What problem does it solve?
Researchers often struggle to load, analyze, and compare crystal structures across formats, leading to manual, error-prone workflows. Pymatgen provides a single, programmable toolkit to handle structures, formats, and data from the Materials Project with robust APIs and workflows.
Core Features & Use Cases
- Structure creation, manipulation, and transformation (supercells, symmetry reduction, interpolation).
- File I/O across 100+ formats (CIF, POSCAR/CONTCAR, XYZ, PDB, JSON/YAML) and serialization for provenance.
- Phase diagrams, thermodynamics, and Materials Project integration (MPRester) for high-throughput analysis.
- Electronic structure analysis (band structure, DOS), surface and adsorption studies, and compatibility with common codes (VASP, Gaussian, Quantum ESPRESSO).
- Use case: generate doped structures and prepare VASP inputs for HT screening or retrieve materials data via mp-api for quick phase-diagram exploration.
Quick Start
Install pymatgen and load a CIF to begin exploring crystal structures.