CLI Commands

Command	Description
check	Validate models for semantic errors and warnings
format	Format SysML v2 models according to a consistent style
viz Labs	Generate diagrams from SysML v2 models

Check command

Validates models for semantic errors and warnings.

Basic Usage

• Validate specific files

  syside check /path/to/analyzed_model.sysml /path/to/analyzed_model_2.sysml
  

• Validate all files in current directory recursively

  syside check
  

  Note

  When using syside check without explicitly listing out the files, Syside ignores hidden files and files from hidden directories (starting with ., e.g. .venv or .git). To analyze files from these directories, list them explicitly.

Output

If Syside does not find any errors or warnings, there will be no output. If Syside does find anything, the output will look similar to this:

/path/to/analyzed_model.sysml:5:28: error (type-error): 'Non-Conforming Types 1'::a does not conform to ScalarValues::String
   5 |     attribute b : String = a;
     |                            ^
/path/to/analyzed_model.sysml:12:30: error (type-error): ScalarValues::Integer does not conform to ScalarValues::Positive
   12 |     attribute b : Positive = -42;
      |                              ^^^
/path/to/analyzed_model.sysml:30:27: error (type-error): Collect::A does not conform to Collect::B
   30 |     attribute b : B [*] = (1..10)->collect { in attribute x : Positive; new A(x) };
      |                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
/path/to/analyzed_model.sysml:38:34: error (type-error): ScalarValues::Integer does not conform to ScalarValues::Positive
   38 |     attribute b : Positive [*] = (-1..10)->select { true };
      |                                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The output contains the source file path, line number, character number, diagnostic code, message, and code snippet.

Available Options

Option	Description
-h, --help	Display the help message with all available flags and short descriptions
-d, --diagnose <VALUE>	Choose which files to validate: project (default, does not validate external libraries or standard library), external (also validates external libraries), all (also validates standard library), none (skip validation)
--warnings-as-errors	Treat warnings as errors, exiting with a non-zero code if any warning is found
-q, --quiet	Suppress main output
-s, --stats	Print all analyzed files and the number of diagnostics found in each
-t, --time	Print how long analysis took per file. Combine with --stats
-c, --colour <VALUE>	Colorize output: auto (default), yes, no
-o, --output <OUTPUT>	Write --stats / --time results to a file
--config <FILE>	Path to a syside.toml configuration file
-j <THREADS>	Concurrency level, 1 to 8 (default: 4)
-i, --include <PATTERN>	Additional paths to include as external libraries
-e, --exclude <PATTERN>	Paths or glob patterns to exclude from analysis
--std <DIRECTORY>	Path to the sysml.library standard library directory. If omitted, Syside uses its bundled standard library
--crash-reports <ACTION>	Automatic crash report handling: ignore (default) or upload. More information at Telemetry.

Usage Examples

Run validation in CI/CD pipeline:

syside check

Format command

Formats SysML v2 models according to a consistent style. Useful when working in a team and using version control systems to prevent whitespace-only changes in history.

Basic Usage

• Format specific files

  syside format /path/to/formatted_model.sysml /path/to/formatted_model_2.sysml
  

• Format all files in current directory recursively

  syside format
  

  Note

  When using syside format without explicitly listing out the files, Syside ignores hidden files and files from hidden directories (starting with ., e.g. .venv or .git). To format files from these directories, either list them explicitly or use --include CLI option.

Output

After running the format command, you should see output similar to:

$ syside format
/path/to/formatted_model.sysml: formatted
1 file reformatted, 0 files left unchanged

The output shows the path of the file(s) that were reformatted, as well as the number of files that did not need reformatting.

Check Mode

The syside format --check command can act as a quality gate without editing the files:

• If none of the files need reformatting, Syside outputs <num> file[s] already formatted and exits with code 0 (success)

• If at least one file needs reformatting, Syside exits with code 1 (failure) and outputs:

  /path/to/formatted_model.sysml: would be formatted
  1 file would be reformatted, 0 files already formatted
  

• If syntax errors are found, Syside exits with code 2 (failure)

Note

For semantic validation, use syside check command. The format command only checks syntax errors.

Available Options

Option	Description
-h, --help	Display the help message with all available flags and short descriptions
-c, --check	Check whether files need reformatting without editing them
-q, --quiet	Suppress main output
--line-width <WIDTH>	Maximum line length the formatter will target
--tabs	Indent using tabs instead of spaces
--tab-width <WIDTH>	Number of spaces per indentation level. Only applies if not using --tabs (default: 4)
--config <FILE>	Path to a syside.toml configuration file
-j <THREADS>	Concurrency level, 1 to 8 (default: 4)
-e, --exclude <PATTERN>	Paths or glob patterns to exclude from formatting
--crash-reports <ACTION>	Automatic crash report handling: ignore (default) or upload. More information at Telemetry.

Usage Examples

Use in Git pre-commit hooks to prevent commits with bad formatting:

#!/bin/bash
# .git/hooks/pre-commit

syside format --check

For more information about Git hooks, see Git documentation.

Viz command Labs

Note

The feature is provided until 2026-06-01 under Syside Modeler while still being actively improved and refined by the teams of Sensmetry and Tom Sawyer Software. The licensing terms for further use are to be clarified in the meantime.

Tip

On headless Linux servers (no display), prepend xvfb-run -a to visualization commands (syside viz). This creates a virtual display that the Tom Sawyer visualization engine requires to render diagrams.

Install it with sudo apt-get install -y xvfb (Ubuntu/Debian).

Element command

Generates diagrams for individual model elements by qualified name, without requiring view definitions in the model.

