Skip to main content
Version: Next (nightly)

From another tool

There are two shapes of move. A one-shot import reads an export once and stops. A live sync connects to the other system and keeps mirroring it on a schedule. Which one you get depends on whether that system has a connector.

Homebox​

Homebox has both, side by side on the Integrations page under Migrate in from another app:

  • Homebox, live. Paste your Homebox URL and an API key, and Cobblr creates a sync connection that mirrors items and locations, photos included. Import once and stop, or keep it synced so later changes in Homebox flow across. The connection is saved either way, so you can re-run it or turn syncing on later.
  • Homebox, CSV. The one-shot path without the API. In Homebox, go to Tools → Import/Export → Export and download the CSV, then upload it here. Items land in Inventory, locations in Locations, and labels come across. Photos do not travel in a CSV, so use the live connector if you want them.
  • Both preview before writing.
  • A LAN-only Homebox that your Cobblr can't reach directly is dialed through your workspace's edge bridge.
  • Homebox labels become Cobblr tags on the imported item, attached by name and created if missing.

Part-DB​

Part-DB has the live path, on the same Integrations page under Migrate in from another app, as a Part-DB card.

  1. In Part-DB, open User settings → API tokens and create one. A read-only token is enough.
  2. Paste your Part-DB address and that token into the card. Tick My Part-DB is on my local network and pick a bridge if your Cobblr cannot reach it directly.
  3. One click connects and imports your storage locations, then your categories, then your parts, with a preview before anything is written.
  4. Choose keep it synced or import just this once. Either way the connection is saved under Live sync, so you can re-run it, turn ongoing sync on later, or archive it.
  • Re-runs update in place. Records are matched by their Part-DB id.
  • What comes across: each part's name, description, comment (as notes), total stock across all its lots, minimum amount when set, manufacturer and manufacturer part number, unit, the first supplier's product link, and its master picture as the photo. Part-DB tags become Cobblr tags. Storage locations rebuild your Locations tree and categories rebuild your Inventory category tree, both with their hierarchy.
  • Everything else on the record (IPN, mass, footprint, every lot with its bin and amount, order details and prices, parameters, EDA info) is kept in the part's details, so nothing is lost.
  • A part stocked in more than one place lands at its first lot's location with the full lot list kept on the part, because Cobblr tracks one location per part. The quantity is the total across all lots, and the import summary says how many parts that applied to.
  • "Part-DB accepted the token but refused API access" means the token is valid but its user or group lacks Part-DB's Access API permission. Grant it in Part-DB and try again.

Everything else: export to CSV​

Sortly, a homegrown app, a spreadsheet you kept for years: if there is no connector for it, export what you have to CSV and use From a spreadsheet or CSV. It covers inventory items and the location tree.

  • A tool you use deserves its own connector? That is worth saying in feedback, and anyone can write a source manifest for a system with an API (see Sync-source manifests).

Sync sources vs a one-shot import​

  • A sync source is a connector: it holds the source's address and credential, mirrors chosen entity types, and can keep them current.
  • A one-shot import is a file you upload once. Nothing stays connected, and the records are yours from then on.
Where sync sources come from

Sources are installable manifests rather than code baked into Cobblr, so the set grows without a new release. The Integration catalog lists what ships (Homebox and Part-DB for inventory, Spoolman on the filament side), and Syncing from other systems covers how connections work.