Open KiCad schematic files in your browser
The circuit diagrams KiCad saves beside its boards. Open one right here, sheet by sheet, with no CAD app. Nothing leaves your device.
Or drop it anywhere on this page
What you'll see
Your board opens as it's made, from the top and from below, its zones as KiCad last filled them, and a schematic sheet by sheet in KiCad's colors.
- Every layer • Hide one or show one alone
- A board's top and, mirrored beside it, its bottom
- Search its text • References, values and labels
- Export • PNG and SVG
About KiCad schematic
KiCad 6 brought the .kicad_sch in 2021, in the same parentheses as its boards, and every KiCad since saves its schematics in it. Before it, KiCad's schematics were .sch files in an older format of their own.
A schematic keeps a copy of every symbol it uses, so it needs no libraries to open: each part with its reference, value and fields, the wires and buses between their pins, the labels that name the nets, and sheets that stand for other .kicad_sch files of the design. The board laid out from it lives beside it, in a .kicad_pcb of the same name.
Filepeek reads it in your browser and draws each sheet on white in KiCad's colors, in its frame with the title block. Drop a design's sheets together and each sheet it names opens with it, every copy of a repeated sheet with its own references. Search finds a part by its reference or its value, each layer can be hidden or shown alone, and Export saves the sheet as PNG or SVG.
KiCad schematic
.kicad_sch
Format
- MIME type
- application/x-kicad-schematic
- Made by
- Jean-Pierre Charras, now the KiCad project
- Released
- 2021
Inside the file
- Holds
- Symbols, wires, labels and sheets
- Symbols
- Copied in, so no libraries are needed
- Pairs with
- A .kicad_pcb board of the same name
- Text
- S-expressions, from KiCad 6 on
Opens in every browser
Browsers download KiCad schematics, and KiCad needs installing. Filepeek opens them in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, from KiCad 6 on.
- YouChromeOpens through Filepeek
- YouEdgeOpens through Filepeek
- YouFirefoxOpens through Filepeek
- YouSafariOpens through Filepeek
Apps that open KiCad schematic
- WindowsKiCad, free
- MacKiCad, free
- iPhone and iPadNo app built in opens it
- AndroidNo app built in opens it
Questions
How do I open a .kicad_sch file without KiCad?
Drop it on this page or press Peek a KiCad schematic. Every sheet opens in KiCad's colors, with nothing to install. KiCad itself is free for Windows, Mac and Linux, to change it.
Why are some of my sheets missing?
Each sheet of a hierarchical design is a file of its own. Drop the design's folder, or all its .kicad_sch files together, and every sheet the root names opens with it, listed down the left.
Why does my KiCad .sch open as text?
KiCad saved schematics as .sch until KiCad 6, in an older format that opens here as text. Opening one in KiCad 6 or later and saving it gives a .kicad_sch that opens as a schematic.
How do I find a part on a big schematic?
Press Search and type its reference, like R12, or its value, like 10k. Search looks through every sheet and steps from match to match.
Can I see the board too?
Yes. Open the .kicad_pcb of the same name and the board shows as it's made, from the top and from below.