Command-line interface for CloudCompare — Agent-friendly harness for CloudCompare, the open-source 3D point cloud and mesh processing software. Supports 41 commands across 9 groups: project management, session control, point cloud operations (subsample, filter, segment, analyze), mesh operations, di

cli anything cloudcompare Agent friendly command line harness for [CloudCompare](https://cloudcompare.org) — the open source 3D point cloud and mesh processing software. 41 commands across 9 groups. Installation Prerequisites: Python 3.10+ CloudCompare installed on your system Linux (Flatpak): flatpak install flathub org.cloudcompare.CloudCompare macOS/Windows: download from https://cloudcompare.org Tested with: CloudCompare 2.13.2 (Flatpak, Linux) Global Options These options must be placed before the subcommand: Option Description p, project TEXT Path to project JSON file json Output results as JSON (for agent consumption) Command Groups 1. project — Project Management (3 commands) project new Create a new empty project file. Options: o/ output TEXT (required), n/ name TEXT project info Show project info and loaded entities. project status Show quick project status (cloud count, mesh count, last operation). 2. session — Session Management (4 commands) session save Save the current project state to disk. session history Show recent operation history. Options: n/ last INTEGER session set format Update the default export format for future operations. Options: cloud fmt TEXT , cloud ext TEXT , mesh fmt TEXT , mesh ext TEXT session undo Remove the last operation from history (soft undo — does not delete output files). 3. cloud — Point Cloud Operations (21 commands) All cloud commands take CLOUD INDEX (0 based integer from cloud list ) and most accept add to project to register the output back into the project. cloud add Add a point cloud file to the project. Options: l/ label TEXT cloud list List all clouds currently in the project. cloud convert Convert a cloud from one format to another (format determined by file extension). cloud subsample Reduce the number of points using RANDOM, SPATIAL, or OCTREE method. Options: o/ output TEXT (required), m/ method [random spatial octree] , n/ param FLOAT , add to project cloud crop Crop a cloud to an axis aligned bounding box. Options: o/ output TEXT (required), xmin/ymin/zmin/xmax/ymax/zmax FLOAT (all required), outside , add to project cloud normals Compute surface normals via the octree method. Options: o/ output TEXT (required), level INTEGER (1–10), orientation [plus x plus y plus z minus x minus y minus z] , add to project cloud invert normals Flip all normal vectors in the cloud. Options: o/ output TEXT (required), add to project cloud filter sor Statistical Outlier Removal — removes isolated noise points. Options: o/ output TEXT (required), nb points INTEGER , std ratio FLOAT , add to project cloud noise filter Remove noisy points using the PCL noise filter (KNN or radius mode). Options: o/ output TEXT (required), knn INTEGER , noisiness FLOAT , radius FLOAT , use radius , absolute , add to project cloud filter csf Ground filtering using the Cloth Simulation Filter (CSF) algorithm. Separates ground from off ground points (buildings, vegetation). Options: g/ ground TEXT (required), u/ offground TEXT , scene [slope relief flat] , cloth resolution FLOAT , class threshold FLOAT , max iteration INTEGER , proc slope , add to project cloud filter sf Filter a cloud by scalar field value range (keep points where SF ∈ [min, max]). Options: o/ output TEXT (required), min FLOAT (required), max FLOAT (required), sf index INTEGER , add to project cloud sf from coord Convert a coordinate axis (X/Y/Z) to a scalar field. Commonly used to create a height (Z) scalar field. Options: o/ output TEXT (required), dim [x y z] (default: z), sf index INTEGER , add to project cloud sf filter z Convenience command: convert Z → scalar field and filter by height range in one step. Options: o/ output TEXT (required), min FLOAT , max FLOAT , add to project cloud sf to rgb Convert the active scalar field to RGB colours. Options: o/ output TEXT (required), add to project cloud rgb to sf Convert RGB colours to a scalar field (luminance value). Options: o/ output TEXT (required), add to project cloud curvature Compute curvature scalar field (MEAN or GAUSS). Options: