klayoutclaw-visual

name	klayoutclaw:visual
description	Capture the current KLayout layout as a PNG image for visual inspection. Use this skill whenever the user wants to see, view, screenshot, preview, or visually inspect the current layout. Also trigger when the user asks "what does it look like", "show me the layout", "take a screenshot", "capture the design", or needs a visual check of their GDS geometry.

KLayout Visual Capture

Save the current KLayout layout to a temporary GDS file, convert it to PNG, and return both file paths for visual inspection.

Prerequisites

• KLayout running with KlayoutClaw plugin (v0.3+)
• A layout with geometry must be open
• Python packages: gdstk, matplotlib, numpy (available in the instrMCPdev conda env)

Script

capture.py — Capture layout as PNG

python scripts/capture.py [--output path.png] [--gds path.gds] [--dpi 200]

• --output — PNG output path. If the user has a working directory or stack path, save there instead of /tmp.
• --gds — GDS output path. Same rule: prefer the user's working directory over /tmp.
• --dpi — Image resolution (default: 200)

Returns the paths to both the GDS and PNG files, printed to stdout.

Example:

python scripts/capture.py
# Output:
# GDS saved: /tmp/klayoutclaw_capture.gds
# PNG saved: /tmp/klayoutclaw_capture.png

How It Works

1. Calls save_layout via MCP to write the current layout to a temp GDS file
2. Runs tools/gds_to_image.py from the KlayoutClaw repo to convert GDS to PNG
3. Prints both file paths

The GDS-to-PNG conversion uses gdstk to parse the GDS and matplotlib to render all layers with distinct colors and a legend.

After Capture

Use the Read tool on the PNG path to view the image directly in the conversation. This gives immediate visual feedback on layout geometry.