--- /dev/null
+package jalview.structure;
+
+import jalview.api.AlignmentViewPanel;
+import jalview.api.SequenceRenderer;
+import jalview.datamodel.SequenceI;
+
+import java.awt.Color;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+/**
+ * Methods that generate commands that can be sent to a molecular structure
+ * viewer program (e.g. Jmol, Chimera, ChimeraX)
+ *
+ * @author gmcarstairs
+ *
+ */
+public interface StructureCommandsI
+{
+
+ /**
+ * Returns the command to colour by chain
+ *
+ * @return
+ */
+ String colourByChain();
+
+ /**
+ * Returns the command to colour residues using a charge-based scheme:
+ * <ul>
+ * <li>Aspartic acid and Glutamic acid (negative charge) red</li>
+ * <li>Lysine and Arginine (positive charge) blue</li>
+ * <li>Cysteine - yellow</li>
+ * <li>all others - white</li>
+ * </ul>
+ *
+ * @return
+ */
+ String colourByCharge();
+
+ /**
+ * Returns the command to colour residues with the colours provided in the
+ * map, one per three letter residue code
+ *
+ * @param colours
+ * @return
+ */
+ String colourByResidues(Map<String, Color> colours);
+
+ /**
+ * Returns the command to set the background colour of the structure viewer
+ *
+ * @param col
+ * @return
+ */
+ String setBackgroundColour(Color col);
+
+ /**
+ * Returns commands to colour mapped residues of structures according to
+ * Jalview's colouring (including feature colouring if applied)
+ *
+ * @param structureSelectionManager
+ * @param files
+ * @param seqs
+ * @param sr
+ * @param alignmentv
+ * @return
+ */
+ String[] colourBySequence(
+ StructureSelectionManager structureSelectionManager,
+ String[] files, SequenceI[][] seqs, SequenceRenderer sr,
+ AlignmentViewPanel alignmentv);
+
+ /**
+ * Returns a command to centre the display in the structure viewer
+ *
+ * @return
+ */
+ String focusView();
+
+ /**
+ * Returns a command to show only the selected chains. The items in the input
+ * list should be formatted as "modelno:chainid".
+ *
+ * @param toShow
+ * @return
+ */
+ String showChains(List<String> toShow);
+
+}