The current state of this is that there are PDM (Product Data Management) packages for each major CAD package [1] that handle version control, lists of componen

The current state of this is that there are PDM (Product Data Management) packages for each major CAD package [1] that handle version control, lists of components ("Bill of Material" in our biz). There is the concept of CAD "assemblies" which are many individual parts assembled together, which can themselves be members of bigger CAD assemblies until the global product has all subassemblies. There are then component libraries which have generic CAD files (in the CAD and outside), but they lack the full knowledge of their context - ie you may have a CAD file of a motor, but the CAD file doesn't know it needs a shaft coupling to match its 10mm output shaft diameter, which could in theory be used to pull in dependencies or at least debug your assembly (ie if the coupling attached doesn't have a 10mm ID, error out). TL;DR: Geometry isn't enough, you need to know the specs and behavior model (like voltage --> torque curve for a motor) to do this, as the total "package" is very dependent on what else is in the model (or should be). This is actually why we at Volition [2] are building the largest repo of hardware components in the world (26M today) with both CAD and deep spec data, with the goal of eventually powering systems to be able to do stuff like this, and of course as a marketplace we're hoping you'll buy the actual parts from us too :-) [1] https://www.autodesk.com/solutions/pdm-product-data-management https://www.autodesk.com/solutions/pdm-product-data-manageme... [2] https://beta.govolition.com/ https://beta.govolition.com/