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An innovative beamline for small molecule chemical crystallography has been built at the Advanced Light Source. The system permits the study of crystals as small as 10μm × 10μm × 10μm. The beamline produces a 7–17 keV x-ray beam focused to a 280μm × 90μm spot. A channel-cut Si<111> monochromator and a toroidal mirror are inside the synchrotron shield wall only 7m from the bending magnet source point. The monochromator is cooled with a small Joule-Thomson refrigerator to produce a very small beam motion with different heat loads. The experimental hutch contains a vertically mounted sample goniometer and a CCD detector. An on-axis visual alignment camera allows the small crystals to be accurately centered within the x-ray beam. Examples of the crystal structures solved with this system are given. The beamline is also used for high-pressure powder diffraction experiments using a diamond anvil cell that is mounted on a stage system that can be quickly installed and removed. © 2004 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]