Adding KiCAD Library Components

typeCAD is tightly integrated with KiCAD, that means easy access to the installed KiCAD library of parts it comes with.

Video

add-component

Using the Add Component 🧩 NPM script to add a new component is the easiest way. It should be available to just click in the NPM Scripts section in VS Code. There are three sources of components: KiCAD, JLCPCB and local files. Both symbol and footprint files are needed to create a typeCAD component. Any source can be mixed with any other, ie. a KiCAD symbol and a local downloaded footprint.

Click it and you should see something like the following:

🧩 typeCAD Create Component
? Select symbol source: (Use arrow keys)
❯ KiCAD
  local file
  EasyEDA/JLCPCB
A symbol from the installed KiCAD library

Choose KiCAD for both symbol and footprint source. The next thing it asks is the Symbol name. Right now, the easiest way to get that information is to add the part you want to a schematic. For this example, we’ll make an ATtiny85 MCU. Open KiCAD’s schematic editor and add it to a KiCAD schematic. Select it and press e. You should see a dialog that looks like this:

The highlighted Library link text on the bottom has the information you need. The first part, before the : is the symbol library name (MCU_Microchip_ATtiny), the second part is the symbol name (ATtiny85-20S). KiCAD conveniently lets you copy this text, so copy it and paste it into our terminal.

🧩 typeCAD Create Component
✔ Select symbol source: KiCAD
✔ Select footprint source: KiCAD
✔ Symbol name? MCU_Microchip_ATtiny:ATtiny3227-M
? Footprint name? (Package_DFN_QFN:QFN-24-1EP_4x4mm_P0.5mm_EP2.6x2.6mm)

The next question asks for the Footprint name. For KiCAD components, the default text will contain the symbol-specified footprint file. For some components this might not be what you want, but for this particular component, Package_DFN_QFN:QFN-20-1EP_4x4mm_P0.5mm_EP2.6x2.6mm is the right one. Hit enter. Footprints are defined in the sam way as symbols ([footprint_lib:footprint_name]).

🧩 typeCAD Create Component
✔ Select symbol source: KiCAD
✔ Select footprint source: KiCAD
✔ Symbol name? MCU_Microchip_ATtiny:ATtiny85-20M
✔ Footprint name? Package_DFN_QFN:QFN-20-1EP_4x4mm_P0.5mm_EP2.6x2.6mm
Finished component creation, use it with:
 import { ATtiny85_20M } from './ATtiny85_20M';
 let u1 = new ATtiny85_20M();

There will be a little implementation code that shows how to import the code and create a new instance of it.

import

The minimal code to use this new component looks like this:

import { PCB } from '@typecad/typecad'
import { ATtiny85_20M } from './ATtiny85_20M';

let typecad = new PCB('attiny85');
let u1 = new ATtiny85_20M();

typecad.create(u1);