parasolid-kit

parasolid-kit is an experimental, schema-aware parser for Parasolid X_T and X_B transmit files. Parsing and geometry mapping run in a safe Rust core, while Python users work with immutable typed models.

The project is read-focused and currently pre-alpha. It is intended for file inspection, validation, research, and conversion pipelines where preserving the transmitted structure matters more than silently approximating unsupported data.

Features

• Inspect X_T and X_B headers without a schema catalog.
• Parse the verified Onshape V30 subset without an external schema file.
• Use an explicit schema provider for inputs outside the built-in profile.
• Reconstruct an unmodified parsed X_B document byte-for-byte.
• Compare X_T and X_B documents after pointer-index remapping.
• Map supported topology, analytic geometry, and NURBS records to a typed B-Rep source model.
• Parse, map, and summarize one file with read_brep() or the human-readable check command.
• Convert the exact optional OCCT subset and export validated AP242 plus a provenance sidecar without routing through CadQuery.
• Wrap the same strict conversion as CadQuery Shape values for immediate inspection and downstream CadQuery operations.
• Write a bounded GLB/source manifest and inspect faces or edges in a bundled, offline local WebGL viewer.
• Return structured diagnostics and enforce configurable resource limits.
• Use the same functionality from Python or a command-line interface with deterministic JSON output where required.

See format support and limitations before relying on the parser for production data.

Installation

Python 3.10 or newer is required. Install the current development release from PyPI:

python -m pip install --pre parasolid-kit

The --pre option is required while only development releases are available. To install the current release by exact version instead:

python -m pip install "parasolid-kit==0.1.0.dev4"

Stable releases, once available, can be installed without --pre:

python -m pip install parasolid-kit

Alternatively, install a downloaded wheel directly:

python -m pip install /path/to/parasolid_kit-0.1.0.dev4-cp310-abi3-PLATFORM.whl

Header inspection works immediately after installation. Complete parsing and B-Rep checking also work without a schema file for the built-in SCH_3000000_30000 profile (verified_subset): Onshape V30 text/neutral binary exports of single solid boxes, prisms, cylinders, through-holes, spheres, and verified solids with elliptical edges, with zero user fields. Other keys and uncovered types require an explicit provider; see Schema catalogs. STEP, CadQuery, and preview operations also require an optional runtime and geometry supported by that adapter.

Optional interoperability profiles

The base install remains parser-only and has no runtime dependency on a geometry kernel. Two mutually exclusive profiles establish the optional OCCT boundary:

# Headless OCP runtime without CadQuery or VTK; Python 3.10+
python -m pip install --pre "parasolid-kit[occt]"

# CadQuery and its full OCP runtime; Linux/macOS, Python 3.11+
python -m pip install --pre "parasolid-kit[cadquery]"

Do not install both profiles in one environment. Their OCP distributions can provide the same Python import namespace; parasolid-kit detects that state before importing OCP and reports commands for returning to one profile. There is intentionally no [all] extra.

The base parser and [occt] profile support Linux, macOS, and Windows. The [cadquery] profile supports Linux and macOS. On Windows, the tested CadQuery runtime crashes during process shutdown, so CadQuery adapter calls raise interop.unsupported_platform before importing the native runtime. Use [occt] on Windows for conversion, STEP export, and preview.

On Intel macOS, the CadQuery extra uses Numba 0.62.x, the last release series with prebuilt wheels for that platform. Use Python 3.11–3.13 for this profile on Intel Macs; see Numba's platform notice.

The [occt] profile converts the documented exact I7 subset from BrepModel into a validated OCCT shape and can export that result directly as AP242. The [cadquery] profile runs the same strict converter with CadQuery's full OCP runtime and exposes the result through CadQuery Shape objects. Tessellation and the local viewer use the same OCCT result and are available in either optional profile; they do not require VTK, a CDN, or Node.js at runtime.

