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Vision: AI-Assisted PCB Component Library Management

This document describes the architectural vision for altium-designer-mcp.

Core Principle

The AI handles the intelligence. The tool handles file I/O.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  RESPONSIBILITY SPLIT                                                    │
│                                                                         │
│  AI (Claude, etc.)                    MCP Server (this tool)            │
│  ─────────────────                    ──────────────────────            │
│  • IPC-7351B calculations             • Read .PcbLib/.SchLib files      │
│  • Package layout decisions           • Write .PcbLib/.SchLib files     │
│  • Style choices                      • Delete components from files    │
│  • Datasheet interpretation           • Primitive placement             │
│  • Design rule knowledge              • STEP model attachment           │
│                                       • OLE document handling           │
│                                                                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

How It Works

See README § How It Works for the sequence diagram of an AI-assisted component-creation call (engineer → AI → MCP server).

MCP Tools

See README.md § MCP Tools for the complete tool reference with examples.

Primitives

The AI provides complete primitive definitions. The tool just writes them.

See README.md § Primitive Types for the complete primitive reference.

STEP Models

STEP models are attached, not generated.

The tool links existing STEP files to footprints. For parametric 3D model generation, use a dedicated mechanical MCP server (future project).

Why This Architecture?

Previous approach encoded IPC-7351B into calculators. This was over-engineered:

Old Approach New Approach
Tool calculates pad sizes AI calculates pad sizes
Tool has package-specific code Tool is package-agnostic
Need to add code for each package AI handles any package
Complex codebase Simple file I/O

The AI already knows IPC-7351B. We don't need to duplicate that knowledge.

Scope & Non-Goals

This tool does: read, write, and edit Altium .PcbLib / .SchLib libraries — place primitives, attach STEP models, and validate the result — i.e. the file I/O an AI cannot do for itself.

This tool deliberately does NOT:

  • Do the engineering. IPC-7351B sizing, courtyards, and styling are the AI's job — see the Core Principle.
  • Replace Altium Designer. It generates source libraries; compiling to an IntLib, rendering, and manufacturing happen inside Altium.
  • Capture schematics or boards. It manages component libraries, not .SchDoc / .PcbDoc designs.
  • Touch the network. All I/O is local files (see ARCHITECTURE § Network Requirements).

Design Principles

  1. The AI owns the intelligence; the tool owns the bytes. The whole point of the Core Principle — keep the tool package-agnostic.
  2. Fail loudly, never corrupt silently. Altium refuses to open a malformed file, so the writer is checked against an independent Altium-readability oracle, not just its own reader.
  3. Round-trip fidelity. Reading a library and writing it back preserves everything the model represents — coordinates, parameters, and unique IDs.
  4. Byte-exact Altium output. Windows-1252 strings and the precise binary record layout — match Altium on disk, not an approximation.
  5. Safe by default. Validate and canonicalise every path, back up before mutating, and keep file paths out of error messages.

IPC Standards

The AI applies industry standards when calculating footprints:

Standard Purpose
IPC-7351B Surface mount land pattern design
IPC-2221 Printed board design (through-hole)

See AI_WORKFLOW.md for detailed IPC reference.