OpenSolver Workbench (OSW) is an educational/research open-source Engineering Solver & Script Workbench for inspectable desktop workflows, solver case preparation, script previews, result review, and report generation.

OSW v0.1.3rc1 is a source release candidate. It is useful for teaching, research prototyping, and transparent workflow experiments, but it is not an industrial-certified CAE tool, MATLAB clone, ANSYS clone, Simulink clone, or commercial CAD replacement.

• A plugin-based desktop workbench built around small, typed project and result contracts.
• A PySide6 GUI shell for project navigation, properties, result previews, and report status.
• A CLI for standard engineering file workflows, plugin health checks, demo projects, result inspection, and report summaries.
• A guarded integration layer for solvers, scripts, result datasets, field metadata, and HTML reports.

The core package stays lightweight. GUI, mesh, visualization, script, chemistry, and external solver integrations are optional and should fail with clear diagnostics when a dependency is missing.

• GUI baseline with Dark, Light, and System themes.
• ProjectSchema, UnitSystem, MaterialDB, ResultDataset, FigureDataset, and BoundaryCurve contracts.
• HeatSink_Flow demo project generation and validation.
• Plugin contract, manifest discovery, plugin health, manager UI, and local folder/ZIP install hardening.
• Runner diagnostics and explicit external-command safety boundaries.
• Mesh metadata bridge, optional meshio path, and bounded Gmsh primitive .geo generation.
• CalculiX input deck generation, explicit runner path, parser fixtures, and summary/validation helpers.
• OpenFOAM cavity/duct template paths and residual parser.
• MATLAB/Octave .m preview, GNU Octave runner path, FigureDataset handoff, MAT reader, and curve bridges.
• Report generator plus ResultViewer and FieldViewer metadata surfaces.
• CoolProp and Cantera optional CHM adapters with guarded dependency checks.

Windows source install:

git clone https://github.com/CAPTW/OpenSourceWorkBench.git
cd OpenSourceWorkBench
py -3.11 -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -e ".[gui]"

CLI and GUI smoke:

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m osw.cli --help
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m osw.cli plugins-health
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m osw.cli gui

Demo project and report summary:

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m osw.cli project-demo-json --out artifacts\demo_project.json
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m osw.cli project-validate artifacts\demo_project.json
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m osw.cli report-summary artifacts\demo_project.json

Generated files under artifacts/* are local runtime outputs and should not be committed. For more commands and troubleshooting, see Quickstart and the post-public-release roadmap.

For a guided first run, use the tutorial ladder:

1. First CLI Walkthrough
2. Result Dataset Walkthrough
3. First GUI Walkthrough
4. Release Asset Smoke Walkthrough

The first two tutorials need only the source checkout and Python environment. The GUI tutorial needs the .[gui] extra. Optional solver and science backends remain diagnostic-only until you install them separately.

Developer checks:

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pytest tests/unit -q
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pytest tests/integration -q -m "not external_solver"
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pytest tests/integration -q -m external_solver
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m ruff check src tests tools

Run the external_solver integration subset only on machines where the relevant optional executable is intentionally installed and configured.

Dark theme	Light theme	System theme

The screenshots are offscreen captures of the v0.1 GUI baseline. They show the intended layout and preview surfaces; they are not claims of solver accuracy or production readiness.

Start with Examples or the mirrored examples index. The examples and tutorials use existing fixtures and safe preview commands:

• Demo project JSON generation and validation.
• Plugin health diagnostics.
• MATLAB/Octave script preview and safety scan.
• MAT-file info with optional dependency diagnostics.
• BoundaryCurve CSV/JSON inspection.
• CalculiX result summary fixtures.
• OpenFOAM residual log parsing fixtures.
• Result catalog and field dataset inspection.
• HTML report export from the demo project.

Install only the extras needed for the workflow you are testing:

• .[gui]: PySide6 GUI.
• .[mesh]: meshio and the Gmsh Python package path.
• .[viz]: PyVista and Matplotlib visualization helpers.
• .[mscript]: SciPy and hdf5storage for MAT workflows.
• .[chm]: CoolProp and Cantera chemistry/thermophysical demos.
• External executables: Gmsh, GNU Octave, CalculiX ccx, and OpenFOAM are optional user-installed tools.
• PyYAML is optional for YAML project files.

Missing optional dependencies are expected on many machines. OSW should report diagnostics or skips rather than pretending a workflow succeeded.

• No industrial certification or production CAE accuracy claim.
• No native SolidWorks, CATIA, NX, Creo, or other commercial CAD direct import.
• No Simulink, .slx, or .mlapp compatibility.
• No full OpenFOAM GUI/editor or broad solver coverage.
• No full CalculiX FRD field parser.
• No full OpenFOAM field parser.
• No plugin signing, remote plugin marketplace, or dependency auto-install.
• No MSI installer or code signing yet.
• The GitHub Release for v0.1.3-rc1 is a public prerelease with assets; it is not a stable production release.

See Known Limitations For v0.1 for the full public scope note.

• Current develop package metadata: 0.1.4rc1.
• Current public prerelease tag: v0.1.3-rc1.
• Current public prerelease tag target: a6e8d3a8211e02359841d10e1947e16ab847b132.
• Next intended candidate tag: v0.1.4-rc1 (not created yet).
• Current develop includes post-tag documentation/status updates and v0.1.4-rc1 candidate metadata alignment.
• A public GitHub Release prerelease exists for v0.1.3-rc1.
• Release assets are attached: wheel, sdist, Windows portable ZIP, checksums, and manifest.
• Future maintenance and feature work are tracked in the post-public-release roadmap.
• Package publication, installer/signing work, and public announcement text require separate maintainer-approved gates.

Useful release docs:

• v0.1.3rc1 Release Summary
• v0.1.4-rc1 Candidate Metadata Alignment
• v0.1 Release Notes
• Release Checklist
• Post-Public Release Checklist
• Validation Matrix
• Tutorials
• Post-Public-Release Roadmap
• Windows Portable ZIP
• Code Signing And Installer Strategy
• Optional Dependencies

OpenSolver Workbench source is licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later. External solver binaries and optional tools are user-installed local dependencies and are not bundled by OSW v0.1.