cli-anything-inkscape

Apps & Automation

Command-line interface for Inkscape - A stateful command-line interface for vector graphics editing, following the same patterns as the GI...

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cli-anything-inkscape

A stateful command-line interface for vector graphics editing, following the same patterns as the GIMP and Blender CLI harnesses. Directly manipulates SVG (XML) documents with a JSON project format for state tracking.

Installation

This CLI is installed as part of the cli-anything-inkscape package:

pip install cli-anything-inkscape

Prerequisites:

Python 3.10+
inkscape must be installed on your system

Usage

Basic Commands

# Show help
cli-anything-inkscape --help

# Start interactive REPL mode
cli-anything-inkscape

# Create a new document
cli-anything-inkscape document new -o project.json

# Run with JSON output (for agent consumption)
cli-anything-inkscape --json document info -p project.json

REPL Mode

When invoked without a subcommand, the CLI enters an interactive REPL session:

cli-anything-inkscape
# Enter commands interactively with tab-completion and history

You can also start the REPL with a nonexistent project path. The CLI now seeds a new in-memory document instead of failing immediately:

cli-anything-inkscape --project /abs/path/new-title.inkscape-cli.json

Command Groups

Document

Document management commands.

Command	Description
`new`	Create a new document
`open`	Open an existing project
`save`	Save the current project
`info`	Show document information
`profiles`	List available document profiles
`canvas-size`	Set the canvas size
`units`	Set the document units
`json`	Print raw project JSON

Shape

Shape management commands.

Command	Description
`add-rect`	Add a rectangle
`add-circle`	Add a circle
`add-ellipse`	Add an ellipse
`add-line`	Add a line
`add-polygon`	Add a polygon
`add-path`	Add a path
`add-star`	Add a star
`remove`	Remove a shape by index
`duplicate`	Duplicate a shape
`list`	List all shapes/objects
`get`	Get detailed info about a shape

Text

Text management commands.

Command	Description
`add`	Add a text element; supports `--box-width`, `--box-height`, and `--line-height` for wrapped layouts
`set`	Set a text property (text, font-family, font-size, fill, box-width, box-height, line-height, etc.)
`list`	List all text objects

Style

Style management commands.

Command	Description
`set-fill`	Set the fill color of an object
`set-stroke`	Set the stroke color (and optionally width) of an object
`set-opacity`	Set the opacity of an object (0.0-1.0)
`set`	Set an arbitrary style property on an object
`get`	Get the style properties of an object
`list-properties`	List all available style properties

Transform

Transform operations (translate, rotate, scale, skew).

Command	Description
`translate`	Translate (move) an object
`rotate`	Rotate an object
`scale`	Scale an object
`skew-x`	Skew an object horizontally
`skew-y`	Skew an object vertically
`get`	Get the current transform of an object
`clear`	Clear all transforms from an object

Layer

Layer management commands.

Command	Description
`add`	Add a new layer
`remove`	Remove a layer by index
`move-object`	Move an object to a different layer
`set`	Set a layer property (name, visible, locked, opacity)
`list`	List all layers
`reorder`	Move a layer from one position to another
`get`	Get detailed info about a layer

Path Group

Path boolean operations.

Command	Description
`union`	Union of two objects
`intersection`	Intersection of two objects
`difference`	Difference of two objects (A minus B)
`exclusion`	Exclusion (XOR) of two objects
`convert`	Convert a shape to a path
`list-operations`	List available path boolean operations

Gradient

Gradient management commands.

Command	Description
`add-linear`	Add a linear gradient
`add-radial`	Add a radial gradient
`apply`	Apply a gradient to an object
`list`	List all gradients

Export Group

Export/render commands.

Command	Description
`png`	Render the document to PNG
`svg`	Export the document as SVG
`pdf`	Export the document as PDF (requires Inkscape)
`presets`	List export presets

Session

Session management commands.

Command	Description
`status`	Show session status
`undo`	Undo the last operation
`redo`	Redo the last undone operation
`history`	Show undo history

Examples

Create a New Project

Create a new inkscape project file.

cli-anything-inkscape document new -o myproject.json
# Or with JSON output for programmatic use
cli-anything-inkscape --json document new -o myproject.json

Interactive REPL Session

Start an interactive session with undo/redo support.

cli-anything-inkscape
# Enter commands interactively
# Use 'help' to see available commands
# Use 'undo' and 'redo' for history navigation

Export Project

Export the project to a final output format.

cli-anything-inkscape --project myproject.json export pdf output.pdf --overwrite

Wrapped Text Layout

For title cards, chips, and portrait-safe panels, prefer wrapped text boxes instead of manually inserting line breaks:

cli-anything-inkscape --project title.json text add \
  --text "Real capture + Veo cold open + Gemini score + thumbnail plate" \
  --x 180 --y 470 --font-size 118 \
  --box-width 1180 --box-height 260 --line-height 1.05

cli-anything-inkscape --project title.json text set 0 box-width 980
cli-anything-inkscape --project title.json text set 0 line-height 1.15

Notes:

box-width wraps long copy into multiple exported SVG tspan lines.
box-height lets long copy fail safely instead of running off-canvas.
Use wrapped text boxes for long-copy graphics before resorting to manual line breaking.

State Management

The CLI maintains session state with:

Undo/Redo: Up to 50 levels of history
Project persistence: Save/load project state as JSON
Session tracking: Track modifications and changes

Output Formats

All commands support dual output modes:

Human-readable (default): Tables, colors, formatted text
Machine-readable (--json flag): Structured JSON for agent consumption

# Human output
cli-anything-inkscape project info -p project.json

# JSON output for agents
cli-anything-inkscape --json project info -p project.json

For AI Agents

When using this CLI programmatically:

Always use --json flag for parseable output
Check return codes - 0 for success, non-zero for errors
Parse stderr for error messages on failure
Use absolute paths for all file operations
Verify outputs exist after export operations
Prefer wrapped text boxes for headlines and variable-length copy so layouts remain stable across edits

More Information

Full documentation: See README.md in the package
Test coverage: See TEST.md in the package
Methodology: See HARNESS.md in the cli-anything-plugin

Version

1.0.0