PCB Lens MCP Server

Name: pcb-lens
Author: IntelligentElectron

The PCB Lens MCP Server gives AI agents the tools to query and review your PCB layouts, enabling physical design review through natural conversations.

It works with any board layout in IPC-2581 format, exported from any EDA tool that supports the standard.

Supported Formats

Format	Input Files	Description
IPC-2581	`.xml`	IPC-2581 XML files (RevA, RevB, RevC) from any compliant EDA tool
Cadence TCFX	`.tcfx`	Constraint XML exported from Cadence Allegro: physical and spacing rules, net classes, stackup, regions
Cadence Allegro	`.brd`	Native board files, exported in place to the two formats above (Windows only, requires a Cadence SPB installation)

Native Install (Recommended)

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/IntelligentElectron/pcb-lens/main/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/IntelligentElectron/pcb-lens/main/install.ps1 | iex

Why use the native installer:

No dependencies — standalone binary, no Node.js required
Auto-updates — checks for updates on startup
Signed binaries — macOS binaries are notarized by Apple

The installer downloads two files:

Binary - For CLI usage and manual MCP client configuration
Claude Desktop extension (.mcpb) - For easy Claude Desktop integration

Platform	Install Directory
macOS	`~/Library/Application Support/pcb-lens/`
Linux	`~/.local/share/pcb-lens/`
Windows	`%LOCALAPPDATA%\pcb-lens\`

Update

The server checks for updates on startup. To update manually:

pcb-lens --update

Alternative: Install via npm

For developers who prefer npm:

npm install -g @intelligentelectron/pcb-lens

Or use with npx (no installation required):

npx @intelligentelectron/pcb-lens --help

Requires Node.js 20+.

To update:

npm update -g @intelligentelectron/pcb-lens

Connect the MCP with your favorite AI tool

After installing the MCP with one of the methods above, you can connect it to your AI agent of choice.

Claude Desktop

Download the Claude Desktop app
Open Claude Desktop and go to Settings (gear icon)
Under Desktop app, click Extensions
Click Advanced settings
In the Extension Developer section, click Install Extension...
Navigate to your install directory and select pcb-lens.mcpb:
- macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/pcb-lens/pcb-lens.mcpb
- Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\pcb-lens\pcb-lens.mcpb

The extension will be available immediately in your conversations.

Claude Code

Install Claude Code, then run:

claude mcp add --scope user pcb-lens -- pcb-lens

OpenAI Codex

Install OpenAI Codex, then run:

codex mcp add pcb-lens -- pcb-lens

Supported Platforms

Platform	Binary
macOS (Universal)	`pcb-lens-darwin-universal`
Linux (x64)	`pcb-lens-linux-x64`
Linux (ARM64)	`pcb-lens-linux-arm64`
Windows (x64)	`pcb-lens-windows-x64.exe`

Observability (OpenTelemetry)

The server can emit OpenTelemetry traces, metrics, and logs for every tool call — a span, the tool.calls/tool.duration/tool.errors metrics, and a correlated log record — so you can see which tools are used, how long they take, and what fails. It is vendor-neutral and speaks OTLP, working with any compatible backend (OpenTelemetry Collector, Jaeger, Tempo, Prometheus, Honeycomb, Datadog, a managed cloud service, etc.).

Disabled by default, with zero overhead. Turn it on purely with the standard OTEL_* environment variables — point OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT at your backend (and optionally set OTEL_SERVICE_NAME); no code changes. Telemetry never affects tool results.

See docs/observability.md for the full signal reference, configuration, and integration guide.

Documentation

See docs/ for API documentation and response schemas.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development guidelines.

About

Created by Valentino Zegna

This project is hosted on GitHub under the IntelligentElectron organization.

License

Apache License 2.0 - see LICENSE