netspec

Verify PCB connectivity against declared engineering intent, using KiCad as the oracle.

Status: pre-alpha. All six commands work and are dogfooded in this repo's own CI. The stable surface is the report and the exit codes; the Python API will move. The design lives in docs/DECISIONS.md.

pip install kicad-netspec

Needs KiCad 8 or newer for kicad-cli — found on PATH, via Flatpak, in a macOS bundle or a Windows install. netspec doctor says which. The core itself has no runtime dependencies.

Every tool that edits a KiCad design reports on its own arithmetic. Only KiCad knows what a design actually is. netspec asks it — after every change — and fails loudly when intent and reality diverge.

netspec doctor                                     # find and probe a KiCad engine
netspec netlist board.kicad_sch                    # what KiCad says is connected
netspec snap board.kicad_sch -o before.json        # record connectivity, stably
netspec diff before.json board.kicad_sch           # what actually changed
netspec check contract.py                          # adjudicate declared intent
netspec gate board.kicad_pcb                       # ERC/DRC at every severity
netspec guard board.kicad_sch -- <any tool>        # snapshot, run, re-read, adjudicate

$ netspec netlist tests/fixtures/good_ldo.kicad_sch
  3 components, 3 nets
    +3V3  C2.1, U1.2
    GND   C1.2, C2.2, U1.1
    VIN   C1.1, U1.3

Finds kicad-cli on PATH, via Flatpak, in a macOS bundle or a Windows install -- netspec doctor says which. A missing engine is an environment fault (exit 4), never a finding about your design.

netspec never writes to a design file. It is the gate an editing tool's output has to pass, not the tool.

Why

A survey of ~90 KiCad AI/agent projects found three failure modes that ship today, and one property of KiCad's own defaults, all of which a netlist check catches and nothing else does:

• wires "added" that connect nothing, reported as success
• a pin-position helper off by a sign, silently wiring pin 2 where pin 1 was asked for — which reverses a polarised capacitor while passing ERC
• pcb drc --schematic-parity at default severity reporting 0 problems on a board with 147, because footprint_symbol_mismatch defaults to warning

Each is frozen as a regression test in tests/fixtures/, paired with the netlist KiCad itself derived from it.

Two of those fixtures are the same circuit, wired correctly and wired backwards. KiCad's ERC reports the same two violations for both -- reversing a polarised capacitor is legal wiring, so no rule fires. netspec names it:

$ netspec diff polarized_cap_correct.kicad_sch reversed_polarized_cap.kicad_sch
NET CHANGES
  ~ Net-(C1-Pad2)  +C1.2 -C1.1

FLOATING PINS
  ! C1.1  is no longer connected to anything

PIN SWAPS  (a connection moved between pins of one part)
  C1 on Net-(C1-Pad2): pin 1 -> pin 2  <- reverses a 2-pin part

WARNING: 1 pin swap(s) on a two-pin part. If any is polarised, it is now backwards,
and ERC will not tell you.

Declaring intent

A contract is Python, not a data file -- more expressive, nothing to version, and no policy DSL to invent. Pins are named by function where the symbol offers one, because pin numbers are exactly what the known schematic-writer bugs corrupt.

from kicad_netspec import Spec, net, polarity, forbid

board = Spec(
    source="hardware/board.kicad_sch",
    rules=[
        net("VIN", ["J1.1", "C1.1", "U1.VI"]),
        net("+3V3", ["U1.VO", "C2.1"]),
        polarity("C1", plus="VIN", minus="GND"),
        forbid("VIN", "GND"),
    ],
)

netspec check imports and executes that module -- a contract is code. netspec diff executes nothing.

Guarding an edit

guard does not care what did the editing:

$ netspec guard board.kicad_sch --contract contract.py -- claude -p "add a decoupling cap"

NET CHANGES
  ~ GND  +C1.1 -C1.2
  ~ VIN  +C1.2 -C1.1

PIN SWAPS  (a connection moved between pins of one part)
  C1 on VIN: pin 1 -> pin 2  <- reverses a 2-pin part

CONTRACT
  FAIL  C1 polarity: pin 1->VIN, pin 2->GND
        pin 1 is on GND, expected VIN  -- C1 IS REVERSED. ERC does not check this.

Exit codes are the contract: 0 clean, 1 a violation of the design, 4 an environment fault -- a missing engine is never reported as a broken board.

In CI

A GitHub Action that comments on a pull request with the connectivity delta -- something no PCB team has and most would want, agent or no agent:

- uses: CameronBrooks11/netspec@v0
  with:
    schematic: hardware/board.kicad_sch
    contract: hardware/contract.py   # optional

It needs KiCad, so run the job in a KiCad container -- see examples/workflows/connectivity.yml. The comment is updated in place rather than stacked per push, and a missing engine reports that it checked nothing rather than failing the board.

In your test suite

Installing the package registers a pytest plugin; no conftest needed:

from kicad_netspec.pytest_plugin import assert_net, assert_polarity


def test_the_bulk_cap_is_the_right_way_round(netlist):
    assert_polarity(netlist("hardware/board.kicad_sch"), "C1", plus="VIN", minus="GND")

Without KiCad on the machine, those tests skip rather than fail.

Family

• partspec — mechanical CAD parts vs declared intent
• netspec — PCB nets vs declared intent
• gerberdiff — fabrication output geometry

Not this

netspec does not do design review (see kicad-happy), does not edit schematics or boards (see Konnect), and does not place or route. It holds the ruler.

License

Apache-2.0