Shell Command Reference

Warning

The FlatCAM Shell is under development and its behavior might change in the future. This includes available commands and their syntax.

add_circle

Creates a circle in the given Geometry object.

> add_circle <name> <center_x> <center_y> <radius>

name: Name of the geometry object to which to append the circle.

center_x, center_y: Coordinates of the center of the circle.

radius: Radius of the circle.

add_poly

Creates a polygon in the given Geometry object.

> create_poly <name> <x0> <y0> <x1> <y1> <x2> <y2> [x3 y3 [...]]

name: Name of the geometry object to which to append the polygon.

xi, yi: Coordinates of points in the polygon.

add_rect

Creates a rectange in the given Geometry object.

> add_rect <name> <botleft_x> <botleft_y> <topright_x> <topright_y>

name: Name of the geometry object to which to append the rectangle.

botleft_x, botleft_y: Coordinates of the bottom left corner.

topright_x, topright_y Coordinates of the top right corner.

cncjob

Generates a CNC Job from a Geometry Object.

> cncjob <name> [-z_cut <c>] [-z_move <m>] [-feedrate <f>] [-tooldia <t>] [-outname <n>]

name: Name of the source object

z_cut: Z-axis cutting position

z_move: Z-axis moving position

feedrate: Moving speed when cutting

tooldia: Tool diameter to show on screen

outname: Name of the output object

delete

Deletes the give object.

> delete <name>
name: Name of the object to delete.

follow

Creates a geometry object following gerber paths.

> follow <name> [-outname <oname>]

name: Name of the gerber object.

outname: Name of the output geometry object.

geo_union

Runs a union operation (addition) on the components of the geometry object. For example, if it contains 2 intersecting polygons, this opperation adds them intoa single larger polygon.

> geo_union <name>
name: Name of the geometry object.

get_names

Lists the names of objects in the project.

> get_names
No parameters.

help

Shows list of commands.

isolate

Creates isolation routing geometry for the given Gerber.

> isolate <name> [-dia <d>] [-passes <p>] [-overlap <o>]

name: Name of the object

dia: Tool diameter

passes: # of tool width

overlap: Fraction of tool diameter to overlap passes

make_docs

Prints command rererence in reStructuredText format.

new

Starts a new project. Clears objects from memory.

> new
No parameters.

new_geometry

Creates a new empty geometry object.

> new_geometry <name>
name: New object name

offset

Changes the position of the object.

> offset <name> <x> <y>

name: Name of the object

x: X-axis distance

y: Y-axis distance

open_excellon

Opens an Excellon file.

> open_excellon <filename> [-outname <o>]

filename: Path to file to open.

outname: Name of the created excellon object.

open_gcode

Opens an G-Code file.

> open_gcode <filename> [-outname <o>]

filename: Path to file to open.

outname: Name of the created CNC Job object.

open_gerber

Opens a Gerber file.

> open_gerber <filename> [-follow <0|1>] [-outname <o>]

filename: Path to file to open.

follow: If 1, does not create polygons, just follows the gerber path.

outname: Name of the created gerber object.

open_project

Opens a FlatCAM project.

> open_project <filename>
filename: Path to file to open.

options

Shows the settings for an object.

> options <name>
name: Object name.

paint_poly

Creates a geometry object with toolpath to cover the inside of a polygon.

> paint_poly <name> <inside_pt_x> <inside_pt_y> <tooldia> <overlap>

name: Name of the sourge geometry object.

inside_pt_x, inside_pt_y: Coordinates of a point inside the polygon.

tooldia: Diameter of the tool to be used.

overlap: Fraction of the tool diameter to overlap cuts.

plot

Updates the plot on the user interface

save_project

Saves the FlatCAM project to file.

> save_project <filename>
filename: Path to file to save.

scale

Resizes the object by a factor.

> scale <name> <factor>

name: Name of the object

factor: Fraction by which to scale

set_active

Sets a FlatCAM object as active.

> set_active <name>
name: Name of the object.

write_gcode

Saves G-code of a CNC Job object to file.

> write_gcode <name> <filename>

name: Source CNC Job object

filename: Output filename