KiCad "Items shorting two nets": a real short on your board
KiCad design rule check (PCB) message: Items shorting two nets (shorting_items in kicad-cli reports).
What it means
Treat this one as a real defect. Copper belonging to two different nets touches, so the fabricated board would short those nets together. Click the marker to see both items, then delete or reroute the copper that bridges them.
Common causes
- A track or via dropped across a pad of another net while routing with collision checking off.
- A zone assigned to the wrong net, or two overlapping zones of different nets with the same priority.
- A footprint whose pads overlap each other, or a pad edited onto a different net than the schematic.
- Copper graphics (lines or polygons on a copper layer) touching a pad.
How to fix it
- Click the marker in the DRC dialog to highlight both items.
- Delete the offending track segment or via and reroute it.
- Check zone nets and zone priorities (Zone Properties → Priority level).
- Update the PCB from the schematic (F8) if a pad's net disagrees with the schematic.
Find every “Items shorting two nets” on your board
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Check my KiCad projectRelated KiCad DRC checks
- Clearance violation
- Tracks crossing (
tracks_crossing) - Pad net doesn't match schematic (
net_conflict)
Checked against KiCad 10's source and documentation. Last reviewed 2026-11-07.
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