diff --git a/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/base.nix b/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/base.nix
index b3e4bf92f7b..9fc1111c7b9 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/base.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/base.nix
@@ -56,9 +56,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   # tagged releases don't have "unknown"
   # kicad nightlies use git describe --dirty
   # nix removes .git, so its approximated here
+  # "-1" appended to indicate we're adding a patch
   postPatch = ''
     substituteInPlace CMakeModules/KiCadVersion.cmake \
-      --replace "unknown" ${builtins.substring 0 10 src.rev}
+      --replace "unknown" "${builtins.substring 0 10 src.rev}-1" \
+      --replace "${version}" "${version}-1"
   '';
 
   makeFlags = optional (debug) [ "CFLAGS+=-Og" "CFLAGS+=-ggdb" ];
@@ -123,7 +125,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     '';
     homepage = "https://www.kicad-pcb.org/";
     license = licenses.agpl3;
-    maintainers = with maintainers; [ evils kiwi berce ];
-    platforms = with platforms; linux;
+    platforms = platforms.all;
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/default.nix
index 221dbaf9287..51ec1dad8aa 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/default.nix
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 , librsvg, cups
 
 , pname ? "kicad"
+, stable ? true
 , oceSupport ? false, opencascade
 , withOCCT ? true, opencascade-occt
 , ngspiceSupport ? true, libngspice
@@ -18,7 +19,6 @@ assert ngspiceSupport -> libngspice != null;
 with lib;
 let
 
-  stable = pname != "kicad-unstable";
   baseName = if (stable) then "kicad" else "kicad-unstable";
 
   versions =  import ./versions.nix;
@@ -122,10 +122,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   # and can't git commit if this could be running in parallel with other scripts
   passthru.updateScript = [ ./update.sh "all" ];
 
-  meta = {
-    description = if (stable)
-      then "Open Source Electronics Design Automation Suite"
-      else "Open Source EDA Suite, Development Build";
+  meta = rec {
+    description = (if (stable)
+      then "Open Source Electronics Design Automation suite"
+      else "Open Source EDA suite, development build")
+      + (if (!with3d) then ", without 3D models" else "");
     homepage = "https://www.kicad-pcb.org/";
     longDescription = ''
       KiCad is an open source software suite for Electronic Design Automation.
@@ -133,12 +134,20 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     '';
     license = licenses.agpl3;
     # berce seems inactive...
-    maintainers = with maintainers; [ evils kiwi berce ];
-    # kicad's cross-platform, not sure what to fill in here
-    platforms = with platforms; linux;
-  } // optionalAttrs with3d {
-    # We can't download the 3d models on Hydra - they are a ~1 GiB download and
-    # they occupy ~5 GiB in store.
-    hydraPlatforms = [];
+    maintainers = with stdenv.lib.maintainers; [ evils kiwi berce ];
+    # kicad is cross platform
+    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
+    # despite that, nipkgs' wxGTK for darwin is "wxmac"
+    # and wxPython_4_0 does not account for this
+    # adjusting this package to downgrade to python2Packages.wxPython (wxPython 3),
+    # seems like more trouble than fixing wxPython_4_0 would be
+    # additionally, libngspice is marked as linux only, though it should support darwin
+
+    hydraPlatforms = if (with3d) then [ ] else platforms;
+    # We can't download the 3d models on Hydra,
+    # they are a ~1 GiB download and they occupy ~5 GiB in store.
+    # as long as the base and libraries (minus 3d) are build,
+    # this wrapper does not need to get built
+    # the kicad-*small "packages" cause this to happen
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/libraries.nix b/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/libraries.nix
index 7cdf9373e08..4dde2a0a122 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/libraries.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/libraries.nix
@@ -13,21 +13,27 @@
 with lib;
 let
   mkLib = name:
-    stdenv.mkDerivation
-      {
-        pname = "kicad-${name}";
-        version = "${version}";
-        src = fetchFromGitHub (
-          {
-            owner = "KiCad";
-            repo = "kicad-${name}";
-            rev = version;
-            inherit name;
-          } // (libSources.${name} or { })
-        );
-        nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake ];
-        meta.license = licenses.cc-by-sa-40;
+    stdenv.mkDerivation {
+      pname = "kicad-${name}";
+      version = "${version}";
+      src = fetchFromGitHub (
+        {
+          owner = "KiCad";
+          repo = "kicad-${name}";
+          rev = version;
+          inherit name;
+        } // (libSources.${name} or { })
+      );
+      nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake ];
+
+      meta = rec {
+        license = licenses.cc-by-sa-40;
+        platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
+        # the 3d models are a ~1 GiB download and occupy ~5 GiB in store.
+        # this would exceed the hydra output limit
+        hydraPlatforms = if (name == "packages3d" ) then [ ] else platforms;
       };
+    };
 in
 {
   symbols = mkLib "symbols";
@@ -56,6 +62,9 @@ in
       );
       buildInputs = [ gettext ];
       nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake ];
-      meta.license = licenses.gpl2; # https://github.com/KiCad/kicad-i18n/issues/3
+      meta = {
+        license = licenses.gpl2; # https://github.com/KiCad/kicad-i18n/issues/3
+        platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
+      };
     };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 2e8eb8461ee..269d5b577ab 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -24894,9 +24894,16 @@ in
 
   fped = callPackage ../applications/science/electronics/fped { };
 
+  # this is a wrapper for kicad.base and kicad.libraries
   kicad = callPackage ../applications/science/electronics/kicad { };
   kicad-small = kicad.override { pname = "kicad-small"; with3d = false; };
-  kicad-unstable = kicad.override { pname = "kicad-unstable"; debug = true; };
+  kicad-unstable = kicad.override { pname = "kicad-unstable"; stable = false; };
+  # mostly here so the kicad-unstable components (except packages3d) get built
+  kicad-unstable-small = kicad.override {
+    pname = "kicad-unstable-small";
+    stable = false;
+    with3d = false;
+  };
 
   librepcb = libsForQt5.callPackage ../applications/science/electronics/librepcb { };