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Welcome to the SmartParts Wiki

Welcome to the official documentation for SmartParts – the advanced automated part creation and API integration plugin for InvenTree.

SmartParts bridges the gap between your physical inventory and major electronic component distributors. It allows you to scan barcodes or search for MPNs and automatically imports comprehensive part data, parameters, multiple supplier links, and pricing tiers directly into your database.

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📖 Table of Contents

🚀 Getting Started

• Installation Guide: How to install and enable the plugin via Docker, Web UI, or local development.
• Configuration & API Keys: Setting up your credentials for Mouser, DigiKey, LCSC, element14, and TME.

💻 User Guide

• The SmartParts Dashboard: Searching, live editing, category resolution, and importing new parts.
• The PureScan Terminal: Using the distraction-free, zero-click kiosk mode for warehouse scanning.
• Understanding the Edit-Tracker: How visual diffs and dirty checking prevent accidental data overrides.

🔧 Hardware & Admin Guide

• Hardware Scanner Setup (Important!): Configuring physical 2D barcode scanners to transmit DataMatrix GS delimiters.
• Multi-Supplier Aggregation: How SmartParts merges data across multiple distributors simultaneously.
• Parameter Engine & Normalization: SI unit normalization, category whitelist gating, and template inheritance.
• Troubleshooting & Diagnostic Tools: Using built-in diagnostic tools, connection testers, and activity logs.

🛠️ Developer Documentation

• Architecture Overview: End-to-end data pipeline from distributor fetch to transaction-safe persistence.
• Adding a New Supplier API: Developer guide for subclassing BaseApiClient and integrating new distributors.
• REST API Reference: Token-authenticated external REST API for programmatic MPN lookup and part ingestion.

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💡 Key Features at a Glance

• Multi-Supplier Support: Scan once, get supplier links and pricing from Mouser, DigiKey, LCSC, element14, and TME simultaneously.
• Robust Barcode Parsing: Industrial-grade DataMatrix parsing capable of handling stripped Keyboard Wedge inputs.
• Smart Parameter Normalization: Automatically cleans up useless API data (like - or N/A) and normalizes SI prefixes and engineering shorthand.
• Intelligent Category Matching: Multi-stage heuristics to map distributor categories to your internal InvenTree categories with structural category descent.
• Kiosk-Ready: Includes a dedicated, touch-friendly PureScan UI for warehouse terminals.

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Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue on our main GitHub repository.