Kicad-happy element14

Search Newark, Farnell, and element14 for electronic components — find parts by MPN or distributor part number, check pricing/stock, download datasheets, analyze specifications. One unified API covers all three storefronts (Newark for US, Farnell for UK/EU, element14 for APAC). Free API key, simple query-parameter auth, no OAuth. Datasheets download directly from farnell.com CDN with no bot protection. Sync and maintain a local datasheets directory for a KiCad project, or use batch MPN-list seeding (`--mpn-list`) for bulk workflows without a project. Use this skill when the user mentions Newark, Farnell, element14, needs parts from a non-US distributor, wants to compare pricing across regions, or needs datasheets from a source that doesn't require complex API auth. For package cross-reference tables and BOM workflow, see the `bom` skill.

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/aklofas/kicad-happy

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/aklofas/kicad-happy "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/element14" ~/.claude/skills/aklofas-kicad-happy-element14 && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: skills/element14/SKILL.md

source content

element14 / Newark / Farnell — Component Search, Datasheets & Ordering

Related Skills

Skill	Purpose
`kicad`	Schematic analysis — extracts MPNs for part lookup
`bom`	BOM management — orchestrates sourcing across distributors
`spice`	Uses element14 parametric data for behavioral SPICE models

One API covers three regional storefronts — same catalog, same datasheets, only pricing/stock vary by region:

Storefront	Region	Store ID
Newark	North America	`www.newark.com`
Farnell	UK / Europe	`uk.farnell.com`
element14	Asia-Pacific	`au.element14.com`

For BOM management and export workflows, see

bom

Key Differences from DigiKey/Mouser

Simple auth — API key as a query parameter, no OAuth flow
Free API key — register at partner.element14.com, courtesy usage allowance
Global coverage — same API covers US (Newark), EU (Farnell), APAC (element14)
Unprotected PDFs — datasheets hosted on farnell.com CDN, download freely with no bot protection
Datasheet URL in API response —
```
responseGroup=medium
```
includes
```
datasheets[].url
```

API Credential Setup

Register at partner.element14.com/member/register
- Free account — just username, email, password. No credit card needed.
- Provides a "courtesy usage allowance" (2 calls/sec, 1,000 calls/day — sufficient for normal use)
Register an application — after logging in, go to My API Keys and click "Get API Keys"
- App name: anything (e.g., "kicad-happy")
- Type: "Desktop application"
- Users: "1-10"
- Commercial: No
- Advertising: No
- Check "Issue a new key for Product Search API" → select "Basic" tier
- Agree to Terms of Service and click "Register Application"
Copy your API key — a 24-character alphanumeric string shown on the My API Keys page

Set the environment variable

ELEMENT14_API_KEY

before running the scripts:

export ELEMENT14_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

If credentials are stored in a central secrets file (e.g.,

~/.config/secrets.env

), load them first:

export $(grep -v '^#' ~/.config/secrets.env | grep -v '^$' | xargs)

Product Search API

Base URL:

https://api.element14.com/catalog/products

All requests use GET with query parameters. Authentication is via

callInfo.apiKey

Search Modes

The

term

parameter supports three search types:

Mode	Format	Example
Keyword	`any:<keywords>`	`term=any:100nF 0402 X7R`
MPN	`manuPartNum:<mpn>`	`term=manuPartNum:GRM155R71C104KA88D`
Distributor PN	`id:<sku>`	`term=id:94AK6874`

Full Example

GET https://api.element14.com/catalog/products
  ?term=manuPartNum:GRM155R71C104KA88D
  &storeInfo.id=www.newark.com
  &resultsSettings.offset=0
  &resultsSettings.numberOfResults=10
  &resultsSettings.responseGroup=medium
  &callInfo.responseDataFormat=JSON
  &callInfo.apiKey=YOUR_KEY

Response Groups

Group	Fields
`small`	SKU, displayName, brandName, MPN, attributes
`medium`	+ datasheets[], prices[], stock
`large`	+ images, related products, country of origin
`prices`	Tiered pricing only
`inventory`	Stock levels by warehouse/region

Response Format

With

responseGroup=medium

, the response looks like:

{
  "manufacturerPartNumberSearchReturn": {
    "numberOfResults": 5,
    "products": [
      {
        "sku": "94AK6874",
        "displayName": "Murata GRM155R71C104KA88D",
        "translatedManufacturerPartNumber": "GRM155R71C104KA88D",
        "brandName": "Murata Electronics",
        "datasheets": [
          {
            "type": "TechnicalDataSheet",
            "description": "Datasheet",
            "url": "https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/74273.pdf"
          }
        ],
        "prices": [
          {
            "from": 1,
            "to": 9,
            "cost": 0.156
          }
        ],
        "stock": {
          "level": 45000,
          "leastLeadTime": 0,
          "status": 4,
          "statusMessage": "In Stock"
        },
        "attributes": [
          {"attributeLabel": "Capacitance", "attributeUnit": "", "attributeValue": "100nF"},
          {"attributeLabel": "Voltage Rating", "attributeUnit": "V", "attributeValue": "16"}
        ],
        "rohsStatusCode": "YES"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Key fields:

```
sku
```
— Newark/Farnell/element14 part number
```
translatedManufacturerPartNumber
```
— MPN
```
brandName
```
— manufacturer
```
datasheets[].url
```
— direct PDF URL (farnell.com CDN, no bot protection)
```
datasheets[].type
```
— usually
```
TechnicalDataSheet
```
```
prices[]
```
— tiered pricing with
```
from
```
,
```
to
```
,
```
cost
```
```
stock.level
```
— quantity in stock
```
stock.statusMessage
```
— human-readable availability
```
attributes[]
```
— parametric specs (label, unit, value)
```
rohsStatusCode
```
— RoHS compliance (
```
YES
```
/
```
NO
```
)

