Parts Bin is a database of the electronic parts I have on hand. I connected it to GPT through MCP so we can check those parts while we design a circuit together.
I like picking up component assortments on AliExpress. The downside is that I can remember buying a bag of op-amps without remembering which ones are in it. These days I open Parts Bin and ask, “What opamps do I have in my inventory?” It gives me the part numbers, packages and quantities right there in the chat.
A Parts Bin chat answering my op-amp question. The table includes one LM358 and six UA741CN chips in DIP packages.
My favorite use of that same database happens outside the app. I connected it to GPT through MCP, so GPT can check my drawers while we’re working on a design. I don’t have to stop, open the inventory, and paste a parts list into our conversation.
That came in handy while we were working on the button for Rocky, my smart speaker project. We needed to know how far the plunger should reach. GPT checked Parts Bin on its own and found my kit of 6 × 6 mm tactile switches. Same footprint, ten different heights. We used the shortest one, 4.3 mm, as a starting point for the plunger. A small test print would let me check the travel with the actual switch before committing to the enclosure.
When I’m putting a circuit together, I want to know what I already have. The parts list might call for a resistor, a capacitor, and an op-amp, all tucked away in different drawers.
Sometimes all I have to go on is the marking on a package. Other times I know the description, or I have a photo to help identify the part. Those all lead back to the same stock records, which I keep in PostgreSQL on my own server.
My Parts Bin inventory lists the transistors, capacitors and other components in my drawers by value, package and quantity.
Parts Bin can now look across several categories in one search. That lets me check the circuit’s shopping list together and see what I still need to find.
An assortment is where entering parts one at a time gets old. If I’m adding a whole strip of resistor values, I can tell Parts Bin the package size once and give it the list. It checks for duplicates across the batch. Later, when I paste in a parts list for a board, it can tell me the difference between “I need to buy these” and “I have these, but I’m three short.”
