File formats

Format	Import	Export	Notes
QVF (.qvf)	yes	yes	The vibe family’s file format and vibe-sketch’s default: the whole document, a preview, and for any QVF reader each species’ 3D structure with its identity, the reaction scheme and the calculations (see the document format). A QVF from another program (a vibe-qc result, a structure vibe-view saved) opens as species with their 3D structures, charges, multiplicities, compound numbers and names, and its reaction scheme as reactions. Needs qvf-writer 0.4 or newer (install.sh --qvf-path).
.vsk	yes	yes	The same document as plain JSON, for scripts and version control; see the document format.
KET	yes	yes	Ketcher’s JSON; the canvas inside a .vsk.
MOL (V2000/V3000)	yes	yes	All species in one file, with their drawn coordinates. V3000 is used beyond 999 atoms or bonds.
SDF	yes	yes	One record per species, with id, number, name, charge and multiplicity as fields.
RXN	yes	yes	One reaction; reagents are kept apart from reactants.
CDXML	yes	no	Structures or the first reaction; read through RDKit. Export is roadmap WP 3.3.
SMILES	yes	yes	One per line; a reaction as reactants>reagents>products.
InChI	yes	yes	One per line.
XYZ	yes	per species	Each frame a structure, its coordinates kept as the species’ 3D structure; charge= and multiplicity= on the comment line are read, as vibe-sketch writes them. Frames of one molecule, a trajectory, keep the last. vibe-view exports XYZ. Written per species by the xyz input writer.
Name	yes	no	Through vibe-qc’s naming engine, which knows a limited set of names.
SVG	no	yes	Structures in the ACS 1996 style; a reaction as a scheme with arrow, reagents, conditions, yield and compound numbers.
PNG	no	yes	One structure from the server. The browser app rasterizes a scheme’s SVG.

Structures from other programs. A QVF structure or an XYZ frame is atoms and coordinates; vibe-sketch perceives the bonds. A SMILES the file states gives the bond orders and charges, and the coordinates are kept. Without one, the bond orders are perceived with the stated charge. A neutral radical or a metal hydride, whose bond orders nothing fixes, is drawn with single bonds and a warning to check it. A structure that holds several molecules, such as a dimer, gives each its own 3D structure. A periodic structure is refused: vibe-sketch draws molecules.

Small coordinates in scientific notation, including near-zero residuals from geometry optimisation, retain their full precision when imported from QVF or XYZ.

Opening a QVF or a .vsk takes the whole document: species, compound numbers, names, 3D structures and jobs, with species and reactions read again from the drawing so they match it. Importing one into a document adds its drawing beside what is there.

Large KET drawings and imported structures use V3000 internally when a canvas molecule has more than 999 atoms or bonds. Charges, radicals, isotopes and drawn stereochemistry are retained. Unsupported chemistry still produces a warning with the reason.

Exports refuse what a format cannot hold and say why: an RXN file of a document without a reaction, an RXN file of a document with several, or a server PNG of a scheme. Imports refuse input they cannot read.