datasheet-lens

datasheet-lens gives the content of component datasheets (PDF) to an LLM agent, for electronics design (KiCad and other CAD tools) and firmware work.

The tool does not convert a datasheet to text. A conversion makes errors that look correct: lost superscripts, merged table rows, shifted columns, wrong values from graphs. datasheet-lens builds an index to find the content, and gives the original pages and regions to the model on demand. The model reads only the parts that the work needs, and reads each value from the original.

Status: in development (version 0.1). The tools work and have tests. The interfaces can change.

Features

• Drill-down into a document. An index (outline, table and figure captions, page quality), a text search, a page map with element IDs, and images of an element, a region, a caption ("Table 57", with docling also when the table continues on more pages) or a full page at 300 to 600 dpi.
• Central store, shared by all projects. Each user has one store (default ~/.datasheet-lens) for all design projects. Each PDF is stored one time (SHA-256), with its index, its element map, its parts and the facts that sessions read from it. A datasheet that one project added is at once available to each other project: it is not downloaded, indexed or read again. A part can have a datasheet, a manual and errata.
• Facts. A value that a session read is saved with its source (document, page, element), so that a later session finds it.
• Project file. datasheet-lens.toml in the repository of a design holds the parts of the design and their documents. The team gets it with the repository. project_check compares it with the parts of the CAD project.
• Orderable parts. The ordering codes of a datasheet, and the lifecycle state, stock and prices from the official API of a distributor (Mouser now). No scraping.

Typical uses

datasheet-lens helps to manage the input documents of a design project, and to keep them in the repository. It keeps the BOM equal to the CAD project. It lets the agent check the BOM, and check the design against the original datasheets.

• Keep the datasheets of a design complete and in git, the same for each person of the team.
• Compare the project with the parts of the CAD project: missing, extra and different parts.
• Select the concrete orderable MPN of a base part, and make sure that it can be ordered.
• Review a schematic against the datasheets: pins, absolute maximum ratings, logic levels, application circuits.
• Compare a footprint with the package drawing of the datasheet.
• Read register maps, bit fields and timing values for firmware, and keep them as facts with their source.
• Use the same parts in more projects: the datasheets and the facts of one project are at once available in each other project of the same user.

datasheet-lens does not read the schematic itself. The parts come from the CAD tool, its MCP server or a BOM file. See doc/use-cases.md for the steps of each use.

Installation

datasheet-lens needs Python 3.11 or newer. It works on Linux, macOS and Windows.

pipx install git+https://github.com/turbyho/datasheet-lens.git
datasheet-lens init

datasheet-lens init makes the central store (default ~/.datasheet-lens, or the folder in the environment variable DATASHEET_LENS_HOME). It can also install docling, which gives a better element map (tables and figures). docling is optional: it needs some GB of disk. Without it, the tool uses the text layer.

Register the MCP server (stdio) in Claude Code:

claude mcp add --scope user datasheet-lens -- datasheet-lens-mcp

For a different MCP client, set the command datasheet-lens-mcp with no arguments. The server gives its instructions to the agent. See doc/installation.md and doc/mcp-server.md.

Quick start

In the root folder of the repository of the design:

datasheet-lens project init     # the project file, and a block in AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md
datasheet-lens add PATH|URL     # add a datasheet; it proposes the MPN of the part
datasheet-lens sync             # copy the documents into the project folder
datasheet-lens check BOM.csv    # compare the project with a BOM of the CAD project

The agent uses the same functions through the MCP server. The block in AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md tells the agent the procedure. project init changes only the files that exist: make one of them first if you want the block.

All commands and options are in doc/cli.md.

Each user has a personal API key for each distributor. Get a free Mouser key at the Mouser API Hub (Search API), then run datasheet-lens key mouser. See doc/distributors.md.

Documentation

Development

python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -e ".[dev]"
.venv/bin/python -m pytest

See doc/development.md.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.