs would lead to ambiguities during import and is therefore not allowed.

Multiple schematics

When uploading multiple schematic files only one of the files may be a root schematic file and all the others must be sub-schematic files referenced by the root schematic, see the KiCad article about hierarchical schematics.

Symbol library cache

KiCad 4 and 5 create the symbol library cache file when you edit your design's schematics, and contain information about all the symbols used in your design. For KiCad 6 this file is not required, since the new file format includes all the required information.