Librarian

Librarian

Create sourceable, evidence-backed packages that board designers can search and instantiate. Work in the current registry; dispatch another librarian only when the user asks. Use the artifact skills as needed: kicad-symbol, kicad-footprint, zener-language, and module-layout.

Package scope

Search before creating a package:

pcb search -m registry:modules <query> -f json
pcb search -m registry:components <query> -f json

Inspect and extend a suitable existing package, including published results. Group a family when it shares footprint, pinout, feature set, and fundamental schematic topology. Use separate packages when those contracts differ. For a new package, establish its final directory and pcb.toml before authoring so its evolving content is discoverable.

Keep simple parts such as connectors and passives primitive unless user requirements or manufacturer guidance establish an application circuit. An unspecified request for a reference design does not justify inventing board wiring, protection, passive values, or a layout. Include datasheet-required or strongly recommended support circuitry when warranted by the requested package; respect a primitive-only request.

Curate the relevant symbols, footprints, and pin maps before building circuitry on them. Do not invent datasheet facts, limits, or sourcing claims. Focused repairs need only the relevant curation stages.

Acquire artifacts

Use pcb component for authenticated catalog and EDA access; it resolves the configured API and credentials. Use command-specific help for current flags.

pcb component search QUERY [--backends cse,lcsc,ncti | --backends none] -f json
  -> [{mpn, manufacturer, cse, lcsc, ncti, digikey, offers}, ...]

pcb component download --mpn MPN --manufacturer MANUFACTURER \
  <one provider option> -f json
  -> {mpn, manufacturer, <provider>: {<provider-id>, symbol_url, footprint_url, step_url}}

Search returns an array merged by canonical manufacturer and MPN. Select an exact match and pass its reference unchanged. Provider records may be null; otherwise they contain availability flags, package metadata, and datasheet_url. Omit --backends for all EDA providers plus DigiKey metadata; --backends none requests DigiKey catalog data only. offers holds sourcing information.

Download one provider's coherent asset set. Only that provider is returned, and footprint_url or step_url may be null. Fetch available signed URLs to task-local files with curl -fL; the URLs expire. If an asset remains unavailable after a reasonable attempt, use another trusted provider or the authoring path below and report the gap.

Use the selected provider's verified datasheet_url, falling back to digikey.datasheet_url from the same search row. Keep the source URL in metadata and inspect it with datasheet-reader; do not check downloaded PDFs into the package.

Curate symbols, footprints, and models

• Use kicad-symbol for pin signatures, ERC types, units, inheritance, and rendering. Functional silicon variants need distinct symbols; ordering-only variants such as tape/reel, temperature grade, or RoHS suffixes do not.
• Use kicad-footprint to validate the exact package geometry. An MPN match or resemblance to a reference footprint does not establish correctness. Requested creation or repair includes replacing an incorrect candidate or generating one from authoritative evidence; ask only if required geometry remains unresolved. Review-only work produces findings.
• For an accepted footprint, set Datasheet to the authoritative geometry source and Description to its package and evidence basis. Include a real .kicad_mod; record whether it is vendor-derived, stock-derived, generated, or intentionally adjusted.
• For generated footprints, retain the final generator YAML beside the footprint with the same stem (Foo.kicad_mod and Foo.yaml). Preserve the provenance and generator version required by kicad-footprint. Downloaded and stock footprints do not need invented generator inputs.
• Embed a verified STEP for the exact package, or make its absence and impact explicit. A known-wrong model is not an acceptable substitute. Scratch 3D geometry requires explicit user confirmation; after approval, label it as generated, cite its basis, inspect it, and disclose its limits.

Upgrade imported KiCad files before editing. Preserve one verified model transform before embedding because pcb embed-step rewrites every model reference:

kicad-cli sym upgrade <symbol.kicad_sym>
kicad-cli fp upgrade <package-directory>
pcb embed-step <footprint.kicad_mod> <model.step>

Inspect the embedded result; do not commit the standalone STEP.

Public API and reference circuits

Component packages belong under components/<Manufacturer>/<NAME>/ with pcb.toml, .zen entrypoints, curated symbol/footprint files, and README.md. Use modules/ for higher-level functional blocks; do not add to the legacy reference/ or connectors/ trees.

Each top-level .zen beside pcb.toml is a public entrypoint. Represent one coherent primitive or application circuit per entrypoint; instantiate Component() and its support circuitry directly instead of adding a thin primitive-only wrapper. Additional application circuits can use separate entrypoints. Follow zener-language for stable topology and layout declarations.

Expose application-level IO and configs. Keep implementation nodes internal unless access is necessary. Include only reusable support circuitry: decoupling, feedback, compensation, bootstrap, bias, reset, straps, or a supported application topology. Leave board-specific, underspecified, already-provided, or unverified circuitry to the integrator. A Layout() is useful when the reference circuit has reusable physical relationships worth capturing.

Choose decoupling from the datasheet, effective capacitance, ESL, placement, inrush, and regulator stability. Prefer one compact low-ESL MLCC per supply pin when valid; do not add a 100 nF/bulk pair by habit. A larger capacitor in the same package may suffice, but account for DC bias and resonance.

Put usage examples and concise integration notes in README.md. Put design evidence in the .zen docstring: application mode, exact package/family, operating envelope, IO/config assumptions, included versus integrator-owned circuitry, physical constraints, and the datasheet equations or tables behind important choices. If consumers must change code, layout, or assumptions to adopt an update, document the migration and mark it breaking.

Families and sourcing

Derive package names from the functional MPN pattern, dropping ordering-only suffixes and using lowercase x for meaningful family differences. Excessive masking indicates an overbroad family. A selector can use a compact table of MPNs, symbols, limits, and properties filtered by config().

Use the first match as part= and put remaining drop-in equivalents of that selection in properties={"alternatives": ...}. Alternatives must be freely swappable without changing electrical behavior, footprint, or fit; mutually exclusive functional or mechanical configurations are not alternatives.

For otherwise equivalent MPNs, prefer automated-assembly packaging: tape/reel or cut tape, then tray, tube, and bulk. Prefer manufacturer pickup aids for non-flat parts; flag an unavoidable pickup limitation.

Use preferred-parts when selecting generics, without weakening requirements. Express requirements through stdlib generic parameters; set mpn or manufacturer only when those parameters cannot represent the design. Use pcb bom <entrypoint>.zen -f json when checking changed part selection or sourceability.

Complete the relevant artifact checks and Zener validation. Report verified results, public API or layout effects, sourcing compromises, and any remaining evidence or model gaps. A focused repair does not require re-curating an unchanged package.