For specific documentation about building KiCad, policies and guidelines, and source code documentation see the Developer Documentation website.

You may also take a look into the Wiki, the contribution guide.

For general information about KiCad and information about contributing to the documentation and libraries, see our Website and our Forum.

KiCad uses a host of CI resources.

GitLab CI pipeline status can be viewed for Linux and Windows builds of the latest commits.

• AUTHORS.txt - The authors, contributors, document writers and translators list
• CMakeLists.txt - Main CMAKE build tool script
• copyright.h - A very short copy of the GNU General Public License to be included in new source files
• Doxyfile - Doxygen config file for KiCad
• INSTALL.txt - The release (binary) installation instructions
• uncrustify.cfg - Uncrustify config file for uncrustify sources formatting tool
• _clang-format - clang config file for clang-format sources formatting tool

• 3d-viewer - Sourcecode of the 3D viewer
• bitmap2component - Sourcecode of the bitmap to PCB artwork converter
• cmake - Modules for the CMAKE build tool
• common - Sourcecode of the common library
• cvpcb - Sourcecode of the CvPCB tool
• demos - Some demo examples
• doxygen - Configuration for generating pretty doxygen manual of the codebase
• eeschema - Sourcecode of the schematic editor
• gerbview - Sourcecode of the gerber viewer
• include - Interfaces to the common library
• kicad - Sourcecode of the project manager
• libs - Sourcecode of KiCad utilities (geometry and others)
• pagelayout_editor - Sourcecode of the pagelayout editor
• patches - Collection of patches for external dependencies
• pcbnew - Sourcecode of the printed circuit board editor
• plugins - Sourcecode for the 3D viewer plugins
• qa - Unit testing framework for KiCad
• resources - Packaging resources such as bitmaps and operating system specific files
  • bitmaps_png - Menu and program icons
  • project_template - Project template
• scripting - Python integration for KiCad
• thirdparty - Sourcecode of external libraries used in KiCad but not written by the KiCad team
• tools - Helpers for developing, testing and building
• translation - Translation data files (managed through Weblate for most languages)
• utils - Small utils for KiCad, e.g. IDF, STEP, and OGL tools and converters

The Windows installation package can be downloaded directly using the following link: https://www.eda.cn/data/kicad-release/kicad-huaqiu-8.0.6-x86_64.exe.zip

The Linux version requires Flatpak installation

sudo apt install flatpak

flatpak remote-add --user repo https://kicaddownload.elecfans.com/kicadhuaqiu_v9.0.0

Check whether the addition succeeds： flatpak remote-ls repo

If GPG verification is reported, go to Step 4. Otherwise, skip it

vim ~/.local/share/flatpak/repo/config

Modify in the file: gpg-verify=false

flatpak remote-modify --no-gpg-verify repo

Check whether the addition is successful: flatpak remote-ls repo

flatpak install repo org.kicad.KiCad

If no dependency is reported, go to the next step "6".

sudo flatpak remote-modify flathub --url=https://mirror.sjtu.edu.cn/flathub

In case of lack org.freedesktop.Sdk/x86_64/23.08： flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Sdk/x86_64/23.08

In case of lack org.freedesktop.Sdk//23.08： flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Sdk//23.08