You can confirm that one optional runtime is usable without importing it during normal parsing:

from parasolid_kit.interop import require_occt

OCP = require_occt()  # imports OCP only after distribution checks pass

Convert a parsed result by naming the source length unit explicitly:

from parasolid_kit import read_brep
from parasolid_kit.interop.occt import to_occt, write_step

parsed = read_brep("box-v30.x_t")
converted = to_occt(
    parsed.brep,
    source_unit="m",
    target_unit="mm",
)

print(converted.report.occt_valid)
print(converted.report.metrics.to_dict())
print(converted.source_map.to_dict())
shape = converted.shape  # owned TopoDS_Shape runtime object

exported = write_step(
    converted,
    "model.step",
    output_unit="mm",
)
print(exported.report.validation.passed)
print(exported.sidecar_path)  # model.step.conversion.json

With the [cadquery] profile, the shortest interactive confirmation path is:

from parasolid_kit.interop.cadquery import to_cadquery, to_cadquery_shapes

shape = to_cadquery(parsed.brep, source_unit="m")
print(type(shape).__name__, shape.BoundingBox(), shape.Area())
print(sum(solid.Volume() for solid in shape.Solids()))  # solid-only volume

# One immutable tuple entry per source body, in source order.
body_shapes = to_cadquery_shapes(parsed.brep, source_unit="m")

A single source body becomes its most specific CadQuery Shape subclass; multiple bodies become a cadquery.Compound. The adapter does not infer a cadquery.Assembly, reconstruct a Workplane chain, or recreate editable feature history. Source mapping belongs to the original conversion result and must not be treated as valid after a returned CadQuery object is modified.

Generate a persistent, self-contained preview from that same conversion:

from parasolid_kit.interop.preview import PreviewOptions, write_preview

preview = write_preview(
    converted,
    parsed.brep,
    "model.parasolid-preview",
    options=PreviewOptions(linear_deflection=0.1),
)
print(preview.index_path, preview.report.to_dict())

The directory contains index.html, viewer.js, viewer.css, preview.glb, and preview.manifest.json. Each face/edge primitive retains its conversion-local key plus Parasolid entity ID, source node ID, byte range, geometry kind, and diagnostics. The manifest never includes raw source bytes or a path-like source_identity; only an exact sha256:<digest> is retained.

I7 extends the exact OCCT path with ellipses, parabolas, hyperbolas, explicit trimmed curves, cone frustums, untrimmed spheres and ring tori, open non-periodic non-rational 3D NURBS, and exact offset surfaces. geometry_coverage() exposes the parser, OCCT, STEP, and constraint status without importing OCP. Rational, closed, or periodic NURBS, pcurves, intersection curves, and blend surfaces remain explicit errors; they are not approximated from incomplete semantics. Unknown orientation, invalid references or topology, metric disagreement, and requested healing likewise stop with OcctConversionError, whose partial report retains the diagnostic. Generated OCCT seam/boundary topology remains explicit in the source map.

write_step() accepts only a complete, valid OcctConversionResult. It stages both outputs, cold-reimports the STEP in a separate Python process, and commits the final paths only after body/face counts, validity, bounding box, area, and volume pass. Existing output is rejected unless overwrite=True. The sidecar contains versions, units, conversion status, metrics, limits, and the complete source mapping; a caller-provided path-like source identity is omitted by default. A source_identity="sha256:<digest>" remains safe to retain.

To install from a source checkout, Rust 1.88 or newer is also required:

git clone https://github.com/monozukuri-ai/parasolid-kit.git
cd parasolid-kit
python -m pip install .

Schema catalogs

When neither a provider nor a schema directory is supplied, default parsing selects one of these compiled profiles by the exact internal stream key:

All have verified_subset coverage and require zero user fields. They need no catalog, network, or CAD installation at runtime. Profile provenance and coverage records their sources, canonical hashes, and validation limits. The iCAD profile accepts extracted Parasolid streams; .icd container parsing remains outside this package.

Use an external catalog for other keys or types outside these subsets. An explicit provider is authoritative: an empty provider or missing exact catalog fails without switching to the built-in profile. schema_provider=None means default selection. Nearby versions and the human-readable X_T common-header SCH value are never used as substitutes.

Siemens schema catalogs are not included in this repository or its packages. Obtain the catalog from a Parasolid SDK or a Parasolid-based product available to you, then point --schema-dir at the directory that contains it. The parser reads the catalog in place and does not copy it into the package.

1. Find the required catalog

Inspecting the header does not require a catalog:

parasolid-kit inspect model.x_b

Read header.schema_key in the JSON output. When using an external provider, the required filename is selected as follows:

For a two-number key, use the second number. For a three-number embedded-base key, use the third number. This value is also called the provider schema.

