diff --git a/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/base.nix b/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/base.nix
index a2e5bbe72a56..bff63f3b2d7e 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/base.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/base.nix
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 , valgrind
 
 , stable
+, testing
 , baseName
 , kicadSrc
 , kicadVersion
@@ -56,6 +57,8 @@
 
 assert lib.assertMsg (!(sanitizeAddress && sanitizeThreads))
   "'sanitizeAddress' and 'sanitizeThreads' are mutually exclusive, use one.";
+assert testing -> !stable
+  -> throw "testing implies stable and cannot be used with stable = false";
 
 let
   inherit (lib) optional optionals optionalString;
@@ -74,9 +77,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   ];
 
   # tagged releases don't have "unknown"
-  # kicad nightlies use git describe --dirty
+  # kicad testing and nightlies use git describe --dirty
   # nix removes .git, so its approximated here
-  postPatch = lib.optionalString (!stable) ''
+  postPatch = lib.optionalString (!stable || testing) ''
     substituteInPlace cmake/KiCadVersion.cmake \
       --replace "unknown" "${builtins.substring 0 10 src.rev}"
 
@@ -92,7 +95,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   ]
   ++ optionals (stable) [
     # https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/12491
-    # should be resolved in the next release
+    # should be resolved in the next major? release
     "-DCMAKE_CTEST_ARGUMENTS='--exclude-regex;qa_eeschema'"
   ]
   ++ optional (stable && !withNgspice) "-DKICAD_SPICE=OFF"
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/default.nix
index 05498057aac6..fa0c7ae7a75e 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/default.nix
@@ -2,22 +2,26 @@
 , runCommand
 , newScope
 , fetchFromGitLab
-, gnome
-, dconf
-, wxGTK32
-, gtk3
 , makeWrapper
-, gsettings-desktop-schemas
-, hicolor-icon-theme
+, symlinkJoin
 , callPackage
 , callPackages
+
+, gnome
+, dconf
+, gtk3
+, wxGTK32
 , librsvg
 , cups
+, gsettings-desktop-schemas
+, hicolor-icon-theme
+
 , unzip
 , jq
 
 , pname ? "kicad"
 , stable ? true
+, testing ? false
 , withNgspice ? !stdenv.isDarwin
 , libngspice
 , withScripting ? true
@@ -29,7 +33,6 @@
 , with3d ? true
 , withI18n ? true
 , srcs ? { }
-, symlinkJoin
 }:
 
 # `addons`: https://dev-docs.kicad.org/en/addons/
@@ -75,7 +78,9 @@
 # }
 
 let
-  baseName = if (stable) then "kicad" else "kicad-unstable";
+  baseName = if (testing) then "kicad-testing"
+    else if (stable) then "kicad"
+    else "kicad-unstable";
   versionsImport = import ./versions.nix;
 
   # versions.nix does not provide us with version, src and rev. We
@@ -154,7 +159,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   passthru.libraries = callPackages ./libraries.nix { inherit libSrc; };
   passthru.callPackage = newScope { inherit addonPath python3; };
   base = callPackage ./base.nix {
-    inherit stable baseName;
+    inherit stable testing baseName;
     inherit kicadSrc kicadVersion;
     inherit wxGTK python wxPython;
     inherit withNgspice withScripting withI18n;
@@ -262,17 +267,16 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ln -s ${base}/share/metainfo $out/share/metainfo
   '';
 
-  # can't run this for each pname
-  # stable and unstable are in the same versions.nix
-  # and kicad-small reuses stable
-  # with "all" it updates both, run it manually if you don't want that
-  # and can't git commit if this could be running in parallel with other scripts
-  passthru.updateScript = [ ./update.sh "all" ];
+  passthru.updateScript = {
+    command = [ ./update.sh "${pname}" ];
+    supportedFeatures = [ "commit" ];
+  };
 
   meta = rec {
     description = (if (stable)
     then "Open Source Electronics Design Automation suite"
-    else "Open Source EDA suite, development build")
+    else if (testing) then "Open Source EDA suite, latest on stable branch"
+    else "Open Source EDA suite, latest on master branch")
     + (lib.optionalString (!with3d) ", without 3D models");
     homepage = "https://www.kicad.org/";
     longDescription = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/update.sh b/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/update.sh
index 625b2962fa23..b47e2d84b336 100755
--- a/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/update.sh
+++ b/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/update.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env nix-shell
-#!nix-shell -i bash -p coreutils git nix curl
+#!nix-shell -i bash -p coreutils git nix curl jq
 # shellcheck shell=bash enable=all
 