Basic Usage

Pass a qualified name and one or more model files or directories:

syside viz element <qualified-name> <paths...> --output-file <file>

• <qualified-name> - qualified name of the element to visualize

• <paths...> - one or more .sysml / .kerml files or directories (searched recursively)

• --output-file - path to save the image; format is inferred from extension (default: element.svg)

Tip

In SysML v2, element names can contain spaces and special characters (e.g. 'Flight Controller v2' or 'Motor "Type A"'). When passing qualified names that contain such names, make sure to quote or escape them appropriately for your shell. For example, names with spaces should be wrapped in double quotes:

syside viz element "DroneModel::'Flight Controller v2'" drone-model/

Alternatively, use simple names without spaces or special characters.

Available Options

Option	Description
-h, --help	Display the help message with all available flags and short descriptions
-d, --depth <DEPTH>	How many levels of descendants to render. -1 means infinite depth (default: 1)
-r, --rendering <TYPE>	Layout style: nested (default) or tree. Also accepts asNestedDiagram and asTreeDiagram (matching SysML v2 rendering names)
-z, --zoom-level <LEVEL>	Zoom level for rendering. Applicable only to PNG output (default: 3.0)
-o, --output-file <FILE>	Path to save the image. Format is determined by extension (png, svg, pdf). Default: element.svg
-c, --config <FILE>	Path to a syside.toml configuration file
-i, --include <PATTERN>	Additional paths to include as external libraries
-e, --exclude <PATTERN>	Paths or glob patterns to exclude from file discovery

Usage Examples

The following examples use the drone model from the reference files section.

DroneModel.sysml

package DroneModel {
    doc
    /* This example illustrates how to define views that can be visualized
     * using `syside viz view` command. Please see the documentation in
     * file `DroneModelViews.sysml`.
     */

    private import ScalarValues::*;

    part def Drone {
        part battery : Battery;
        part motors : Motor [4..6];
        part controller : FlightController;
        part droneFrame : DroneFrame;
    }

    part def Battery {
        attribute capacity : Real;
        attribute voltage : Real;
        attribute mass : Real;
    }

    part def Motor {
        attribute maxSpeed : Real;
        attribute power : Real;
        attribute mass : Real;
    }

    part def FlightController {
        attribute processorSpeed : Real;
        attribute mass : Real;
    }

    part def DroneFrame {
        attribute mass : Real;
        attribute material : String;
    }

    part def DroneSystem {
        part myDrone : Drone {
            part :>> motors [4] : Motor;
        }
        part someoneElsesDrone : Drone {
            part :>> motors [6] : Motor;
        }
    }

}

• Render DroneSystem with one level of depth:

  syside viz element "DroneModel::DroneSystem" drone-model/ --depth=1 --output-file DroneSystem.png
  

  

• Render the full Drone definition with all descendants:

  syside viz element "DroneModel::Drone" drone-model/ --output-file DroneFull.png
  

  

• Same diagram as SVG:

  syside viz element "DroneModel::Drone" drone-model/ --output-file DroneFull.svg
  

• Render as a tree layout instead of nested:

  syside viz element "DroneModel::DroneSystem" drone-model/ --rendering asTreeDiagram --output-file DroneSystem_Tree.png
  

  

View command

Renders diagrams from SysML v2 view definitions in the model. This is the recommended approach for repeatable, version-controlled diagram generation.

See SysML v2 Views for details on view definitions and available attributes.

Basic Usage

syside viz view <paths...>

By default, this renders all view definitions found in the model.

Available Options

Option	Description
-h, --help	Display the help message with all available flags and short descriptions
-n, --qualified-name <NAME>	Render only the specified view(s). Can be repeated. Defaults to all views in the model
-o, --output-dir <DIR>	Directory to save rendered images (default: ./output)
-c, --config <FILE>	Path to a syside.toml configuration file
-i, --include <PATTERN>	Additional paths to include as external libraries
-e, --exclude <PATTERN>	Paths or glob patterns to exclude from file discovery

Usage Examples

The following examples extend the drone model with view definitions. See reference files for the full model.

DroneModelViews.sysml

package DroneModelViews {
     private import Views::asTreeDiagram;

    doc
    /* View definitions for the drone model. Each view lists elements
     * to render via `expose` statements and controls rendering options
     * through string attributes.
     */

    part def DroneSystemViews {
        view myNestedView {
            expose DroneModel::DroneSystem::myDrone;
            filter @ SysML::PartUsage;
        }

        view myTreeView {
            expose DroneModel::DroneSystem::myDrone;
            expose DroneModel::DroneSystem::someoneElsesDrone;
            filter @ SysML::PartUsage;

            attribute depth = 3;
            attribute fileName = "tree.svg";
            render asTreeDiagram;
        }

        view myTreeView_Zoom2 {
            expose DroneModel::DroneSystem::myDrone;
            expose DroneModel::DroneSystem::someoneElsesDrone;
            filter @ SysML::PartUsage;

            // depth defaults to 1
            attribute depth = 2;

            // fileName defaults to "diagram-{viewName}.{fileType}"
            attribute fileName = "tree-zoom.png";

            // fileType defaults to "SVG"
            attribute fileType = "PNG";


            // zoomLevel defaults to "3.0"
            attribute zoomLevel = 2.0;

            // omitting render defaults to nested diagram
            render asTreeDiagram;
        }
    }
}

• Render all views in the model:

  syside viz view drone-model/ --output-dir views_all
  

  

• Render a specific view by qualified name:

  syside viz view drone-model/ --qualified-name "DroneModelViews::DroneSystemViews::myNestedView" --output-dir views_myNestedView
  

  

---

Reference Files

Download Drone Model (ZIP)