Import KiCad Libraries

LibrePCB supports importing symbols, footprints, and 3D models from KiCad libraries. Since KiCad splits those element types into separate libraries, you need to prepare a single directory where all the relevant files are contained.

Example Directory Structure

my-kicad-library
├── NE555.kicad_sym
├── footprints.pretty
│   └── SOIC127P600X175-8N.kicad_mod
└── models.3dshapes
    └── SOIC127P600X175-8N.step

You may add as many library files as you like to this directory. Also it is allowed to add at most one additional nesting level of those files/folders.

Once you have that directory prepared, make sure you have created a LibrePCB library where you want to import those elements into. Note that the scope of a KiCad library is not related to the scope of a LibrePCB library — you can import several KiCad libraries into a single LibrePCB library (recommended approach), or you can split a single KiCad library into multiple LibrePCB libraries (unusual, but possible).

For a clean structure, is recommended to create a separate library for imported elements, e.g. called KiCad Import. This will help you later to easily distinguish between native LibrePCB elements and imported elements (which may still need review/rework).

Open that target library in the LibrePCB library editor, click Library Import KiCad Library… and follow the import wizard.

In contrast to the EAGLE Library Import, the imported KiCad elements will keep a reference to the KiCad library they were imported from (by name, not by file path). This allows LibrePCB to detect and skip already imported elements, avoiding duplicate imports. So it is possible to import only a few elements of a large KiCad library, and import more elements of the same library at a later time (i.e. import step-by-step on demand).