genfab

Generate manufacturing outputs for a KiCad project: gerbers, drill files, BOM, netlist, and pick-and-place. A TypeScript port of the original generate.sh.

Runs directly on Node (≥ 22.6) via native TypeScript type-stripping — no build step, no transpilation, and zero npm dependencies (only node: built-ins).

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 22.6 (runs the .ts files directly)
• kicad-cli — found on PATH, or at /Applications/KiCad/KiCad.app/Contents/MacOS/kicad-cli on macOS
• git — used to embed the latest commit hash in outputs
• zip — used to package gerber files

Install

Local link (development)

From the module directory:

cd tools/genfab
npm link

This puts a genfab command on your PATH pointing at this checkout. Changes to the source take effect immediately. Remove it with npm unlink -g genfab.

Global install

npm install -g genfab

Or install straight from the local folder without publishing:

npm install -g ./tools/genfab

Run without installing

node tools/genfab/bin/genfab.ts <directory_path>

Usage

genfab [OPTIONS] <directory_path>

<directory_path> is a KiCad project directory (e.g. monai_ui) containing <name>.kicad_pcb and <name>.kicad_sch files matching the directory name.

| Option | Description | | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | | -h, --help | Show help and exit. | | --no-inspection | Skip opening GerbView after gerber generation. | | --bom | Generate outputs/bom/<name>_bom.csv only. | | --netlist | Generate outputs/netlist/<name>.net only. | | --pos | Generate outputs/pos/<name>_pos.csv only. |

Default mode (no flag) runs ERC, DRC, generates gerbers + drill, writes the BOM and pick-and-place files, packages the gerbers into outputs/<GIT_HASH>.zip, and opens GerbView for inspection.

Examples

genfab monai_ui                     # Full gerber generation flow
genfab --no-inspection monai_module # Gerbers without opening GerbView
genfab --bom monai_ui               # BOM CSV only
genfab --netlist monai_ui           # Netlist only
genfab --pos monai_ui               # Pick-and-place CSV only

Publishing to npm

The package is configured to publish as a public package (publishConfig.access: public).

1. Sign in once: npm login

2. Bump the version (updates package.json and creates a git tag):

   npm version patch   # 1.0.0 -> 1.0.1  (bug fixes)
   npm version minor   # 1.0.0 -> 1.1.0  (new features, backwards compatible)
   npm version major   # 1.0.0 -> 2.0.0  (breaking changes)

3. Publish:

   npm publish

Preview what will be included before publishing:

npm pack --dry-run

Only bin/, src/, README.md, LICENSE, and package.json are shipped (see the files field).

Note on the name: genfab is unscoped. If it is already taken on the public registry, either rename the package or publish under a scope, e.g. "name": "@your-org/genfab" — a scoped public package still requires the publishConfig.access: public that is already set here.

License

PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0. Free to use for noncommercial purposes (personal, hobby, research, education, nonprofits, government). Commercial use requires a separate license from the author.

This is not an OSI-approved open source license, so npm and GitHub will show it as a non-standard license.