---
title: RXNFP quickstart
description: Fingerprint one reaction SMILES or a batch from a retrosynthetic route, then search the reference index for the most similar known reactions.
tags:
  - rxnfp
  - quickstart
---

You want to turn a reaction into a fingerprint vector, or find known reactions similar to one you have. This runs both paths in a few steps: submit reaction SMILES, review the fingerprint, or run a similarity search against the reference index.

## RXNFP quickstart

This guide covers fingerprinting a single reaction, batch-fingerprinting reactions from a retrosynthetic route, and searching for similar known reactions.

## Workflow 1: Fingerprint a single reaction

### Step 1: Submit the reaction

Navigate to **Tools > RXNFP** in .bloom*, or ask Ivy:

```
Generate an RXNFP fingerprint for: CC(=O)Cl.OCC>>CC(=O)OCC
```

### Step 2: Review the fingerprint

The result includes the 256-dimensional vector, plus `is_valid` and any per-reaction error. In the canvas card, a compact visualization shows the fingerprint as a heatmap strip.

## Workflow 2: Batch fingerprint retrosynthetic steps

### Step 1: Submit the batch

Provide reaction SMILES from an AiZynthFinder route as an array:

```json
{
  "reaction_smiles": [
    "c1ccc(B(O)O)cc1.c1ccc(Br)cc1>>c1ccc(-c2ccccc2)cc1",
    "CC(=O)Cl.c1ccccc1N>>CC(=O)Nc1ccccc1",
    "CC(=O)O.OCC>>CC(=O)OCC"
  ]
}
```

### Step 2: Export the fingerprints

Download the results (CSV or JSON) and use the fingerprint vectors for your own clustering or ML pipeline — the platform returns the vectors, not a built-in clustering view.

## Workflow 3: Find similar known reactions

### Step 1: Submit a similarity search

```
Find the 5 most similar known reactions to: CC(=O)Cl.OCC>>CC(=O)OCC
```

Or configure directly:

| Parameter | Value |
|-----------|-------|
| `reaction_smiles` | The query reaction |
| `top_k` | `5` |
| `min_similarity` | `0.7` (default) |

### Step 2: Review the matches

Each match reports its cosine similarity to the query, its SMILES (when available), and its reaction name/classification (when available) from the reference index — see [outputs & interpretation](/docs/rxnfp/outputs).

## Next steps

- See [inputs & parameters](/docs/rxnfp/inputs) for the full fingerprinting and similarity-search parameter list.
- See [outputs & interpretation](/docs/rxnfp/outputs) for how to read similarity scores.
- Use [Reaction Classifier](/docs/reaction-classifier) for named reaction identification instead of raw fingerprints.

## Read next