2. Obtain and locate the catalog

• If you already have a Parasolid SDK or a Parasolid-based CAD product, search its installation directory for the exact filename. Product layouts vary; schema directories are commonly named schema, and an installation used during this project's validation placed them under ETC/schema.
• If you do not have a suitable installation, request access through the Siemens Parasolid SDK, the Siemens 3D SDK trial page, or Parasolid Support. Ask specifically for the numeric schema version reported by inspect.
• If the X_T/X_B file came from another CAD system, its vendor or the file producer may be able to supply the matching catalog or export to a Parasolid version for which you already have one.

For example, search a known product installation directory without scanning the whole machine:

# Linux or macOS
find /path/to/product -type f -iname 'sch_13006.sch_txt'

# Windows PowerShell
Get-ChildItem 'C:\path\to\product' -Recurse -File -Filter 'sch_13006.sch_txt'

Pass the containing directory, not the catalog file itself:

parasolid-kit check model.x_b --schema-dir /path/to/product/ETC/schema

DirectorySchemaProvider loads only the exact sch_<provider-schema>.sch_txt filename and verifies that the identifier inside the catalog matches. A similarly numbered catalog is not substituted.

Python example

from pathlib import Path

from parasolid_kit import read_brep

source = Path("model.x_b")
parsed = read_brep(
    source,
)

print(parsed.summary.to_dict())
print(len(parsed.document.nodes), len(parsed.brep.bodies), parsed.complete)

read_brep() selects X_T/X_B from a known suffix or signature, resolves the exact built-in profile (or an explicitly supplied catalog), parses the document, maps the B-Rep, and returns all three views as ParsedBrep. parsed.document.schema_resolution and parsed.summary.schema_resolution record the selected provider and built-in profile metadata.

The lower-level inspect_xb(), parse_xb(), map_brep(), and write_xb() APIs remain available when each stage must be controlled independently. map_brep() can return a valid but incomplete model when a well-formed geometry record has no typed mapping yet. Inspect parsed.complete and parsed.brep.diagnostics instead of assuming that every parsed record has been interpreted.

Command line

These examples assume an input covered by the built-in profile. Add --schema-dir /path/to/schema to select an external catalog explicitly.

# Header inspection does not need a schema catalog.
parasolid-kit inspect model.x_b

# Parse, map, and print a compact human-readable report.
parasolid-kit check model.x_b

# Use stable JSON when the result is consumed by another program.
parasolid-kit check model.x_t --json

# These examples use the exact built-in SCH_3000000_30000 subset.
parasolid-kit parse model.x_t
parasolid-kit parse model.x_b --brep
parasolid-kit compare model.x_t model.x_b

# Requires one optional profile; source units are explicit and output is
# cold-reimported before model.step becomes visible.
parasolid-kit export-step model.x_t model.step \
  --source-unit m

# Generate the same bounded artifacts, bind an ephemeral localhost port, and
# open the bundled offline viewer. Use --no-open for remote/CI shells.
parasolid-kit view model.x_t \
  --source-unit m

check is human-readable by default and accepts --json; the existing inspect, parse, compare, export-step, and view reports remain JSON. view writes <input-stem>.parasolid-preview before serving only its five fixed resources from 127.0.0.1 and an ephemeral port. --write-only retains the artifacts without a server, --overwrite replaces an existing output, and non-loopback --host values require the separate --allow-external acknowledgement. Partial display is opt-in with --allow-partial and always shows a warning plus the missing-entity list. Exit status is 0 for a complete/exported result or equivalent documents, 1 for an incomplete B-Rep mapping or a valid comparison that found differences, and 2 for input, schema, parse, conversion, or export errors. python -m parasolid_kit provides the same interface.

Documentation

• Python API
• Format support and limitations
• Built-in profile provenance
• Corpus provenance and redistribution policy

Project boundaries

parasolid-kit does not parse native CAD containers such as iCAD .icd, CAD assembly structures, occurrence transforms, visibility, or appearance. A format-specific adapter can extract a bounded X_T/X_B payload and pass it to this package without making the parser depend on that CAD product.

The base package has no runtime dependency on a CAD product, geometry kernel, or OpenCascade binding. Optional profiles add an explicitly selected OCP or CadQuery runtime without making it part of the parser core. The package does not bundle Siemens schema data or proprietary CAD files.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.