Keyboard Layouter Plugin

Keyboard Layouter is a plugin for KiCad(pcbnew). This plugin places switch footprints in the location specified by JSON of Keyboard Layout Editor.

I have confirmed that it works with following pcbnew versions

• (7.0.10) release build on Windows

Install

Download keyboard_layouter.py and put it to the following directory:

Tools > External Plugins > Reveal Plugin Folder in Finder (or Open Plugin Directory in Windows)

Usage

Preparation

Make keyboard layout at Keyboard Layout Editor. Top left legend should be the reference number of the switch footprint. And download JSON file.

I have created keyboard-layouter-playground so that you can quickly try the Keyboard Layouter plugin. This repository has sample-json and sample netlist.

Execution

Open Pcbnew and choose "Tools" -> "External plugins" -> "Keyboard Layouter".

Select your JSON file and push "Run" button.

Limitation

Supported switch footprints are Cherry MX in kicad-footprints/Button_Switch_Keyboard.pretty only. Therefore, the size of switch that can be used is limited to the following.

• 1.00u (1 x 1)
• 1.25u (1.25 x 1)
• 1.50u (1.5 x 1)
• 1.75u (1.75 x 1)
• 2.00u (2 x 1, 1 x 2)
• 2.25u (2.25 x 1)
• 2.75u (2.75 x 1)
• 6.25u (6.25 x 1)
• ISO Enter

For installation on older KiCad (v5, v6)

Please use Release 0.2.0 · yskoht/keyboard-layouter.

I have confirmed that it works with following pcbnew versions

• (5.1.0-1) release build on Windows
• (6.0.5) release build on Windows
• (6.0.5-0) release build on macOS

In KiCad v5, put the script in the following path

• Windows: %APPDATA%/Roaming/kicad/scripting/plugins
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/kicad/scripting/plugins or ~/Library/Preferences/kicad/scripting/plugins
• Linux: ~/.kicad/scripting/plugins or ~/.kicad_plugins

License

This software is released under the MIT License, see LICENSE.