The main entry point in the CL-SBML library is the cl-sbml:build-model-from-sbml generic function.

In the tests sub-directory there are a few files downloaded from the main SBML site. You can use one of these as a test. Note that once CL-SBML is loaded, you also have the CL-SBML logical pathname translation set to the approriate directory.

  cl-prompt> (defvar *m*
                (cl-sbml:build-model-from-sbml
                  (pathname "CL-SBML:tests;100Yeast.xml")))

The call to pathname is necessary because is a string were supplied cl-sbml:build-model-from-sbml would try to read the model directly from it.

At this point the variable *m* will contain a CL-SBML model. The result is:

  cl-prompt> *m*
  #<CL-SBML:MODEL _100_Yeast_glycolytic_cells_[multi_unit] (NIL) 2525 species, 101 compartments, 2000 reactions 20610964>

The model has been loaded in an internal CL data structure and can now be manipulated at will.

Please note that the efficiency of the CL-SBML library depends on the efficiency of the underlying CL-XML library. If you find the performance lacking, you are advised to help the CL-XML people to improve the efficiency of their library.