Zirium

Zirium is a Rust library and command-line tool for reading, inspecting, editing, and writing textual MLIR, with typed Python bindings. It works without linking LLVM. The parser preserves the original bytes, including comments, whitespace, malformed syntax, and invalid UTF-8. A separate semantic representation supports verification and structural edits.

Version 0.2.0 is experimental. It targets MLIR 22.1 textual syntax and supports selected custom dialect forms. The API may change without a migration path; bytecode and ODS/TableGen loading are unsupported.

Installation

Install the Python package with:

python -m pip install zirium

Published wheels cover CPython 3.11 through 3.14 on Linux x86_64 and macOS arm64. Wheels are specific to each CPython version. Other platforms require a local source build and are unsupported.

CLI binaries

CLI archives are produced by the release workflow for Linux x86_64 (static musl) and macOS arm64 (macOS 11 or newer). They require neither Rust nor Python. Binary distribution starts with 0.1.0.

Download the matching zirium-VERSION-TARGET.tar.gz archive and its .sha256 file from GitHub Releases:

In the download directory, substitute the version and target in these commands:

archive=zirium-VERSION-TARGET.tar.gz
shasum -a 256 -c "$archive.sha256"
tar -xzf "$archive"
mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin"
install -m 755 "${archive%.tar.gz}/zirium" "$HOME/.local/bin/zirium"
"$HOME/.local/bin/zirium" --version

Add $HOME/.local/bin to your PATH if it is not already there. On Linux, sha256sum -c "$archive.sha256" can also verify the checksum. The archive naming follows cargo-binstall conventions, so users with cargo-binstall can install a release that provides binaries with cargo binstall zirium.

CLI from source

Rust builds require Rust 1.88 or newer. Install the published CLI with:

cargo install zirium --locked

From a source checkout, use:

cargo install --path crates/zirium --locked

The Python wheel does not include the CLI. The getting-started guide covers Rust usage and building the Python extension locally.

Command-line utility

The zirium binary queries and edits textual MLIR. Pass the query first, followed by any input files. With no input files, it reads from standard input. For example, this selects every arith.addi operation in input.mlir:

zirium 'filter(op("arith.addi"))' input.mlir

Use zirium --help for CLI options and --list-presets for dialect coverage. Value-taking long options accept both --option VALUE and --option=VALUE. Use -f - for a literal query file named -; it does not read query source from stdin. An MLIR stdin operand (-) may be supplied only once. For semantic queries on StableHLO, pass --preset stablehlo --strict to reject unsupported custom forms rather than continuing with incomplete information.

To count each operation type within each function, save this as a query file and run it with zirium --preset stablehlo -f counts.zirium model.mlir:

functions = filter(op("func.func"));
functions | map_by(attr("sym_name"), children | subtree | names | tally) | json

Add reachable | before names to include supported referenced bodies, counting each reachable operation once.

The query language reference lists every predicate and pipeline stage. The CLI examples show complete queries, dependency slices, and edits.

You can also run the binary from a source checkout with Cargo:

cargo run --quiet --bin zirium -- \
  'filter(op("arith.addi"))' input.mlir

Python example

import zirium

source = """\
"builtin.module"() ({
  %value = "example.make"() : () -> i32
  "example.consume"(%value) : (i32) -> ()
}) : () -> ()
"""

parsed = zirium.parse_text(source)
assert parsed.original_bytes() == source.encode()

lowered = parsed.lower_strict("semantic")
if lowered.document is None:
    for diagnostic in lowered.diagnostics:
        print(diagnostic.range, diagnostic.message)
    raise SystemExit(1)

document = lowered.document
document.validate_structure()
table = document.operation_table()
print([table.operation(index).name for index in range(table.count)])
print(document.canonical_bytes().decode(), end="")

A File owns the original bytes, tokens, concrete syntax tree (CST), and diagnostics. A Document owns resolved semantic data. Use the file to inspect malformed source; use the document for semantic queries and structural edits.

Structured queries

Rust and Python can build reusable queries without query source strings:

from zirium.query import ops, op

consumers = ops().filter(op("example.make")).users().unique()
selected = document.query(consumers)
counts = document.query(consumers.names().tally())

Rust uses the same builders: document.query(&consumers)?. Queries return native operation handles, strings, counts, and maps. The structured query guide covers predicates, nested queries, semantic projections, and evaluation limits.

Output modes

Zirium has three output paths, each with a different contract:

Canonical output normalizes formatting and SSA names and does not preserve comments or aliases. Use original output to reproduce the input, or hybrid retention when edits should preserve unrelated source text.

For the exact structural-editing limits of Rust, Python, and the CLI, see the structural editing capability matrix.

Dialect support

Generic quoted operations are handled without a dialect registry. Unknown dialect types and attributes keep their balanced bodies as opaque values.

The baseline registry covers selected Builtin, Func, Arith, and CF operations. Bundled presets add custom forms from other dialects. Unsupported forms use best-effort recovery. Presets support structural queries, without full dialect verification or execution.

The custom-format guide explains registry configuration, operation shapes, and use from Rust, Python, and the CLI. The preset reference groups the available dialects and links to their exact registry definitions.

The corpus notes describe how syntax compatibility is checked against llvmorg-22.1.0.

The cross-interface capability reference compares parsing, verification, queries, construction, mutation, output, callbacks, registries, and resource limits across Rust, Python, and the CLI.

Agent skills

The repository includes optional skills for agents working with Zirium:

• CLI: queries, reports, dependency slices, and complete-document edits.
• Python: typed API usage, diagnostics, retention, and transactions.
• Rust: library integration and document ownership.
• Custom formats: research a project's dialect and build a registry; explicitly invoked as $zirium-custom-format.

Install each skill folder independently through your agent's skill mechanism. Skills are distributed in the repository, outside the Python wheel and Rust crate.

Repository layout

crates/zirium/          Core Rust library
crates/zirium-python/   PyO3 extension module
python/zirium/          Python package and type declarations
python/tests/           Python API tests
tests/corpus/           Versioned MLIR compatibility corpus
docs/                   Usage, compatibility, and architecture notes
skills/                 Agent guidance for CLI, libraries, and custom formats
fuzz/                   Lexer and parser fuzz targets

The architecture notes describe the syntax representation and processing benchmarks.

Development

Run the Rust workspace tests from the repository root:

cargo test --workspace

The compatibility guide lists the full CI checks, supported toolchains, and wheel checks. The getting-started guide covers Python development, and the release guide describes packaging and publication.

License

Zirium's original code is available under the MIT or Apache 2.0 license. Some MLIR-derived or adapted test material carries the source attribution and license notices recorded in the corpus manifest.

Release history is recorded in the changelog.