Reusing Projects
Never start from scratch.
Overview
Flux is built for re-usability from the ground up. That means any project you can find in Flux can be used as a starting point for your work. For example, if someone else in the community has made a fully designed weather station, and you want to make something similar, you can fork or clone their project, and then modify it to suit your needs.
Example Project vs Templates
Example projects and templates are two very important concepts within Flux. It's important to identify when you should be looking for an example project vs a template.
Example Projects
Example projects are fully designed circuits for a specific application.
These projects could serve as inspiration, as a way to show how to integrate certain circuits, or as a base for larger, more complex projects.
Templates
Some projects have been specifically formatted to help you get started. As opposed to fully designed projects, templates only contain the very basics you'll need to start your own project.
Some templates only include manufacturer rules and nothing else, saving you the time of inputting those yourself. Others include the scaffolding for a project, such as rules, a board shape, and some key components. In order to make them easily discoverable, templates have the legend #template in their description.
Getting Started
There are different ways of finding projects or templates to use as a launchpad for your next project:
- Search Bar: Explore everything Flux. Find projects, templates, users and organizations.
- Project Launcher: Quickly access projects, templates and your own curated list of templates.
- Featured Projects: Access a curated list of high-quality projects and templates from the community.
Clone a Project or Template
If you found a project or template that fits your needs through the search bar or featured projects list, you'll need to clone or fork it. By cloning or forking a project, you'll get a copy under your own account that you can edit at will.
To clone or fork a project:
- Open the target project
- Click on the Flux menu in the top-left corner
- Select "Clone Project" or "Fork Project"
Create your Own Templates
You can also create your own templates for repeated parts or configurations. These templates are not just starting points; they could be comprehensive guides that incorporate regulatory compliance requirements and the specific standards that your company upholds to.
To create your own templates:
- Open the project you want to create a template from, and make sure the description contains
#template - Click on the star button in the top-left
- When creating a new project, you'll find it in the "Starred templates" section
Best Practices for Creating Templates
If you want to ensure your template always has consistent data and will always produce the same new project, there are a few best practices that should be followed:
- Make sure you Clone/fork the template before using it for a new project, and only make modifications to the cloned/forked project
- Restrict edit access to the template to avoid unwanted modifications
What's Next
Now that you understand how to reuse projects and templates in Flux, you might want to explore:
- Version Control Deep Dive - Learn how to manage changes to your projects
- Collaboration Deep Dive - Understand how to collaborate with others on projects
- Embedding Flux Projects - Learn how to embed your projects in other platforms
- PCB Design Review - Understand how to review and improve your designs