kernelcad-parts

kernelcad-parts

Load this skill when the agent needs an off-the-shelf component (M-series fastener, deep-groove ball bearing, NEMA stepper, pin header, JST-XH housing) and does not already know a STEP file path.

The catalog ships bundled with the npm package — npm install resolves every bundled id offline. When a query has no bundled match, discovery and fetch fall through to a built-in public parts catalog by default (see "Remote tier" below), so kernelCAD can find off-the-shelf parts it does not bundle. Set KERNELCAD_PARTS_BASE_URL=off to stay offline on the bundled seed only.

Four-tool discovery flow

When the agent does not know which id covers the intent, walk the discovery chain. Each step narrows the search:

1. inspect({ of: 'part-categories' }) → top-level buckets (e.g. fastener, bearing, motor, connector, shaft).
2. inspect({ of: 'part-families', category }) → families within the bucket (e.g. socket-head-cap-screw, deep-groove-ball-bearing).
3. find_part { query, family?, standard?, tag?, licenseClass? } → ranked records that match the fuzzy query plus filters. Tokens AND-combine; cross-facet filters AND-combine. licenseClass ('permissive' | 'share-alike' | 'fetch-only') filters by redistribution license; records with no class are treated as permissive (the bundled catalog).
4. fetch_part { id } → resolves the id to a record, writes the STEP into the cache, returns the cache path + sha256.

For tasks where the id is already known, skip straight to fetch_part or use the typed lib.standard.* shortcuts.

Fetch-by-URL (parts not in the catalog)

For a hash-verified STEP or GLB model file, call fetch_part with includeModel: true or a model object: fetch_part({ model: { url, sha256, source, license, expectedBboxMm? } }) for a direct asset, or fetch_part({ id, includeModel: true }) / { query: <MPN>, includeModel: true } to resolve through the catalog. Explicit URLs require a 64-character sha256 and source/license provenance. The tool caches URL-fetched assets by content digest and compares STEP bounds, or GLB POSITION accessor bounds when present, dimension-by-dimension with expectedBboxMm (default relative tolerance 25%, toleranceRatio to change it). A GLB without usable accessor bounds reports not_checked; missing or ambiguous catalog results are returned with a specific errorCode. This resolves a model asset but does not place it or perform a fit check.