Overview

A new “Database Libraries” feature was recently added to the KiCad macOS Nightlies (6.99) and is scheduled to be officially released in KiCad 7. Here’s an overview from the documentation:

A database library is a type of KiCad symbol library that holds data about parts in an external SQL database. Database libraries do not contain any symbol or footprint definitions by themselves. Instead, they reference symbols and footprints found in other KiCad libraries. Each database library entry maps a KiCad symbol (from another library) to a set of properties (fields) and usually a KiCad footprint (from a footprint library).

Using database libraries allows you to create fully-defined parts (sometimes called atomic parts) out of KiCad symbols and footprints without needing to store all the part properties in a symbol library. The external database can be linked to third-party tools for managing part data and lifecycles. Database library workflows are generally more complex than the standard KiCad library workflows, and so this type of library is typically only used in situations where it makes managing a large library of fully-defined parts more efficient (such as in organization or team settings).

In this article, I’m going to show you how to configure KiCad to use a SQLite-based database library with KiCad on macOS.

SQLite ODBC Driver setup on macOS

The initial implementation of the database libraries feature only supports Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) connections to SQL databases. An ODBC driver is needed to provide a translation layer between KiCad and the underlying SQL database implementation (SQLite, Postgres, etc).

Install SQLite and the SQLite ODBC driver

SQLite and the SQLite ODBC driver can be installed via homebrew:

brew install sqlite sqliteodbc

Install GUI Apps

Install DB Browser for SQLite from https://sqlitebrowser.org/dl/ to browse and edit SQLite database files.

Install iODBC driver manager from https://www.iodbc.org/dataspace/doc/iodbc/wiki/iodbcWiki/Downloads to manage the ODBC driver configuration.

Configure the ODBC Driver

If ~/Library/ODBC/ doesn’t already exist, you’ll get the following error when trying to save “User” settings in the iODBC driver manager:

So, make sure the directory exists:

mkdir -p ~/Library/ODBC/

Run iODBC Administrator.app and open the “ODBC Drivers” tab.

Click the “Add a driver” button:

Homebrew installs the ODBC driver in a different location depending on whether homebrew was installed for an Intel (x86_64) or Apple Silicon (arm64) based Mac. Make sure to use the correct paths for your system and click “OK” in the dialog box:

Click “OK” to save the settings:

This will write the following ODBC configuration files to ~/Library/ODBC:

• odbc.ini
• odbcinst.ini

In this simple example, odbc.ini will initially be empty and odbcinst.ini should contain the following config:

[ODBC Drivers]
SQLite = Installed

[SQLite]
Driver = /usr/local/lib/libsqlite3odbc.dylib
Setup  = /usr/local/lib/libsqlite3odbc.dylib

[ODBC Drivers]
SQLite = Installed

[SQLite]
Driver = /opt/homebrew/lib/libsqlite3odbc.dylib
Setup  = /opt/homebrew/lib/libsqlite3odbc.dylib

Create a test KiCad project

Now that SQLite and the SQLite ODBC driver are set up, we can test the new KiCad database library feature.

Create a new KiCad project test-dblib:

For simplicity, we’re going to use a pre-made database library provided by the KiCad developers.

Download the following files from https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/tree/master/qa/data/dblib:

• database.sqlite
• qa_dblib.kicad_dbl

Copy both of these files into the KiCad project directory:

Open the qa_dblib.kicad_dbl file in a text editor and make sure the Driver and Database values are correct. The value for Driver should match the value specified in odbcinst.ini, which in this example is SQLite3. The value for database is ${CWD}/database.sqlite since the SQLite database file is located in the same directory as the .kicad_dbl file.

{
    "meta": {
        "version": 0,
        "filename": "qa_dblib.kicad_dbl"
    },
    "name": "QA Database",
    "description": "A database for testing purposes",
    "source": {
        "type": "odbc",
        "dsn": "",
        "username": "",
        "password": "",
        "timeout_seconds": 2,
        "connection_string": "Driver={SQLite3};Database=${CWD}/database.sqlite"
    },
    "libraries": [
        ...
    ]
}

Open the Symbol Libraries editor by clicking on “Preferences” → “Manage Symbol Libraries…” and then click on the “Project Specific Libraries” tab (this process is the same if you wanted to add this to the global libraries instead).

Select the qa_dblib.kicad_dbl in the file chooser:

Click OK to add the database library to the symbol library table:

Now, open the schematic, choose “Place” → “Add Symbol”, and you should be able to choose a symbol from the database library! 🥳

Browse the database directly

You can browse/edit the SQLite database file directly using the DB Browser for SQLite.app. Open the database.sqlite library file in DB Browser for SQLite:

You can view the database schema:

Or browse the data contained in the tables:

Feedback

Anything I got wrong? Let me know in the comments below.