arc command reference

arc manages Argon libraries. It reads Argon.toml to find the source, technology file, dependencies, and GDS imports, so you don't pass them on the command line.

arc new

arc new <PATH> [--name <NAME>]

Argument	Required	Description
<PATH>	Yes	Directory to create. Must not already exist. Its last component is the default library name.
--name <NAME>	No	Library name to write to Argon.toml instead.

Creates Argon.toml, lib.ar, and tech.toml.

arc new my-layout
arc new layouts/demo --name demo

arc fmt

arc fmt [--manifest-path <PATH>] [--check]

Option	Default	Description
--manifest-path <PATH>	Nearest manifest	Library to format.
--check	Off	Report unformatted files and exit non-zero, without changing them.

arc fmt
arc fmt --check

arc check

arc check [--manifest-path <PATH>] [--argonc <PATH>]

Option	Default	Description
--manifest-path <PATH>	Argon.toml	Library to check.
--argonc <PATH>	ARGONC or argonc	Compiler executable to use.

Parses, resolves, and type-checks the library without running a cell. No technology file is needed.

arc run

arc run --cell <EXPR> [--output <PATH>] [--gds | --gds-only] [--spice] [--spectre] [--netlist-width <COLS>]

Option	Required/default	Description
--cell <EXPR>	Required	Cell to run, such as top(10., 20.). Arguments are Argon expressions evaluated in the library's scope.
-o, --output <PATH>	target/argon.bin	Where to write the compiled layout.
--gds	Off	Also write target/argon.gds.
--gds-only	Off	Write only target/argon.gds, without the compiled layout the editor opens. Uses much less memory, so it suits generating large layouts.
--spice	Off	Also write a SPICE netlist to target/argon.spice.
--spectre	Off	Also write a Spectre netlist to target/argon.scs.
--netlist-width <COLS>	80	Break netlist lines longer than this many characters; 0 turns wrapping off. Requires --spice or --spectre.
--manifest-path <PATH>	Argon.toml	Library to run.
--argonc <PATH>	ARGONC or argonc	Compiler executable to use.

arc run --cell 'top(10., 20.)'
arc run --cell 'top(10., 20.)' --gds
arc run --cell 'top(10., 20.)' --gds-only
arc run --cell 'inv(2., 1., 2)' --spice --spectre

tip

Quote the cell expression so the shell doesn't interpret the parentheses.

Netlists are described in Schematics.

arc doc

arc doc [--manifest-path <PATH>] [--output <DIR>]

Option	Default	Description
--manifest-path <PATH>	Nearest manifest	Library to document.
-o, --output <DIR>	target/doc	Where to write the generated site.

Generates a standalone HTML reference for the library, one page per module, with signatures, argument tables, enum variants, source locations, and links between the library's own types. Documentation comes from //! module comments and /// declaration comments. Doctests are not run.

lib.ar

//! Standard cells for this library.

use std::layout::rect;

/// Draws a square on the requested layer.
///
/// # Arguments
/// - `layer`: technology layer name.
/// - `size`: square edge length.
cell square(layer: String, size: Float) {
    rect(layer, x0=0., y0=0., w=size, h=size);
}

arc doc
open target/doc/index.html