Command Line Interface

The Reforge CLI (reforge-cli) runs conversion unattended — in build pipelines, scheduled tasks, and long-running folder-watch services — and reports results in a form your automation can parse.

Licence requirement

reforge-cli requires a Professional or Enterprise licence, and exits with code 10 without one. If you only need to convert files from a terminal, the underlying engine ships a free command-line converter — see Which command line do I need? below.

Which command line do I need?

Reforge is built on OpenCGM, our CGM engine, which we publish under Apache 2.0. OpenCGM includes opencgm_cli, a free converter that handles single-file conversion, folder watching, and profile selection. It is a genuinely capable tool and we recommend it for interactive and one-off work.

reforge-cli is the same engine wrapped for unattended operation. The difference is not what it can convert — it is what happens when conversion runs without anyone watching:

opencgm_cli — free reforge-cli — Professional
Convert, watch a folder, choose a profile Yes Yes
Low-level engine and format control More — presets, font maps, text-as-path, viewer shim Profile and DPI
Machine-readable output No --json on every command
Parallel conversion Serial --workers
Files still being written Fixed poll interval Debounce, stability check, drain timeout
Transient failures No retry --retry, with partial-batch exit codes
Running as a service No --pidfile, --log-file
Rule-based validation Geometry checks --strict, --skip-rules
Licence and config management n/a Dedicated commands

If a failed conversion at 3am needs to be retried, logged, and reported to a build system without waking anyone, that is what you are paying for.

Commands

Command Description
reforge-cli convert Convert a single CGM file to SVG
reforge-cli watch Monitor a folder and convert files as they arrive
reforge-cli validate Validate a CGM file against a profile
reforge-cli license Activate, deactivate, or check licence status

Platforms

  • Windows CLI — reforge-cli.exe, included with the Reforge installer.
  • Linux CLI — reforge-cli, available as a standalone binary for x64 Linux.

The command interface and all options are identical across platforms.

Shared concepts

Input profiles

All commands accept --profile:

Value Profile
auto Auto-detect (default)
generic Generic CGM
webcgm WebCGM 2.1
s1000d S1000D Issue 4–6
ata ATA iSpec 2200
cals CALS / MIL-PRF-28003
cgmplus CGM+ (European aerospace/NATO)
pip Petroleum Industry Picture

Output presets

convert also accepts --preset, which applies the output settings of one of the five built-in GUI presets. See the Profiles tab docs for the full setting matrix.

Value Aliases GUI preset Target scenario
s1000d — S1000D Defence / civil aviation IETP
ataispec2200 ata, ataispec ATA iSpec 2200 Commercial aviation legacy
webcgm21 webcgm WebCGM 2.1 Web technical graphics
cals — CALS source → SVG MIL-PRF-28003 deliverables
pipcggc pip, cgmpip CGM*PIP (petroleum) Petroleum seismic / well-log

The catalogue’s own display names are accepted too, so a value copied out of reforge-cli profiles works as-is.

A preset carries the whole output side — DPI, hotspot encoding, region handling, APS preservation, companion-file mode, multi-link mode, text rendering, colour space, minification and validation. That matters beyond convenience: --profile selects the input CGM dialect and is a different axis, and several preset settings have no flag of their own. Web optimisation is the one to know about — it is on by default and off in every delivery preset, so S1000D and ATA output differs depending on whether you pass --preset.

Options you supply explicitly win over the preset, so --preset cals --dpi 150 uses the CALS settings at 150 DPI. Options you do not supply come from the preset rather than from a default.

Exit codes

Code Meaning
0 Success
1 Conversion or validation error
2 Usage error — invalid or missing arguments
3 Partial success — some files in a batch converted, others failed
10 Licence error