Flexcompute Flow Report

flexcompute-flow-report is a standalone Python client for creating, loading, updating, and reusing interactive Flexcompute Flow reports. It is separate from both the Flow360 Python client and the existing PDF report package named flow360-report.

This README describes the public API as implemented. Parameter names and accepted values in this document are authoritative; the client does not infer chart variables from display labels or from CSV column names.

AI agent bootstrap

Installing the wheel makes its documentation available, but it does not cause an AI agent to read that documentation. An agent runner should load the packaged guide and add it to the model's system or developer instructions before sending the user's task:

from flexcompute_flow_report import get_agent_guide

agent_instructions = get_agent_guide()
# Inject agent_instructions before the user task is submitted to the model.

Shell-based runners can obtain the same text with:

flexcompute-flow-report-guide

The guide is deliberately shorter than this API reference. It defines the mandatory capability-discovery, exact-ID, compatibility-check, Scene-reuse, and chart-selection rules for AI-generated Report workflows. Package code cannot force a generic external agent to follow these rules; the runner must perform the injection step.

Compatibility checks are diagnostic rather than a one-shot gate for the whole task. An error blocks the current candidate setup from being submitted unchanged; the agent should use resource capabilities to adapt and recheck it. Only an explicit exact-equivalence requirement makes every warning blocking.

Installation and environment

Install the released package from PyPI:

python -m pip install flexcompute-flow-report

Maintainers testing an unreleased build can instead download the distribution artifact produced by the Flexcompute Flow Report GitHub Actions workflow and install its wheel directly.

Installing the wheel also installs a compatible Flow360 Python client and Pydantic version.

The client uses the active Flow360 environment. That environment must expose the interactive Report API at /v2/reports. Reading reusable visualization Scenes also requires GET /v2/scenes/{sceneId}. A 404 such as No static resource v2/reports means that this endpoint is not deployed in the active environment. It does not mean that the report configuration is invalid. The Flow360 web UI can use a different report route, so the presence of UI-created reports does not prove that /v2/reports is available.

get_capabilities(resource) reads that resource's generated visualize/manifest/manifest.json. Applying a Scene viewpoint or a Report.Camera with an explicit unit as a per-resource camera also reads GET /v2/{resource-path}/{resourceId}/simulation/file so physical camera lengths can be converted to the target resource's model units.

Minimal example

import flow360 as fl
from flexcompute_flow_report import Report

baseline = fl.Case(id="case-11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111")
variant = fl.Case(id="case-22222222-2222-2222-2222-222222222222")

report = Report.create(
    name="Wing comparison",
    resources=[baseline, variant],
    reference=baseline,
    sections=[
        Report.Summary(resource_type="case"),
        Report.Visualization(),
        Report.Chart(y=["CL", "CD"], comparison="delta"),
    ],
)

print(report.id)
print(report.web_url)

Report inputs should normally be lightweight Flow360 resource references. All four supported resource classes can be constructed directly from their cloud IDs:

resources = [
    fl.Case(id="case-11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111"),
    fl.Geometry(id="geo-11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111"),
    fl.SurfaceMesh(id="sm-11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111"),
    fl.VolumeMesh(id="vm-11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111"),
]

The client obtains the cloud data needed by each operation through these lightweight references. Report compilation reads resource metadata, get_capabilities(resource) reads the generated visualization Manifest, and raw SimulationJSON is read only when Report.create(...) or report.update(...) compiles a per-resource Scene viewpoint or Report.Camera with an explicit unit. The client does not need Geometry, SurfaceMesh, or VolumeMesh entity registries, so calling their from_cloud() methods first is unnecessary and can fail when a historical resource no longer passes the current Flow360 entity schema. Use from_cloud() only when other Flow360 operations require a fully deserialized resource.

ReportResourceInput is exported from flexcompute_flow_report for callers that want to annotate reusable resource collections.

Report.Summary always requires resource_type. The four summary sections exist in every report; adding Report.Summary(...) customizes the summary for the specified resource type.

Guides

Detailed task-oriented guides are packaged with the client:

• AI agent guide: mandatory preflight and selection rules for AI-generated Report workflows.
• Reuse saved Scenes: load a Workbench Scene, validate exact compatibility, and reuse its visualization setting or viewpoint.
• Configure visualizations across resources: discover Manifest-backed capabilities, interpret output and target names, validate setups, and construct per-resource views.
• Configure residual and CFL charts: select metadata-defined series groups and compatible X axes.

