Hello World for action plugin?

External Plugins
1

I watched a very confusing youtube video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk6o5_-ox1c] and feel almost like giving up. It seems so complicated to make a simple baseline plugin.

I just want to know how i can make a simple hello world plugin.
I want to know how even i could have a plugin in kicad. Like is there maybe an example that i can drop into my plugin folder and go from there?
I tried copying existing installed plugins but that didnt work.

This is such a steep learning curve and i feel like its mainly due to confusing information online.

Can anyone help me and point me into the right direction?

2

This is my tutorial for version7 (and should work in v8/v9) It does Not use the newer approach - just put the file into the scripting/Plugins folder…

Get it running then tweak with your actions…

3

I would recommend to use the new API instead of the swig bindings. I think the plan is to deprecate the swig bindings at some point (possibly already in v10?). The documentation hasn’t quite caught up yet. But you can work off the examples: examples · main · KiCad / KiCad Source Code / KiCad API Python Bindings · GitLab

1 Like
4

What is the “new” way of doing things?

Also i am kinda lost. why do people have standalone scripts where they have to manually put in bord paths etc. can’t i make a plugin for kicad “ingame” usage?

I want a button and context menus inside kicad. the whole writing a script outside of kicad seems like a buggy mess that will break any moment?

maybe i am not really getting what the intended workflow is here.

5

Here’s a thread I started on this topic: KiCad 9.0 Python API

It is probably a bit early for a newbie to start with the new API. However the old API will be deprecated “soon”.

6

No, nothing goes into the Board Path.
Once Plugin’s are placed into the Plugins folder, the Plugin is available to all your Kicad projects.

Until it changes, there is a Scripting Folder that contains the Plugins Folder. That is where to put your .py and Icon file.

The ‘Newer’ way is to use the API. With a Meta file/etc it registers the Plugin. But, I prefer the older way.
In either case, the .py is about the same.

The Plugin (either old or newer) can be a complete Code contaiing GUI/Buttons/the whole enchilada. And, it can call other App’s

7

Had the same issue. After some research, got a Hello World plugin working.

I put it on Github if you are interested: