Command Reference

Open the settings UI to configure string size, panel detection, inverter settings, layers, and other project parameters

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Open the string sizing calculator to determine optimal string lengths based on module, inverter, and location. Supports both traditional Voc-based sizing and SolarEdge optimizer-based sizing — when a SolarEdge inverter is selected, the optimizer configuration is detected automatically and results show power-constrained string ranges instead of voltage math. Now includes C-series optimizers (US domestic content) alongside P-series for commercial projects. Includes an Array Planning section: enter your total module count (or pick a layer to count modules directly from the drawing) and target DC/AC ratio to see inverter count, DC combiner requirements, and a color-coded utilization display showing kW per inverter and percentage of max DC input capacity. A Deep Search toggle lets you choose between immediate results or a thorough background search with a tray notification when complete

Manage design profiles for multi-alternative workflows within a single drawing. Create, switch, and compare different design configurations without duplicating files — each profile isolates its own layers and settings

Toggle the Branch workflow palette — a dockable AutoCAD panel that walks you through Zones → Panel Groups → Solve → Equipment → Combiners → Homeruns → Export → ReOpt. Recommended way to drive Branch (Ground Mount is production; Rooftop and SolarEdge flows are experimental)

Open the bundled sample drawing in sandboxed demo mode and launch the palette against it. Changes are discarded on exit — safe for exploring the workflow without touching a real project

Import site terrain and draw it as a slope-colored mesh on the LEAF-TOPO layer. Reads site bounds, latitude/longitude, and drawing units from the drawing (site raster, AutoCAD geolocation data, INSUNITS) and prompts for anything it cannot detect. A confirmation dialog shows what it found before any internet request, so you can fetch, override the inputs, or skip. Fetches a 100-point elevation grid, using USGS EPQS for points between 18° and 72° N and 180° and 66° W, and PVGIS for points outside that box, then stores the grid in the drawing so the grading, tracker, and analysis commands can reuse it

Promote civil 3DFACE terrain already in the drawing into the LEAFTOPO grid, so the slope, shading, piling, and export commands can read it without fetching anything over the internet. Prompts for drawing units and the number of grid cells on the longer axis (150 by default, 300 maximum). Prefers faces on the LEAF-TERRAIN layer and falls back to every 3DFACE in model space. Reports the source face count, unique vertices, grid rows and columns, and how many mesh faces it cleared and drew

Color existing 3D face terrain by slope, in place, with no external data fetch. Prompts for drawing units, then you select the 3DFACE entities to analyze. Each face is recolored by slope band and the command line reports the counts: green below 5%, yellow from 5% through 15%, red above 15%. Use it on terrain that arrived from a civil DWG or contour survey. It colors faces only, so run LEAFTOPOFROM3DFACES instead when you need a stored terrain grid

Draw a 2D elevation cross-section through the LEAFTOPO terrain along a cut line. Pick 2-Points to click a line, Polyline to use an existing LWPolyline, or Multiple to batch several polylines in one pass. Sample count per segment defaults to 25 and accepts 2 through 500. Samples elevation at regular intervals and draws the profile on the LEAF-PROFILE layer at an insertion point you choose, with distance along the cut line on the X axis and elevation on the Y axis. Requires LEAFTOPO terrain in the drawing

Overlay a cut and fill heatmap on the LEAFTOPO terrain, drawing one colored 2D solid per grid cell on the LEAF-HEATMAP layer. Prompts for the proposed grade elevation, defaulting to the most recent LEAFGRADE result when that result is above zero and to the terrain midpoint otherwise. Red marks cut where terrain sits above grade, green marks fill where it sits below, grey marks at-grade, and color intensity scales with depth. Reports the cell count in each band. Requires LEAFTOPO terrain in the drawing

