Origin Pro Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that enables AI assistants like Claude to control OriginLab Origin Pro via COM automation. All operations are reflected in Origin's GUI in real-time — you watch as the AI creates worksheets, plots graphs, and styles figures.

What Can It Do?

• Worksheet Management — Create workbooks, read/write data, import CSV/Excel, export CSV, column formulas, sort, transpose
• Matrices & 3D — Matrix books, XYZ gridding, 3D surface/scatter, contour, heatmap, image plots
• Graph Creation — Scatter, line, line+symbol, column, bar, area, pie, histogram, contour plots
• Graph Layers & Axes — Log scales, dual Y axis, panels, reference lines, text annotations
• Plot Styling — Colors, symbols, line width, publication-ready formatting in one call
• Analysis — Curve fitting, FFT, smoothing, integration, differentiation, interpolation, peak finding
• Statistics — Descriptive stats, two-sample t-test, frequency counts (via the stats and transform tools)
• Project Management — New/save/load projects, export all graphs (with pixel-size control)
• LabTalk Scripting — Direct LabTalk execution with destructive/file-overwrite commands blocked

This MCP server is intentionally Windows-runtime-only. The AI agent or MCP client can run from Windows or WSL, but the MCP server process that talks to Origin must be launched with Windows Python and pywin32. WSL/Linux can edit the project and run non-COM unit tests, but cannot directly control Origin COM.

Quick Start

Agentic Setup (read this if you are an AI agent configuring this server)

Copy-paste rules to self-configure the origin-pro MCP with zero human steps:

1. Environment requirement. This server only works on Windows with a licensed Origin/OriginPro install and Windows Python with pywin32. COM automation cannot run from WSL or Linux Python. If the agent runs in WSL, it must launch the Windows executable (uvx.exe / Windows origin-pro-mcp), never WSL Python.
2. Preferred install path. Use uvx (zero setup) or pip install origin-pro-mcp. Both install to a Windows-local location and "just work":

   { "mcpServers": { "origin-pro": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["--quiet", "origin-pro-mcp"] } } }
   

   From WSL, call uvx.exe instead of uvx (see Option A below).
3. Critical UNC rule. If you point at a local checkout from WSL, the repo MUST live under a Windows drive (e.g. C:\Users\YOU\Origin-Pro-MCP). Never reference it through a \\wsl.localhost\... UNC path: the background daemon (python -m origin_pro_mcp.daemon) cannot resolve a -m module or a working directory over UNC, so it fails silently (Origin never opens). uvx/pip install avoid this entirely.
4. Discover skills first. After connecting, call the list_skills tool to see bundled skills (e.g. publication-figure) and when to use each, then get_skill(name) to load the full step-by-step instructions before producing figures/plots/analysis. No file copying is needed — skills ship inside the package and are exposed by the server.

1. Prerequisites

• Windows with a licensed Origin/OriginPro installation that exposes the Automation Server
• Python 3.10+ (Windows Python, not WSL)

Tested environment: Origin Pro 2020. Other Origin/OriginPro versions may work if they expose compatible COM Automation Server and LabTalk behavior, but they are not verified by this project yet.

2. Install & Configure

Option A: uvx (recommended — zero setup)

No manual install needed. The MCP client launches the server for you. Just add this to your Claude Code MCP settings when Claude Code is running on Windows:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "origin-pro": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--quiet", "origin-pro-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

uvx automatically downloads and runs the server in an isolated environment. Nothing else to install. The --quiet flag keeps first-run dependency messages out of your MCP client logs.

If Claude Code or another MCP client is running inside WSL, launch the same Windows server by calling Windows uvx.exe directly:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "origin-pro": {
      "command": "uvx.exe",
      "args": ["--quiet", "origin-pro-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

For a local checkout before publishing/installing, point Windows uvx at the Windows path of the repo:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "origin-pro": {
      "command": "uvx.exe",
      "args": ["--quiet", "--refresh", "--from", "D:\\04.Agent OS\\Origin-Pro-MCP", "origin-pro-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Keep the command and args as separate JSON array entries. That avoids quoting problems when a Windows path contains spaces. If WSL cannot find uvx.exe, set command to the full WSL path for the Windows executable, for example /mnt/c/Users/YOU/.local/bin/uvx.exe.

WSL users — the package must live on a Windows-local path, not a \\wsl.localhost\... (UNC) path. The server runs a background daemon (python -m origin_pro_mcp.daemon); Windows cannot resolve a -m module or use a working directory over a UNC path, so launching it from a WSL-filesystem checkout fails silently (Origin never opens and a console window flashes). uvx/pip install already install to a Windows-local location, so they are unaffected. If you point at a local checkout, clone it under a Windows drive (e.g. C:\Users\YOU\Origin-Pro-MCP) and reference that path — do not point the MCP config at a repo inside the WSL filesystem.

Option B: pip install from PyPI

pip install origin-pro-mcp

Then configure Claude Code:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "origin-pro": {
      "command": "origin-pro-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Option C: Clone and run directly

git clone https://github.com/youngminsw/Origin-Pro-MCP.git
cd Origin-Pro-MCP
pip install -e .

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "origin-pro": {
      "command": "origin-pro-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Note: If Claude Code runs in WSL, make sure the uvx or python command points to your Windows Python, not WSL Python. Origin COM only works from Windows.

3. Origin Startup

You do not need to start Python or Origin manually. The MCP client starts origin-pro-mcp, which launches an isolated Origin instance for the session. By default the Origin window is visible, so you watch the agent create worksheets and plot graphs in real time.

Display mode — set the ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_VISIBLE environment variable in your MCP config:

Value	Mode	Use for
1 (default)	Visible — Origin window shown	Watching the agent work interactively
0	Invisible — Origin runs hidden	Headless/batch runs, many concurrent agents, no window pop-ups

{ "mcpServers": { "origin-pro": {
  "command": "origin-pro-mcp",
  "env": { "ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_VISIBLE": "0" }
} } }

Reliability & recovery (advanced env vars)

The background daemon runs one isolated Origin instance per session. These environment variables harden it against a wedged Origin COM call (a synchronous operation that never returns) and against destructive mistakes. Some default off; the wedge/data-safety ones now default on because they are safe (see each row). Set any to off to opt out.

Variable	Default	Effect
ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_DISPATCH_TIMEOUT	90	Soft budget (seconds) for each tool dispatch. If Origin doesn't respond within it, a persistent per-session watchdog is polled for the modal dialog that is blocking it: when one is found, the error names its exact title and says whether it was already auto-dismissed (retry the call) or is waiting for you to close it by hand; if none is found it falls back to the generic "most likely a modal dialog" message. NOTHING is killed at this stage. Set off/0 to disable.
ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_DISPATCH_KILL_GRACE	90	Grace (seconds) AFTER the soft warning before Origin is force-killed as a last resort (so a wedged session can never permanently hold a pool slot). Total time to a hard reset = timeout + grace (default 180s). Set off/0 for no warning phase (legacy: force-kill straight at the soft budget).
ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_DIALOG_AUTODISMISS	on	Every session runs a persistent watchdog that polls (~2s) for modal dialogs owned by its Origin process and records their titles. By default it also auto-dismisses (closes) each one it finds, so a startup or mid-session dialog no longer freezes the session. Set to 0/off/false/no to keep detection and reporting (dispatch-timeout errors still name the dialog) without the daemon closing it — you then close it by hand in the Origin window.
ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_AUTOSAVE	on	Save the project in place (its own file, same name — like pressing Save) before a destructive op (delete graph/plot, column deletion, project load/new, overwriting a populated sheet, or a confirmed destructive run_labtalk), so a bad edit is recoverable by reloading. It never writes a differently-named copy, and never overwrites a real file with an empty/blanked project (N5-safe). Only saves a project that already has a file on disk. Set off to disable autosave entirely.
ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL	300	Also save the project in place every N seconds (proactive autosave), not just before destructive ops. Applies to agent-isolated sessions with a saved project; the Origin you ATTACH to is left to you. off/0 disables periodic autosave (preflight still runs).
ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_AUTOSAVE_REQUIRED	1	When autosave is on and a required preflight in-place save fails, the destructive op is not run and an error is returned. Set 0 to proceed without saving.
ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_REAP_CLOSE	off	Session lifecycle: by default a session ending gracefully (idle / client disconnect) is detached — the session's worker thread stops but your Origin window is left exactly as it was (original save path and unsaved edits intact) so you keep the project. Set 1 to restore the old save-a-recovery-copy-and-close behavior. (A wedged session's Origin is still force-killed — the only way to free a worker stuck in a synchronous COM call.)
ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_SWEEP_ORPHANS	off	By default a restarting daemon does not kill leftover Origin windows (so a restart never destroys a project you kept open). Set 1 to have startup reclaim leftover Origins (orphan cleanup, at the cost of closing kept windows).
ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_NO_SPAWN	off	Set 1 to stop the shim from auto-respawning the daemon. Use it to shut the daemon down from the process manager and keep it stopped — tool calls then return a clear "daemon not running" error instead of relaunching it.
ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_ATTACH	off	Set 1 so this session attaches to the Origin you already have open (the shared ApplicationSI instance) instead of spawning a fresh isolated one — the agent then works on your currently-open project. Only one session can attach (a second falls back to an isolated instance); other agents keep their own isolated Origins. The attached instance is never force-killed by the daemon (it's yours).

Per-call override: run_labtalk(script, confirm=True, timeout=120) bounds that one call even when a longer/shorter budget than ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_DISPATCH_TIMEOUT is needed (and works even when the timeout is off).

Rollback: unset any of these (or set the timeout to off) to return to the prior behavior — no code change or redeploy required.

Session lifecycle & restarts

Each MCP client process gets its own daemon session (its own isolated Origin). Because sessions and the daemon can restart independently, the daemon keeps a small ledger sidecar (sessions.json, next to the private lockfile) recording each session's last Origin PID and project path. When a new session starts, the daemon reads that ledger once and, on the first successful tool response, piggybacks a short one-time [origin-mcp] notice telling the agent what happened — so it continues the work instead of silently rebuilding into an empty window. What you may see:

• Your MCP client restarted (new session). Your previous Origin window was detached, not closed (see ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_REAP_CLOSE): the notice says it is still open with your project and to save/close it in the GUI before reloading, or just work in the fresh instance.
• The daemon restarted and your old Origin is gone. The notice says your project is not loaded and to reopen it with load_project.
• Ghost windows. Leftover Origins from earlier sessions are preserved by default, so they can accumulate. The notice summarizes how many are still open; close them in the GUI once saved, or set ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_SWEEP_ORPHANS=1 so a restarting daemon reclaims them.
• Attach (ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_ATTACH=1). If you got the user's open Origin, the notice reminds you that autosave and force-recovery are disabled there — save explicitly and avoid destructive ops. If another session already holds the single attach slot, the notice says you got an isolated Origin instead.

Separately, load_project appends a one-line collision warning to its result when the ledger shows another live Origin still holding the same project file (saving from both would clobber it — close the other first). The notice and the warning are advisory strings only; they never block a call, and a missing/corrupt ledger is treated as empty.

4. Use It

Just ask Claude to work with Origin:

"Create a scatter plot from this data: x=[1,2,3,4,5], y=[2.1,4.0,5.9,8.1,10.0]"
"Apply publication styling to Fig1 with axis labels Temperature (K) and Absorbance (a.u.)"
"Fit a Gaussian to the data in Book1"
"Export all graphs to C:\Users\me\figures\"

File paths can be Windows style (C:\Users\me\fig.png) or WSL style (/mnt/c/Users/me/fig.png) — the server converts WSL paths automatically, so agents running in WSL can pass their native paths.

Agent Location vs Server Runtime

The agent does not have to run on Windows. These setups are valid:

• Windows agent -> Windows origin-pro-mcp server -> Origin Pro
• WSL agent -> Windows origin-pro-mcp server -> Origin Pro

The unsupported setup is WSL/Linux origin-pro-mcp server -> Origin Pro, because COM is a Windows API.

Version Support

This project is currently verified only with Origin Pro 2020. The implementation uses Origin's COM Automation Server and LabTalk, which exist across multiple Origin releases, so other versions may work. Treat them as unverified until someone runs the test suite and a real graph/export smoke test on that version.

Direct LabTalk Safety

The run_labtalk tool is available by default for styling, analysis, graph tweaks, and other advanced Origin operations. It blocks common destructive or file-writing LabTalk commands such as project reset, delete, save/open, file dialogs, external script execution, and graph export. Use the typed tools for saving, loading, importing, and exporting.

This is an accident-prevention guard, not a security sandbox for untrusted code.

LabTalk Gotchas (Origin 2020, styling-report fixes)

• One flag per set call. set <ds> -c color(255,0,0) -cf color(255,0,0); (combining flags in ONE command) silently wipes the plot to black; the same applies to -k/-kf/-z combined (can blank the symbol). Send each flag as its own set <ds> -flag val; call.
• Tick-label offset is layer.<ax>.label.offsetV / .offsetH (vertical for the x axis, horizontal for y), in % of the tick-label font size, positive = toward the axis. The plausible-looking names .offset, .voff, .hoff, .offsetX/.offsetY, .xOffset/.yOffset are all silent no-ops (they "read back" a value but never move the labels). Use set_tick_labels(offset_pct=).
• Never write layer.x2.majorTicks / layer.y2.majorTicks. Setting it to 0 wipes the number labels on ALL FOUR axes, not just the opposite side. Use layer.<ax>.ticks = 0 (or axis(op="tick", axis="top"/"right", tick_direction="none")) to remove tick marks instead.
• Units differ between line width and error-bar width. set -w is ~200 units per point (500 = 2.5pt); error bars use -erw <points> / -erwc <cap width> directly in points — do not reuse the -w scale for error bars, and never style them via a bare set -w/-ew. set_plot_style(error_bar_width=, error_cap_width=) handles the units.
• The active window matters. layer.*, col(), and %C all target whatever window is currently active — pass window=<name> to run_labtalk to activate it first, or prefer the typed tools (graph_name/book_name params never depend on activation state).
• A freshly created page needs a moment before its FIRST styling/read/ export command — create_graph/add_plot_to_graph/ungroup_plots handle this internally now; a raw run_labtalk sequence right after CreatePage/plotxy may still need its own settle.
• Symbol shape -k codes (Origin 2020, re-verified live): 1=square, 2=circle, 3=triangle-up, 4=triangle-down, 5=diamond, 6=plus, 7=x/cross, 8=asterisk. Codes 9-12 render as a dash/vertical-bar/literal glyph, not useful marker shapes.

Architecture

Claude Code (WSL or Windows)
    |  stdio (MCP protocol)
    v
MCP Server (Windows Python + win32com)
    |  COM automation
    v
Origin Pro (GUI visible in real-time)

Direct CLI (no MCP client)

Every MCP tool is also a plain command, so the repo alone can drive Origin — no MCP client, no per-task scripts. Same Windows-runtime rule applies (Windows Python + pywin32 + Origin).

# List all tools with their arguments
python -m origin_pro_mcp.cli list

# Call any tool: simple flags...
python -m origin_pro_mcp.cli list_worksheets
python -m origin_pro_mcp.cli apply_publication_style --graph_name Fig1

# ...or --json for values with spaces/paths (recommended for scripting)
python -m origin_pro_mcp.cli apply_publication_style --json '{"graph_name": "Fig1", "x_label": "Temperature (K)"}'
python -m origin_pro_mcp.cli export_graph --json '{"graph_name": "Fig1", "file_path": "/mnt/c/Users/me/fig1.png"}'

After pip install (or via uvx) the same is available as the origin-pro-cli command, e.g. origin-pro-cli list_worksheets.

Running a WSL agent? Invoke Windows Python with the package on the path, for example from the repo's src/ directory:

cd src && /mnt/c/.../python.exe -m origin_pro_mcp.cli list_worksheets

The CLI reflects over the same tool registry as the MCP server, so it always exposes exactly the tools listed below.

Available Tools (45 total)

Several tools are dispatchers: one tool name with an op/kind/method argument that selects the specific action, so a handful of tools cover what used to be many single-purpose ones.

Project Management

Tool	Description
new_project	Create new empty Origin project
save_project	Save project to .opju file
load_project	Open existing .opj/.opju file
export_all_graphs	Export every graph in the project to image files
save_graph_template	Save a graph as a reusable .otpu/.otp template

Note: create_worksheet, create_matrix, create_graph, create_matrix_plot, import_data, and worksheet_to_matrix return a JSON string (not a sentence) with the actual assigned name — Origin may rename on collision, so read "name" from the result rather than assuming the requested name was used.

Return-format convention: tools that create or read structured data (worksheets, graphs, matrices, imports, fits, stats, transforms) return a JSON string to parse; tools that apply styling or a one-off action (the Styling and Advanced sections below, plus most of Graphing) return a plain human-readable status string. A few dispatcher tools (stats, transform) mix both across their op/method choices — each is documented per-tool.

Worksheet Data

Tool	Description
create_worksheet	Create new workbook
set_worksheet_data	Write column data (JSON arrays)
get_worksheet_data	Read worksheet data as JSON (empty cells → null)
import_data	Import a CSV/text or Excel file (format="auto"/"csv"/"excel"); CSV/text import suppresses Origin's auto-generated sparkline mini-graph windows by default (sparklines=False). file_path may also be a directory or glob to batch-import every matching file, each into its own book
export_worksheet	Export a worksheet to CSV/text
list_worksheets	List open workbooks, graphs, and matrices
manage_columns	Add, delete, or edit columns — op="add"/"delete"/"properties"/"formula"
sort_worksheet	Sort rows by a column (asc/desc)
transpose_worksheet	Transpose rows and columns

Matrix

Tool	Description
create_matrix	Create a matrix book
set_matrix_data / get_matrix_data	Write / read a 2D grid
worksheet_to_matrix	Grid scattered XYZ into a matrix (xyz2mat)
create_matrix_plot	Surface (3D), contour, heatmap, or image from a matrix (with a data-linked color scale)

Graphing

Tool	Description
create_graph	Create graph (scatter, line, line+symbol, column, bar, area, pie, histogram, box, contour, 3d_scatter); optional template= builds it from a saved .otpu/.otp (2D XY types only)
add_plot_to_graph	Add another dataset to an existing graph
delete_graph	Delete a graph window
remove_plot	Remove one data plot from a graph, addressed by index (COM DataPlot.Destroy()) — removes only that plot even if the same dataset is plotted more than once
set_error_bars	Attach Y/X error bars to an existing plot from an error column (no duplicate)
set_layer_geometry	Set a layer's panel position/size (left/top/width/height)
add_second_y_axis	Add a right-Y layer and plot on it
add_layer	Add a panel/axis layer (right-y, top-x, inset, independent)
axis	Configure axes — op="labels"/"range"/"scale"/"tick"/"frame"; op="labels" also sets the right/top-axis title on axis="right"/"top"
annotate	Add an annotation — kind="reference_line"/"text"/"line"/"arrow"
colormap	Apply a palette and/or set the Z color-scale range on a colormapped graph
export_graph	Export to an image file — raster (png/jpg/tif/bmp) or vector (pdf/eps/emf, resolution-independent); width= sets an exact pixel width for raster (default ~1200px wide, height follows the graph's aspect ratio)
ungroup_plots	Break a plot group so each curve can be colored independently

Styling

Tool	Description
apply_publication_style	One-call publication formatting (recommended)
set_plot_style	Set color, line width, symbol shape/size, and open/solid marker
set_graph_font	Set font family, size, and optional bold
set_legend	Configure legend text and position
set_tick_labels	Tick-label numeric format (decimal/scientific/engineering), bold, decimal places, axis→label offset (offset_pct, % of font; +toward axis)

Analysis

Tool	Description
curve_fit	Curve fitting: parameters ± std errors, R², SSR, reduced χ²; optional plot_on_graph, x_min/x_max to restrict the fit range, and peaks=N (gauss/lorentz/voigt) for multi-peak deconvolution
list_fitting_functions	Show available fit functions
transform	Numerical transform on an XY curve — method="integrate"/"differentiate"/"smooth"/"interpolate"/"fft"/"find_peaks"; smooth takes smooth_method="savitzky_golay"/"adjacent"/"binomial"
stats	Statistics on worksheet columns — op="column"/"compare_means"/"frequency"

Advanced

Tool	Description
run_labtalk	Execute LabTalk with destructive/file-writing commands blocked; optional capture reads variables back. If a 2+ statement script fails as a whole, it is automatically retried statement-by-statement and each statement's OK/FAILED status is reported (partial application is possible — this is intentional)
get_labtalk_variable	Read a LabTalk variable value

Skills

Tool	Description
list_skills	List bundled skills (name, title, when to use)
get_skill	Load a skill's full markdown instructions by name

Example: Publication-Quality Figure

# 1. Start fresh
new_project()

# 2. Create data
create_worksheet(book_name="Data")
set_worksheet_data(
    book_name="Data", sheet_name="Sheet1",
    columns="[[300,350,400,450,500,550,600],[0.12,0.35,0.89,1.62,1.95,1.92,1.25],[0.08,0.22,0.62,1.35,1.88,1.90,1.12]]",
    column_names="Temperature,Pristine,Annealed"
)

# 3. Create line+symbol graph
create_graph(graph_name="Fig1", data_book="Data", data_sheet="Sheet1",
             x_col=1, y_col=2, plot_type="line+symbol")
add_plot_to_graph(graph_name="Fig1", data_book="Data", data_sheet="Sheet1",
                  x_col=1, y_col=3, plot_type="line+symbol")

# 4. One call does everything: colors, fonts, ticks, frame, legend
apply_publication_style(
    graph_name="Fig1",
    x_label="Temperature (K)",
    y_label="Absorbance (a.u.)",
    x_min=280, x_max=620, y_min=0, y_max=2.2,
    legend_entries="Pristine,Annealed",
    legend_position="top-right"
)

# 5. Export
export_graph(graph_name="Fig1", file_path="C:\\Users\\me\\fig1.png")

Result: A publication-ready figure with bold Arial labels, colorblind-safe colors (blue circles + red triangles), filled symbols, solid lines, inward ticks, closed frame, and positioned legend.

Claude Code Skill: Publication Figure

This server ships a bundled skill (src/origin_pro_mcp/skills/publication-figure.md) that teaches Claude how to create journal-quality figures step by step. No manual copying is needed — the skill is packaged inside the wheel and exposed over MCP, so any connecting agent discovers it automatically:

1. Call the list_skills tool — it returns each skill's name, title, and when to use it (e.g. publication-figure).
2. Call get_skill("publication-figure") to load the full markdown instructions.
3. Each skill is also available as an MCP resource at skill://<name> (e.g. skill://publication-figure) for clients that browse resources.

When you ask Claude to "make a publication figure", it can autonomously pull this skill and follow its workflow:

• Ask about data source, figure type, target journal
• Use colorblind-safe color palette (steel blue → rose → teal → amber → purple → gray cyan; see the Color Palette table below)
• Apply proper typography (Arial, bold, correct sizes)
• Follow a pre-export checklist

The skill also documents COM quirks observed while testing on Origin Pro 2020 — what works, what doesn't, and tested workarounds. This is invaluable if you need to customize beyond apply_publication_style.

Customizing the Skill for Your Style

The included skill is a generic starting template for paper-grade Origin figures. You should copy and customize it to match your lab's habits, target journals, and visual taste:

• Font: Change from Arial to your journal's preferred font (e.g., Helvetica, Times New Roman)
• Font sizes: Adjust axis title/tick label/legend sizes to match your journal's figure guidelines
• Color palette: Replace the default colorblind-safe palette with your group's standard colors
• Default export path: Set to your working directory
• Figure recipes: Add templates for your common figure types (XRD patterns, IV curves, etc.)
• Journal presets: Add specific formatting rules for your target journals (Nature, ACS, RSC, etc.)

Pull the skill with get_skill("publication-figure") (or copy src/origin_pro_mcp/skills/publication-figure.md) into your project and edit freely — it's meant to be a starting point, not a rigid template.

Key Origin Pro 2020 COM Quirks (documented in skill)

Issue	Workaround
Bold axis titles (xb.bold) doesn't exist	Use \b(text) markup in xb.text$
legend.text$ doesn't support multiline via COM	Set column Long Names, then legend -r
legend.x/y uses data coordinates, not %	Calculate from layer.x.from/to
%C notation fails via COM	Use actual plot names from DataPlots
expGraph needs path:=/filename:=/overwrite:=replace (a full path or missing args opens a dialog)	export_graph writes the file directly via expGraph, no clipboard involved
nlr.r2 returns 0 after nlend	Read statistics BEFORE nlend
Combining multiple -flags in ONE set command corrupts the plot (color reset to black, or symbol blanked)	Send one set <ds> -flag val; call per flag, not a delay — see "LabTalk Gotchas" above
layer.x2.majorTicks/layer.y2.majorTicks wipes ALL axes' number labels	Use layer.<ax>.ticks = 0 instead
[Book]Sheet!col(n).type = ... silently ignored	Activate the sheet, then use wks.col(n).type
set <plot> fails when the graph isn't active	Run win -a <graph> before set commands
Typed LabTalk locals (int x = ...) unreadable later	Use untyped assignment to read values back via COM
A graph loaded from a .opju can report zero data plots over COM (per-curve styling/ungrouping silently no-ops)	The core per-curve/axis/frame tools (set_plot_style, ungroup_plots, remove_plot, axis range/scale/tick) now activate the page and re-acquire a fresh layer handle before each call; if the layer is still empty, the tool raises an actionable error instead of returning fake success — recreate the graph in-session if you hit it. Text/font/legend tools (set_graph_font, set_legend) still go through plain LabTalk and can silently no-op on a loaded graph — verify those visually
Dual-Y right axis looks unstylable via layer.y.*	Colour it via layer 2's y2: add_second_y_axis(..., color="r,g,b"), or layer.y2.color (line) + layer.y2.label.color (tick numbers) with the graph active + page.active=2
Heatmap/colormap stuck at ~8 discrete bands	colormap(graph, levels=32..64) (uses numMajorLevels + setLevels(1) + updateScale()); a palette recolors even when the PNG byte-size is unchanged

Hard limitations (no scriptable path on Origin 2020)

Not scriptable	Do this instead
Bar/column FILL PATTERN (hatch) — every route no-ops (set -pfp/-pfw/-pfc, indexed -pfpd/-pfpi, rp.pattern.*, layer.plotN.pattern.*), verified live	Apply hatching in PowerPoint/Illustrator, or distinguish bars by solid color
Plot TRANSPARENCY / alpha — set -paap/-paal/-paas, rr.transparency, layer.transparency, page.transparency all no-op, verified live	Use fully-opaque colors, or composite the alpha in PowerPoint (unconfirmed future candidate: originpro Python Plot.transparency())

Supported Plot Types

Type	Description	Data
scatter	Scatter plot (symbols only)	X, Y
line	Line plot (no symbols)	X, Y
line+symbol	Line with symbols (recommended for publications)	X, Y
column	Vertical bar chart	X, Y
bar	Horizontal bar chart	X, Y
area	Area plot	X, Y
pie	Pie chart	X, Y
histogram	Histogram	single Y column
box	Box chart	single Y column
contour	Filled contour map	X, Y, Z (pass z_col)
3d_scatter	3D scatter (OpenGL)	X, Y, Z (pass z_col)

Matrix plots (surface, contour, heatmap, image) come from a matrix via create_matrix_plot.

Supported Fitting Functions

Category	Functions
Linear	line
Polynomial	poly2, poly3, poly4, poly5
Exponential	exp1, exp2, expgrow1, expdecay1
Peak	gauss, lorentz, voigt
Growth/Sigmoidal	boltzmann, hill, logistic, lognormal
Other	power, sine

curve_fit returns the fitted parameter values with standard errors plus R², SSR, reduced χ², and DoF. Exceptions: power fits and draws the curve, but Origin 2020 does not expose its parameter values over COM, so only the statistics are returned; and a line fit without plot_on_graph uses the fast fitlr path, which returns intercept/slope values and R² only (no standard errors, SSR, χ², or DoF — pass plot_on_graph to get them). Use list_fitting_functions to see the parameter names for each function.

Color Palette

apply_publication_style uses a muted pastel palette (no pure primaries — easier on the eyes, survives grayscale printing, colorblind-distinguishable):

Order	Color	RGB
1st	Soft steel blue	(93, 143, 179)
2nd	Muted rose	(204, 102, 119)
3rd	Muted teal	(68, 170, 153)
4th	Soft amber	(221, 170, 102)
5th	Soft purple	(153, 136, 187)
6th	Gray cyan	(119, 170, 187)

Error bars automatically match their data series color. The fit curve drawn by curve_fit(plot_on_graph=...) uses a muted brick red (170, 68, 80).

Tip: Never use red + green as the only two colors — colorblind users cannot distinguish them.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
"Could not connect to Origin via COM"	Check that Origin/OriginPro is installed and licensed; if it is, run Origin once as administrator to re-register the Automation Server
Tools timeout / "Origin has not responded"	A persistent watchdog polls for modal dialogs on your session's Origin process; by default it auto-dismisses them, and a timeout error names the dialog's exact title and whether it was closed for you. If auto-dismiss is off (ORIGIN_PRO_MCP_DIALOG_AUTODISMISS=0), switch to the Origin window and close/confirm the named dialog yourself — the operation then finishes on its own
"No editable data plots found" on set_plot_style/ungroup_plots/axis ops, or "did not take effect" on an axis-range call	The graph was loaded from a .opju project file in a state Origin freezes over COM (its layer reports zero data plots even after activating the window). This used to silently no-op; it is now a raised error instead of a fake success. Recreate the graph in-session (create_graph/plotxy) or reopen the project fresh — no manual export-and-compare-pixels needed to detect it anymore
"Export failed: ... was not created"	export_graph writes the file directly via expGraph (no clipboard); this means Origin (Windows) could not write to that path — use a Windows path (C:\...) or /mnt/<drive>/... instead of a WSL/Linux path
"... is a Linux/WSL path that Origin ... cannot access"	Any file-path argument (import/export/save/load) given as a bare POSIX path (e.g. /tmp/x.csv) is now rejected upfront with this error rather than silently resolving against the wrong drive — use /mnt/<drive>/... (auto-translated) or a native Windows path
"Window 'X' not found" errors	The error lists every open workbook/graph — use one of those names (Origin may have renamed the window if the name was taken)
Legend missing after styling	Legend uses data coordinates — verify axis range is set before positioning
Symbols appear hollow	Do NOT use set -d flag (it's for dash patterns, not fill)

License

MIT