I wanted to let everyone know about a project I’ve been working on called Circuit-Synth, which enhances traditional KiCad workflows with Python-based circuit design and optional AI assistance.
Similar to Skidl (Huge shout out to @devbisme for the inspiration!), Atopile, or TScircuit, but designed specifically for professional EE workflows and a few differentiating features:
Traditional EE Focus
Seamless KiCad integration - Works with your existing projects and workflows
Professional schematic generation - Clean, readable schematics that look hand-drawn
No lock-in - Full bidirectional KiCad ↔ Python updates. Use it where helpful, ignore it where not
Transparent workflow - Fits into existing design processes without disruption
Manufacturing ready - JLCPCB integration for component availability and assembly optimization
Modern AI Enhancement (Optional)
For teams wanting to accelerate their workflow, Circuit-Synth includes extensive Claude Code integration:
Intelligent component search - “Find me an STM32 with 3 SPIs and USB”
Design review and optimization - AI-powered circuit analysis and suggestions
Automated documentation - Test plans, DFM review, FMEA generation
Design history tracking - Never again wonder “Why did we pick that component?”
Start simple, scale as needed. Use Circuit-Synth for specific pain points (initial circuit design and component placement, design review, netlist verification, hierarchical design) or go full-automation with AI agents. Your choice, your pace.
Whether you’re looking to reduce tedious manual work in traditional workflows or explore cutting-edge AI-enhanced design, Circuit-Synth adapts to your needs.
Thanks for taking a look! Would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!
Version Control Friendly: Git-trackable Python files vs binary KiCad files
KiCad files are not binary, they are ASCII-based as well.
Your post and the readme read as if they are written by AI. Maybe you want to write it yourself, because this style of writing might make it sound like AI-slop instead of a neat tool
There are far more claims about things your tool can do than examples showing what the tool does. I would suggest adding more examples.
The example in the readme seems to show starting a new project from scratch. You might want to show how it works with existing projects and workflows.
This is a big claim since I haven’t seen a tool do this yet. But I couldn’t (quickly) find an example showing off this capability?
Not that this is a bad feature, but I find it amusing that you are mentioning “professional” use in several places but your manufacturing integration is with perhaps the least professional PCB vendor out there
Please note: the previous comment is meant to be sarcastic.
On a more serious note, it would be better to have a small amount of useful documentation rather than pages of high entropy AI generated documentation.
Thank you for the feedback! Totally agree on all the points. There’s a lot of features I’m still working on and a fair amount of AI slop to clean up.
But the core logic works well enough to test so I wanted to share and get feedback. I will make more demo videos and update documentation.
@halachal I was surprised how well Sonnet 4 is able to piece together decent circuits with minimal context. It’s not replacing any EE’s yet but outputting a viable board with stm32 + sensor + proper usb circuit is a decent start.
@craftyjon don’t hate on JLCpcb!! I’ve made 100+ designs with them professionally from 4 to 10 layers and not had issues. But I agree something like Digikey api integration would be more “professional”.
It is not really about “issues”, it’s about what professionals need. JLC has certain requirements that basically no other fab does, in order to offer super low prices (which is very attractive to hobbyists). But once you get into the professional world, those requirements become a real pain point compared to basically any other vendor.
This is an important point. The documentation has so much AI slop in it that it really reduces the confidence in the project. I would clean it up before putting it out, or at least call it a wish list instead of a feature list or documentation.
This is something I have been looking forward to for a while now. I have been imagining how AI might integrate into the KiCAD workflow, because I have personally seen how quickly the quality of AI outputs from coding assistants have gotten in just the past few months alone. From what I’ve seen on the KiCAD forum, there is a very anti-AI sentiment among the community. I think some of that sentiment is well-deserved, but we should be cautious that we don’t get to the point where the mantra is “AI will never work for this application…etc. etc.”
It’s only a matter of time until a model is trained on enough circuit design and PCB layout patterns to contribute meaningfully to the EE design process. I remember talking to a senior software engineer a year or two ago claiming that AI will never be able to code and now look at where we are. I use AI to rapidly bring up prototype software way faster than I could otherwise.
I say all this to be an encouragement. There are many poor implementations of AI, plenty of AI slop (as others here have noted), and a lot of negative perception, but keep up the effort. Even a 5-10% efficiency gain in my EE design workflow would be incredible.
That’s all true, but it requires honest evalution and presentation of the AI capabilities.
Rather than jumping all-in and trying to make AI perform the role of a design engineer (which it currently can only provide a facade of), first implement those small quality of life aids which it is already suited for.
AI cannot code . . . sorry, let me correct myself, “AI” cannot code. AI in this respect is LLM so it effectively just giving you someone else’s code that it’s algorithm suggests might do the task you are asking for.
I think Schematic design and PCB layout are different to writing code . . .
Very happy to be proven or shown to be wrong in due course.
LLMs absolutely can code, and what’s more they are better at it than the majority of junior applicants I’ve interviewed.
“Schematic design” is a very broad term so at its widest it’s far beyond the current state of AI, but narrowly focused tasks like “connect this MCU to this LCD” or “design a buck converter for 24v to 5V” are within reach of a specialized LLM.
Similarly, the vast majority of layout is following pretty basic rules and could be cracked by someone willing to devote enough resources to training.
So copying someones design then. Likely to be using application notes, but we also see these LLMs trying hard to access proprietary files on peoples PCs.
I often use application note circuits as a starting point, but you need to understand the circuit to spot the typos and drawing errors, which are common.
I’ve made 100+ designs with them professionally from 4 to 10 layers and not had issues. But I agree something like Digikey api integration would be more “professional”.