kicad-returnpath 0.1.0

Geometric current-return-path checker for KiCad PCBs (split-crossing / plane-edge / return-via)

kicad-returnpath

A geometric current-return-path checker for KiCad PCBs. It parses a .kicad_pcb, identifies the reference plane under each routed signal trace, and reports where the return path is broken — a plane void the trace crosses (split-crossing), degraded, or unreferenced.

CLI-first and headless (CI-friendly); a thin in-KiCad IPC layer is planned on top. Full design: docs/return-path-checker-v1-spec.md.

return-path check BOARD.kicad_pcb

Exits 0 (clean), 1 (finding at or above --fail-on, default error), or 2 (bad args / unreadable board).

Walking skeleton (this build)

The first end-to-end slice: parse a real KiCad-10 board (file version 20260206), detect split-crossing findings with the both-ends-on-plane interior predicate (§4.4), and print a grouped, severity-iconed text report.

The parser honours the §3 contract — nets are name-based everywhere ((net "GND"), no net numbers, no zone net_name child) and a single zone can span multiple layers (the reference plane is selected per filled_polygon layer). A pre-KiCad-10 board (numeric nets / net_name child) is rejected rather than silently passed — the exact failure mode the real-board retest surfaced.

Built on the shared kicad-core S-expression parser and Shapely. Licensed GPL-3.0-or-later.