 set -e
@@ -25,38 +25,63 @@ export TMPDIR=/tmp
 # if there is, default to commiting?
 #   won't work when running in parallel?
 # remove items left in /nix/store?
+# reuse hashes of already checked revs (to avoid redownloading testing's packages3d)
+
+# nixpkgs' update.nix passes in UPDATE_NIX_PNAME to indicate which package is being updated
+# assigning a default value to that as shellcheck doesn't like the use of unassigned variables
+: "${UPDATE_NIX_PNAME:=""}"
+# update.nix can also parse JSON output of this script to formulate a commit
+# this requires we collect the version string in the old versions.nix for the updated package
+old_version=""
+new_version=""
+
 
 # get the latest tag that isn't an RC or *.99
 latest_tags="$(git ls-remote --tags --sort -version:refname https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad.git)"
 # using a scratch variable to ensure command failures get caught (SC2312)
 scratch="$(grep -o 'refs/tags/[0-9]*\.[0-9]*\.[0-9]*$' <<< "${latest_tags}")"
 scratch="$(grep -ve '\.99' -e '\.9\.9' <<< "${scratch}")"
-scratch="$(head -n 1 <<< "${scratch}")"
+scratch="$(sed -n '1p' <<< "${scratch}")"
 latest_tag="$(cut -d '/' -f 3 <<< "${scratch}")"
 
-all_versions=( "${latest_tag}" master )
+# get the latest branch name for testing
+branches="$(git ls-remote --heads --sort -version:refname https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad.git)"
+scratch="$(grep -o 'refs/heads/[0-9]*\.[0-9]*$' <<< "${branches}")"
+scratch="$(sed -n '1p' <<< "${scratch}")"
+testing_branch="$(cut -d '/' -f 3 <<< "${scratch}")"
+
+# "latest_tag" and "master" directly refer to what we want
+# "testing" uses "testing_branch" found above
+all_versions=( "${latest_tag}" testing master )
 
 prefetch="nix-prefetch-url --unpack --quiet"
 
 clean=""
 check_stable=""
+check_testing=1
 check_unstable=1
 commit=""
 
-for arg in "$@"; do
+for arg in "$@" "${UPDATE_NIX_PNAME}"; do
   case "${arg}" in
     help|-h|--help) echo "Read me!" >&2; exit 1; ;;
-    kicad|release|tag|stable|*small|5*|6*) check_stable=1; check_unstable="" ;;
-    all|both|full) check_stable=1; check_unstable=1 ;;
+    kicad|kicad-small|release|tag|stable|5*|6*|7*|8*) check_stable=1; check_testing=""; check_unstable="" ;;
+    *testing|kicad-testing-small) check_testing=1; check_unstable="" ;;
+    *unstable|*unstable-small|master|main) check_unstable=1; check_testing="" ;;
+    latest|now|today) check_unstable=1; check_testing=1 ;;
+    all|both|full) check_stable=1; check_testing=1; check_unstable=1 ;;
+    clean|fix|*fuck) check_stable=1; check_testing=1; check_unstable=1; clean=1 ;;
     commit) commit=1 ;;
-    clean|fix|*fuck) check_stable=1; check_unstable=1; clean=1 ;;
-    master|*unstable|latest|now|today) check_unstable=1 ;;
     *) ;;
   esac
 done
 
 here="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
-now=$(date --iso-8601 --utc)
+commit_date() {
+  gitlab_json="$(curl -s https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/kicad%2Fcode%2Fkicad/repository/commits/"$1")"
+  commit_created="$(jq .created_at --raw-output <<< "${gitlab_json}")"
+  date --date="${commit_created}" --iso-8601 --utc
+}
 
 file="${here}/versions.nix"
 # just in case this runs in parallel
@@ -65,11 +90,7 @@ tmp="${here}/,versions.nix.${RANDOM}"
 libs=( symbols templates footprints packages3d )
 
 get_rev() {
-  if [[ ${version} == "master" ]]; then
-    git ls-remote --heads "$@"
-  else
-    git ls-remote --tags "$@"
-  fi
+    git ls-remote "$@"
 }
 
 gitlab="https://gitlab.com/kicad"
@@ -78,13 +99,14 @@ src_pre="https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/kicad%2Fcode%2Fkicad/repository/arch
 lib_pre="https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/kicad%2Flibraries%2Fkicad-"
 lib_mid="/repository/archive.tar.gz?sha="
 
