# Process profiles

Processes live in `resources/profiles/<Vendor>/process/`, selectable leaves and shared bases alike, and
every one of them is registered in `process_list`. There are no global processes shared across vendors.

## Naming

`"<layer height>mm <quality> @<target>"` is near-universal, so match it: the quality word before `@`,
the printer label after it ([naming.md](naming.md#process)).

Follow the bundle's existing quality vocabulary. BBL's common ladder relates the quality word to the
layer height / nozzle ratio; it is a naming convention, not a loader constraint:

| Quality | Ratio | 0.2 nozzle | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.8 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Extra Fine | 0.2× | — | 0.08 | — | — |
| Fine | 0.3× | 0.06 | 0.12 | 0.18 | 0.24 |
| Optimal | 0.4× | 0.08 | 0.16 | 0.24 | 0.32 |
| Standard | 0.5× | 0.10 | 0.20 | 0.30 | 0.40 |
| Draft | 0.6× | 0.12 | 0.24 | 0.36 | 0.48 |
| Extra Draft | 0.7× | 0.14 | 0.28 | 0.42 | 0.56 |

This is the `fdm_process_single_<lh>_nozzle_<n>` ladder; 0.4 is commonly the unsuffixed nozzle default.
Newer BBL printers add High Quality, Balanced Quality and Strength tiers. Match neighbouring names rather
than renaming shipped tiers to fit the table. On a model with several nozzles, processes for the other
nozzles usually carry the nozzle in the label (`0.30mm Standard @BBL X1C 0.6 nozzle`); follow the bundle.

The `@target` is a human label, not a reference: it need not equal any printer variant name.
Compatibility comes from the resolved list or condition, not this label.

## Shape

A selectable leaf has `type`, `setting_id`, `name` and `instantiation`, normally `inherits` and
`from`, plus compatibility; its slicing keys, `layer_height` included, normally come from its bases. A
base has `type`, `name`, `instantiation`, `from`, and **no** `setting_id`.

**Target shape: a 7-key leaf.** `OrcaArena` is the cleanest model:
`fdm_process_common` → `fdm_process_arena_common` → `fdm_process_arena_<lh>_nozzle_<n>` → leaf, where the
leaf carries only `type`, `name`, `inherits`, `from`, `setting_id`, `instantiation` and
`compatible_printers`, and the per-nozzle base holds the layer height and all eight line widths.
[shared-bases.md](shared-bases.md#levels) says which level each process setting belongs to.

BBL's *layering* is a model too (every leaf inherits a base, names its printers directly and holds no
layer height of its own), but not its content: its leaves carry multi-variant `print_extruder_variant`
arrays that no single-variant vendor needs ([extruder-variants.md](extruder-variants.md#process)).

A bundle has its own `fdm_process_common` as the inherits-less root, since a process inherits only
inside its bundle; starting a new bundle's from another vendor's copy is fine.

Beware leaf-inherits-leaf: a bundle may chain selectable processes several levels deep, so editing one
silently changes others. Check a leaf's children before editing it.

## Compatibility

A leaf sets `compatible_printers` directly, inherits it from a base, or falls through to
`compatible_printers_condition`. After resolving `inherits`, **every selectable process has one or the
other**: that is the invariant to review against. Unlike filaments, inheriting `compatible_printers` is
legitimate for a process, and no check enforces its presence.

- A non-empty `compatible_printers` makes `compatible_printers_condition` **dead**. Use one or the
  other.
- A condition that fails to parse means *compatible with everything*: a warning, not an error. A typo
  widens compatibility instead of narrowing it.
- A regex in a condition must match the **whole** string, so wrap the keyword in `.*`; `.` also spans
  the newlines inside `printer_notes`.
- A `printer_notes` keyword that prefixes another model's keyword matches both. Guard it with a
  character class after the keyword, and combine terms with `and`:

  ```
  printer_notes=~/.*PRINTER_MODEL_COREONE[^_a-zA-Z0-9].*/ and nozzle_diameter[0]==0.4 and printer_notes=~/.*HF_NOZZLE.*/
  ```

  The `[^_a-zA-Z0-9]` exists because `PRINTER_MODEL_COREONE_L` also contains `PRINTER_MODEL_COREONE`.

A leaf listing a whole model family is where a newly added printer is usually forgotten.

