HyperX is increasingly becoming a framework to build stress tools into and around. This is most evident with criteria and scripted automations and is becoming more relevant for customizing design metrics, loads processing, loads localization, sizing techniques, and more. As we've worked to make HyperX more suitable to your workflows, it has become increasingly modular. More modularity leads to more capability and customization, but it can also lead to organizational challenges.
In version 2025.1.4, HyperX introduced the Package Manager as a robust system to search, view, distribute, load, unload, archive, and otherwise manage modular components (Packages). In future updates, more capabilities will come to HyperX in the form of Packages, and the Package Manager will become a hub for accessing and organizing all of your stress analysis needs.
Packages represent a collection of modular HyperX capability and provide a new way to gather related files for distribution. Packages are files with the .hxpkg extension and commonly contain analysis criteria, Scripts, and accompanying documentation. They are built from a Configuration File and are loaded into HyperX via the Package Manager.
Packages can contain zero or many Modules. HyperX offers several “hooks” which allow users to customize each phase of their analysis. A Module represents a single hook; a single capability to add to HyperX. There are two available Module types:
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Criterion - Known today as Plugins, Criterion Modules offer a way for users to develop their own analysis code for driving Sizing and performing final Analysis. Each Criterion Module represents a Failure Mode in HyperX.
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Script - Script Modules provide users the ability to automate processes and interact with Databases outside of the Sizing loop. Each Script Module represents a single Script in HyperX.
The Package Manager is the central location where users can interact with Packages, Sources, and the Package Cache. You can open the Package Manager from the Database tab of the Ribbon.
You can view available Packages and Sources, install/uninstall Packages, and manage Package versions by upgrading, downgrading, or pinning versions. You can view high-level information about Packages via their readme files, documentation, and change log files directly from their corresponding Modules.
A Source is any folder containing built Packages. For the Package Manager to interact with a Package, the Package must be in a Source that the Package Manager is configured to access.
Source locations can be on shared drives as well making it more convenient to distribute Packages and updates among teams. For example, HyperX ships Criterion and Script Modules with the standard HyperX install in the following directory: $(HyperXInstallDirectory)/Packages/Sources/CA. The CA folder is a Source folder containing several Packages that all users can access.
Sources can be viewed and added to the Package Manager via the Package Manager Settings. You can open Package Manager Settings from the Package Manager form or the Database tab of the Ribbon.
From there, you can add a new Source to the Package Manager by pressing the "Add Source" button and selecting the Source folder you want to include.
As of version 2025.1.4, HyperX includes a reference to the CA source and the collieraerospace.core Package, which enables default HyperX Solver criteria in HyperX. Other Sources containing Packages with standard scripted automations are also shipped with the install but are not installed by default. The shipped Package Sources can be found here:
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$(InstallDir)/Packages/Sources/CA- General core capability. -
$(InstallDir)/Packages/Sources/CA-Sample- Samples intended for reference by Package authors. -
$(InstallDir)/Packages/Sources/CA-Experimental- Useful capability, but not yet general or robust enough for regular usage.
Note
If you or your team develops your own internal Scripts or Criteria that you’d like to use, you will also need to add a Package Source to access them. All you need to do to create a Package Source is add built Packages to a folder.
Once users point the HyperX Package Manager to a Source, they are able to see new any Packages and updates to old Packages uploaded to that Source.
Note
All Packages in the selected Sources are displayed in the Package Manager, but Packages are not de-compressed into the Cache until the Package is installed.
The Cache is a local folder on the user’s machine which contains decompressed Package files for all installed Packages. It enables users to continue working with their Packages in case they lose access to the Source on a shared drive. It is where HyperX unpacks and stores Packages to use the files they contain. It can be opened by the Package Manager Settings and is located in the following directory: $(WorkingDirectory)/Packages/Cache.
Users can safely delete from the Cache if their Sources remain available, and HyperX will re-populate the Cache from the Sources as needed. If a Source is unavailable, deleting files from the Cache will prevent HyperX from using that Package until the Source becomes available again.
Warning
Manually altering files in the Cache may cause unpredictable consequences.
Packages provide new ways for you and your team to customize your HyperX workflow. In many ways, they are an evolution of the Plugin and Scripting paradigms of previous HyperX versions. As such, their use-cases and functionality have a lot of overlap. However, Packages and the Package Manager come with additional features making them easier to use and more powerful than their predecessors.
For instance, once you have Packages with Criterion Modules installed, you can create Failure Modes based on those Modules by clicking the "Create Package Failure Mode" button on the Analysis tab of the Ribbon.
If you install the toolbox Package included with the HyperX install or another Package with Script Modules, you can immediately access all of the include Scripts directly from the Script Runner.
As of HyperX version 2026.1.13, you can use the "Action" buttons on each Module in the Package Manager to open Script Modules in the Script Runner or create a Failure Mode for Criterion Modules.
As your team and Collier Aerospace develops and iterates on more Packages, another key advantage will be apparent: version control. The Package Manager makes is easy to discover, install/uninstall, and update/downgrade/pin, Packages as well as provide an avenue to distribute them to your team. As long as you follow some best practices, you will be able to easily ensure your entire team has access to all of the correct tools at any given time.