Ryan Malloy
dd40aaba5d
Ports the foundational board classes: Unit (mil/inch/mm/um with micrometer scaling), Layer/LayerStructure (the layer stack with name and signal-layer lookups), CoordinateTransform (DSN<->board scaling by the resolution), Net/Nets (connectivity keyed by (name, subnet) and a board- unique net number), and ClearanceMatrix (class x class spacing with a reserved null class and a default class). The per-layer axis of ClearanceMatrix is simplified to a single value per class pair (DSN default clearance rules are layer-independent for the boards we build); the router phase can add the layer dimension. Unit-tested: unit scaling/parsing, layer lookups, transform round-trip, net registration/lookup, and clearance default/append/symmetry.
freeroute
A native Python PCB autorouter — a Java-free port of the FreeRouting engine.
Why
kicad-mcp currently autoroutes by shelling out to freerouting.jar, which
drags in a JVM dependency. freeroute reimplements the routing engine in
pure Python so the toolchain needs no Java at all.
The contract
The entire integration surface is two Specctra files:
board.dsn ──▶ freeroute ──▶ board.ses
(unrouted) (routed session: traces + vias)
kicad-cli already exports .dsn and imports .ses, so freeroute is a
drop-in replacement for the JAR step — nothing else in the pipeline changes.
Status
Pre-alpha. Under active development. See docs/PORTING_PLAN.md
for the architecture and porting roadmap.
Usage (target)
freeroute board.dsn -o board.ses
Development
uv sync
uv run pytest
uv run ruff check src/ tests/
License
GPL-3.0-or-later, matching the FreeRouting source it is ported from.