Custom Descriptions & Metadata

Note: This guide is primarily aimed at Creators – those setting up and managing the shared KiCad libraries.

While KiLM manages adding libraries to KiCad, KiCad itself displays a description for each library in its managers.

KiLM allows you to define these descriptions centrally within your library repository by looking for a specific YAML file.

`library_descriptions.yaml`

If you place a file named library_descriptions.yaml in the root of a library directory that you have initialized with kilm init, KiLM will read this file when running kilm setup.

The expected format for this file is:

# Symbol library descriptions
symbols:
  "KiCad-Connector": "This is the description for the KiCad Connector library that will appear in KiCad."
  "KiCad-Analog": "Contains specialized analog components and basic analog parts."

# Footprint library descriptions
footprints:
  "KiCad-Connector": "Description for the KiCad Connector footprint library (can be different from symbol desc)."
  "Custom-Breakouts": "Footprints for custom breakout boards and development modules."

Key Points:

Keys are Logical Names: The keys under symbols and footprints (LogicalLibraryName1, AnotherSymbolLib, etc.) must match the actual logical names of the libraries as defined in KiCad’s library tables (sym-lib-table or fp-lib-table). These logical names may differ from the actual filenames.
Matching: KiLM uses these logical names to find the corresponding library entry in KiCad’s sym-lib-table or fp-lib-table and sets the description field.
Location: The library_descriptions.yaml file must be in the root of the library directory managed by kilm init.
Setup Required: These descriptions are applied only when you run kilm setup.

This provides a way to keep your library descriptions version-controlled alongside your library files.