Multiple CAD backends: FreeCAD remains the validated backend. Version 0.17.0 adds a shared adapter transport, explicit CAD session selection and an Fusion 360 adapter; since 0.18.0 its root-part editing tools (box, cylinder, hole, fillet, chamfer, boolean, move, parameters, undo/redo, STEP export) are verified end-to-end in a real Fusion session with fusion/tests/live_smoke.py. See Fusion setup and limits and the adapter architecture. SolidWorks remains a future adapter.
Version 0.17.2 also displays B-rep bodies in nested/repeated Fusion component instances, with assembly placement, selection, measurements and markers. Assembly geometry editing and mesh bodies remain unsupported; the in-Fusion assembly smoke script has not yet been run in real Fusion.
CadAI brings FreeCAD into VS Code and lets any AI coding agent edit real CAD models. Instead of describing geometry in words, you show it: put numbered markers, dimensions, lines, circles or freehand strokes directly on the 3D model, write what you want there ("make this hole Ø10", "this distance should be 40 mm"), and send it to the agent you already use — Claude Code, Codex, Cline, Kilo Code or GitHub Copilot.
🇹🇷 Türkçe özet aşağıda.
- Show, don't describe. AI agents are much better at editing existing CAD than generating it from scratch (see CADGenBench). CadAI gives them exact coordinates and the face/edge/vertex under every marker.
- No FreeCAD UI needed. FreeCAD runs minimized as the geometry engine; you work in VS Code.
- Any agent. Everything goes through one MCP server (
cadai), so the same tools work in every agent. It finds the running CAD program by itself (FreeCAD or Fusion 360), follows the session chosen in VS Code when both are open and updates the agent's tool list when the program changes. - Engineering, not just shapes. Parametric edits, measurements, FEM analysis (Gmsh + CalculiX) with hand-calculation, force-balance and mesh-convergence checks, and design-for-manufacturing checks with measured evidence.
- Persistent design requirements: save requested sizes, volume, solid count, clearances and dimensional relationships inside the FCStd document. AI/MCP mutations automatically return measured pass/fail evidence; missing or invalid geometry cannot pass. See examples and limits.
- Parametric mounting plates and dimension links: native expressions preserve four-hole edge offsets after resizing; a requirements panel shows measured failures, edits targets and exports JSON evidence. Bore count, diameter, bounding-box edge offsets and interference volume are checked on real geometry. The internal agent verifies before its final answer and attempts up to two repair rounds.
- Live 3D view of the open FreeCAD document; click a face to select it (selection is shared with the AI)
- Annotation tools on the model: 📍 marker, 📏 dimension, ╱ line, ◯ circle (on the face plane), ✎ freehand pen —
snapping to vertex › edge › face; markers are saved inside the
.FCStdfile - Model tree with dimension editing, show/hide, delete; open/save FCStd, STEP, STL
- FEM wizard: pick fixed faces and load faces, run static or modal analysis in the background; results as a von Mises / displacement color map on the deformed part right in the 3D view (legend, 99th-percentile clamp, value under the cursor), plus an automatic force-balance check (support reactions vs. applied loads)
- DFM checks measured on the exact B-rep — FDM 3D printing (build volume, overhangs, bridging holes, thin walls), 3-axis CNC (sharp internal corners, small radii, deep holes, second setups, undercuts), injection molding (draft, undercuts, wall thickness/uniformity), sheet metal (thickness, bend radius, hole size); findings are painted on the model
- Technical drawings (A3 PDF + PNG, Turkish title block): first-angle views with exact hidden lines, automatic
section A-A, the largest standard scale that fits, overall sizes, grouped hole diameters (
4x Ø4,20), center lines and the mass from the material; the AI adds dimensions and notes measured from the model, never made up, and a layout check reports overlapping texts so it can fix them - Render: photorealistic pictures with Blender Cycles on your GPU (OptiX/CUDA/HIP/oneAPI/Metal) — studio light, reflections, soft floor shadow, materials from the FreeCAD material or per part (aluminium, anodized, steel, brass, plastic + colour…), and orbiting turntable GIFs; without Blender a built-in renderer still gives a shaded picture
- Other open-source CAD programs, driven from VS Code (they run in the background, no windows): OpenSCAD code becomes exact FreeCAD solids (cylinders stay cylinders), build123d / CadQuery scripts come in as B-rep via STEP, the source stays in the part so it can be regenerated with new parameters; KiCad boards come in with their components, mounting holes and connector positions for enclosure design. The sidebar shows what is installed and installs the rest (winget / brew / apt) after you confirm the command
- 16 000+ standard parts from step.parts (ISO/DIN screws, nuts, bearings, extrusions, motors…), downloaded with SHA-256 verification and dropped on the selected face
- Section view, BVH-accelerated picking and one draw call per part (three.js r186 + three-mesh-bvh); the view only redraws when something changes, and FreeCAD sends only changed parts in compact binary form (a one-part edit on a 400-hole plate: ~7 ms and 15 kB instead of ~750 ms and 8.8 MB)
- GPU diagnostics for any brand (AMD, NVIDIA, Intel, Apple, Qualcomm; Windows/Linux/macOS): finds a graphics card that sits idle because the monitor is plugged into the motherboard, apps running on the integrated GPU of a laptop, software rendering, old drivers and slow FreeCAD view settings — and fixes what can be fixed in software
- Optional automatic design history: every change (AI, VS Code or manual in FreeCAD) becomes a git commit with a
readable message (
Beam.Length 100 mm → 120 mm), a diff-friendlymodel.jsonand Markdown notes that open as an Obsidian vault; go back to any version as a new document. Off by default; can commit into a project repo (only its own folder) for developers - AI tools (MCP): inspect, find faces/edges, measure, screenshot, parametric edit, Python modeling with tested FreeCAD recipes, FEM (+ convergence study), DFM, standard parts, technical drawings, export STEP/IGES/BREP/GLB/STL/3MF
- MCP server speaks the current spec (2026-07-28, stateless) and older clients; tools carry read-only/destructive
hints so agents can auto-approve safe ones; prompts appear as slash commands (e.g.
