All guides

Installing KiCad

Download and install KiCad 10 on Windows, macOS, or Linux, and confirm it works before the first lecture.

KiCad is the program we design in for this whole course. It is free, open source, and runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Install it before the first lecture so you can follow along rather than watching.

Download it here: kicad.org/download
These guides are written against KiCad 10. Earlier versions will mostly work, but menus and icons moved between major releases, so screenshots will not always match.

Install it

Windows

  1. Go to kicad.org/download/windows and download the 64-bit installer.
  2. Run it and accept the defaults. The default component selection includes the symbol, footprint, and 3D model libraries, leave all three ticked, because the course depends on them.
  3. The install is large (several GB with libraries) and takes a few minutes. This is normal.

macOS

  1. Go to kicad.org/download/macos and download the .dmg for your chip, Apple Silicon or Intel.
  2. Open the disk image and drag KiCad into your Applications folder.
  3. The first launch may warn that the app is from an unidentified developer. Right-click the app and choose Open to get the option to run it anyway.

Linux

Use the instructions for your distribution at kicad.org/download/linux. The Flatpak build is the most consistent across distributions. Distro-packaged versions are often a major release behind, so check the version after installing.

Check that it worked

  1. Launch KiCad. You should land on the project manager window with a row of tool buttons.
  2. Choose File → New Project, save it somewhere you will find again, and open the schematic editor.
  3. Press A to add a symbol. If a chooser appears listing thousands of parts, your libraries installed correctly.

The symbol chooser is empty or errors? The libraries did not install. On Windows, re-run the installer and confirm the library components are selected. On Linux, the libraries are often a separate package, look for kicad-symbols, kicad-footprints, and kicad-packages3d.

Keep your project folder together

A KiCad project is not one file. It is a folder containing at minimum a project file (.kicad_pro), a schematic (.kicad_sch), and a board (.kicad_pcb), plus any custom symbols or footprints you make.

Keep the whole folder together, and when you submit or ask for help, send the entire folder zipped. Sending a lone .kicad_pcb is the most common reason we cannot open someone's design.

Next

Once KiCad runs, skim the official Getting Started in KiCad guide. You do not need to read it end to end, the first lecture covers what matters, but knowing it exists is useful when you get stuck.

Official KiCad documentation for this topic: docs.kicad.org