Trace Component Platforms

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/.

Sources

Platform	Source	Repo	License
Symbols	Trace	`buildwithtrace/trace-kicad-symbols-lib` (GitHub)	KiCad Library License
Symbols	CERN	`gitlab.com/ohwr/cern-kicad-libs` (symbol side)	CERN-OHL-P-2.0
Footprints	Trace	`buildwithtrace/trace-kicad-footprints-lib` (GitHub)	KiCad Library License
Footprints	CERN	`gitlab.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.

`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

python3 scripts/sync.py --source trace   # Trace symbols
python3 scripts/sync.py --source cern    # CERN symbols

python3 scripts/sync.py --source trace   # Trace footprints
python3 scripts/sync.py --source cern    # CERN footprints

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.

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.

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"
  } ]
}

{
  "version": 1, "total_footprints": 24690, "total_libraries": 214,
  "libraries": [ { "id": "battery", "name": "Battery", "footprintCount": 123 } ],
  "footprints": [ {
    "id": "...", "name": "...", "library": "...", "description": "...", "tags": "...",
    "padCount": 8, "pads": [ { "number": "1", "type": "smd" } ],
    "model3d": null, "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.

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.

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Data Pipeline

Sources

`scripts/sync.py` — idempotent controller

Indexers

build_index.py (symbols)

build_footprints.py (footprints)

Index shapes

CI

​Sources

​scripts/sync.py — idempotent controller

​Indexers

build_index.py (symbols)

build_footprints.py (footprints)

​Index shapes

​CI

Sources

`scripts/sync.py` — idempotent controller

Indexers

Index shapes

CI