altium-cli

Rust library and CLI tool for reading, writing, and querying Altium Designer files.

╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║      WARNING: EXPERIMENTAL - WORK IN PROGRESS             ║
║  Breaking changes expected. Use at your own risk.         ║
║  This project depends on vibe-reverse engineering Altium  ║
║  binary files. BACKUP YOUR FILES IN VERSION CONTROL       ║
║  BEFORE USING THIS CLI. The format crate makes a best     ║
║  attempt at nondestructive editing but there will be bugs ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

Features

• Read/Write Altium Files: Support for .SchLib, .SchDoc, .PcbLib, .PcbDoc, .PrjPcb, .IntLib
• Comprehensive CLI: 100+ commands for analysis, editing, and project management
• CSS-Like Query Language: Find components, nets, and pins using intuitive selectors
• Non-Destructive Editing: Preserves unknown fields for safe round-trip modifications
• Agent-Friendly: JSON output and stable schemas for scripting and AI automation

Installation

CLI Tool

cargo install altium-cli

Library

cargo add altium-format

Quick Start

Inspect Files

altium-cli inspect components.SchLib
altium-cli inspect design.PcbDoc --json

Query Components

# Find by designator pattern
altium-cli query design.SchDoc "R*"

# Find by part number
altium-cli query design.SchDoc "$LM358"

# CSS-like queries
altium-cli query design.SchDoc "component[part*=MCU]"

Schematic Analysis

altium-cli schdoc overview design.SchDoc
altium-cli schdoc bom design.SchDoc
altium-cli schdoc netlist design.SchDoc
altium-cli schdoc power-map design.SchDoc
altium-cli schdoc components design.SchDoc

PCB Analysis

altium-cli pcbdoc overview design.PcbDoc
altium-cli pcbdoc rules design.PcbDoc
altium-cli pcbdoc components design.PcbDoc --layer top
altium-cli pcbdoc nets design.PcbDoc
altium-cli pcbdoc layers design.PcbDoc

Project Management

altium-cli prjpcb overview project.PrjPcb
altium-cli prjpcb bom project.PrjPcb --grouped
altium-cli prjpcb netlist project.PrjPcb
altium-cli prjpcb validate project.PrjPcb --check-files
altium-cli prjpcb diff-sch-pcb project.PrjPcb

Library Browsing

# Schematic libraries
altium-cli schlib list components.SchLib
altium-cli schlib search components.SchLib "op amp"
altium-cli schlib component components.SchLib LM358

# PCB libraries
altium-cli pcblib list footprints.PcbLib
altium-cli pcblib measure footprints.PcbLib SOIC-8
altium-cli pcblib render-ascii footprints.PcbLib SOIC-8

# Integrated libraries
altium-cli intlib list library.IntLib
altium-cli intlib search library.IntLib "LM358"
altium-cli intlib extract-schlib library.IntLib -o symbols.SchLib

Editing

# Schematic editing
altium-cli edit design.SchDoc -c "move U1 1000 2000"
altium-cli edit design.SchDoc -c "delete R3"
altium-cli edit design.SchDoc -c "add-wire 100,100,200,200"

# Library creation
altium-cli schlib create new.SchLib
altium-cli schlib add-component lib.SchLib MyPart
altium-cli schlib gen-ic lib.SchLib IC1 --pins "VCC,GND,IN,OUT"

altium-cli pcblib create new.PcbLib
altium-cli pcblib gen-chip lib.PcbLib 0603
altium-cli pcblib add-dual-row lib.PcbLib SOIC-8 8 --pitch 50 --span 300

# PCB editing
altium-cli pcbdoc add-track design.PcbDoc 0 0 100 100 --net VCC
altium-cli pcbdoc add-via design.PcbDoc 500 500 --net VCC
altium-cli pcbdoc add-rule design.PcbDoc clearance --value 10

Command Groups

Group	Purpose	Example
inspect	Quick file overview	altium-cli inspect file.SchLib
query	Find records with selectors	altium-cli query file.SchDoc "R*"
edit	Modify schematics	altium-cli edit file.SchDoc -c "move U1 0 0"
schdoc	Schematic document analysis	altium-cli schdoc bom design.SchDoc
schlib	Schematic library ops	altium-cli schlib list lib.SchLib
pcbdoc	PCB document analysis/edit	altium-cli pcbdoc rules design.PcbDoc
pcblib	PCB library ops	altium-cli pcblib measure lib.PcbLib FP
prjpcb	Project management	altium-cli prjpcb bom project.PrjPcb
intlib	Integrated library access	altium-cli intlib search lib.IntLib "LM"

See docs/ for detailed command reference.

Library Usage

use altium_format::io::SchLib;
use std::fs::File;
use std::io::BufReader;

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let file = File::open("resistors.SchLib")?;
    let lib = SchLib::open(BufReader::new(file))?;

    for component in &lib.components {
        println!("{}: {} pins", component.name, component.pin_count());
    }

    Ok(())
}

Crates

Crate	Purpose
altium-format-derive	Procedural macros for serialization
altium-format	Core library for Altium file I/O
altium-cli	Command-line tool

Supported File Types

Extension	Type	Read	Write	Query
.SchLib	Schematic Library	Yes	Yes	Yes
.SchDoc	Schematic Document	Yes	Yes	Yes
.PcbLib	PCB Library	Yes	Yes	Yes
.PcbDoc	PCB Document	Yes	Yes	Yes
.PrjPcb	PCB Project	Yes	Yes	-
.IntLib	Integrated Library	Yes	-	Yes

Coordinate System

Altium uses fixed-point coordinates: 10,000 internal units = 1 mil = 0.001 inch

All CLI coordinates are in mils.

Building

# Build all crates
cargo build --workspace

# Run tests
cargo test --workspace

# Build release binary
cargo build --release -p altium-cli

License

GPL-3.0-only

Author

Alexander Kiselev alex@akiselev.com

Repository

https://github.com/akiselev/altium-cli