An installed wheel keeps this README at flexcompute_flow_report/README.md and the guides under flexcompute_flow_report/docs/, so they remain available to local AI and automation tools without access to the source repository.

AI and automation workflows should inject the AI agent guide first, then use the topic guides for task-specific details.

Report lifecycle

Create

report = Report.create(
    name="Wing comparison",
    resources=[baseline, variant],
    sections=[Report.Visualization(), residual_chart],
)

Report.create(...) parameters:

Parameter	Type	Default	Meaning
name	str	required	Non-empty report name.
resources	iterable of ReportResourceInput	required	Lightweight Case, Geometry, SurfaceMesh, or VolumeMesh references. At least one and at most 50.
sections	iterable of section objects or None	None	Additional/customized sections. The four default summary sections are always present.
reference	cloud resource, resource ID, or None	None	Reference Case. If omitted, the first Case is used.
aliases	mapping of resource ID to display name or None	None	Report-only resource display names.
description	str	""	Report description.
tags	iterable of str or None	None	Tags are trimmed and deduplicated in input order.
parent_folder_id	str	Flow360 root folder	Destination folder ID.

Load

report = Report.from_cloud("report-id")

Report.from_cloud(report_id) loads report metadata and configJson from the active Flow360 environment. The returned object remains associated with that environment even if the global environment changes later.

Update the same report

Metadata-only updates send only the supplied fields:

report.update(
    name="Renamed comparison",
    description="Release comparison after review",
    tags=["release", "reviewed"],
)

To replace the report configuration, provide both resources and sections:

report.update(
    resources=[baseline, variant],
    reference=baseline,
    sections=[
        Report.Summary(resource_type="case"),
        Report.Visualization(),
        residual_chart,
    ],
)

Configuration updates rebuild the complete SDK-managed configuration from the provided resources and sections. They are not a patch of individual fields in the existing configJson.

Report.update(...) parameters:

Parameter	Type	Default	Meaning
resources	iterable of cloud resources or None	None	New complete resource set. Must be supplied together with sections.
sections	iterable of section objects or None	None	New complete section specification. Must be supplied together with resources.
reference	cloud resource, resource ID, or None	None	Reference Case for the rebuilt configuration. Requires resources and sections.
aliases	mapping or None	None	Aliases for the rebuilt configuration. Requires resources and sections.
name	str or None	None	New name; None leaves it unchanged.
description	str or None	None	New description; None leaves it unchanged and "" clears it.
tags	iterable of str or None	None	New complete tag list; None leaves it unchanged and [] clears it.
parent_folder_id	str or None	None	New folder ID; None leaves it unchanged.

update() mutates and returns the same Report object. Its report ID and web_url do not change.

Refresh a long-lived object

report.refresh()
print(report.status)

refresh() reloads metadata and configJson into the existing object. Use it when the report may have changed through the web UI, another process, or an asynchronous status transition. It is not required after a successful update().

This also provides a supported path for reading back a camera tuned and saved in the web UI:

report.refresh()
visualization = next(
    section for section in report.config.sections if section.type == "visualization"
)
persisted = visualization.config.sync.camera.global_params
camera = None if persisted is None else Report.Camera(**persisted.model_dump())

The persisted camera is already expressed in the Report UI's canonical length unit, so the reconstructed Report.Camera intentionally omits unit. It can be passed to a later Report.Visualization(camera=camera).

Apply an existing report to new resources

source = Report.from_cloud("source-report-id")
copied = source.apply_to_new(
    name="New release comparison",
    resources=[new_baseline, new_variant],
    reference=new_baseline,
)

Report.apply_to_new(...) parameters:

Parameter	Type	Default	Meaning
name	str	required	Name of the new report.
resources	iterable of cloud resources	required	Resource pool for the copied configuration.
reference	cloud resource, resource ID, or None	None	Reference Case in the new resource pool.
aliases	mapping or None	None	Display names for the new resources.
description	str	""	Description of the new report.
tags	iterable of str or None	None	Tags for the new report.
parent_folder_id	str or None	None	Destination folder. None reuses the source report folder.

The method preserves section IDs, layout, and display settings. It remaps visualization and chart resource selections to the new resources. Visualization sections silently use the first eight selected resources whose type matches the section, in the order supplied to resources. Chart sections use the first 10 selected Cases; if the reference Case is outside those 10, it replaces the tenth Case. These are the web UI's apply-to-new rules. A resource-specific Case force scope is reset to total because old face or body-group IDs cannot be safely reused.

Public report properties

Property	Type	Meaning
id	str	Report ID.
project_id	str | None	Project shell associated with the report.
name	str	Report name.
description	str | None	Report description.
tags	list[str]	Copy of report tags.
parent_folder_id	str | None	Parent folder ID.
workspace_id	str | None	Workspace ID.
status	str	Current report status returned by the API.
viewed	bool | None	Viewed state returned by the API.
is_deleted	bool | None	Deleted state returned by the API.
associated_resources	list	Copy of associated resource metadata.
config	ReportConfig	Deep copy of the loaded or submitted configuration. Mutating it does not update the cloud report.
config_json	str	Serialized form of config.
created_at	datetime | None	Creation timestamp.
updated_at	datetime | None	Last update timestamp.
web_url	str	URL in the environment from which the object was created or loaded.

Section API

Report.Summary

Customizes one of the four built-in summary sections.

Parameter	Type	Default	Meaning
resource_type	"case", "geometry", "surface_mesh", or "volume_mesh"	required	Summary section to customize.
title	str | None	None	Custom title; None uses the standard title.
fields	list[str] | None	None	Visible fields. For Case, None uses the standard subset; for other types, None shows all supported fields.
force_scope	"total", "faces", "body_groups", or None	None	Case-summary force aggregation. Only valid for resource_type="case".
force_scope_ids	list[str] | None	None	Required for faces or body_groups; unavailable for total.

Discover valid fields:

Report.Summary.supported_fields("case")
Report.Summary.supported_fields("geometry")
Report.Summary.supported_fields("surface_mesh")
Report.Summary.supported_fields("volume_mesh")

Example:

Report.Summary(
    resource_type="case",
    title="Run summary",
    fields=["velocity", "alpha", "beta", "cl", "cd"],
    force_scope="faces",
    force_scope_ids=["wing"],
)

Report.ChartVariable

Represents a Y-axis variable that is defined by result metadata rather than by the chart's fixed force-variable list.

Constructor parameter	Type	Default	Meaning
source	"csv" or "udd"	"csv"	Result metadata source.
file_name	str	required	Result file name.
column	str	required	Metadata Y-axis column. Use a factory instead of the internal series-group sentinel.

Prefer the following factories over calling the constructor directly:

Factory	Meaning
Report.ChartVariable.csv(file_name, column)	CSV metadata exposes column as a Y-axis variable.
Report.ChartVariable.udd(file_name, column)	UDD metadata exposes column as a Y-axis variable.
Report.ChartVariable.csv_series(file_name)	CSV metadata exposes one Y-axis series group; select members with Report.Chart(series=[...]).
Report.ChartVariable.udd_series(file_name)	UDD metadata exposes one Y-axis series group; select members with Report.Chart(series=[...]).

Leading / and results/ are removed from file_name. Do not pass "__series__" directly; use a series-group factory. The factory creates that internal sentinel because it is part of the Report UI's persisted axis-ID protocol, while Report.Chart(series=[...]) controls which metadata-defined members are displayed.

Report.Chart

Adds one 2D chart section.

Parameter	Type	Default	Meaning
title	str	"2D Chart"	Section title.
resources	list of Case objects or IDs, or None	None	Cases shown by the chart. None selects up to 10 report Cases.
x	built-in X variable	"alpha"	X-axis variable.
y	list of built-in Y variables or ChartVariable	["CL"]	One to five Y axes.
comparison	"absolute" or "delta"	"absolute"	Value mode. Delta requires a reference Case and cannot use log scale.
x_range	(min, max) | None	None	Manual X range.
y_ranges	mapping from selected Y variable to (min, max) or None	None	Manual ranges for selected Y axes.
log_scale	bool	False	Use logarithmic Y axes.
style	"case" or "variable"	"case"	"case" colors by Case and lines by variable; "variable" colors by variable and lines by Case.
background_view	"left", "back", "top", or None	None	Geometry background for coordinate charts. Valid combinations are coordinate X with left/top and coordinate Y with back/top.
force_scope	"total", "faces", "body_groups", or None	None	Force-history scope. Only valid for pseudo/physical step charts with a force Y variable.
force_scope_ids	list[str] | None	None	IDs required by faces or body_groups.
series	list[str] | None	None	Selected series for metadata-defined CSV/UDD variables.
series_display	"individual", "cumulative", "summed", or None	None	Display mode for metadata-defined series.

