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Route from inside KiCad

In this tutorial you install the TraceMaker plugin in KiCad 10, route the open board with one click, and undo it. You need KiCad 10 and either a TraceMaker release or a build (Route your first board, step 1).

What has been checked

The plugin's round trip (tracks appear, one Ctrl+Z removes them, Ctrl+Y brings them back) is checked by scripts/kicad_gui_roundtrip.py in KiCad 10.0.6 running under Xvfb. Installing the package by hand in a desktop KiCad has not been tried by the project yet; tell us how it goes.

1. Get the package

From a release (Linux x86_64). Download tracemaker-VERSION-pcm-linux-x86_64.zip from the release page. It carries its own copy of the router, so nothing else is needed.

From your build. Make the package and check it:

python3 scripts/make_pcm_package.py
python3 scripts/validate_pcm.py build/pcm/tracemaker-*.zip

This package does not contain the router. Tell the plugin where it is before you start KiCad:

export TRACEMAKER=$PWD/build/cpu-only/src/app/tracemaker

2. Install it

  1. In KiCad 10, open Preferences > Plugins and tick Enable KiCad API. Plugins of this kind only run with it.
  2. Open the Plugin and Content Manager, choose Install from File..., pick the zip and press Apply. KiCad creates a Python environment for the plugin (it installs kicad-python), which can take a minute.
  3. Restart the PCB editor. Autoroute with TraceMaker appears in the toolbar and under Tools > External Plugins.

3. Route

Open a board with unrouted connections: tests/boards/plane_smd/plane_smd.kicad_pcb from the repository will do.

Press Autoroute with TraceMaker. The plugin saves a copy of the board with its project (so every design rule is used), routes it with a 120 s limit, and adds the new tracks and vias to the open board as one commit. Your board file is not overwritten until you save.

Press B to refill the zones, then run KiCad's Inspect > Design Rules Checker.

4. Undo and redo

One Ctrl+Z removes the whole result; Ctrl+Y brings it back.

5. Change the settings

The plugin reads its settings from environment variables, set where KiCad is started (a shell or a desktop file):

To… Set
Route for 60 s with 8 threads and watch it in the browser TRACEMAKER_ARGS="--time 60 --threads 8 --view"
Remove the unlocked copper and route the whole board again TRACEMAKER_REROUTE=1
Let TraceMaker move footprints first TRACEMAKER_PLACE=auto
Refill the zones afterwards TRACEMAKER_REFILL=1 (the refill is its own undo step)

The full list is in kicad_plugin/README.md.

What next