MCPInstall

element14

by aklofasBackend & APIs

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.

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Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/aklofas/kicad-happy --skill element14
  1. 01

    Install

    Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.

  2. 02

    Describe the task

    Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads element14 automatically when relevant.

  3. 03

    Review the result

    The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

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

Related Skills

SkillPurpose
kicadSchematic analysis — extracts MPNs for part lookup
bomBOM management — orchestrates sourcing across distributors
spiceUses element14 parametric data for behavioral SPICE models

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

StorefrontRegionStore ID
NewarkNorth Americawww.newark.com
FarnellUK / Europeuk.farnell.com
element14Asia-Pacificau.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

  1. 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)
  2. 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"
  3. Copy your API key — a 24-character alphanumeric string shown on the My API Keys page
  4. 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:

ModeFormatExample
Keywordany:<keywords>term=any:100nF 0402 X7R
MPNmanuPartNum:<mpn>term=manuPartNum:GRM155R71C104KA88D
Distributor PNid:<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

GroupFields
smallSKU, displayName, brandName, MPN, attributes
medium+ datasheets[], prices[], stock
large+ images, related products, country of origin
pricesTiered pricing only
inventoryStock 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 IDRegion
www.newark.comUS (default)
uk.farnell.comUK
www.farnell.comEU
au.element14.comAustralia
sg.element14.comSingapore
in.element14.comIndia

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 checked unconditionally at startup, so --dry-run still requires the env var to be set even though no network calls are made.

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

FAQ

What does the element14 skill do?

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.

How do I install element14?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/aklofas/kicad-happy --skill element14 in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/element14/ (personal) or .claude/skills/element14/ (project).

Which AI agents can use element14?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is element14 safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains element14?

It is published by aklofas in aklofas/kicad-happy. It has 469 recorded installs.

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