Discover fixed variables:

Report.Chart.supported_x_variables()
Report.Chart.supported_y_variables()

supported_y_variables() returns only the fixed force and moment variables accepted directly as strings in y. It is not a query of Case result metadata and never returns residual, CFL, CSV, UDD, face, or body-group series. Those belong in Report.ChartVariable plus series, as described above.

Compatibility rules:

• alpha, beta, velocity, first_layer_thickness, and surface_max_edge_length accept the fixed total-force variables CL, CD, CFx, CFy, CFz, CMx, CMy, and CMz.
• pseudo_step and physical_step accept fixed force-history variables and Report.ChartVariable values.
• coordinate_x and coordinate_y accept only Report.ChartVariable values.
• Metadata series names such as residual components belong in series, not in y.

Report.Visualization

Adds one 3D visualization section.

Parameter	Type	Default	Meaning
title	str	"Visualization"	Section title.
resources	list of resource objects or IDs, or None	None	Selected resources. All must have the same type. None selects the first eight Cases, or the first eight resources of the report's first resource type when there are no Cases.
layout	"grid" or "single"	"grid"	View layout.
resolution	"low", "high", or None	None	Case rendering resolution. Case defaults to low; non-Case resources always use high and reject "low".
setup	VisualizationSetup, list, mapping, Scene visualization setting, or None	empty	Global linked-view setup. At most one manual setup per output name. A Scene setting must match the visualization resource type.
camera	Report.Camera, Scene viewpoint, or None	None	Global camera for linked views.
views	mapping from resource ID to Report.VisualizationView or {setup, camera}	empty	Per-resource overrides. setup accepts the same manual or Scene setting forms as global setup; camera accepts a Report.Camera or Scene viewpoint. An overridden view is unlinked from global state.

A new visualization selects up to eight resources when resources is omitted. Explicit selections above eight are invalid.

Supported setup types by resource:

• Case: surface, slice, isosurface, streamline
• SurfaceMesh: surface
• VolumeMesh: slice
• Geometry: no setup controls

Example:

surface = Report.VisualizationSetup(
    output="Surface output",
    type="surface",
    field="Cp",
    show=["wing"],
    hide=["farfield"],
    color_range=(-2.0, 1.0),
)

Report.Visualization(
    title="Surface pressure",
    resources=[baseline, variant],
    setup=surface,
    camera=Report.Camera(
        look_at=(0.0, 0.0, 0.0),
        up=(0.0, 0.0, 1.0),
        dimension=5.0,
        dimension_dir="width",
        unit="m",
    ),
    views={
        variant.id: {
            "setup": Report.VisualizationSetup(
                output="Surface output",
                type="surface",
                field="CfVec",
            ),
        },
    },
)

Capability discovery and cross-resource setup

Use get_capabilities(resource) to read the generated visualization Manifest and check_visualization_setup(setup, capabilities) to check exact output, field, and visibility-target references before report creation. The client does not automatically translate names or validate setups during Report.create(...).

See Configure visualizations across resources for the capability models, body/body_0 naming rules, compatibility checks, AI selection policy, and global-versus-per-resource setup examples. See Reuse saved Scenes before applying one Workbench Scene to multiple resources.

Report.Camera

Parameter	Type	Default	Meaning
position	3-number tuple or None	None	Camera position vector.
look_at	3-number tuple or None	None	Camera target.
pan_target	3-number tuple or None	None	Pan target.
up	3-number tuple or None	None	Camera up vector.
dimension	positive number or None	None	Framing dimension.
dimension_dir	"width", "height", "diagonal", or None	None	Meaning of dimension.
unit	"m", "cm", "mm", "inch", "ft", or None	None	Physical input unit for camera target/framing lengths. For a global camera, None means metres; for a per-resource camera, None means persisted model coordinates.

A per-resource Report.Camera with an explicit unit and a per-resource Scene viewpoint both read the target SimulationJSON and convert physical lengths to model coordinates automatically. Scene viewpoint lengths are canonical metres.

Report.VisualizationSetup

Every setup requires:

Parameter	Type	Default	Meaning
output	str	required	Exact output name from the resource metadata.
type	"surface", "slice", "isosurface", "streamline"	required	Output category.
field	str | None	None	Field name. Required for field coloring options such as ranges, themes, clipping, contours, color maps, units, or time frames.
show	list[str] | None	None	Entity IDs to show.
hide	list[str] | None	None	Entity IDs to hide. IDs cannot also appear in show.

