Skip to content

Generate a BOM

GitM can extract a Bill of Materials (BOM) from an assembly and store it in the repository so it can be viewed in the browser through GitMCloud.

The BOM viewer is part of GitMCloud — see GitMCloud docs. GitM generates and stores the BOM; GitMCloud displays it.

Prerequisites

  • You are signed in to a repository.
  • The assembly (.sldasm) is available on this PC (not a placeholder).
  • For the BOM to appear in GitMCloud, you must check in afterwards (see below).

Generate from the Files tab

  1. In the Files tab, right-click the assembly → Generate BOM.
  2. GitM extracts the BOM and writes it to .gitm/bom/<assembly>.json.

Generate / refresh from the BOM tab

  1. Open the BOM tab.
  2. If your repository has more than one assembly, pick one from the assembly dropdown (fixed width; the .SLDASM extension is stripped for readability — hover to see the full name).
  3. Click on the toolbar to regenerate the BOM from the open assembly.
  4. To sort the list, click Sort ▼ and pick Line #, Part No, Component, Qty, or Mass. Sort applies to the flat List view only; Tree view stays hierarchical.
  5. To export, click ⋯ → Export to CSV.

BOM tab

Publish the BOM so the team can see it

A generated BOM is a file change in .gitm/bom/. For GitMCloud (and teammates) to see it, you must check it in:

  1. After generating, the BOM JSON shows as a change.
  2. Check in so the updated BOM is pushed to GitHub.

If you generate a BOM but never check in, it stays only on your machine and GitMCloud won't show the new version.

Expected result

  • .gitm/bom/<assembly>.json is created or updated.
  • After check-in, the BOM is on GitHub and visible in the GitMCloud viewer.

Troubleshooting

Symptom Cause Fix
Generate BOM does nothing The BOM extraction service wasn't available, or the assembly is a placeholder. Make the assembly available; retry. GitM surfaces an error when extraction is unavailable.
BOM tab is empty No BOM generated yet, or no assembly selected. Generate one; pick an assembly from the dropdown.
GitMCloud shows an old BOM You generated but didn't check in. Check in the BOM change.

Known limitations

  • BOM was marked out of scope in the original PRD but is shipped. See Known limitations and discrepancies.
  • The BOM JSON schema (BomDocument / BomLine) is a shared contract with GitMCloud. It can change between versions; if the viewer looks wrong, check that GitM and GitMCloud versions are compatible.
  • GitMCloud never writes BOM files — generation always requires SolidWorks + GitM.