The-OpenROAD-Project_OpenROAD/docs/contrib/ReadmeFormat.md

Tool Name

The top-level READMEs in each tool folder (~/OpenROAD/src/<tool>/README.md) has to be formatted in this particular manner. For most part, you can copy the format and replace the contents where necessary.

Commands

- Parameters in square brackets `[-param param]` are optional.
- Parameters without square brackets `-param2 param2` are required.

Command ABC

Please add a description, even a one-liner will be sufficient to 
avoid triggering CI errors.

The command_abc command performs...

The developer arguments are...

Note for commands, you must adhere to the top-level Tcl definition for the same command.

• Arguments: cannot be preceded with dashes
• Flags/Keys: verify if it is optional or required, then insert the necessary square brackets. Also, keys have to be followed with a specifier whereas flags only require the -flag itself.

Place the positional arguments last.

command_abc
    -key1 key1   
    [-flag1]
    [-flagDev]
    [-key2 key2]
    arg1

Arguments must follow this order and be sorted alphabetically within each category:

1. Mandatory flags
2. Optional flags
3. Positional

Options

Every row must have a non-empty description. Where the switch takes a value, state its type, the accepted range when one applies, and — for optional switches — the default used when the switch is omitted. Readers cannot infer any of this from the synopsis, and a missing default is the most common gap in the existing tool READMEs.

Switch Name	Description
arg1	Description for arg1. The type is string.
-key1	Description for key1. The type is int. Required.
-flag1	Description for flag1. Flags take no value, so they state no type or default.
-key2	Description for key2. The type is int in the range [25-50]. The default is 42.

Developer Arguments

If there are some developer arguments you want to highlight to the end user not to worry about - you can park them in the same level below the main Options category.

Switch Name	Description
-flagDev	Description for flagDev.

Useful Developer Commands

If you are a developer, you might find these useful. Link to the module's source file and swig file using paths relative to this README, substituting the real file names for ToolName:

More details can be found in the [source file](./src/ToolName.cpp) or the
[swig file](./src/ToolName.i).

Do not leave the link targets empty — verify each path exists before you commit.

Command Name	Description
command_abc_debug	Debug something.

Example scripts

Examples scripts demonstrating ...

./test/asdfg.tcl

Regression tests

There are a set of regression tests in ./test. Refer to this section for more information.

Simply run the following script:

./test/regression

Limitations

FAQs

Check out the GitHub Q&A discussions about this tool.

Authors

References

License

BSD 3-Clause License. See LICENSE file.