AnsysEM Agent Bridge

Ask an Agent to inspect or change the intended AEDT design without treating your original project as a scratchpad.

AnsysEM Agent Bridge is an unofficial, local-first documentation and automation bridge for Ansys Electronics Desktop (AEDT). It gives a general-purpose Agent a stable CLI for exact target identity, capability discovery, project-bundle checks, bounded live HFSS 3D Layout readback, typed non-overwriting mutations, local documentation retrieval, and evidence-bearing artifacts.

Alpha software. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Ansys, Inc. Ansys, AEDT, HFSS, Maxwell, Q3D, and related names are trademarks of their respective owners.

From request to verified deliverable

Choose the project and design, then ask for a check or bounded change in normal engineering language. The Bridge protects the original, uses an owned copy, reopens the saved state for readback, and returns the result with evidence.

EDA automation fails when an Agent must guess the active project, API version, object-ID domain, execution lane, or whether a visible result reached the solver. The Bridge turns those implicit assumptions into machine-readable contracts. The implementation details remain in the architecture document; the user path above is the product promise.

The Bridge owns runtime facts and bounded tool access. A future Harness may compose it with workflows, authorization, engineering memory, and promotion policy without duplicating the Bridge transport or AEDT adapters.

Current alpha surface

• explicit AEDT installation configuration and discovery;
• .aedt plus .aedb/edb.def project-bundle verification;
• revision-aware compact runtime snapshots;
• capability descriptors separating declared, compatible, available, healthy, and authorized state;
• bounded live HFSS 3D Layout identity readback through PyAEDT;
• native ZoomToFit plus ExportImage behind a checked image-export command;
• named runtime profiles for the exact Python, display, module paths, and bounded environment changes;
• non-overwriting HFSS 3D Layout transactions with registered native and PyEDB bondwire operations, save/close, fresh reopen, and assertions;
• resumable candidate workspaces with idempotent typed patches, internal checkpoints, rollback, abort, and clean-replay promotion;
• detached durable jobs with reconnectable receipts, events, and unified execution-ledger timing across local and persistent SSH transport;
• a lightweight AEDT Automation-tab Context Add-in using secret-free EDA_CONTEXT/v1 locators;
• private local documentation query/get commands;
• one required Bridge Skill and one optional documentation Skill;
• conflict-safe Skill install, status, and uninstall.

See the capability matrix for exact claims and stop rules.

Install

pipx install ansysem-agent-bridge
ansysem-agent --pretty doctor

Installing ansysem-agent-bridge also installs the small eda-bridge-runtime Python library automatically. This makes ansysem-agent runtime serve and the Context Add-in available without asking the user to choose an extra package. If the Agent runs on another machine, install and enable the Runtime MCP/plugin on that Agent host as described by the EDA Bridge Runtime; the AEDT-only host does not need the Agent-facing plugin.

Version 0.2.0a3 uses Runtime 0.1.0a9 or newer so capability-proven project and documentation reads can use the statically safe eda.read lane while mutations remain on eda.submit.

Configure one explicit installation. Documentation is optional and remains on the AEDT host:

ansysem-agent --pretty setup \
  --aedt-root /path/to/AnsysEM/v261 \
  --version 2026.1 \
  --docs-root /path/to/private/local/docs

setup installs one small Bridge Skill by default:

• ansysem-agent-bridge for setup, exact target identity, runtime state, bounded operation, artifacts, and safe lifecycle;

The separately selectable ansysem-kb-docs Skill supports version-matched local documentation without launching or mutating AEDT; it is not required for runtime operation.

Pin one runtime profile

Do this once on the AEDT host. Before importing live AEDT libraries, the Bridge re-executes only its own fixed CLI under the profile's exact Python and pre-launch environment; it never accepts an arbitrary command:

ansysem-agent --pretty profiles set \
  --profile-id aedt-2026r1-display4 \
  --python /path/to/exact/python \
  --display :4.0 \
  --python-path /path/to/version-matched/modules \
  --prepend-env LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/path/to/version-matched/libraries

ansysem-agent --pretty profiles show aedt-2026r1-display4

Inspect before live work

ansysem-agent --pretty instances list
ansysem-agent --pretty project inspect --project /path/to/model.aedt
ansysem-agent --pretty capabilities --project /path/to/model.aedt
ansysem-agent --pretty runtime-snapshot \
  --project /path/to/model.aedt --version 2026.1 --display :4.0

Suppress unchanged bounded state with the returned revision:

ansysem-agent runtime-snapshot \
  --project /path/to/model.aedt \
  --since-revision <sha256>

Live HFSS 3D Layout gate

Run the CLI on the AEDT host. A new session is closed only when the command created it:

ansysem-agent --pretty --profile aedt-2026r1-display4 \
  runtime-snapshot \
  --live --project /path/to/model.aedt --version 2026.1

Export a bounded visual artifact through the native editor API:

ansysem-agent --pretty --profile aedt-2026r1-display4 \
  layout export-image \
  --project /path/to/model.aedt \
  --version 2026.1 \
  --output /path/to/new-layout-view.png

The image proves only that AEDT exported the named live editor state. It does not prove electrical correctness, solver input, mesh, convergence, or results.