+# number of items updated
 count=0
 
-printf "Latest tag is\t%s\n" "${latest_tag}" >&2
+printf "Latest tag is %s\n" "${latest_tag}" >&2
 
 if [[ ! -f ${file} ]]; then
   echo "No existing file, generating from scratch" >&2
-  check_stable=1; check_unstable=1; clean=1
+  check_stable=1; check_testing=1; check_unstable=1; clean=1
 fi
 
 printf "Writing %s\n" "${tmp}" >&2
@@ -97,32 +119,58 @@ printf "{\n"
 
 for version in "${all_versions[@]}"; do
 
+  src_version=${version};
+  lib_version=${version};
+  # testing is the stable branch on the main repo
+  # but the libraries don't have such a branch
+  # only the latest release tag and a master branch
+  if [[ ${version} == "testing" ]]; then
+      src_version=${testing_branch};
+      lib_version=${latest_tag};
+  fi
+
   if [[ ${version} == "master" ]]; then
     pname="kicad-unstable"
-    today="${now}"
+  elif [[ ${version} == "testing" ]]; then
+    pname="kicad-testing"
   else
     pname="kicad"
-    today="${version}"
   fi
+
   # skip a version if we don't want to check it
-  if [[ (${version} != "master" && -n ${check_stable}) \
-     || (${version} == "master" && -n ${check_unstable}) ]]; then
+  if [[ (-n ${check_stable} && ${version} != "master" && ${version} != "testing") \
+     || (-n ${check_testing} && ${version} == "testing") \
+     || (-n ${check_unstable} && ${version} == "master" ) ]]; then
+
+    now=$(commit_date "${src_version}")
+
+    if [[ ${version} == "master" ]]; then
+      pname="kicad-unstable"
+      new_version="${now}"
+    elif [[ ${version} == "testing" ]]; then
+      pname="kicad-testing"
+      new_version="${testing_branch}-${now}"
+    else
+      pname="kicad"
+      new_version="${version}"
+    fi
 
     printf "\nChecking %s\n" "${pname}" >&2
 
     printf "%2s\"%s\" = {\n" "" "${pname}"
       printf "%4skicadVersion = {\n" ""
-        printf "%6sversion =\t\t\t\"%s\";\n" "" "${today}"
+        printf "%6sversion =\t\t\t\"%s\";\n" "" "${new_version}"
         printf "%6ssrc = {\n" ""
 
     echo "Checking src" >&2
-    scratch="$(get_rev "${gitlab}"/code/kicad.git "${version}")"
+    scratch="$(get_rev "${gitlab}"/code/kicad.git "${src_version}")"
     src_rev="$(cut -f1 <<< "${scratch}")"
     has_rev="$(grep -sm 1 "\"${pname}\"" -A 4 "${file}" | grep -sm 1 "${src_rev}" || true)"
     has_hash="$(grep -sm 1 "\"${pname}\"" -A 5 "${file}" | grep -sm 1 "sha256" || true)"
+    old_version="$(grep -sm 1 "\"${pname}\"" -A 3 "${file}" | grep -sm 1 "version" | awk -F "\"" '{print $2}' || true)"
 
     if [[ -n ${has_rev} && -n ${has_hash} && -z ${clean} ]]; then
-      echo "Reusing old ${pname}.src.sha256, already latest .rev" >&2
+      echo "Reusing old ${pname}.src.sha256, already latest .rev at ${old_version}" >&2
       scratch=$(grep -sm 1 "\"${pname}\"" -A 5 "${file}")
       grep -sm 1 "rev" -A 1 <<< "${scratch}"
     else
@@ -135,19 +183,19 @@ for version in "${all_versions[@]}"; do
       printf "%4s};\n" ""
 
       printf "%4slibVersion = {\n" ""
-        printf "%6sversion =\t\t\t\"%s\";\n" "" "${today}"
+        printf "%6sversion =\t\t\t\"%s\";\n" "" "${new_version}"
         printf "%6slibSources = {\n" ""
 
