Altium Designer Mcp
MCP server for AI-assisted management of Altium Designer component libraries
- Transport
- Not stated
- Package
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- Registry id
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No install snippet on purpose. A working MCP config is a command, its arguments and an environment block — the last two are where API keys live, so this catalogue never stores them and cannot publish them. Follow the link above for the authors' own instructions.
Let an AI build your Altium libraries — it does the engineering, this tool writes the files.
An MCP server that gives AI assistants (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Antigravity, VS Code Copilot — any MCP client) file I/O
and primitive-placement tools for Altium Designer .PcbLib (footprint) and .SchLib (symbol)
libraries — so the AI can create and maintain any component, not just pre-programmed packages.
The Problem
Building Altium component libraries by hand is slow and repetitive — every footprint means
looking up IPC-7351B pad sizes, courtyards, and silkscreen, then placing each primitive by
hand. AI assistants are excellent at exactly that reasoning, but they cannot write Altium's
binary .PcbLib/.SchLib files — an undocumented OLE compound format that is easy to
corrupt, and Altium silently refuses to open a malformed file.
| Approach | Problem |
|---|---|
| Draw every footprint by hand in Altium | Slow and repetitive; the AI can't touch the file |
| Ask an AI to emit the binary file directly | It produces a corrupt file Altium won't open |
| Pre-programmed footprint generators | Only the package types someone coded in advance |
The Core Idea
The AI handles the intelligence. The tool handles file I/O.
| Responsibility | Owner |
|---|---|
| IPC-7351B calculations | AI |
| Package layout decisions | AI |
| Style choices | AI |
| Datasheet interpretation | AI |
| Reading/writing Altium files | This tool |
| Primitive placement | This tool |
| STEP model attachment | This tool |
This means the AI can create any footprint — not just pre-programmed package types. See docs/VISION.md for the full architectural rationale.
Who Is This For?
Anyone who builds or maintains Altium component libraries and uses an MCP-capable AI
assistant. The AI does the engineering (datasheet → dimensions → style); this server lets it
read and write the actual .PcbLib / .SchLib files.
| If you… | Then… |
|---|---|
| Use Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Antigravity, VS Code + Copilot — any MCP client — and design in Altium | ✅ This is for you |
| Want pre-baked generators for a fixed set of packages | ❌ Not this — the point is any component |
| Don't use Altium | ❌ Not applicable |
Quick Start
Client Setup — verified configuration for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Google Antigravity, Cursor, VS Code, GitHub Copilot CLI, Windsurf, Cline, Roo Code, Kiro, JetBrains, Zed, Gemini CLI, Codex CLI, Continue, Goose, OpenCode and any other stdio MCP client, plus troubleshooting — on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Using the server — what to ask for once it is connected: example workflows, prompts and tips, identical for every client.
How It Works
From the project's README.