ciftty-0.2.0 is not a library.
ciftty
ciftty is a terminal CIF crystal structure viewer and editor written in Rust.
Renders atomic structures as shaded ASCII spheres with bonds, periodic images,
and a unit-cell wireframe. It can also simulate powder XRD patterns and edit/save
structures directly in the TUI.
Install
cargo install ciftty
Requires Rust 1.85+ (edition 2024).
Usage
ciftty path/to/structure.cif
ciftty
Press Shift+O at any time to open the CIF browser dialog.
Press Shift+E to edit the current structure, or Shift+F to start a new one.
Controls
Navigation
| Key |
Action |
h / l |
Rotate left / right |
j / k |
Rotate down / up |
u / o |
Roll |
w / a / s / d |
Pan |
i |
Isometric view |
Shift+A / B / C |
Snap to lattice axis a / b / c |
Camera
| Key |
Action |
+ / - or scroll wheel |
Zoom in / out |
, / . or Ctrl+scroll |
Decrease / increase FOV |
z |
Toggle FOV-size lock (keeps apparent size constant while changing FOV) |
Display
| Key |
Action |
b |
Toggle bonds |
c |
Toggle unit-cell wireframe |
x |
Toggle cell-on-top overlay |
r |
Toggle boundary-repeat atom images |
t |
Toggle bonded outside-cell atom images |
n / m |
Decrease / increase max bond length |
Shift+N / Shift+M |
Larger bond length step |
[ / ] |
Decrease / increase sphere size |
g |
Cycle render theme (orbital → neon → wild → dense → classic) |
v |
Toggle orientation gizmo |
Shift+L |
Toggle atom labels |
Diffraction
| Key |
Action |
Shift+X |
Toggle XRD panel |
Shift+W |
Cycle X-ray source (Cu Kα / Mo Kα / Co Kα / Ag Kα) |
Editor
| Key |
Action |
Shift+E |
Toggle editor for current structure |
Shift+F |
Open editor with a new empty structure |
Editor (while editor is open)
| Key |
Action |
Enter |
Enter/leave field edit mode |
Tab / Shift+Tab |
Next / previous field |
| Arrow keys |
Move focus (nav mode) or cursor/focus (edit mode) |
A |
Add atom row |
D / Delete |
Delete focused atom row |
Ctrl+A |
Apply edits to the live structure |
Ctrl+S |
Save CIF (existing path or <title>.cif) |
Esc |
Exit edit mode (or close editor from nav mode) |
Spin lock
| Key |
Action |
Shift+R |
Toggle spin-lock mode |
h / j / k / l / u / o |
Set spin direction (while in spin-lock mode) |
< / > |
Decrease / increase spin speed |
Other
| Key |
Action |
Shift+O |
Open CIF browser dialog |
Tab |
Cycle selected atom |
q |
Quit |
Mouse drag rotates the view; scroll wheel zooms (Ctrl+scroll changes FOV).
Features
- Perspective projection with configurable FOV and zoom
- Lambert-shaded spheres with five render themes
- Bond detection with configurable max distance
- Symmetry expansion from
_symmetry_equiv_pos_as_xyz / _space_group_symop loops
- Periodic boundary images and bonded outside-cell images
- Orientation gizmo (RGB x/y/z axes)
- Simulated powder XRD panel with wavelength presets and top-peak labels
- Built-in structure editor for title, cell, space group, and asymmetric-unit atoms
- Apply edits live and save back to CIF
- Kitty keyboard protocol for smooth key-repeat
License
MIT — see LICENSE.