o/ output TEXT (required), type [mean gauss] , r/ radius FLOAT , add to project cloud roughness Compute roughness scalar field (deviation from local best fit plane). Options: o/ output TEXT (required), r/ radius FLOAT , add to project cloud density Compute point density scalar field. Options: o/ output TEXT (required), r/ radius FLOAT , type [knn surface volume] , add to project cloud segment cc Segment cloud into connected components (clusters). Each component is saved as a separate file. Options: o/ output dir TEXT (required), octree level INTEGER , min points INTEGER , fmt TEXT cloud merge Merge all clouds in the project into a single cloud. Options: o/ output TEXT (required), add to project cloud mesh delaunay Build a 2.5 D Delaunay triangulation mesh from a cloud. Options: o/ output TEXT (required), best fit , max edge length FLOAT , add to project 4. mesh — Mesh Operations (3 commands) mesh add Add a mesh file to the project. Options: l/ label TEXT mesh list List all meshes in the project. mesh sample Sample a point cloud from a mesh surface. Options: o/ output TEXT (required), n/ count INTEGER , add to project 5. distance — Distance Computation (2 commands) distance c2c Compute cloud to cloud distances. Adds a distance scalar field to the compared cloud. Options: compare TEXT (required), reference TEXT (required), o/ output TEXT (required), split xyz , octree level INTEGER , add to project distance c2m Compute cloud to mesh distances. Adds a distance scalar field to the cloud. Options: cloud INTEGER (required), mesh INTEGER (required), o/ output TEXT (required), flip normals , unsigned , add to project 6. transform — Transformations and Registration (2 commands) transform apply Apply a 4×4 rigid body transformation matrix to a cloud. The matrix file must contain 4 rows of 4 space separated values: Options: o/ output TEXT (required), m/ matrix TEXT (required), inverse , add to project transform icp Run ICP (Iterative Closest Point) registration to align one cloud to another. Options: aligned INTEGER (required), reference INTEGER (required), o/ output TEXT (required), max iter INTEGER , min error diff FLOAT , overlap FLOAT , add to project 7. export — Export Clouds and Meshes (4 commands) export formats List all available export format presets. export cloud Export a cloud to a target format. Supported presets: las , laz , ply , pcd , xyz , asc , csv , bin , e57 Options: f/ preset TEXT , overwrite export mesh Export a mesh to a target format. Supported presets: obj , stl , ply , bin Options: f/ preset TEXT , overwrite export batch Batch export all project clouds to a directory. Options: d/ output dir TEXT (required), f/ preset TEXT , overwrite 8. info — Installation Info (1 command) Show CloudCompare installation path and version. 9. repl — Interactive REPL (1 command) Start the interactive REPL session with history and undo support. Options: p/ project TEXT Inside the REPL, type help to list available commands or session undo to revert the last operation. Supported File Formats Format Extension Read Write Notes LAS .las ✓ ✓ LiDAR standard, supports intensity/RGB LAZ .laz ✓ ✓ Compressed LAS PLY .ply ✓ ✓ ASCII or binary PCD .pcd ✓ ✓ PCL format XYZ .xyz ✓ ✓ Plain text XYZ ASC .asc ✓ ✓ ASCII with header CSV .csv ✓ ✓ Comma separated E57 .e57 ✓ ✓ ASTM scanner exchange BIN .bin ✓ ✓ CloudCompare native binary OBJ .obj ✓ ✓ Mesh (Wavefront) STL .stl ✓ ✓ Mesh (3D printing) Typical Workflows Workflow 1: LiDAR Pre processing Pipeline Workflow 2: Change Detection Between Two Scans Workflow 3: Height Slice Extraction Workflow 4: Surface Reconstruction Error Handling Exit Code Meaning 0 Success 1 General error (see stderr for details) 2 Invalid arguments Common errors: For AI Agents 1. Always use json flag for parseable output 2. Check return codes — 0 for success, non zero for errors 3. Parse stderr for error messages on failure 4. Use absolute paths for all file arguments 5. Verify output files exist after export operations 6. Chain with add to project to build multi step pipelines without re loading files 7. Use cloud list json to discover valid cloud indices before each operation 8. Use export formats json to discover available format presets Version Component Version cli anything cloudcompare 1.0.0 CloudCompare (tested) 2.13.2 Python (minimum) 3.10

cli-anything-cloudcompare