CPN Tools is a tool for editing, simulating, and analyzing Colored Petri nets.

The tool features incremental syntax checking and code generation, which take place while a net is being constructed. A fast simulator efficiently handles untimed and timed nets. Full and partial state spaces can be generated and analyzed, and a standard state space report contains information, such as boundedness properties and liveness properties.

New Features in Version 3.4

  • Introducing a new tool to the family, Grade/CPN
  • Much improved error messages
  • New random distribution functions (gamma, beta, beta_pert, rayleigh); see Random distribution functions
  • Much better support for path-names with non-ASCII characters
  • Moved Mac OS X and Linux simulators to (automatically on-demand downloaded) separate components, resulting in a much smaller default download
  • Bugfixes
CPN Tools 3.4 also inherits these features from 3.2 and 3.0
  • New (optional) notion of fairness suitable for simulation-based analysis
  • Open source
  • Support for 64-bit Windows and virtualization software
  • New simulator which is up to twice as fast for both automatic simulation and state space generation
  • Support for prioritized transitions and real time

CPN Tools is originally developed by the CPN Group at Aarhus University from 2000 to 2010. The main architects behind the tool are Kurt Jensen, Søren Christensen, Lars M. Kristensen, and Michael Westergaard. From the autumn of 2010, CPN Tools is transferred to the AIS group, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands.

Latest Version of CPN Tools

The latest version is version 3.4.0 from June 2012. Get it from the Download page. For a full list of new features for each version of CPN Tools, Access/CPN, and Grade/CPN refer to the Whats New?-list.

Michael's blog on CPN Tools