my .kicad_dbl is like this:
...
},
"name": "EDLDB Database",
"description": "KiCAD Database placement testing",
"source": {
"connection_string":"dsn=EDLDB"
},
"libraries": [
....
and doesn’t contain a “properties” filed, a part form that i can’t see anything clearly wrong with yours… have you tried passing it to a on-line validator to see if there are syntax errors?
see: KiCad: The case for Database driven design - #144 by craftyjon