A collection of nodes and arcs is called a cell, and instances of cells can be placed in other cells. When a cell instance is placed, that instance is also a node, and is treated just like the simpler transistor and contact nodes. Thus, nodes come in two forms: primitive and complex. Primitive nodes are found in the component menu and are pre-defined by the technologies (transistors, contacts, pins). Complex nodes are actually instances of other cells, and are found in libraries.
Electric gives each cell a view and a version and organizes cells into cell groups. A cell's view describes its contents (for example "layout", "schematics", "netlist", etc.) A cell's version defines its design age. The full name of a cell is:
In the above example, there is a library with two cell groups. One group has a set of cells called "gate" and the other has a set of cells called "latch". On the right is the explorer view of these cells. See Section 4-5-2 for more on the cell explorer.
Although it is not necessary for cells in a group to all have the same name, the system presumes that common names will be grouped together. Once in a group, you can rename a cell to give it a different name than the others in its group. Use the Rename Cell... command (in menu Cell). You can also use context menus in the cell explorer to rearrange groups.