usetraces 0.1.3

KiCad plugin for schematic metadata reconciliation, supplier sourcing, datasheets, and AI-powered design checks.

traces

KiCad plugin for schematic metadata reconciliation, supplier sourcing, datasheets, and AI-powered design checks.

The usetraces KiCad plugin is licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later. The hosted traces service is separate proprietary infrastructure.

Install

With uv:

uv tool install usetraces
usetraces install

Or with pip:

pip install usetraces
usetraces install

Restart KiCad, then launch from: PCB Editor → Tools → External Plugins → traces

Uninstall

usetraces uninstall

If installed with uv:

uv tool uninstall usetraces

If installed with pip:

pip uninstall usetraces

First launch

The plugin will open a sign-in page in your browser. Create an account or sign in, then return to KiCad — the plugin polls automatically and opens once authenticated.

Account menu

The bottom bar of the plugin shows your email as a menu button. Click it to:

• View usage — shows current month AI spend vs. your tier limit, plus raw token counts
• Log out — clears the saved token; the next launch will prompt for sign-in

Workflow steps

Step	What it does
Footprints	Edit Value + Footprint for each part; or reconcile missing footprints from the PCB layout
Supplier	Set LCSC, Digi-Key, or N/A per part
Source	AI-powered supplier lookup — finds part number, stock, price
Datasheets	Fetches and downloads datasheet PDFs
SRC	AI schematic review checks: typos, consistency, orphans, near-duplicates

In the Source step, Clear sourcing removes the current part number/qty/price so you can re-source. Switching supplier also clears sourcing data automatically.