Claude Skills

A collection of reusable Claude Code skills that can be added to any project. Skills are markdown instruction files that teach Claude how to perform specialized tasks.

Quick Start

# Clone the repo into your project (as .claude-skills/)
git clone git://github.com/marju212/claude-skills.git .claude-skills

# Install everything (skills + dependencies + KiCad + libraries)
./.claude-skills/install.sh --all

# Or just install the skills (no external dependencies)
./.claude-skills/install.sh

Directory structure after install:

your-project/
├── .claude-skills/      # This repo (source files, install.sh, libraries)
│   ├── skills/
│   ├── install.sh
│   └── ...
└── .claude/
    └── skills/          # Symlinks created by install.sh (Claude Code reads from here)
        ├── electronic-schematics.md → ../.claude-skills/skills/...
        └── kicad_helper.py → ../.claude-skills/skills/...

The install script symlinks skill files to .claude/skills/ where Claude Code looks for them.

What Are Skills?

Skills are markdown files that provide Claude with:

• Domain knowledge - Component libraries, pin mappings, API references
• Workflows - Step-by-step procedures for complex tasks
• Code templates - Ready-to-use Python/JavaScript patterns
• Best practices - Guidelines for quality output

When you ask Claude to "draw a circuit" or "create a schematic", it uses the relevant skill to produce professional results.

Supported Platforms

Platform	KiCad Install Method
macOS	Homebrew
Ubuntu/Debian	PPA
Fedora	dnf
Arch Linux	pacman

Available Skills

Electronic Schematics

Generate professional circuit diagrams that output real KiCad schematic files (.kicad_sch) for PCB design, plus SVG rendering and markdown documentation.

Output files (default directory: ./KiCad/):

File	Description
.kicad_sch	KiCad schematic (open in KiCad for PCB design)
.svg	Rendered image for visual verification
.md	Connection table documentation

Workflow:

User request → Claude generates schematic → .kicad_sch + .svg + .md

Example prompts:

• "Draw a voltage divider with 10k resistors"
• "Create a Teensy 4.1 to RP2040 UART connection"
• "Show me an I2C bus with pullup resistors"
• "Draw an LED circuit with current limiting resistor"

Installation

Full Setup (Recommended)

# Clone repository
git clone <repo-url> .claude-skills

# Install everything (auto-detects your OS)
./.claude-skills/install.sh --all

This installs:

• Python dependencies (kicad-sch-api)
• KiCad 9 (macOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch)
• 3rd party symbol libraries (Teensy, official KiCad symbols)

Installation Options

./install.sh              # Just symlink skills (no dependencies)
./install.sh --deps       # Install Python dependencies only
./install.sh --kicad      # Install KiCad 9 only
./install.sh --libs       # Download 3rd party libraries only
./install.sh --all        # Install everything
./install.sh --help       # Show help

Manual Setup

If you prefer manual installation:

1. Python dependencies:

   pip install kicad-sch-api

2. KiCad 9 (for SVG rendering):

   macOS:

   brew install --cask kicad
   # Add kicad-cli to PATH:
   echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/Applications/KiCad/KiCad.app/Contents/MacOS"' >> ~/.zshrc
   source ~/.zshrc

   Ubuntu/Debian:

   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kicad/kicad-9.0-releases
   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install kicad

   Fedora:

   sudo dnf install kicad

   Arch Linux:

   sudo pacman -S kicad kicad-library

   Other OS: Download from kicad.org/download

3. 3rd party libraries (optional, for Teensy symbols):

   mkdir -p kicad-libs
   git clone https://github.com/XenGi/teensy_library.git kicad-libs/teensy_library
   git clone https://github.com/XenGi/teensy.pretty.git kicad-libs/teensy.pretty
   export KICAD_SYMBOL_DIR="$(pwd)/kicad-libs"

As Git Submodule

git submodule add <repo-url> .claude-skills
./.claude-skills/install.sh --all

3rd Party Libraries

The --libs option downloads these libraries to kicad-libs/:

Library	Source	Contents
kicad-symbols	GitLab	Official KiCad symbols
teensy_library	XenGi/teensy_library	Teensy 4.0, 4.1, etc.
teensy.pretty	XenGi/teensy.pretty	Teensy footprints

Other 3rd party sources:

• SnapEDA - Symbols & footprints for many components
• DigiKey - Atomic parts library
• SparkFun - SparkFun products

See kicad.org/libraries/third_party for more.