Grade a flat pad for BESS or electrical equipment. Select a pad boundary polyline or pick two corners, then set the finished elevation three ways: Auto balances cut against fill, Manual takes the elevation you type, and Clearance holds a minimum height above the highest terrain inside the pad (0.6 m default). With LEAFTOPO terrain in the drawing it reports cut, fill, and net volume in cubic metres plus the number of grid cells sampled. The pad outline and elevation label are drawn on the LEAF-GRADE layer. Without terrain data it still draws and labels the pad, but reports no volumes

Grade any number of pads in one pass. Pick the elevation mode once, then window-select the boundary polylines: Auto balances cut against fill for each pad independently, Manual applies one elevation to all of them, and Clearance holds a minimum height above each pad's own highest terrain. Draws and labels every pad on the LEAF-GRADE layer, prints per-pad elevation and volumes, and finishes with a consolidated total cut, fill, and net. Without LEAFTOPO terrain only Manual mode is available and no volumes are reported

Lay out a site access road from a centerline. Select an existing polyline or pick two points, then set carriageway width (6 m default), shoulder width (1 m default), and drainage cross-slope percentage (2.0 default). Offsets the centerline to draw the road and shoulder edges on the LEAF-ROAD-EDGE layer and places an annotated cross-section view below the centerline midpoint on LEAF-ROAD-XSEC. Reports centerline length, carriageway and total width, carriageway surface area, and cross-slope

Lay out single-axis tracker rows inside a site boundary polyline. Prompts for drawing units, row-to-row pitch (center to center, defaulted from the LEAFSPACING minimum when one is stored), module dimensions (reuses the LEAFMODULE dimensions when set), and tracker axis azimuth. When LEAFTOPO terrain is present it varies the row pitch to follow the slope. Draws one block reference per tracker table on the LEAF-TRACKERS layer, tagged with row XData, then reports row count, module slots, GCR, tube length, estimated piles, drive units, and DC capacity

Lay out tracker rows from a target ground coverage ratio instead of a pitch, using the same engine and output as LEAFTRACK. Prompts for the site boundary, units, module dimensions, target GCR (defaulted from the LEAFSPACING minimum pitch when available, otherwise 0.40), site latitude (defaulted from the LEAFTOPO grid), and axis azimuth. Computes the row pitch from the GCR, then prints the shade limit angle and an equinox backtracking angle table before drawing. Warns when the GCR you chose produces a pitch tighter than the LEAFSPACING minimum

Run an 8760-hour near-shading simulation over the tracker rows in the drawing and write the results to CSV. Reads PVCase tracker blocks. Prompts for site latitude and longitude (defaulted from the LEAFTOPO grid when one is stored) and module height above ground, then computes hourly sun position and row-to-row shadow projection. The CSV lists clear-sky energy-weighted and time-weighted annual shading loss per row alongside the site totals, and the command line reports the energy-weighted annual figure

Generate a tracker bill of materials CSV from the PVCase tracker blocks in the drawing. Prompts for drawing units and pile spacing (5 m center-to-center default), then reports tracker table sections, PV module slots, total torque tube length, estimated pile count, drive units, and DC nameplate capacity. Writes the CSV next to the drawing file by default, and you can enter any other output path at the prompt

Automatically detect and organize panels into groups with header labels showing +/- recommendations for even string counts

Add panels to an existing panel group. Auto mode fills all incomplete groups in the drawing at once, transferring panels from the nearest row-ends of neighboring groups

Auto-fill all incomplete panel groups in the drawing at once — standalone shortcut for the ADDPANELS Auto option. Uses 2D grid-aware panel trading that handles irregular group shapes (L-shapes, notched rectangles) by peeling panels from the nearest edge of each group

Remove panels from a panel group

Convert ground-mount tracker rows — including PVcase tracker blocks — into Branch panel groups, so a layout imported from another tool can go straight into the stringing workflow

Automatically generate optimized string connections for all panel groups

Select panels and create a single string (ignores configured string length)

Select panels and create strings using the configured string length. Shows real-time feedback in the command line as you select: even counts display '24 panels → 2 × 12-panel strings ✓', uneven counts show recommendations like '25 panels → 2 × 12 + 1 × 13 (add 11 or remove 1 for even strings)'

