Session and history
search_footprints
Find footprints in the installed libraries by description.
Usage
search_footprints <query>Angle brackets mark required arguments and square brackets optional ones. Available in the schematic and pcb editors. You can issue this yourself, and the AI agent issues the identical command — there is no second, hidden interface.
Arguments
query1 required, 0 optional.
Behaviour
Semantic, not substring: "8 pin small outline" reaches SOIC-8 without naming it, and package synonyms are expanded on both sides, so "0805" finds R_0805_2012Metric. Returns JSON {count, results:[{lib_id, name, library, description, tags, pads, mount}]}, best match first and already filtered to a tight cluster around it — if a query returns nothing, the library genuinely has no close match, so widen the wording rather than asking again. Use the lib_id verbatim when assigning a footprint.
How the agent uses it
- The agent works in a perceive / act / verify / recover loop: it describes the design, issues
search_footprintsor another command, checks the result, and undoes the change if the check fails. - Commands report what they actually did. A refusal is a result, not a silent no-op — which is what lets the agent recover instead of building on a change that never happened.
- Anything the agent can do here, you can do yourself, and the reverse.
Try search_footprints in the editor
Free to start on macOS, Windows and Linux. Bring your existing KiCad and Altium libraries.