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KiCad HTTP library

NextIntranet can act as a live KiCad HTTP library, letting KiCad browse warehouse categories and components as if they were a symbol library — without exporting or syncing a static file.

Generate the config file

  1. Go to Settings → Software.
  2. In Generate KiCad config, enter a name.
  3. Download the generated .kicad_httplib file and add it to KiCad as an HTTP library.

Generating a config requires at least read access to the warehouse area (see Permissions & roles). It creates a dedicated service token scoped to KiCad access only, so the resulting file can be shared with a team without handing out a general-purpose token.

What KiCad sees

  • Categories map to the library's categories.
  • Components inside a category become parts, but only once they carry a component parameter literally named kicad:symbol — its value is used as the KiCad symbolIdStr (the symbol reference, e.g. Device:R). A component without this parameter simply doesn't show up in KiCad.
  • Any other parameter named kicad:<field> is passed through as a KiCad field, with the kicad: prefix stripped.
  • The component's primary datasheet document, if any, is exposed as the datasheet field.

Config file contents

The served config (GET /api/kicad/nextIntranet.kicad_httplib) points KiCad at a REST API rooted at <SITE_URL>/api/kicad/, so it works against whatever base URL your instance is deployed at (SITE_URL in settings/.env) — no manual editing of the file is needed when moving between environments, as long as the token stays valid.