OrcaSlicer/.claude/skills/orca-profiles/references/process-profiles.md

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).

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 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).

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). 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.
5. Slice this process explicitly with its intended printer (on 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.