# Adafruit Fritzing-Library: wiring diagrams for Feather, Circuit Playground and Raspberry Pi hats

> A repository of Fritzing parts and bundled part libraries for Adafruit boards, distributed as .fzbz archives and .FZPZ zip files rather than code. Useful for people who draw Feather, CircuitPlayground and Raspberry Pi hardware in Fritzing, and a poor fit for anyone who wants the footprints generated automatically from the CAD source.

**adafruit/Fritzing-Library** — Adafruit parts, components, breakouts, etc...in Fritzable format!

- Repository: https://github.com/adafruit/Fritzing-Library
- Stars: 1,985 · Forks: 465
- Language: Unknown
- License: NOASSERTION
- Published: 2026-10-16 · Updated: 2026-10-16 · Language: en
- Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/adafruit-fritzing-library

## A parts repository, not an application, and that shapes everything else

There is nothing to build here. The repository holds drawings: vector artwork plus the metadata Fritzing needs to treat a physical object as a placeable part. The top level is a set of bundle files, including AdaFruit.fzbz, Adafruit Feather.fzbz, Adafruit Raspberry Pi.fzbz, Adafruit Arduino.fzbz, Adafruit Batteries.fzbz, Adafruit LED Backpacks.fzbz, CircuitPlayground.fzbz and AdaGators.fzbz. Alongside them sit parts/, dev/, LPD8806/, RPi_B/, Bin icons/, CONTRIBUTING.md and LICENSE. The bundles are the useful unit for most people, because a Fritzing library archive is what the application expects to open.

The problem being solved is narrow and real. Fritzing ships with generic parts, and anyone documenting a project that contains an Adafruit board has to decide whether to draw the board outline, the pin labels and the breadboard footprint themselves. This repository is the result of Adafruit doing that drawing work, first with johngineer according to the README, and publishing the result so that a classroom exercise or a blog post can open a sketch that already contains the Feather.

## Installing by opening a .fzbz bundle, then saving it to the palette

There is no package manager step and no build command. The README gives an acquisition route and a permanent install route, and no command line is documented. You can git clone the repository, use the download button, or take the master zip archive that the README links. Whichever route you take, you then open one of the bundles from the repository root in Fritzing through File | Open..., for example AdaFruit.fzbz or Adafruit Feather.fzbz.

The next step is what makes the parts stick. In the parts palette window you use the drop-down menu and choose "Save Bin", and the parts then become a permanent resident of your palette. Without that step the parts only exist in the session you opened them in.

That two step flow is the whole tutorial. If you only need the Feather family, open Adafruit Feather.fzbz alone rather than AdaFruit.fzbz, because the full bundle pulls in every Adafruit board at once and makes the palette longer to scan.

## What is actually inside a .FZPZ part file

Individual parts live in the parts folder, one per part, and each is an .FZPZ file. The README states that .FZPZ is a standard .ZIP file generated by Fritzing, and that each archive contains all the SVG images along with the FPZ part file. That detail matters more than it first appears, because it means the artwork is inspectable with an ordinary archive utility such as 7-Zip rather than only through Fritzing. When a part renders wrongly, you can open the .FZPZ, look at the SVG it carries, and see whether the problem is in the image or in the part definition.

The naming is worth reading carefully too. The bundle at the top level uses the Adafruit Arduino spelling with a space, while the README refers to the same family as Arduino Shield parts. The repository root also carries directory style entries such as LPD8806/ and RPi_B/, which sit outside the .fzbz bundles and are worth a look if a part you expected is not in the bundle you opened.

## Turn off 'align to grid' or the Arduino parts will not line up

The single most practical note in the README concerns grid alignment. Its text is direct: to use the Arduino Shield parts, and other non 0.1 inch parts, you must turn off 'align to grid' in the Breadboard view, or they will not align with the Arduino. The cause is a mismatch between the pitch of the part and the breadboard grid. Standard breadboards snap to 0.1 inch spacing; a shield with a different pitch, or headers at an unusual offset, lands between grid lines and visibly sits wrong next to the board it is supposed to mate with.

This is a per view setting rather than a property of the part file, so it does not travel with the sketch in the way a saved part does. Expect to re-check it in each new file, and expect the same problem to appear the first time someone else opens your sketch on their machine if they have the setting on.

## Older parts render badly in newer Fritzing, so the README points at 0.7.5

There is a version trap here and the project documents it directly. The README states that because of a change in the rendering of SVGs in new versions of Fritzing, some older parts may not render correctly, and recommends using the library with Fritzing v0.7.5 for those parts. That is a real constraint on adoption. If you are on a current Fritzing and a part shows up with missing or shifted artwork, the repository offers two answers and no third: the SVG renderer changed, or the part predates it.