## Values to review per nozzle

| Key group | Review |
| --- | --- |
| `line_width` and per-region widths | resolved widths suit the nozzle and layer height |
| `layer_height`, `initial_layer_print_height` | within the printer's `min_layer_height` / `max_layer_height` |
| print speeds | consistent with flow limits and hardware tuning |
| shell layers, wall loops, accelerations, support Z distances | preserve the intended thickness, motion and support behaviour |

**A common starting pattern is line width = nozzle + 0.02 mm**: 0.22 / 0.42 / 0.62 / 0.82 / 1.02. In
that pattern, at 0.4, `inner_wall_line_width`, `sparse_infill_line_width`, `skin_infill_line_width` and
`skeleton_infill_line_width` widen to 0.45 and `initial_layer_line_width` to 0.5; at 0.2,
`initial_layer_line_width` widens to 0.25. Also derived, and easily missed:
`ironing_inset = line_width / 2` (0.11 / 0.21 / 0.31 / 0.41). These are examples, not required values;
preserve intentional vendor tuning and percentage or automatic widths, and validate their resolved
values.

`min_layer_height` and `max_layer_height` are machine keys; no process file sets them.

### Slicing limits

Slicing rejects a process that breaks one of these (the message in italics):

1. `initial_layer_print_height` ≤ the smallest `nozzle_diameter` (with a raft, the nozzle of the raft's
   first-layer extruder).
2. `layer_height` ≤ the smallest `nozzle_diameter`: *"Layer height cannot exceed nozzle diameter."*
3. `line_width` and the seven per-region widths (inner and outer wall, sparse infill, internal solid
   infill, top surface, skin, skeleton) > `layer_height`: *"Line width too small"*.
   `support_line_width` is checked only when the object has support or a raft;
   `initial_layer_line_width` is never checked. A width that resolves to 0 (automatic) is skipped.
4. Every width ≤ 5 × the largest `nozzle_diameter`: *"Line width too large"*.

Two further rules cover `bridge_line_width`: it must not exceed the nozzle diameter, and must exceed
`layer_height` unless `thick_bridges` and `thick_internal_bridges` are both on. The slice sweep starts
from printer defaults rather than enumerating every process: **a new non-default process gets no
dedicated slice coverage in CI.**

## What CI checks on a process

Structure, not content: `process_list` name consistency **and** index coverage the other way, two files
claiming one process name, the `extruder_clearance_radius` / `extruder_clearance_max_radius` conflict
pair, duplicate JSON keys, a file `normalize` would rewrite, the five `setting_id` rules (present on
selectable presets, absent from bases, equal to the formula outside `BBL/`, unique across the tree, and
no misspelled key `settings_id`), and the variant arrays: every array of `print_options_with_variant`
exactly `variant length × stride` wide in each selectable process that writes it, and a written
`print_extruder_id` one entry per variant
([variant arrays](validation.md#variant-arrays)). `compatible_printers` presence is checked for
**filaments only**.

The loader derives a missing `setting_id` on the fly, so the validator accepts a process without one;
only `orca_profile_tool.py check` catches it.
Running the validator alone gives a false all-clear.

## Silent failures specific to processes

- **Unknown or misspelled keys are discarded with no error and no warning**, both plain typos
  (`inital_layer_height`, `tree_support_bramch_diameter_angle`, `sparse_infill_patter`) and keys
  copied from other slicers that Orca never defined.
- Keys on the tool's obsolete list (`adaptive_layer_height`, `overhang_totally_speed`, …) are rejected
  by `check`'s normalization pass across preset types; `normalize` removes them. The additional per-key
  obsolete warnings read `filament/` only.
- A dangling `compatible_printers` inside an `instantiation: "false"` base is reported only through a
  selectable child that inherits it unchanged; it goes unreported when every child overrides the list,
  or when the base has no instantiated children.
- Nothing flags an orphan base that nothing inherits, usually the leftover of a half-finished nozzle
  addition.

## Adding a quality tier or a nozzle's processes

1. Choose the layer height and quality label using the bundle's existing ladder.
2. If the bundle has per-nozzle bases, add one (`fdm_process_<vendor>_<lh>_nozzle_<n>`) with the layer
   height, nozzle-appropriate line widths, `initial_layer_print_height` and `ironing_inset`.
3. Add the leaf: 7 keys, `compatible_printers` naming the exact printer variant(s).
4. Register both in `process_list`, parent first, bump the version, run the id tool and validate: the
   [authoring workflow](../SKILL.md#creating-or-modifying-a-profile).
5. Slice this process explicitly with its intended printer
   ([on a copy of the tree](validation.md#checking-a-copy-of-the-tree)); the sweep gives non-default
   tiers no dedicated coverage. If it is a printer's `default_print_profile`, verify the exact name and
   resolved compatibility too: the sweep may fall back or select another compatible process.