Export fabrication files from KiCad using a YAML config.

Kifab creates plot and drill files according to a config file similar to how Eagle uses a CAM file. The config file is written in YAML and describes which layers should be plotted, the plotting options, and can also override the output filename extensions.

Kifab has no warranty. Check anything it produces carefully before submitting for fabrication.

usage: kifab [-h] [-o OUTDIR] [-s SUFFIX] PCBFILE FABFILE

positional arguments:
  PCBFILE               Kicad PCB file.
  FABFILE               Kifab FAB file.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o OUTDIR, --outdir OUTDIR
                        Generate files in this directory.
  -s SUFFIX, --suffix SUFFIX
                        Common suffix for generated files.

Example configs:

This will create a single gerber containing the top copper layer, using default options, and the output file with use the Protel extension .gtl:

plots:
  - comment: Top Copper
    layers:
      - id: F_Cu

This will export Edge.Cuts gerber but the output file will have the extension .gml instead of .gm1:

plots:
  - comment: Mechanical
    extension: .gml
    layers:
      - id: Edge_Cuts

This will produce two separate gerbers, one for the top copper and one for the bottom:

plots:
  - comment: Top Copper
    layers:
      - id: F_Cu

  - comment: Bottom Copper
    layers:
      - id: B_Cu

This will produce an SVG file with the listed layers. The colours will not be used because KiCad does not yet support setting colours from python script. Instead, the default layer colours will be used:

plots:
  - comment: Top Render
    format: PLOT_FORMAT_SVG
    suffix: top
    aux_origin: False
    layers:
      - id: Edge_Cuts
      - id: F_Cu
        colour: [0.7, 0.7, 0.7, 1.0]
      - id: F_Mask
        colour: [1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.5]
      - id: F_SilkS
        colour: [1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0]
      - id: Dwgs_User

The config file contains a list of plots, and each plot contains a list of layers to be plotted. Both plots and layers have properties which are passed to Board.plot and Board.plot_layer respectively. In other words, you can see the available options by looking at the keyword arguments to those functions.

Each plot can have a suffix, which is added to the output filename before the global suffix (from the command line).

The config file can also contain drill settings:

drill:
    merge_npth: False

This will export Excellion drill files. Separate files for plated and non-plated holes will be produced.

The options for the drill item are passed to Board.drill.

See also example.fab.

Example usage - building a zip file:

#!/bin/sh

PROJECT=zerostem
VERSION=$(git describe)

if [ -z "$VERSION" ]; then \
    echo "Please tag this commit before generating a zip."
    exit 1
fi

FULLNAME=$PROJECT-$VERSION

TEMPDIR=$(mktemp -d)
mkdir $TEMPDIR/$FULLNAME

kifab -o $TEMPDIR/$FULLNAME -s $VERSION $PROJECT.kicad_pcb $PROJECT.fab
cp -r docs/* $TEMPDIR/$FULLNAME
cd $TEMPDIR
zip -r $FULLNAME.zip $FULLNAME/
cd -
cp $TEMPDIR/$FULLNAME.zip .
rm -rf --one-file-system $TEMPDIR