Version pinning also makes the library awkward inside a shared toolchain. There are no GitHub releases, so there is no tagged version to pin to and no changelog to read against. The parts inherit whatever behaviour the Fritzing build you happen to run gives them, which means reproducibility of a given sketch depends on an application version the repository does not control or record.

## The dev folder is a 2013 tutorial snapshot with no support attached

A dev directory exists and the README explains exactly what it is for: as of February 2013 a new /dev directory is included, containing the templates used in Inkscape to create the parts in the library. The same paragraph draws a firm line. You are welcome to use them to make your own Fritzing parts, but they are there solely for educational purposes and support will not be provided.

Treat that folder as reference art, not as a reproducible build pipeline. There is no script described, no dependency list, and no stated mapping from a template to a shipped part. If your plan was to regenerate the library from source, the repository does not offer that, and the alternative route the README does mention is generating your own files with brd2svg, which it points at a separate Adafruit tutorial for.

## Contributions are closed: issues for requests, not for pull requests of parts

The project is open for reading and closed for outside part submissions. The README asks readers to learn from, modify and re-share the library, then immediately says it is not accepting unsolicited Fritzing parts for inclusion into the repository. Requests for parts that are missing go through an issue, with the note "We'll try to get to it, but no ETA or promises!".

The maintenance picture matches the submission policy. The last push was on 2026-09-17, so the repository is being touched, but there are no GitHub releases and no version history to point at. Treat the parts as a snapshot that Adafruit refreshes when its hardware changes, not as a library with a release cadence. A missing newer board is not a bug you can fix by sending a pull request.

## Where this library sits against the alternative of generating parts yourself

The real alternative is not another parts repository, it is generating the part from the board design. The README points at brd2svg and an Adafruit tutorial on making Fritzing parts with eagle2fritzing, and describes the result as your own lovely files. The difference in approach is ownership: a bundled Adafruit part is a hand drawn representation that can lag a hardware revision and carries no correctness promise, the README says plainly "We do not guarantee correctness of any part!". A generated part is derived from the board file, so pin labels and footprint come from the same source as the silkscreen, at the cost of running the conversion yourself and accepting that Eagle specific workflows may not map onto your toolchain.

For a one off sketch the bundled part is obviously cheaper. For a library that will be redrawn with every board revision, or for anything where a wrong pin label would reach a reader who wires from your diagram, the generated route is the one that holds up. Note also that this is not a case where either side wins on licence clarity: the library is released under CC BY-SA 3.0, and a share-alike obligation applies to redistributed adaptations of the artwork.

## Conclusion

Adopt this library if your next Fritzing sketch involves an Adafruit Feather, a Circuit Playground board or an Adafruit Raspberry Pi hat and you would rather draw than author footprints by hand. Do not adopt it as a production symbol source, because the README states the parts carry no correctness guarantee and that a 2013 vintage of the templates is included only for education. Before you commit, open the specific .fzbz you plan to use in your own Fritzing version, check the breadboard alignment of any non 0.1 inch part with 'align to grid' switched off, and confirm your Fritzing build still renders the SVG artwork of the parts you care about.

## FAQ

### How do I install the Adafruit Fritzing-Library parts into my parts palette?

Download the repository with git clone or the download button, open a bundle such as AdaFruit.fzbz or Adafruit Feather.fzbz in Fritzing using File | Open..., then use the drop-down menu in the parts palette window and choose "Save Bin" to make the parts a permanent entry in your palette.

### Why do the Arduino Shield parts not line up with my board in the breadboard view?

The README states that the Arduino Shield parts and other non 0.1 inch parts require 'align to grid' to be turned off in the Breadboard view, otherwise they will not align with the Arduino.

### Can I inspect or edit the artwork of a single part in the Adafruit Fritzing-Library?

Yes. Each file in the parts folder is an .FZPZ, which the README describes as a standard .ZIP file generated by Fritzing containing all the SVG images and the FPZ part file, so an archive utility such as 7-Zip can open it.

### Why does an older Adafruit part render incorrectly in my current Fritzing?

A change in the rendering of SVGs in new versions of Fritzing is the cause according to the README, which recommends using the library with Fritzing v0.7.5 for parts that are affected.

### Can I contribute my own Fritzing parts to the Adafruit Fritzing-Library?

No. The README says the maintainers are not accepting unsolicited Fritzing parts for inclusion into the repository, and asks you to open an issue for parts that are missing, without promising a timeframe.

## Sources

- [adafruit/Fritzing-Library on GitHub](https://github.com/adafruit/Fritzing-Library)
- [Issues](https://github.com/adafruit/Fritzing-Library/issues)
- [README](https://github.com/adafruit/Fritzing-Library/blob/master/README.md)

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Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/adafruit-fritzing-library