Delete an existing string from the design

Reverse the direction of a string

Swap inverter assignments between two strings

Assign string and inverter numbers to every panel group in one pass from the command line — prepares an imported layout for homerun routing and cable export without opening the palette

Place a single inverter, combiner box, or central inverter. When central inverters are enabled, prompts for equipment type: Combiner Box vs Central Inverter (ground mount) or String Inverter vs Central Inverter (rooftop)

Automatically place inverters for all unassigned strings using k-means optimization. Prompts for equipment type when central inverters are enabled

Move an existing inverter to a new location

Balance strings across inverter MPPT inputs for optimal efficiency. Shows per-MPPT DC power and per-inverter DC/AC ratio. Includes a Central Inverters tab when central inverters are present, showing assigned combiner boxes or string inverters per central inverter

Generate schematic homerun cables from string endpoints to inverters or combiner boxes. Automatically routes feeder cables from combiner boxes to central inverters when central inverter mode is enabled. Now applies an NEC-driven cable sizing post-processor that picks conductor gauge, conduit size, and OCPD ratings using your project cable defaults

Open the cabling studio palette — Simulate previews homerun and feeder cabling from the strings and inverters in your drawing, Commit writes it, and each commit replaces the last so you can iterate freely

Open the cabling studio in adopt mode — your existing inverter placements are never moved; the studio routes cabling around the equipment you already placed

Open the cabling studio with free placement enabled — the studio positions inverters for you and moves, adds, or removes equipment blocks when you commit

Re-route the drawn feeder cables from current equipment positions, straight from the command line

Auto-place L1 combiner boxes from the existing string layout. Detects aisles between panel groups, partitions strings per L2 inverter, picks each combiner's location at the partition centroid (snapped to an aisle), and validates NEC voltage drop on the resulting feeder runs. Writes L1 to L2 assignments so OPTIHOMERUN can draw feeder cables on the next pass. Requires L1/L2 collector mode enabled in Branch Options and at least one L2 inverter placed

Diagnostic command that draws what the placement engine sees on the LEAF-DEBUG layer: cyan lines for inner-row gaps, magenta for inter-group aisles, yellow circles at panel-group centroids. Use to inspect aisle detection before running LEAFCOMBINERAUTO

Inspect existing combiner box placements and report whether each one sits inside a panel group, in an inner-row gap, in a real inter-group aisle, or near a row end. Use to diagnose combiners that ended up in the wrong location

Check that every L1 combiner is assigned to an L2 inverter and no inverter exceeds its input capacity, then report the verdict in the command line

Open the Zone Height Manager to create named elevation zones with height offsets, assign strings to zones, and visualize zone boundaries. Zone offsets are applied to circuit length calculations in Cable Export (rooftop projects only)

Select panels in the drawing and assign them to an electrical zone. Panels are moved exclusively to the target zone — any previous zone assignment is removed first

Select string polylines in the drawing and assign them to an elevation zone. Strings are moved exclusively to the target zone — any previous zone assignment is removed first

Run an NREL REopt analysis on your design. Calculates total cable lengths and system power from the drawing, lets you enter cost inputs, then calls the REopt API for financial projections — payback period, NPV, IRR, lifecycle costs, and a cumulative cashflow chart. Results are saved per design profile so you can compare economics across design alternatives side-by-side

View cable data in an interactive table and export to CSV. Double-click any row to zoom to that element in the drawing. When elevation zones are defined, shows additional columns for zone name, elevation offset, and adjusted circuit length

Insert schedule tables (Equipment, Inverter, String, Homerun, Feeder) directly into the drawing in one pass. Reads current drawing state and cable sizing results — no need to open the export form

Import a SolarEdge Designer PDF, extracting panel positions, string assignments, and optimizer placements

Launch the interactive demo tutorial to learn Branch step-by-step with sample drawings

Display the command reference window

Submit a bug report or feedback to the Branch team