Public:GitHub/PCB

KiCad Files and Git

KiCad has a lot of files of different file types it generates. Unlike other programs, that might put these all in temp, KiCad puts many of them in the project repo. For the target audience of KiCad, that is Engineers, this makes sense as it gives us the power to use these files as we may need them.

KiCad has a bit of a habit of adding more of these, so this page might be out of date. You can see the up to date list for the current release version on the KiCad Website. Luckily, this is supposedly addressed in KiCad v6.

KiCad files are intentionally human readable and compatible with version control, allowing better collaboration than other tools. We take significant advantage of this in our workflow, but we don't need all your files on git - it can get messy with how many KiCad has. Read below for which files to include or not include. This should mostly be handled by the .gitignore if you don't override it.

Project File Types

File Name / Extensions	Type	Include on Git	Description
projectName.pro	KiCad Project Meta File	REQUIRED	This file contains information about the KiCad project. There can only be one project file per project! (If you see others associated with your hierarchical schematics, get rid of them and don't open your schematic files straight from your file browser.)
projectName.sch	KiCad Schemaatic File	REQUIRED	This is the top-level schematic for the project. You can add additional schematic files to your project and include them as heirarchical schematics, or "schematics within a schematic"
projectName.kicad_pcb	KiCad PCB File	REQUIRED	This is the physical layout of your circuit board. There can only be one PCB per project!
projectName_subSection.sch	KiCad Schematic File	Optional	It is normal to have more than one schematic file. Since each schematic file is the size of one page of paper when printed, it is common to have multiple-page schematics for larger projects
sym-lib-table	KiCad Library Database	REQUIRED	This tells KiCad what symbol libraries your project uses. If it doesn't exist, all your components will be '?'.
fp-lib-table	KiCad Library Database	REQUIRED	This tells KiCad what footprint libraries your project uses. If it doesn't exist, you won't be able to add new footprints or update them from library changes.
symbols/	Folder	Optional	This folder contains any local symbol libraries you create. You can put stuff here that you don't want to commit to the main libraries, for example, a board specific symbol. See the Symbols Libraries section below for more information on what goes in here. These are uncommon
footprints.pretty/	Folder	Optional	This folder contains any local component footprints you create. You can put stuff here that you don't want to commit to the main libraries. See the Footprint Libraries section for more information on what goes in here. These are more common for board specific physical components.
models.3dshapes/	Folder	Optional	This folder contains 3D CAD models of components. See the 3D Model Libraries section for more information on what goes in here
bom.ini	BOM Settings File	Optional	This file is generated by the KiCad BOM generator plugin if it can't find a settings file. It contains information on how the BOM plugin parses the component list to generate the BOM
schematicName.bak	KiCad Schematic Backup File	NEVER	This file contains a backup of your schematic when it's saved. If you really mess something up and the previous git commit is not up-to-date at all (in this case, shame on you!), then you can change the name of this file to have a .sch ending and open it in KiCad
projectName.kicad_pcb-bak	KiCad PCB Backup File	NEVER	This file is a back-up of your PCB when it is saved. If you really mess something up and the previous git commit is not up-to-date at all (in this case, shame on you!), then you can change the name of this file to have a .pcb ending and open it in KiCad
_saved_anyName.sch	Autosave	NEVER	This file is an autosave file from KiCAD to restore from crashes. YIf you have one of these, you should fix things that may have broken due to the crash. We don't need them on git.
projectName-cache.lib	KiCad Library File, Automatic	NEVER	This file will be generated automatically by KiCad to store a local copy of schematic symbols. This lets you view the schematic even if the main libraries are unavailable (but should not replace using them!), and it protect you if symbols in a library change

KiCad has a lot more temporary type files not listed here, you shouldn't have any issue with those - they typically get cleaned up by KiCad