Before you publishCopy Anchor Link

Open Review. Its checklist shows what is done and what is missing:

• the device or part has its own name;
• the maker is named;
• for a device, the port openings placed; for a part, how it mounts and its decks;
• how many values are measured, from the datasheet, or estimated;
• every problem with the measurements.

Warnings and notes don't stop you, but errors do: the button says Fix the N problem(s) above first until they are gone. Values left unmarked count as estimated, and a device with no real measurements helps nobody.

You need to be signed in. The first time you publish anything, Rack Maker asks you to agree to share your catalog contributions under CC BY-SA 4.0. See Licences and credits.

Publish or submit for reviewCopy Anchor Link

What the button does depends on your access. See Contributing.

With contributor access: PublishCopy Anchor Link

Publish does it all in one go:

1. builds the model file (GLB) in your browser from your measurements;
2. uploads it with its credits: made by you, under CC BY-SA 4.0 like the entry;
3. submits the revision and approves it.

In your own namespace the device is published at once, and you are taken to its page. In someone else's namespace it waits for that namespace's maintainers.

Without contributor access: Submit for reviewCopy Anchor Link

Submit for review sends your measurements to an admin, without a model file (uploading files needs contributor access). Until it is approved, the device is a draft that only you see. In your projects it is drawn from its measurements, built in your browser: the same model the file would hold.

When an admin approves it, their browser builds the model file and attaches it to the revision there and then. Ask for contributor access on the Catalog page.

What is publishedCopy Anchor Link

• The measurements, in the revision: size, shape, mounting, ports, zones, finishes, weight, and where each number came from. Anyone can reopen them with Edit measurements on the entry's page and publish a correction as a new revision (or a copy in their own namespace that credits you). See Entries and revisions.
• The model file, with its credits.
• The datasheet link from the Name step. Kept datasheet PDFs stay private.
• Never your photos. No photo or logo goes on the model; the finishes are generated textures.

A published revision never changes. Editing it again in the modeler starts the next revision.

The model fileCopy Anchor Link

The model file is always built from the measurements, by the same builder, wherever that runs:

• In your browser, when you choose Publish.
• On the server, when your agent publishes with contributor access. The entry has its model file straight away, whether or not a browser is open. See Using AI agents.
• Later, in a browser, if the server couldn't build it (a build error, or a model over 30,000 triangles). The revision is published with its measurements and drawn from them everywhere. The next time you, as its author, or an admin open it in the modeler or see it in a project, the browser builds the file and attaches it, with a short notice. If that fails, it is tried again the next time.

Each port becomes a named point in the model file, and is also listed in the entry's data, so projects know where every port is.

If the draft is open elsewhereCopy Anchor Link

If your agent, or another of your browsers, publishes or submits the draft while you have it open, the modeler tells you: "This draft was published. What you change next goes into a new revision." It stops saving to the published revision, and your next change starts a new one. Nothing is lost. See Live sync.