Coding agent · CLI (KiCad / hardware)
Copperhead
Verified Sep 2026
Quick answer: Hardware teams that want a coding-agent-style CLI on real KiCad repos — brief→board with ERC/DRC gates and docs/BOM kept in sync.
Best for
Hardware teams that want a coding-agent-style CLI on real KiCad repos — brief→board with ERC/DRC gates and docs/BOM kept in sync.
Skip if
You need software repo coding, Altium-first on the free tier, or you will not install KiCad + a model backend.
Who it fits
- Hardware teams that want a coding-agent-style CLI on real KiCad repos — brief→board with ERC/DRC gates and docs/BOM kept in sync.
- Terminal-first engineers who live in the shell and git
- Builders who start in the browser without a local IDE setup
Pros
Open-core "Cursor for circuit boards" — AI agent that edits real KiCad `.kicad_sch` / `.kicad_pcb` s-expressions, propagates changes across SPEC/BOM/docs, and verifies with `kicad-cli` ERC/DRC until clean; `copperhead create` runs an eight-stage gated pipeline from a brief; `copperhead do` iterates on existing repos; free CLI forever with BYOK / Codex / Cursor Agent / Claude Code logins; Cloud/Team add hosted runs + web viewer ($49/user/mo vendor list).
Cons
Hardware/EDA niche — not a software coding harness; early product (Phase 1 / pre-1.0 surface may move); needs Node 20+, KiCad ≥8 with `kicad-cli`, and a model backend; free CLI is KiCad-centric (Altium called out on Enterprise); catalog has not hands-on verified board spins.
Facts
- Locality:
- Hybrid (local + cloud)
- Surfaces:
- CLI, Web
- Maturity:
- Experimental
- BYOK:
- Bring your own API key
- Free tier:
- Free option available
- Verified:
- Sep 2026
Agent standards & memory
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Official links
Alternatives
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