Store IDs

Common store IDs for the

storeInfo.id

parameter:

Store ID	Region
`www.newark.com`	US (default)
`uk.farnell.com`	UK
`www.farnell.com`	EU
`au.element14.com`	Australia
`sg.element14.com`	Singapore
`in.element14.com`	India

Rate Limits

No documented rate limits beyond the courtesy usage allowance. Be respectful — use 0.5s delays between calls.

Filters

Add to query parameters:

resultsSettings.refinements.filter=rohsCompliant

— RoHS parts only

resultsSettings.refinements.filter=inStock

— in-stock only

Pagination

```
resultsSettings.offset
```
— starting index (0-based)
```
resultsSettings.numberOfResults
```
— max 50 per page
Only the first 100 results are reliably pageable

Datasheet Download & Sync

element14's farnell.com CDN serves datasheet PDFs directly — no bot protection, no special headers needed. Datasheet URLs come from the API response (

datasheets[].url

Datasheet Directory Sync

Use

sync_datasheets_element14.py

to maintain a

datasheets/

directory alongside a KiCad project. Same workflow and

manifest.json

format as the DigiKey, Mouser, and LCSC skills.

# Sync datasheets for a KiCad project
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/sync_datasheets_element14.py <file.kicad_sch>

# Preview what would be downloaded
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/sync_datasheets_element14.py <file.kicad_sch> --dry-run

# Retry previously failed downloads
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/sync_datasheets_element14.py <file.kicad_sch> --force

# Use a specific store (default: www.newark.com)
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/sync_datasheets_element14.py <file.kicad_sch> --store uk.farnell.com

# Custom output directory
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/sync_datasheets_element14.py <file.kicad_sch> -o ./my-datasheets

# Parallel downloads (3 workers)
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/sync_datasheets_element14.py <file.kicad_sch> --parallel 3

# Batch mode — sync from a plain MPN list (no KiCad project required)
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/sync_datasheets_element14.py --mpn-list mpns.txt --output ./datasheets

MPN-list batch mode (KH-312) — when you have a list of MPNs but no KiCad project to point at. One MPN per line; blank lines and

comments (full-line and inline) are skipped; generic values are filtered via

is_real_mpn()

and de-duplicated. Output defaults to

./datasheets/

in the current working directory when

--output

is omitted. Note:

ELEMENT14_API_KEY

is still required even in dry-run mode; see the v1.4 follow-up in the issue tracker if dry-run credential-independence matters for your workflow.

The script:

Runs the kicad schematic analyzer to extract components, MPNs, and distributor PNs
Accepts any identifier — MPN, Newark/Farnell PN, or other distributor PNs from KiCad symbol properties
Prefers MPN search (
```
manuPartNum:
```
) for exact match — falls back to keyword search
Downloads from farnell.com CDN — direct PDF URLs, no bot protection
Writes
manifest.json
manifest — same format as DigiKey/Mouser/LCSC skills
Verifies PDF content — checks MPN, manufacturer, and description keywords
Rate-limited — 0.5s between API calls (configurable with
```
--delay
```
)
Saves progress incrementally — safe to interrupt

Single Datasheet Download

Use

fetch_datasheet_element14.py

for one-off downloads.

# Search by MPN
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/fetch_datasheet_element14.py --search "GRM155R71C104KA88D" -o datasheet.pdf

# Search by Newark/Farnell part number
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/fetch_datasheet_element14.py --search "94AK6874" -o datasheet.pdf

# Direct URL download
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/fetch_datasheet_element14.py "https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/74273.pdf" -o datasheet.pdf

# JSON output
python3 <skill-path>/scripts/fetch_datasheet_element14.py --search "GRM155R71C104KA88D" --json

The script:

OS-agnostic — uses
```
requests
```
→
```
urllib
```
→
```
playwright
```
fallback chain
Validates PDF headers — rejects HTML error pages
Falls back to alternative manufacturer sources when element14 URL fails
Exit codes: 0 = success, 1 = download failed, 2 = search/API error
Dependencies:
- ```
pip install requests
```
  (recommended; urllib fallback works fine for element14)
- ```
pip install playwright && playwright install chromium
```
  (optional; rarely needed)

Web Search Fallback

If the API is unavailable, search by fetching product pages directly:

https://www.newark.com/search?st=<query>
https://uk.farnell.com/search?st=<query>

Tips

Use
```
responseGroup=medium
```
— includes datasheets and pricing without the overhead of
```
large
```
Use
```
manuPartNum:
```
prefix for exact MPN matches;
```
any:
```
for keyword search
Cross-reference using
```
translatedManufacturerPartNumber
```
(MPN) across DigiKey/Mouser/LCSC
Useful for international users where DigiKey/Mouser shipping is expensive