Development board tools and variables

Unreleased development workflow: these tools are described from the reviewed 1.5.20 source. Use saved board copies and read version/validation scope before testing.

Generate styled designators

1. Select eligible electrical footprints in KiCad.
2. Open Board Tools → Designators, or use Add Kobee Designator to Selected Footprint from External Plugins.
3. Choose selected-footprint or whole-board scope. Confirm the first eligible reference in the live preview.
4. Style the generated label: typeface, size, container, appearance, border, radius and four padding values.
5. Choose Reference layout when a secondary detail line is needed. Adjust title/detail typography, alignment, line spacing and their gap.
6. Add an optional symbol inline left/right or stacked above/below where offered.
7. Choose Apply designators and inspect generated labels and native reference visibility together.
8. On the test board, verify that one KiCad undo restores the expected native/generated state.

The reference is read from KiCad and remains read-only in the editor. It is not a route for renumbering components. The preview follows changes to KiCad’s selection while the designator tool remains open; confirm scope again before applying a bulk operation.

Generated designators are movable artwork footprints. Reapplying is intended to update the linked label without duplicates and preserve its manual position. Verify this behaviour on your selected build, especially when references are rotated or on the bottom side.

Cleanup operations

Use Board Tools → Cleanup or the corresponding External Plugin actions. Select the intended operation and selected versus whole-board scope, read the affected/skipped counts, and confirm only after inspecting that scope.

• Remove designators targets native reference/designator presentation.
• Remove silkscreen targets component graphics and free text on front and back silk; existing Kobee designator labels are preserved by this operation.

Locked or generated footprints can be skipped by eligibility checks. Cleanup is intended to preserve pads, copper, mask, fabrication/courtyard information, 3D data and semantic field values. It changes board objects, so confirm the actual result and undo behaviour on a copy before applying it broadly.

Do not treat cleanup as a library edit or as ordinary label placement. Save a board revision first and inspect both sides afterwards.

Make a variable template

Labels → Variables is the final Labels tab. It lets a reusable label contain KiCad ${NAME} expressions rather than hard-coding every project value.

1. Open a saved project with the desired .kicad_pro text variables.
2. Choose Labels → Variables.
3. Choose an existing saved template or start a new one.
4. Enter Template text. Use Add project value to insert a token, or type a known ${NAME} expression.
5. Use Refresh values to reload current values for the preview.
6. Choose Save in → My library or This project, then Save as new…. Use Update for an intentional edit to a selected template, or Delete to remove it from the library.
7. Style the label using the available container and typography controls, then place it.
8. Inspect the saved token expressions and visible result in KiCad.

The preview resolves current values, while the saved native text retains the expressions. Filled/inverted polygon artwork is generated for the current resolved text: after a project value changes, reopen and Update so the container and rendered geometry fit the new value. Do not assume every polygon automatically becomes dynamic.

Multipart labels

The reviewed Variables editor has Add section [ ]. Two or more bracketed sections form one multipart label, for example:

[BOARD][${KOBEE_PROJECT_BOARD_NAME}]

Insert project values inside sections as needed, then inspect the multipart arrangement and spacing. Square brackets here are a tool-specific section convention; they are different from KiCad’s ${...} variable syntax. Check the exact generated result before using brackets as literal content.

Overlines, underlines and scoped text formatting

The development label editor adds independent overline and underline controls. Set physical thickness and gap for each, then inspect padding and negative cut-outs.

Optional KiCad-style formatting supports:

Expression	Intended use
_{...}	Subscript group
^{...}	Superscript group
~{...}	Scoped overline
!{...}	Scoped underline

Enable the text-formatting option before expecting those expressions to affect typography. Test a small expression such as V_{IN} or ~{RESET} with the chosen font. Keep literal text and formatted syntax distinct, and inspect glyph coverage and stroke separation at manufacturing size.

Placement anchors

The development Typography controls offer nine anchors across the left/centre/right and top/middle/bottom positions. The preview origin marker shows the selected placement reference.

Choose an anchor based on what must stay aligned when the text changes. A left-side anchor is useful when a label should grow away from a fixed edge; a centre anchor is useful for symmetric markings. Test a short and long string, then front and back output, to confirm the origin behaves as intended in the actual board.

A revision-label workflow

Use Project Data to maintain a board name and revision, explicitly sync its generated variables to KiCad, then create a Variables template using the exact tokens offered by the project. When advancing revision, sync the new data, reopen the placed variable artwork and update its geometry before exporting Gerbers.