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How to initialize your KiCAD 5 project on the command line

Note: This post is for KiCad 5, please check out How to initialize your KiCAD 10 project on the command line in case you are using KiCAD 10 (released in 2026).

In case you are using KiCAD 6 (released in 2021), this is not the right post for you ! See How to initialize your KiCAD 6 project on the command line

*Note:*This script initializes a KiCAD project in the recommended configuration (i.e. with project-specific footprint and symbol libraries). In case you want to initialize an empty project, see How to initialize an empty KiCAD project on the command line

TL;DR:

Inside the directory where you want to create the project, run

kicad-init.sh
wget -qO- https://techoverflow.net/scripts/kicad-init.sh | bash /dev/stdin MyProject

You should replace MyProject (at the end of the command) with your project name.

*Note:*This will initialize an empty KiCAD project without any libraries. This is equivalent to creating a new project in KiCAD itself (using the GUI).

How it works

Our script is a simple bash script that creates the files that KiCAD creates when manually creating a new project.

It will create these files (MyProject is the default project name, but you can modify it using a command line argument):

The files are modelled after KiCAD 5.1.4 but we expect them to work with any recent KiCAD version.

kicad-init.sh
#!/bin/bash
# TechOverflow KiCAD project initializer (with project FP & SYM libraries)
# Usage: $0
if [ $# -ne 1 ]
then
    echo "Usage: $0 "
    exit 1
fi

# Compute project name and path
proj=$(basename "$1")
dir=$(dirname "$1")

# Create project file
cat < ${1}.pro
update=22/05/2015 07:44:53
version=1
last_client=kicad
[general]
version=1
RootSch=
BoardNm=
[pcbnew]
version=1
LastNetListRead=
UseCmpFile=1
PadDrill=0.600000000000
PadDrillOvalY=0.600000000000
PadSizeH=1.500000000000
PadSizeV=1.500000000000
PcbTextSizeV=1.500000000000
PcbTextSizeH=1.500000000000
PcbTextThickness=0.300000000000
ModuleTextSizeV=1.000000000000
ModuleTextSizeH=1.000000000000
ModuleTextSizeThickness=0.150000000000
SolderMaskClearance=0.000000000000
SolderMaskMinWidth=0.000000000000
DrawSegmentWidth=0.200000000000
BoardOutlineThickness=0.100000000000
ModuleOutlineThickness=0.150000000000
[cvpcb]
version=1
NetIExt=net
[eeschema]
version=1
LibDir=
[eeschema/libraries]
EOT

# Create schematic file
cat < ${1}.sch
EESchema Schematic File Version 2
EELAYER 25 0
EELAYER END
\$EndSCHEMATC
EOT

cat < ${1}.kicad_pcb
(kicad_pcb (version 4) (host kicad "dummy file") )
EOT

#
# Create schematic symbol library mapping
#
mkdir -p ${dir}/libraries
cat < ${dir}/sym-lib-table
(sym_lib_table
  (lib (name ${1})(type Legacy)(uri \${KIPRJMOD}/libraries/${proj}.lib)(options "")(descr ""))
)
EOT

cat < ${dir}/libraries/${proj}.lib
EESchema-LIBRARY Version 2.4
#encoding utf-8
#
#End Library
EOT

cat < ${dir}/libraries/${proj}.dcm
EESchema-DOCLIB  Version 2.0
#
#End Doc Library
EOT

#
# Create footprint library mapping (just an empty directory)
#
mkdir -p ${dir}/libraries/footprints

cat < ${dir}/fp-lib-table
(fp_lib_table
  (lib (name ${proj})(type KiCad)(uri \${KIPRJMOD}/libraries/footprints)(options "")(descr ""))
)
EOT

#
# Create directory for 3D models.
# The search path might need to be configured manually
# since it's not stored in a project
#
mkdir -p ${dir}/libraries/3D

#
# Create .gitignore
#
cat < .gitignore
*-bak
*-cache*
*-bak*
_autosave*
EOT

Run e.g. using

run_kicad_init.sh
bash kicad-init.sh MyProject
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