SpliceCraft

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⚠️ Beta software. SpliceCraft is under active development and the API, UI, and on-disk file formats may change between releases. Your data files (plasmid_library.json, parts_bin.json, primers.json) are auto-backed up to *.bak on every save, but please keep your own off-disk copies of anything critical. Do not use SpliceCraft as your sole system of record for cloning work until it exits beta.

A terminal-based circular plasmid map viewer, sequence editor, primer design workbench, and Golden Braid parts domesticator — rendered entirely in your shell. Fetch any GenBank record by accession, load local files, annotate features with pLannotate, design diagnostic / cloning / Golden Braid primers with Primer3, and edit sequences — without ever leaving the terminal.

Quick start

pipx install splicecraft
splicecraft              # empty canvas
splicecraft L09137       # fetch pUC19 from NCBI
splicecraft myplasmid.gb # open a local GenBank (.gb/.gbk) or SnapGene (.dna) file

That's it. pipx creates an isolated virtual environment for SpliceCraft and its dependencies, so it won't clash with system Python packages. If you don't have pipx yet: sudo apt install pipx on Debian/Ubuntu/WSL2, brew install pipx on macOS, or python -m pip install --user pipx elsewhere. User data lives in the platform-appropriate data directory (see the Installation section below).

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Features

Core visualization & editing

• Braille dot-matrix circular map — plasmids rendered as crisp Unicode braille rings with per-strand feature arcs, directional arrowheads, and proximity-placed labels
• Linear map view — toggle with v for a horizontal strip layout
• Dithered sequence panel — per-base DNA viewer with feature bars, restriction site overlays, and double-stranded display
• Live NCBI fetch — pull any GenBank record by accession number on demand
• Local file support — open .gb / .gbk (GenBank) or .dna (SnapGene native) files directly from disk
• Free rotation — spin the origin left or right with [ / ]
• Restriction enzyme overlay — 200+ NEB enzymes including Type IIS (BsaI, BsmBI, BbsI, SapI) with visible recognition arcs + cut markers

Libraries (all persist to JSON)

• Plasmid library — SnapGene-style collection, auto-saves on import, survives restarts, supports rename and handslip-protected delete
• Parts Bin — Golden Braid L0 parts catalog with user-domesticated parts including sequences and primer pairs
• Primer library — all designed primers with Tm, length, date, status (Designed / Ordered / Validated), multi-select for batch operations

Primer design (Primer3)

• Detection primers — diagnostic PCR; Primer3 picks the ideal pair within a selected region, 450-550 bp product by default (configurable)
• Cloning primers — RE-site tails + GCGC padding; 30+ common enzymes or type a custom recognition sequence
• Golden Braid primers — BsaI domestication for all L0 positions (Promoter, 5' UTR, CDS, CDS-NS, C-tag, Terminator)
• Generic primers — simple binding primers, no tails
• Primers can be added to the plasmid map as primer_bind features
• Scrollable TextArea for custom sequence input; highlighted text = target

Annotation

• pLannotate integration — press Shift+A (or use the ◈ library button) to auto-annotate a plasmid against pLannotate's curated feature database. Optional — see install notes below

Feature operations

• Feature sidebar — click a row to highlight on map; click the map to select the feature under the cursor
• Undo/redo — 50-deep snapshot stack for all sequence edits
• Delete protection — focus-aware Delete key; confirmation modal (default focus = No) for library entries
• Clipboard — OSC-52 copy works in Windows Terminal, iTerm2, modern WSL

Data safety

• Atomic saves — all JSON files written via tempfile + os.replace
• Automatic backups — every save writes *.json.bak before overwriting
• Corrupt-file recovery — missing files don't crash; corrupt files auto- restore from .bak with a warning notification on startup

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Installation

Requires Python 3.10+.

With pipx (recommended)

pipx install splicecraft

pipx installs SpliceCraft (and its Textual / Biopython / primer3-py / platformdirs deps) into an isolated virtual environment and places the splicecraft command on your PATH. This is the right approach on modern Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and WSL2, where pip install into the system Python is blocked by PEP 668.

If you don't already have pipx:

sudo apt install pipx           # Debian / Ubuntu / WSL2
brew install pipx               # macOS
python -m pip install --user pipx  # everywhere else
pipx ensurepath                 # one-time; adds ~/.local/bin to PATH

With pip inside a venv

If you prefer a plain pip workflow, use a virtual environment:

python3 -m venv ~/.venvs/splicecraft
~/.venvs/splicecraft/bin/pip install splicecraft
~/.venvs/splicecraft/bin/splicecraft

(Plain pip install splicecraft into system Python works on older distros and inside conda envs, but will be rejected by PEP 668 on any recent Debian-family system — use pipx or a venv instead.)

User data location

User data (library, parts bin, primers) lives in the platform-appropriate data directory:

Platform	Path
Linux	~/.local/share/splicecraft/
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/splicecraft/
Windows	%APPDATA%\splicecraft\

Override with SPLICECRAFT_DATA_DIR=/path/to/dir splicecraft.

From source

git clone https://github.com/Binomica-Labs/SpliceCraft.git
cd SpliceCraft
pip install -e .        # inside a venv, or pass --break-system-packages

Optional dependencies

pLannotate (for automatic plasmid annotation via Shift+A) — requires conda:

conda create -n plannotate -c conda-forge -c bioconda plannotate
conda activate plannotate
plannotate setupdb          # one-time ~500 MB BLAST database download
# then run SpliceCraft from the same conda env

SpliceCraft runs fine without pLannotate — the annotation feature just notifies the user how to install it if pressed.

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Usage

splicecraft              # empty canvas
splicecraft L09137       # fetch pUC19 from NCBI on launch
splicecraft myplasmid.gb # open a local GenBank (.gb/.gbk) or SnapGene (.dna) file
splicecraft --version    # print version
splicecraft --help       # quick usage hint

If running from a git clone (pip install -e .), the same commands work; you can also still run python3 splicecraft.py directly.

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Key Bindings

Main screen

Key	Description
[ / ]	Rotate map origin left / right
Shift+[/]	Rotate coarse (10× step)
Home	Reset origin to 0
, / .	Circular map aspect wider / taller
v	Toggle circular ↔ linear map
l	Toggle feature label connector lines
r	Toggle restriction-site overlay
f	Fetch a record from NCBI by accession
o	Open a .gb file from disk
a	Add current plasmid to the library
Shift+A	Annotate plasmid with pLannotate
Shift+E	Enter sequence editor mode
Shift+S	Save edits to file
Delete	Context-aware delete (feature or library entry)
Ctrl+Z	Undo
Ctrl+Shift+Z	Redo
Ctrl+C	Copy selection to clipboard
q	Quit

Primer Design screen

Key	Description
esc	Close primer screen
m	Mark / unmark primer under cursor (★)
M	Mark / unmark all primers
S	Cycle status: Designed → Ordered → Validated
Tab	Cycle focus between fields

Mouse

Action	Description
Click	Place cursor / select feature under pointer
Double-click	Select full feature span
Drag	Select a sequence range
Scroll wheel	Rotate map (when over map panel)

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Menus

Menu	Items
File	Open .gb file · Fetch from NCBI · Add to Library · Save · Quit
Edit	Edit Sequence · Undo · Redo · Delete Feature
Enzymes	Show RE sites · Unique cutters · 6+/4+ bp sites · Connectors
Features	Add Feature · Delete Feature · Annotate with pLannotate
Primers	Opens the full-screen Primer Design workbench
Parts	Opens the Parts Bin (Golden Braid L0 parts catalog)
Constructor	Opens the Assembly Constructor for TU building

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Requirements

Package	Version	Purpose
Python	≥ 3.10	Runtime
Textual	≥ 8.2.3	TUI framework and rendering engine
Rich	≥ 14.0	Terminal rendering (Textual dependency)
Biopython	≥ 1.87	GenBank parsing and NCBI Entrez fetch
primer3-py	≥ 2.3.0	Primer design (Tm, thermodynamic screening)
pytest	≥ 9.0	Test suite (dev only)
pytest-asyncio	≥ 1.3	Async test support (dev only)
pLannotate	optional, conda	Automatic plasmid annotation (Shift+A)
BLAST+	optional, conda	Required by pLannotate
Primer3 CLI	optional, apt	Not used directly — primer3-py bundles it

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Data files

All user data persists as human-readable JSON in the repo directory:

File	Purpose
plasmid_library.json	Saved plasmid collection (GenBank + metadata)
parts_bin.json	User-domesticated Golden Braid parts
primers.json	Designed primer library
*.json.bak	Automatic backup — written before each save

These files are in .gitignore — they're user-local data, not repo content. A manual backup rotation happens on every save so accidental data loss is always recoverable via the .bak file.

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Tests

python3 -m pytest -q          # full suite (246 tests, ~45 s)
python3 -m pytest tests/test_dna_sanity.py    # biology correctness only (< 1s)

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License

MIT