/mcp__cadai__apply_markers) - VS Code registers the server natively (Copilot agent mode sees it without editing
mcp.json) - FreeCAD side panel with its own agent for local (Ollama, LM Studio) or cloud models
- Install FreeCAD 1.0+ (download).
- Install the CadAI VS Code extension (Marketplace / Open VSX, or the
.vsixfrom Releases). - In VS Code open the CadAI sidebar → Start FreeCAD. The extension installs its FreeCAD add-on
automatically and offers Connect AI agents, which registers the
cadaiMCP server with the agents you have installed.
Tested on Windows 11/10 with FreeCAD 1.1. macOS and Linux support is implemented but experimental — reports welcome.
The 3D viewer supports any GPU vendor with a working WebGL 2 driver (discrete, integrated, virtual or software rendering). It retries rejected context settings, limits resolution to the GPU's drawing-buffer capabilities and restores the view after context loss. GPU names may be hidden by the browser; this does not block the viewer. WebGL 1-only hardware cannot use the current three.js renderer; the panel explains this and offers diagnostics (three.js requirements).
VS Code ─ CadAI extension (3D view, markers, tree, FEM wizard)
│ │
│ AI agent (Claude Code, Codex, │ local HTTP bridge (127.0.0.1 + token)
│ Cline, Kilo, Copilot) │
└── MCP: cadai ────────────────────┴──► FreeCAD or Fusion 360 + CadAI add-on (tools run on the live document)
| Path | What |
|---|---|
freecad/CadAI/ |
FreeCAD add-on (Python): tools, bridge, MCP server, tests |
vscode/cadai-vscode/ |
VS Code extension (plain JavaScript, three.js viewer) |
AGENTS.md |
Shared rules for AI agents working on this repo or on models |
PLAN.md |
Design notes and history (Turkish) |
SECURITY.md |
Security model and how to report issues |
- FreeCAD add-on tests (real FreeCAD + Gmsh + CalculiX, scripted fake LLM):
freecadcmd freecad/CadAI/tests/run_tests.py - MCP server tests (any Python 3.9+, no FreeCAD):
python -m unittest freecad/CadAI/tests/test_mcp_server.py - Extension tests (Node 20+, in
vscode/cadai-vscode):npm ci && npm test && npm run test:viewer(the viewer test drives the real webview in headless Edge/Chrome with fixtures produced by a real FreeCAD run) - Lint:
ruff check freecad vscode/cadai-vscode/test - Build the extension (no Node needed):
python vscode/cadai-vscode/build_vsix.py→code --install-extension vscode/cadai-vscode/dist/cadai-latest.vsix - CI (
.github/workflows/ci.yml) runs all of the above, including the FreeCAD suite on the official portable build. - Developer setup: link
freecad/CadAIinto FreeCAD'sModfolder and setcadai.addonPathto it; the extension then leaves your link alone and uses the source directly.
Contributions are welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md.
run_python lets the AI run Python inside FreeCAD. Approve changes consciously, especially on files you did not
create; markers that arrive inside someone else's file are flagged as untrusted. Details: SECURITY.md.
LGPL-2.1-or-later, the same as FreeCAD. Bundles three.js and three-mesh-bvh (both MIT). Parts inserted
from step.parts keep their own licenses (see each part's page, stored on the object as StepPartsUrl).
CadAI, FreeCAD'i VS Code'a taşır ve modeli göstererek tarif etmenizi sağlar: 3B görünümde parçanın üzerine nokta, ölçü, çizgi, daire ya da kalemle işaret koyup ne istediğinizi yazarsınız; kullandığınız yapay zekâ ajanı (Claude Code, Codex, Cline, Kilo, Copilot) işaretleri okuyup değişikliği yapar. FEM analizi (3B renk haritası, kuvvet dengesi ve mesh yakınsaması denetimiyle), ölçüme dayalı üretilebilirlik (DFM) denetimi, 16 000+ standart parça (step.parts), Türkçe antetli A3 teknik resim (PDF), ölçüm ve parametrik düzenleme de dahildir. Blender ile ekran kartında gerçekçi render ve dönen animasyon; OpenSCAD, build123d/CadQuery kodu ve KiCad kartları da arka planda çalışan programlarla doğrudan modele gelir (kenar çubuğu → "Render ve diğer programlar"). Kurulum: FreeCAD 1.0+ ve VS Code'da CadAI eklentisi; gerisini eklenti kendisi kurar. Arayüz şu an Türkçedir; İngilizce arayüz yol haritasındadır.
Model request timeouts default to 2 hours for all providers, including existing profiles. In the FreeCAD CadAI settings, Model zaman a??m? accepts 1?1440 minutes per profile (timeout_seconds in config.json). This controls network waiting, not a total conversation deadline. A token-length warning requires increasing the server output/context limit or starting a new conversation; a longer timeout alone does not remove token limits.