# Headless automation API Open CAD Studio can run without a GUI and be driven over a line-based JSON protocol — for scripts, batch jobs, or AI agents. ```sh OpenCADStudio --serve ``` It reads one JSON request per line on **stdin** and writes one JSON response per line on **stdout**. The active document persists across requests, so a caller can act → observe → act. ## Protocol | Request | Response | |---------|----------| | `{"op":"new"}` | `{"ok":true,"total":0,"by_type":{}}` | | `{"op":"open","path":"plan.dwg"}` | entity summary | | `{"op":"run","cmd":"LAYER Walls"}` | `{"ok":true,"cmd":...,"entities":N,"added":D}` | | `{"op":"entities"}` | `{"ok":true,"total":N,"by_type":{"Line":42,...}}` | | `{"op":"query","type":"Line","layer":"Walls"}` | per-entity `{handle,type,layer,…geometry}` (filters + `limit` optional) | | `{"op":"select","handles":["2B"]}` | set the selection (by `handles`, `type`, or `layer`; `clear` to deselect) → `{"ok":true,"selected":N}` | | `{"op":"undo"}` / `{"op":"redo"}` | step the document history → entity summary | | `{"op":"save","path":"out.dwg"}` | `{"ok":true,"saved":"out.dwg"}` (path optional once opened/saved) | Selection drives modify commands — `select` the targets (e.g. the handles a `query` returned), then `run("ERASE")`: ```python ocs.select(type="Line"); ocs.run("ERASE") # erase every line ids = [e["handle"] for e in ocs.query(layer="Walls")["entities"]] ocs.select(handles=ids); ocs.run("ERASE") ``` Every response has `"ok"`; failures carry `"error"`. `run` drives Open CAD Studio's **own** command system — no separate bindings to maintain — so its coverage grows with the app. Interactive draw commands take their points as coordinate tokens; the tool is started, the points are fed, and it is terminated as if Enter were pressed: ``` {"op":"run","cmd":"LINE 0,0 10,10 10,20"} → two Line segments {"op":"run","cmd":"CIRCLE 5,5 3"} → centre 5,5 radius 3 ``` Coordinates are `x,y` or `x,y,z`; `@dx,dy` is relative to the previous point. Inline-argument commands (`PDMODE 3`, `LAYER Walls`) are passed through as-is. > Coverage is growing: commands whose options are typed keywords or coordinates > work; ones that still rely on on-screen picking (object selection by clicking) > are being wired next. ## Python client [`ocs.py`](ocs.py) is a ~100-line client — nothing to compile: ```python from ocs import Ocs with Ocs(binary="OpenCADStudio") as ocs: # spawns `--serve` ocs.open("plan.dwg") ocs.run("LAYER Walls") print(ocs.entities()) ocs.save("plan_out.dwg") ``` Any language can speak the same protocol over a subprocess pipe.