pdbcat

A quick terminal viewer for PDB and mmCIF files. Not a replacement for PyMOL or ChimeraX—just a fast way to glance at a structure without leaving the terminal.

Examples

Representations

Cartoon	Surface	Backbone

Color Schemes

Chain	Rainbow	Secondary Structure

Half-Block Backend (any terminal)

Installation

From crates.io

cargo install pdbcat

Pre-built binaries

Download from GitHub Releases.

Or install with the installer script:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/nanomind-bio/pdbcat/releases/latest/download/pdbcat-installer.sh | sh

From source

cargo install --path .

Usage

# Quick view (auto-detects terminal, renders to stdout)
pdbcat structure.pdb

# Different representations
pdbcat structure.pdb --repr cartoon      # default
pdbcat structure.pdb --repr surface
pdbcat structure.pdb --repr backbone

# Color schemes
pdbcat structure.pdb -c chain            # default
pdbcat structure.pdb -c rainbow
pdbcat structure.pdb -c secondary

# Force specific backend
pdbcat structure.pdb --backend iterm2
pdbcat structure.pdb --backend half

# Interactive mode (rotate with mouse, keyboard controls)
pdbcat structure.pdb -i

# Export to PNG
pdbcat structure.pdb -o output.png

Command Line Options

Interactive Mode Controls

Supported Formats

• PDB (.pdb)
• mmCIF (.cif, .mmcif)

Terminal Compatibility

The backend is auto-detected. Use --backend to override.

License

MIT