Getting started

The plinder Python package is the main entry point for downloading release files, querying annotations, and reconstructing structures.

PLINDER downloads the files needed by each API call automatically and reuses them on subsequent calls. You can start exploring straight away.

Install PLINDER

pip install plinder

A release is identified by the month of its PDB snapshot. The current release (2026-09) is the default; select another with:

export PLINDER_RELEASE=2026-09

Continue with a runnable guide

Start with Query the release tables to select ligand or protein-interface records. The remaining Guides guides cover coordinate access, similarity analysis, and custom scoring.

For a local copy to use offline, see Download the full dataset.

Use the Dataset page as the release and table reference, and Python API for individual Python signatures.