Projects

A project is the central object in nextbom. It manages your design metadata and links to the .nextdb parts database used to resolve part numbers.

Creating a Project

Click Create Project on the home screen, or use File → New Project.

Fill in the fields:

Field	Required	Description
Title	Yes	Human-readable name for the project. Used as the default filename when saving.
Engineer	No	Engineer or team responsible. Shown in the status bar.
Project Specifics ID	No	Identifier for a set of project-specific alternative parts. Leave blank if you are not using per-project alternatives.

Opening a Project

Click Open Project on the home screen, or use File → Open Project. Select a .nbp file.

The six most recently opened projects also appear on the home screen and under File → Open Recent.

Saving a Project

Use File → Save Project (Ctrl+S) to save to the current file. Use File → Save Project As to choose a new location.

Projects that have unsaved changes show (unsaved) in the title bar.

nextbom will prompt you before closing or switching projects if there are unsaved changes.

Editing Project Metadata

All metadata fields can be changed after creation via the Project menu:

• Project → Set Title
• Project → Set Engineer
• Project → Set Project Specifics
• Project → Select Parts Database — link or re-link the project to a .nextdb parts database file

The design variant is not set here — it is entered when creating a BOM working file and automatically stored in the project for reuse next time.

The .nextdb file is the shared parts database that maps generic part IDs to manufacturer part numbers. See File Formats to understand the relationship between .nextbom project BOMs and .nextdb parts databases.

Linking the Parts Database

Before you can create a BOM file, your project must be linked to a .nextdb parts database. This database contains the mappings from generic part IDs to actual manufacturer part numbers.

Use Project → Select Parts Database to choose or change the linked .nextdb file. The database path is then stored in your project file.

If you don't have a .nextdb file yet, you'll need to create it separately or obtain one from your organization.

You can change which parts database is linked at any time.

Closing a Project

Use File → Close Project. If there are unsaved changes, you will be prompted to confirm.

Project File Format

Projects are saved as .nbp files — plain JSON, human-readable. They store all metadata including a link to the .nextdb parts database file.

See File Formats for the full structure.