Project Structure

claude-skills/
├── skills/
│   ├── electronic-schematics.md          # Main skill instructions
│   ├── electronic-schematics-reference.md # Component library reference
│   └── kicad_helper.py                   # Python helper module
├── examples/
│   ├── teensy41_rp2040_uart.kicad_sch    # Example schematic
│   ├── teensy41_rp2040_uart.svg          # Rendered SVG
│   ├── teensy41_rp2040_uart.md           # Connection docs
│   └── ...
├── kicad-libs/                           # 3rd party libs (after --libs)
│   ├── kicad-symbols/
│   ├── teensy_library/
│   └── teensy.pretty/
├── install.sh
├── .gitignore
└── README.md

Verification

Test the installation:

from skills.kicad_helper import create_schematic

create_schematic(
    components={
        'R1': {'lib_id': 'Device:R', 'value': '10k'},
        'R2': {'lib_id': 'Device:R', 'value': '10k'},
    },
    connections=[('R1.2', 'R2.1')],
    filename='test.kicad_sch',
    title='Test Schematic'
)

Expected output:

Created directory: KiCad
Saved: KiCad/test.kicad_sch
Rendered: KiCad/test.svg
Documentation: KiCad/test.md

Usage

Electronic Schematics

Once installed, simply ask Claude to draw circuits:

> Draw a voltage divider with two 10k resistors

> Create a schematic connecting Teensy 4.1 to RP2040 over UART and I2C

> Show me an LED circuit with a 330 ohm current limiting resistor for 3.3V

Claude will:

1. Parse your request and identify components
2. Generate a .kicad_sch file using the kicad-sch-api library
3. Render an .svg preview (if KiCad CLI is installed)
4. Create a .md connection table for documentation

Programmatic usage:

from kicad_helper import create_schematic, draw_mcu_connection

# Simple circuit
create_schematic(
    components={
        'R1': {'lib_id': 'Device:R', 'value': '10k'},
        'R2': {'lib_id': 'Device:R', 'value': '10k'},
    },
    connections=[('R1.2', 'R2.1')],
    power_connections=[
        (['R1.1'], 'VIN'),
        (['R2.2'], 'GND'),
    ],
    filename='voltage_divider.kicad_sch',
    title='Voltage Divider'
)

# MCU-to-MCU connection
draw_mcu_connection(
    mcu1_name='U1',
    mcu1_lib_id='MCU_Module:Teensy4.1',
    mcu1_pins={'TX1': '1', 'RX1': '0', 'SDA': '18', 'SCL': '19'},
    mcu2_name='U2',
    mcu2_lib_id='MCU_Module:RP2040-Zero',
    mcu2_pins={'RX': '1', 'TX': '0', 'SDA': '4', 'SCL': '5'},
    connections=[('TX1', 'RX'), ('RX1', 'TX'), ('SDA', 'SDA'), ('SCL', 'SCL')],
    i2c_pins=['SDA', 'SCL'],  # Adds 4.7k pullup resistors
    filename='mcu_connection.kicad_sch'
)

Output Directory

By default, all output files go to ./KiCad/. Override with:

create_schematic(..., output_dir='./my-schematics/')

Or specify a full path in the filename:

create_schematic(..., filename='/path/to/output/circuit.kicad_sch')

Creating New Skills

Skills are markdown files in skills/. See skills/_example.md for a template.

Skill file structure:

# Skill Name

Description of what this skill does.

## When to Use

Trigger conditions for Claude to activate this skill.

## Workflow

Step-by-step process.

## Examples

Code examples and usage patterns.

Updating

# If using submodule
git submodule update --remote .claude-skills
./.claude-skills/install.sh

# If cloned directly
cd .claude-skills && git pull && ./install.sh

Troubleshooting

kicad-cli not found (macOS):

export PATH="$PATH:/Applications/KiCad/KiCad.app/Contents/MacOS"

Permission denied on install.sh:

chmod +x install.sh

Python module not found:

pip install kicad-sch-api