Typed mutation paths

Put task-specific names and values in project-local or streamed JSON, not in the Bridge or its Skill. Use one-shot model apply when the complete mutation and its final assertions are already known:

ansysem-agent --pretty --profile aedt-2026r1-display4 \
  model apply --plan /path/to/operation-plan.json --redact-paths

The v1 plan schema is ansysem-operation-plan-v1. The Bridge refuses source/output identity, refuses an existing output, can pin the source .aedt and edb.def hashes, and exposes no arbitrary command, Python, or raw APD block field. The native adapter accepts registered property and gap-port operations. The PyEDB-native adapter accepts only structured APD profile definitions and exact-name bondwire changes. It commits the output only after separate fresh AEDT and PyEDB reopens pass all typed assertions. It never solves, packages, publishes, or creates a release as part of this command.

For iterative work, begin one candidate workspace for the task instead of creating a permanent model version for every attempt:

ansysem-agent --pretty --profile aedt-2026r1-display4 \
  model workspace begin \
  --source /path/to/frozen.aedt \
  --workspace /path/to/task-candidate \
  --adapter hfss3dlayout.pyedb-native/v1 \
  --version 2026.1 --design Layout1

ansysem-agent --pretty --profile aedt-2026r1-display4 \
  model workspace reconcile \
  --workspace /path/to/task-candidate --plan - < patch.json

Each ansysem-workspace-patch/v1 carries a stable patch_id, the last returned expected_workspace_revision, registered operations, and scoped assertions. An identical retry is preserved without another EDA call. A passing reconcile creates only an internal checkpoint. Use status, rollback, or abort on the same workspace; none creates a customer-facing model revision.

Batch all compatible edits known from the same observation into one patch so a single save/close/fresh-reopen gate validates the cycle. Promotion records its intent before launching EDA: after interruption, the exact same request either verifies an already-complete output or safely removes only its owned partial output and staging directory before replaying.

Create one immutable output only at the explicit gate:

ansysem-agent --pretty --profile aedt-2026r1-display4 \
  model workspace promote \
  --workspace /path/to/task-candidate \
  --expected-revision <workspace-revision> \
  --promotion-id <stable-promotion-id> \
  --output /path/to/revision.aedt

Promotion ignores the mutable candidate as a delivery source. It replays the typed journal from the frozen source, performs the final assertion registry in fresh sessions, verifies full bundle digests, and only then commits the output. An exact retry of a committed promotion returns preserved without another EDA call; output or retention-policy drift is rejected. See candidate workspace lifecycle.

Documentation

ansysem-agent --pretty docs status
ansysem-agent --pretty docs query "AddRefPortUsingEdges" \
  --module hfss_3d_layout --limit 6
ansysem-agent --pretty docs get <source-ref> \
  --focus "AddRefPortUsingEdges" --max-chars 4000

The package does not contain or redistribute Ansys documentation. Queries use a corpus configured on the user's machine.

Remote topology

Run ansysem-agent on the AEDT machine through SSH. One-off administration can still call the CLI directly. Repeated Agent operations use one persistent stdio channel:

ansysem-agent runtime serve

The service persists a job before starting the exact runtime-profile worker, returns a receipt immediately, and detaches the worker from the SSH connection. Use runtime job-status and runtime job-events after reconnecting. The generic Runtime ledger records declared purpose, actual phases, timing, and normalized result. Keep AEDT automation, projects, documentation, and artifacts on that host unless the user explicitly exports a sanitized result.

Explicit AEDT context

Install the three small Automation-tab actions with the configured PyAEDT profile:

ansysem-agent --profile <profile-id> context-addin install \
  --version 2026.1 --port <grpc-port> --process-id <aedt-pid>
ansysem-agent context-addin status --personal-lib <live-personal-lib>
ansysem-agent --profile <profile-id> context-addin refresh \
  --version <version> --port <grpc-port> --process-id <aedt-pid>

The actions are Use Current Design with Agent, Copy Agent Context, and Agent Connection Status. The clipboard token contains only a host-local context ID, generation, display label, and capability hints. The exact project path remains in the private registry on the AEDT host. A context selects a target; it does not authorize mutation or solving.

Safety boundary

• no implicit newest-version selection;
• no foreground-window guessing;
• no .aedt-only claim for HFSS 3D Layout bundles;
• no arbitrary Python execution in the default public interface;
• no source overwrite and no successful mutation claim before fresh reopen;
• no permanent model version for a candidate attempt; only explicit promotion creates a delivery output;
• no blind GUI coordinates or screenshot-only success;
• no force-kill or silent discard of modified work;
• no claim that documentation, a visible object, or an exported image proves a successful solve.

See the execution context contract, architecture, release contract, sanitized AEDT 2026 R1 Linux acceptance, and security policy.

Development

python -m pip install -e ".[test]"
python -m pytest

The public repository contains synthetic tests only. Customer projects and vendor documentation are intentionally excluded.