PROBLEM
-------
Upstream commit b98c94b added 7 comment lines (;; PASSIVES, ;; SEMICONDUCTORS,
;; INTEGRATED CIRCUITS, ;; CONNECTORS, ;; POWER/REGULATORS, ;; MISC,
;; TEMPLATE INSTANCES) to template_with_symbols_expanded.kicad_sch.
KiCAD's S-expression parser does NOT support any comment syntax.
It expects every non-empty line to begin with '('. These comments caused
KiCAD 9 to refuse opening any schematic generated from this template:
Expecting '(' in <file>.kicad_sch, line 8, offset 5
AFFECTED USERS
--------------
Any project whose .kicad_sch was generated by the MCP server after upstream
commit b98c94b and before this fix contains the same invalid lines. Those
files must be repaired manually: open the .kicad_sch in a text editor and
delete every line beginning with ';;'.
FIX
---
Remove all 7 ;; lines from the template. No functional change — the comments
provided no information that is not already evident from the symbol names.
ALSO
----
CHANGELOG: add critical bug-fix entry for this regression under v2.2.2-alpha
Upstream commit 2b38796 downgraded template_with_symbols.kicad_sch and
template_with_symbols_expanded.kicad_sch from version 20250114 to 20240101.
KiCAD 9 requires version 20250114 - files with older versions cause parse
errors or are rejected. This was originally fixed in ce78fb4.
- Update schematic version from 20230121 (KiCAD 7) to 20240101 (KiCAD 9)
- Replace invalid all-zeros UUIDs in template files with valid UUIDs
- Add post-copy UUID regeneration to ensure each project gets unique UUID
- Add UTF-8 encoding and Unix line endings for cross-platform compatibility
Fixes the root cause where templates were copied with invalid UUIDs and
outdated version format, causing KiCAD 9.0.x to reject the schematic files.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Verified by live test: created a fresh schematic via MCP, result shows
format version 20250114, 0 _TEMPLATE_ hits, 0 (lib_id -100) hits, 24
real components placed cleanly.
--- Format version bump (20230121 KiCAD 7 -> 20250114 KiCAD 9) ---
Files: python/templates/*.kicad_sch, python/commands/project.py,
python/commands/schematic.py
Root cause: the MCP server targets KiCAD 9 exclusively - pcbnew.pyd is
compiled for KiCAD 9.0 / Python 3.11.5, and server.ts explicitly selects
the KiCAD 9 bundled Python on Windows. Generating new schematics with a
2-year-old format tag caused a spurious 'This file was created with an
older KiCAD version' warning on every newly created schematic.
--- Remove corrupt _TEMPLATE_* placed-symbol blocks ---
File: python/templates/template_with_symbols_expanded.kicad_sch
Root cause: the expanded template was generated by the old sexpdata
serializer (same corruption PR #40 fixed for DynamicSymbolLoader add-path).
The serializer converted the string 'Device:R' to integer -100, producing
(lib_id -100) instead of (lib_id Device:R). KiCAD cannot resolve an
integer as a library reference and crashes with a null-pointer when the
user attempts to select these symbols. They appeared as grey _TEMPLATE_R?,
_TEMPLATE_C?, _TEMPLATE_U_REG? etc. ~5000mm off-sheet - invisible during
normal work but triggering a crash on accidental box-select.
Discovered via live testing on a real JLCPCB/KiCAD 9 project.
Phase 1 critical fixes addressing three high-priority issues:
Issue #36 - Windows IPC backend crash (os.getuid not available):
- Add platform detection to skip Unix-specific socket paths on Windows
- Use hasattr check before calling os.getuid()
- Windows now uses auto-detect fallback (named pipes)
- Maintains full Unix socket support on Linux/macOS
Issue #37 - Windows schematic file creation broken:
- Generate unique UUIDs instead of invalid all-zeros UUID
- Add explicit UTF-8 encoding for cross-platform compatibility
- Force Unix line endings (LF) to prevent Windows CRLF issues
- Update template file with valid placeholder UUID
- Fix hardcoded /tmp/ paths in wire_manager.py and pin_locator.py
Issue #35 - JLCPCB download limited to 100 parts:
- Change batch_size from 1000 to 100 to match tscircuit API limit
- Remove premature loop termination when batch < batch_size
- Add documentation explaining API limitation
- Expected result: Full ~2.5M part catalog download (40-60 minutes)
All changes maintain backward compatibility and include detailed comments.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
