Allow ChimeraX to use a boltz prediction server

[Tom Goddard]

Would like to allow ChimeraX to send prediction input files to a server where the predictions is computed and then returned to ChimeraX. This would allow easily running predictions on low-powered laptops (e.g. MacBook Air) if the user has a more capable system such as a Linux / Nvidia desktop. The server process will also be created by ChimeraX on the server machine and use the Boltz installed by ChimeraX on that machine. The mechanism can send over a socket a zip file of the Boltz input (.yaml, command options, and MSA) and receive back from the server a zip file with the output (stdout, stderr, boltz_results_name).

The aim of this is not that UCSF would provide a server, but instead a user would very easily be able to setup a server on their own computer or on a cloud-based virtual machine.

I hope to try this setup for running predictions with the students in the January 2026 Biophysics Macromolecular Structures course.