Common field-display parameters:

Parameter	Type	Default	Meaning
log_scale	bool | None	None	Field logarithmic scale.
range	(min, max) | None	None	Effective field range used for rendering. When color_range is omitted, this value is also used as the UI's color-scale bounds.
color_range	(min, max) | None	None	Color-scale bounds saved by the UI. When range is omitted, this value is also used as the effective rendering range.
theme	str | None	None	Color theme. Automatically set to "custom" for custom_colors.
solid_color	non-negative int | None	None	Solid-color value used by the UI.
show_color_map	bool | None	None	Show the color map.
visualizer	"lic" | None	None	LIC field visualizer.
unit	str | None	None	Display unit for the field.
use_local_value	bool | None	None	Use resource-local field range.
time_frame	non-negative int | None	None	Time-frame index.

When only one of range and color_range is provided, its value is persisted to both fields. When both are provided, range controls rendering and color_range is preserved as the UI's color-scale bounds, so explicitly different values remain distinct.

solid_color and non-field geometry settings may be used without field.

Clipping parameters:

Parameter	Type	Default	Meaning
clip	"none", "above", "below", "range", or None	None	Clip mode.
clip_value	number or None	None	Threshold for above or below.
clip_range	(min, max) | None	None	Required for clip="range" and invalid for other modes.

Contour parameters are valid only for surface and slice:

Parameter	Type	Default
contour_mode	"surface", "contours", "both", or None	None
contour_steps	positive int | None	None
contour_line_color	non-negative int | None	None

Streamline parameters are valid only for streamline:

Parameter	Type	Default
streamline_direction	"upstream", "downstream", "both", or None	None
render_type	"ribbon", "line", or None	None
tube_width	positive number or None	None
tube_width_unit	str | None	None
ribbon_width	positive number or None	None
ribbon_width_unit	str | None	None
ribbon_angle_scale	positive number or None	None

Additional per-entity and custom-color parameters:

Parameter	Type	Default	Meaning
slice_variants	mapping from ID to "flat" or "crinkled", or None	None	Slice rendering per entity; valid only for slice.
wireframes	mapping from ID to bool, or None	None	Wireframe state per entity.
custom_colors	list of (position, color) or None	None	At least two unique positions from 0 to 100; colors use #RRGGBB or #RRGGBBAA. Only one setup in a visualization may define it.

Limits and validation behavior

• A report supports 1–50 resources.
• A new visualization defaults to the first 8 compatible resources and supports at most 8 resources of one type.
• Applying a report to new data uses the first 8 compatible visualization resources.
• A chart supports at most 10 Cases and 1–5 distinct Y axes.
• Explicit section resource selections must refer to resources in the report.
• A reference must be a Case included in the report.
• Unsupported combinations fail before the Report create/update request is sent. Most validation is local; compiling a physical per-resource camera can first read the target resource's SimulationJSON.

configJson compatibility

The generated payload follows schema version 1 from the Report UI. Its canonical grid layout contains only the lg key with 48 columns. Configurations created by older client versions may also contain md and sm; the client accepts those legacy keys when loading and omits them the next time it serializes the configuration, matching the UI normalizer.

The internal persisted models also accept current UI state that is not exposed as a high-level constructor parameter, including per-chart overrides, clipAreaType, and visualization diagnostic conditions. Loading a report, performing a metadata-only update(), or using apply_to_new() preserves the applicable persisted state. Supplying resources and sections to update() instead rebuilds the configuration from the documented high-level classes.

The client currently recognizes the UI's summary, visualization, and chart2d section types. Unlike the UI's forward-compatible normalizer, it rejects unknown section types and unknown fields instead of silently discarding them. A new persisted UI section or field therefore requires a corresponding client model update before that report can be loaded.

License

This package is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1 only. See LICENSE for the complete terms.

Development

python3.12 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/python -m pip install -e ".[dev]"
.venv/bin/ruff check src tests
.venv/bin/ruff format --check src tests
.venv/bin/pytest
./scripts/build-wheel.sh

The build script creates a wheel and source distribution under dist/ and validates their package metadata with Twine. User-visible release history is in CHANGELOG.md.

The persisted report schema is versioned independently from the Flow360 Python client. Schema changes must remain compatible with existing schema version 1, or introduce an explicit new schema version.