kicad-signal-path 0.1.3

Measure exact routed pad-to-pad signal lengths from KiCad PCB files.

kicad-signal-path

kicad-signal-path measures exact routed pad-to-pad signal lengths directly from KiCad .kicad_pcb files.

It supports:

• single pad-to-pad path measurement
• regex-based source and destination net matching
• explicit 2-pin pass-through selection for series resistors and similar zero-length bridge parts
• default auto pass-through discovery for exact 2-pin resistor-style refs matching R*
• separate Track mm, Via mm, Total mm, and Delta mm reporting
• CLI and Python usage from the same package

Install

Run it without installing:

uvx kicad-signal-path --help

Install it as a CLI tool:

uv tool install kicad-signal-path

Add it to a Python project:

uv add kicad-signal-path

Quick Start

Single path measurement:

kicad-signal-path board.kicad_pcb --start U1:B3 --end J1:H23

Regex batch matching:

kicad-signal-path \
  board.kicad_pcb \
  --src-net-regex '/AXIS_I_(.*)/' \
  --dst-net-template '/FMC_AXIS_I_($1)/'

Verbose path breakdown:

kicad-signal-path \
  board.kicad_pcb \
  --start U1:B3 \
  --end J1:H23 \
  --verbose

Pass-through parts are traversed when explicitly listed with --pass-through or selected automatically by default. Auto selection is intentionally constrained to exact 2-pin resistor-style refs matching R*. Use --no-auto-pass-through to disable it.

Use the module form if you prefer:

python -m kicad_signal_path --help

Development

Create a local environment and install the project in editable mode through uv:

uv sync --dev

Run tests:

uv run pytest

Build distributable artifacts:

uv build --no-sources

Local smoke test against built artifacts:

uv run --isolated --no-project --with dist/*.whl tests/smoke_test.py
uv run --isolated --no-project --with dist/*.tar.gz tests/smoke_test.py

Release

This repo is prepared for public PyPI publishing with uv and GitHub Actions.

1. Create the PyPI project kicad-signal-path.
2. In PyPI trusted publishing, allow your GitHub repository for this package.
3. Set the trusted publishing workflow to .github/workflows/publish.yml.
4. Set the trusted publishing environment name to pypi.
5. Create and push an annotated release tag such as v0.1.2 on the commit you want to publish.
6. The package version is derived from that git tag during build, so the tag must match the intended release version.

Manual local publish also works after authentication is configured, but build from the tagged commit so the derived version is exact:

rm -rf dist/
uv build --no-sources
uv publish

Test Data

This repository intentionally ships no KiCad board design files. Tests generate a small synthetic board description at runtime so the package can be validated without bundling proprietary PCB data.