           for lib in "${libs[@]}"; do
             echo "Checking ${lib}" >&2
             url="${gitlab}/libraries/kicad-${lib}.git"
-            scratch="$(get_rev "${url}" "${version}")"
+            scratch="$(get_rev "${url}" "${lib_version}")"
             scratch="$(cut -f1 <<< "${scratch}")"
             lib_rev="$(tail -n1 <<< "${scratch}")"
             has_rev="$(grep -sm 1 "\"${pname}\"" -A 19 "${file}" | grep -sm 1 "${lib_rev}" || true)"
             has_hash="$(grep -sm 1 "\"${pname}\"" -A 20 "${file}" | grep -sm 1 "${lib}.sha256" || true)"
             if [[ -n ${has_rev} && -n ${has_hash} && -z ${clean} ]]; then
-              echo "Reusing old kicad-${lib}-${today}.src.sha256, already latest .rev" >&2
+              echo "Reusing old kicad-${lib}-${new_version}.src.sha256, already latest .rev" >&2
               scratch="$(grep -sm 1 "\"${pname}\"" -A 20 "${file}")"
               grep -sm 1 "${lib}" -A 1 <<< "${scratch}"
             else
@@ -191,3 +239,22 @@ if [[ ${count} -gt 0 ]]; then
 else
   echo "No changes, those checked are up to date" >&2
 fi
+
+# using UPDATE_NIX_ATTR_PATH to detect if this is being called from update.nix
+# and output JSON to describe the changes
+if [[ -n ${UPDATE_NIX_ATTR_PATH} ]]; then
+
+  if [[ ${count} -eq 0 ]]; then echo "[{}]"; exit 0; fi
+
+  jq -n \
+    --arg attrpath "${UPDATE_NIX_PNAME}" \
+    --arg oldversion "${old_version}" \
+    --arg newversion "${new_version}" \
+    --arg file "${file}" \
+'[{
+  "attrPath": $attrpath,
+  "oldVersion": $oldversion,
+  "newVersion": $newversion,
+  "files": [ $file ]
+}]'
+fi
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/versions.nix b/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/versions.nix
index b938d1659553..ffab1ba75121 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/versions.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/science/electronics/kicad/versions.nix
@@ -23,6 +23,28 @@
       };
     };
   };
+  "kicad-testing" = {
+    kicadVersion = {
+      version =			"7.0-2024-01-07";
+      src = {
+        rev =			"ace6439758f8d211001235f36f02a60488337e41";
+        sha256 =		"0z4p2srz9rld7mq6k2y5fipz8mgsdhh2506wam4388nklzzkrccr";
+      };
+    };
+    libVersion = {
+      version =			"7.0-2024-01-07";
+      libSources = {
+        symbols.rev =		"eedf6c9ddac2816023e817d4dc91032f9d7390b9";
+        symbols.sha256 =	"0nlgmxf9z1vf4g350dfkxql1dawgmw275wqxkgszsfxmhdfpmi9v";
+        templates.rev =		"9ce98cc45f3778e05c404edebf0f98de5c247ffe";
+        templates.sha256 =	"0mykfwwik7472i4r0isc5szj3dnmvd0538p0vlmzh4rcgj3pj3vm";
+        footprints.rev =	"7061fc9847ecc1b838e60dc6826db534028494f6";
+        footprints.sha256 =	"1az6fzh1lma71mj12bc4bblnmzjayrxhkb8w9rjvlhvvgv33cdmy";
+        packages3d.rev =	"d7345b34daaa23acf0d4506ed937fb424b5b18cd";
+        packages3d.sha256 =	"0xzyi4mgyifwc6dppdzh6jq294mkj0a71cwkqw2ymz1kfbksw626";
+      };
+    };
+  };
   "kicad-unstable" = {
     kicadVersion = {
       version =			"2023-08-15";
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 06035b8e932a..e9b385385d20 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -39704,6 +39704,14 @@ with pkgs;
   kicad = callPackage ../applications/science/electronics/kicad { };
   # this is the same but without the (sizable) 3D models library
   kicad-small = kicad.override { pname = "kicad-small"; with3d = false; };
+  # this is the stable branch at whatever point update.sh last updated versions.nix
+  kicad-testing = kicad.override { pname = "kicad-testing"; testing = true; };
+  # and a small version of that
+  kicad-testing-small = kicad.override {
+    pname = "kicad-testing-small";
+    testing = true;
+    with3d = false;
+  };
   # this is the master branch at whatever point update.sh last updated versions.nix
   kicad-unstable = kicad.override { pname = "kicad-unstable"; stable = false; };
   # and a small version of that