Can Claude Code order every part for a KiCad project? One prompt, two boards

You finished the schematic, the board passed DRC, and now comes the part nobody enjoys: turning a hundred reference designators into a cart. Most engineers assume this is a tab-switching afternoon, one distributor site per part family, a spreadsheet to keep it straight, and a second pass when half the parts turn out to be on backorder.

It can be one prompt. Not because an AI knows your parts, but because it can now call a service that does. This walkthrough takes a KiCad 8 or 9 project in a git repo and ends with a payment link you approve and a tracking view for every box.

What you need

• A KiCad 8 or 9 project in a folder (.kicad_pro, .kicad_sch, .kicad_pcb).
• Claude Code installed, opened in that folder.
• A free Next Everything account and API key from nexteverything.io/signup. No credit card.

It helps if your schematic symbols carry a manufacturer part number in a field (MPN is the usual name). Where they do not, the service resolves from value, footprint and description and flags the ambiguous lines so you can decide.

Step 1: export the BOM (optional, but do it)

Next Everything reads KiCad 7 to 9 projects directly, so an exported BOM is not strictly required. Export one anyway. It is the human-readable record of what the schematic says, and it is what you would upload on the website if you ever wanted to order without an assistant.

From the schematic editor: File, Export, Bill of Materials. Or from the command line, which the agent can also run:

kicad-cli sch export bom --exclude-dnp -o bom/bom.csv hardware/board/board.kicad_sch

Commit it next to the project. If bom/bom.csv and the schematic ever disagree, the schematic wins, and the diff tells you what changed.

Step 2: connect Next Everything

Once per machine:

claude mcp add --transport http nexteverything https://mcp.nexteverything.io/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer nx_live_your_key"

The key is a password: it lives in Claude Code's configuration, not in the repo. Restart Claude Code and run /mcp to confirm the server is connected and its six tools are listed. If you have never used an MCP server before, MCP in five minutes explains what just happened.

Step 3: ask

Use Next Everything to find all the parts for this project. I want to build 2
of them, delivered to the US. Include the mechanical parts from hardware/mech/out/.
Quote with the recommended strategy. Show me the picklist before doing anything
else. Do not check out.

Three details in that prompt are deliberate. The quantity, so MOQ and price breaks are computed for the right number. The region, because prices are landed (shipping and duties included) and that depends on where it ships. And "do not check out," which the agent should respect anyway, since checkout only produces a link you open, but it is good to say.

What each tool does

The agent will call these in roughly this order. You will see each call and can stop at any point.

Tool	What it does for this project
nx_scan_project	Reads the KiCad files (and platformio.ini or an Arduino sketch, if present, to spot the dev board or module), builds a normalized BOM, resolves each line to an orderable part, and flags lines it cannot resolve with confidence. qty: 2 multiplies every line. include_mech: true picks up STEP and STL files for fabrication.
nx_search_parts	Used for the flagged lines and for your follow-up questions. Live stock and price by MPN, by parametric spec, or by plain description. Returns alternates ranked by compatibility, with filters for package, temperature range, RoHS and minimum stock.
nx_quote	Prices the full build, shipping and duties included. Strategy recommended balances price and lead time; fastest optimizes for delivery. The result is the picklist.
nx_quote_fabrication	Quotes one manufactured part: STL for a printed enclosure (fdm, sla, sls, mjf), STEP for a machined bracket (cnc_mill, cnc_turn), DXF for laser or sheet metal, a Gerber zip for pcb or pcba. Material is a string like PETG, Al6061 or FR4-1.6.
nx_checkout	Creates a payment link for the lines you selected. The agent cannot pay.
nx_track_order	After payment: status of every sub-order and the tracking numbers.

For a typical sensor board the scan takes the longest, because every line is being matched against live inventory.

Step 4: the picklist

The quote comes back as a list: one line per part, the resolved manufacturer part number, unit price, quantity for two builds, line total, and the source. This is where you do the actual work of the afternoon, which is now a few minutes.

Untick what you have. Twenty 100 nF capacitors on the shelf? Untick that line. The agent can do this for you if you keep a bom/stock.csv; otherwise say "I already have the 0603 passives and the USB-C connector" and it will untick them and re-quote.

Change quantities. Two boards, but you want ten of the ESP32 modules for the next revision? Change that line.

Check the flagged lines. Lines the scan could not resolve confidently are marked. Usually it is a part with no MPN in the schematic and a generic value. Tell the agent what you want ("the 10 uF should be X7R, 25 V, 0805") and it searches and fills the line.

MOQ and price breaks. If a part has a minimum order quantity above what you need, or if a price break makes 100 pieces cheaper than 60, the picklist says so before you pay. You decide whether to take the extra pieces. Nothing is rounded up silently.

Out-of-stock parts. If a part is not in stock, the quote shows a clearly marked matching replacement next to it, ranked by compatibility: same package, same key specs. It is a proposal. Nothing is swapped in without your OK. If you say no, the line stays as the original part with its lead time, or you drop it.

Prices are landed, so the number at the bottom is the number on the payment page. A quote is valid for 24 hours; after that, ask for a fresh one.

Step 5: the mechanical parts

If you included the enclosure and bracket, those appear as fabrication lines with a process and material. You can ask the agent to try alternatives before you decide:

Quote the enclosure in SLS nylon as well as FDM PETG, and the bracket in
Al6061 CNC. Add the options to the picklist so I can compare.

Each option is a separate nx_quote_fabrication call, and each comes back with a landed price. Pick the one you want; untick the others.

Step 6: checkout, which you do

When the picklist is what you want:

Check out the selected lines.

The agent calls nx_checkout and gives you a link. You open it in your browser, see the same lines and the same total, and pay once for the whole order on a hosted checkout page. The assistant never holds a payment method and cannot complete this step. That is by design and the right design: the thing that spends money is a human clicking a button.

If a part later cannot be delivered, that part is refunded automatically; the rest of the order proceeds.

Step 7: tracking

Every supplier in the order becomes a sub-order with its own shipment. Rather than six tracking numbers in six emails:

Where is my order?

The agent calls nx_track_order and summarizes the status of each sub-order with its tracking number. The same view is on the website.

If a call fails

Tool calls can fail for ordinary reasons: a bad key, a file the assistant could not read, a dropped connection. The server returns a clear error code and the agent should tell you and retry rather than invent a quote. A 401 means the key in your snippet is wrong; regenerate it in the dashboard and paste it again.

What this changes

The afternoon of tabs becomes: one prompt, a picklist you edit, a link you click. The spreadsheet still exists; it is bom/bom.csv in the repo, and the quote is the priced version of it. The part the AI does well is not knowing your parts; it is calling the service that does and handling the back and forth about what you have and what you want.

The wider workflow, including how to get a reliable BOM out of the schematic in the first place, is in how to use Claude Code for hardware design. The reason to run that stock check while you are still choosing parts, not after, is the subject of design with what you can buy. The tool reference is in the docs, and sign up is free.