A PCB parts library
with real 3D models
Cherry Blossom v2 has a searchable parts database, an AI that builds parts from supplier data instead of memory, 3D views drawn only from real model files, and a STEP export you can hand to a mechanical engineer. Here is how each piece works and where it stops.
What is in the PCB parts library?
The library panel in the editor has three layers. The basic parts are the things every board uses. Behind them sits a parts database filled from KiCad’s libraries, with symbols, footprints and 3D models, plus the LCSC parts we keep. Behind that, LCSC itself answers for a part number the first two do not know. The database is searched with trigram and full-text indexes, so a search finds a part as you type it, typos included.
Results say how close they are. A typo hit reads “Close match”. A hit from the same family reads “Same family, check the package”, because an NE555 in a DIP and an NE555 in a TSSOP are different parts on a board. The panel does not present a near miss as an exact one.
The order a search looks, as the panel’s footer states it
1. Basic parts
The common building blocks that ship with the editor. Specific chips and modules are not in here.
2. Parts database
KiCad's libraries (symbols, footprints and 3D models) plus the LCSC parts we keep. Searched by name, number, value or package.
3. LCSC
Asked only for a part number the first two do not have. Each search spends one of your lookups, so viewers of a shared project do not get it.
The built-in library holds only basic parts on purpose. Specific chips belong in the database, and the parts a project uses are copied into the project itself, where you can edit or remove them. A project saved before this change that placed one of the old built-in chips is migrated to a frozen project part, so existing boards are unchanged.
Where does Sakura get a part's pins and footprint?
From a supplier record or the database first. From memory only when both come up empty, and then it says so.
We measured the old way before changing it. In October 2026, Sakura made parts with create_part by writing pins and choosing a footprint from the model’s memory. Of 13 of those parts we checked against LCSC, 3 had pin maps that kill the board (a TPS61023 with all six pins wrong, among them) and 8 had the wrong footprint (an SHT31 drawn on a 5.3 by 4.4 mm SOIC-8 land for a 2.5 mm DFN). The library itself checked out clean. The errors came from parts the model wrote from memory.
So Sakura now has tools to find a part, read its data and verify it. When you ask for a part by name, it asks the supplier and the parts database at once. If the supplier has it, the part is built from the supplier’s pins and land pattern, and any disagreement with KiCad’s drawing of the same package is noted. If the supplier is busy or rate limited, a stored part with the same number is used instead of a guess. A part built while the supplier was failing is left pending and checked later, and a contradiction shows as an error in the Checks panel.
One guard covers ordering letters. A stored number that differs only by ordering letters, like NE555P for NE555PW, is built only when the footprint names the same package. Otherwise Sakura lists the options and you choose. The database also grows as you work: a supplier answer that can actually be placed is stored for the next search. More on the agent in the Sakura post.
Why are parts drawn only with real 3D models?
A made-up body looks like the real part. A part showing only its pads does not pretend to be anything.
The 3D view used to draw a body made up from each part’s footprint. It looked like the real part, which made it worse than a gap in a STEP file somebody designs an enclosure around. We removed those made-up bodies. A part is now drawn with a real model file, or it shows only its pads.
Library parts get KiCad’s models. Other parts can take the supplier’s model, or one you add in the Inspector or the part editor (STEP, OBJ, WRL, STL or GLB). Supplier models are streamed when needed and never stored by us. Files you upload live in your account, named by a hash of the file, with a limit per plan (see pricing), and you can list and remove them on the Models page of your account.
How do you export a PCB to STEP?
Export, then 3D model (STEP). The board and every part come out as one assembly.
In the editor, open the Export menu and choose 3D model (STEP). The 3D view has an Export STEP button that does the same. The file holds the board and each part with its model, which mechanical CAD opens so you can check clearance against a case, a heat sink or a connector cut-out.
Each model is embedded once, not once per placement, and if a STEP file cannot be fetched the export falls back to the mesh already loaded in the view. Parts without a real model are left out, and the export lists them in a note. Read that note before you trust the assembly: a connector missing from the file is a connector your enclosure fit check will not see. The same board also leaves as other open formats, listed on the open standards page.
Can you edit a part or bring your own from KiCad?
Yes to both. Project parts are editable and removable, and KiCad files import straight in.
The parts in your project open in a dialog with General, Pins, Footprint and 3D model tabs, and the 3D model tab has a live preview. An edit is one undo step, re-points the components already placed from the part, and marks any pins or land you changed by hand as yours. A part nothing is placed from can be removed at once, and undo brings it back. A part that is placed asks first, because its components go with it.
To use a part from a vendor, press Import KiCad part or drop the files on the panel: a symbol, a footprint and a 3D model, or a zip of them. The part is built on the footprint you supplied, and Checks treats it as built from data you gave. When Sakura verifies it against the supplier, it compares pins only, since the land is yours. To bring in a whole board instead, see importing a KiCad project.
Two limits. Importing is off for viewers of a shared project. And a part that no source has, and that you have no files for, still has to be described by hand or built by Sakura from memory, where it is marked unverified. The v2 announcement covers the rest of what changed, and you can try all of it in the editor.
Questions
Yes. Cherry Blossom's library panel searches three places in order: the basic parts (the common building blocks), then a parts database filled from KiCad's libraries and from LCSC parts we keep, then LCSC itself for a part number neither has. Parts are drawn in the 3D view from real model files: KiCad's models for library parts, or a supplier's or your own for others. A part with no model shows only its pads, and the editor says so.
Open the Export menu in the editor and choose 3D model (STEP). You get the board and every part as one assembly that mechanical CAD can open, which is what you need to fit a board into an enclosure. The 3D view has the same action as an Export STEP button. Each part's model is embedded once, and a part with no real model is left out of the file, with a note naming it.
The editor reads STEP, GLB or glTF, and OBJ model files, and the Add a model file button in the part editor lists STEP, OBJ, WRL, STL and GLB. STEP files are parsed in a background worker so a large model does not freeze the page. Models you upload are stored under your account, named by a hash of the file and limited by your plan. The Models page in your account lists them with format and size and lets you remove them.
Yes. In the parts panel, choose Import KiCad part, or drop the files on the panel: a KiCad symbol, a footprint and a 3D model, or a vendor's zip of them. KiCad 5 footprints are read as well. Each one becomes a part in your project on your own land pattern, marked as coming from a file. Its 3D model comes from the file you gave, or else from KiCad's library. Importing is off for viewers of a shared project.
It is built not to. When Sakura creates a part by name, it asks the supplier and the parts database first and builds pins and land pattern from what they return. Only if neither has the part does it fall back to memory, and that part is marked unverified and checked later. In a production check, 3 of 13 parts Sakura had written from memory had pin maps that would have killed the board, and 8 had wrong footprints. That is why supplier data is now the default and memory is the marked exception.
Because a plausible body is worse than a gap. An older version drew a body made up from each part's footprint, which looked like the real part but was not, and someone designing an enclosure around the STEP file would trust it. Now a part is drawn with a real model file, or shows only its pads, and the STEP export leaves it out with a note.
Search a part, see it in 3D, export it.
Open the editor, search for a part number in the parts panel, and export the board as STEP from the Export menu.
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