MKmkw5053·Jul 12, 2025
Amazing. Inspires to try out Claude Code + skidl [1] to build a custom circuit for fun.
[1] https://github.com/devbisme/skidl
In Vibe-Coding a PCB – surprisingly gooddevbisme
skidl
Python2017–2025
devbisme / skidl
skidl
SKiDL is a library that lets you design electronic circuits using Python.
11Distinct people
11Mentions
1Explicit recommenders
1.7KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
SKiDL is a library that lets you design electronic circuits using Python.
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use has been verified yet.
What people are saying
I asked this question of Duncan Dec 22! If you are interested I highly recommend this + your favorite llm. It does not do everything but is far superior to some highly…
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This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 1:49:46 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year11 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2017-02-28 22:49:54 UTC to 2025-07-12 18:08:55 UTC.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
What Hacker News says
11 sourcesI asked this question of Duncan Dec 22!
If you are interested I highly recommend this + your favorite llm. It does not do everything but is far superior to some highly expensive tools, in flexibility and repeatability. https://github.com/devbisme/skidl
In Testing Generative AI for Circuit Board DesignGreat question! We hope we have a few good reasons.
This iteration of the project actually came after first working with and then modifying another awesome project called SKiDL (https://github.com/devbisme/skidl).
It's based on Python - but we found that since it's procedural, turing complete and has a rich eco-system - people use to that and there aren't standard composable ways of designing things. Instead of describing your board, you (practically) write a script that generates your board. It entangles your targets with your source-code and can make it difficult to understand the ultimate outcome of what you've written.
Additionally, since it's a potentially very long program, it was hard to write good language support around (a language server for VSCode, a schematic visualiser etc...) that were snappy, responsive and lent to examini
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ng modules as well as the whole program.
There's a few operators and first-class language features we wanted as well, like units and tolerances (3.3V +/- 100mV) that just aren't the same when embedded in a string, or class init method.
Is this related to skidl https://github.com/devbisme/skidl ?
In Show HN: Atopile – Design circuit boards with codeI'd like to see documentation on your workflow. You can also post it on https://github.com/devbisme/skidl/discussions.
There is a generate_pcb() function in SKiDL that will output a kicad_pcb file that can be directly opened using PCBNEW (no need to generate the intermediate netlist file). That function uses HierPlace to group the parts based on their hierarchical organization. That would be a good place to inject some autoplacement if you get it figured out.
In The tooling ecosystem that adds joy to KiCadThe best thing to happen to KiCad was skidl [1] paired with freerouting [2]. You can spin a board in so little time it's insane. In the future I will be looking to automate even the parts placement too.
P.S. If there is interest I will look to document my workflow.
[1] https://github.com/devbisme/skidl
[2] https://github.com/freerouting/freerouting
In The tooling ecosystem that adds joy to KiCadThis talk was impressive. Especially repeating parts and even using machine learning to optimize values of resistors.
TL;DW the tool is named Skidl ans uses Python to generate net lists for KiCAD. https://github.com/devbisme/skidl
In Coding Up an IoT PCB DesignSKiDL (circuit design library) does this to a very large extent...
https://github.com/xesscorp/skidl
In What I wish I knew before building a Shopify AppSpice simulation of SKiDL,alt to KiCAD
2 points · Open discussionAt KiCon 2019 there was a presentation on SKiDL which allows you to describe circuits in Python. You can then output a netlist for use in KiCAD's PCB tool (or potentially other EDA tools). I have not tried to use it personally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WErQYI2A36M
https://github.com/xesscorp/skidl
In Horizon – a free and open source electronic PCB design packageUse Python to Describe Electrical Connections, Export Netlist for PCB Design
2 points · Open discussion