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The browseable catalog is pre-built offline by Python scripts (locally or in CI) and committed as JSON. Nothing in this pipeline runs at request time — the web app only reads the finished index.
Run these scripts from the repo root with Python 3.12+. They clone upstream libraries into temp dirs, parse them, and write the index files under data/.

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Sources

PlatformSourceRepoLicense
SymbolsTracebuildwithtrace/trace-kicad-symbols-lib (GitHub)KiCad Library License
SymbolsCERNgitlab.com/ohwr/cern-kicad-libs (symbol side)CERN-OHL-P-2.0
FootprintsTracebuildwithtrace/trace-kicad-footprints-lib (GitHub)KiCad Library License
FootprintsCERNgitlab.com/ohwr/cern-kicad-libs (footprint side)CERN-OHL-P-2.0
Each indexed record carries a source field (trace | cern); on id collisions, Trace wins de-dupe.

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scripts/sync.py — idempotent controller

Tracks the last-synced commit hash per source in data/.sync_state.json and only re-clones/re-indexes a source whose upstream HEAD changed. 
python3 scripts/sync.py            # check all, sync what changed
python3 scripts/sync.py --force    # re-sync everything
python3 scripts/sync.py --status   # print state, no sync
On the footprints repo, sync persists each source’s raw .pretty libraries into data/trace-footprints/ and data/cern-footprints/ (both gitignored) and rebuilds the combined footprints_index.json from both on every run, so neither source overwrites the other.

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Indexers

build_index.py (symbols)

Parses every .kicad_sym via balanced-paren extraction, resolves extends inheritance, classifies categories, and writes data/symbols_index.json (compact) plus per-library data/libraries/{Name}.json (full pin data).

build_footprints.py (footprints)

Accepts multiple --data-dir args (infers source from the dir name), recursively scans .pretty dirs, parses .kicad_mod (+ legacy .module) for pad count/types/tags/ 3D model, de-dupes by id, and writes data/footprints_index.json.
scripts/import_cern.py shallow-clones the CERN repo and copies the relevant libraries (.kicad_sym → data/cern-symbols/ on the symbols repo; .pretty dirs → data/cern-footprints/ on the footprints repo), writing a manifest.json.

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Index shapes

{
  "version": 1, "total_symbols": 30943, "total_libraries": 251,
  "libraries": [ { "id": "MCU_ST_STM32F4", "name": "MCU_ST_STM32F4", "symbolCount": 312 } ],
  "symbols": [ {
    "id": "Library:Name", "name": "...", "library": "...", "category": "mcu",
    "description": "...", "keywords": ["..."], "pinCount": 64, "source": "trace"
  } ]
}
The compact symbols_index.json omits pin arrays; full pin data lives in per-library files loaded on demand. Footprints carry their pad array inline in the index.

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CI

.github/workflows/sync-libraries.yml runs the sync on a daily cron (and manual dispatch), and if the index changed, opens a PR (peter-evans/create-pull-request). The symbols workflow is labeled symbols; the footprints workflow is labeled footprints.