CAD as Code
- Exponential Industry
- Technology Area
- 5 Milestones
Parametric mechanical CAD expressed as version-controllable source (Python, an OpenSCAD DSL, or similar) rather than a GUI feature tree. OpenSCAD compiles CSG scripts; CadQuery and Build123d wrap Open CASCADE B-rep and emit STEP. Claimed benefits include Git collaboration, LLM generation, plugins, and test-driven design. Mainstream adoption has been limited by code-authoring cost, persistent face/edge selection, and kernel failures. Text-to-CAD apps generate this code from natural language.
Hidden Factory
CAD as Code
Csanády CAD-as-code thread
István Csanády argued that CAD-as-code never became a mainstream 3D method because writing code is hard, point-and-click topology tracking is missing, product balance is hard, and B-rep kernels often fail even when the code is correct. He said LLMs, which excel at coding, might change that /X / @istvan_csanady/.
Connor Kapoor releases GeoField Equivariant Generative Bracket Model
Connor Kapoor released geofield-bracket, an open-source generative engineering system that combines continuous SE(3)-equivariant geometric field neural architectures with immersed finite element analysis to synthesize verified load-bearing mechanical brackets /GitHub/ /X/.
CADAM open-sourced (Show HN)
Zach of Adam posted Show HN on 5 September 2025 open-sourcing CADAM, a browser text-to-CAD app that generates parametric OpenSCAD from natural language and images, compiles OpenSCAD to WebAssembly, and exports STL/SCAD /Hacker News/ /GitHub / Adam-CAD/.
Csanády first CAD-as-code startup
István Csanády founded his first CAD startup in 2010 after a brief stint as an iPhone developer; the venture was unsuccessful. In 2026 he wrote that he co-founded a CAD-as-code platform about 15 years earlier that failed for the same reasons other such tools had for 30 years /Apple Developer/ /X / @istvan_csanady/.
University of Rochester Production Automation Project releases PADL-2 on VAX
The Production Automation Project at the University of Rochester, led by Herbert Voelcker and Aristides Requicha, released PADL-2 on DEC VAX systems, establishing the foundational Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) modeling algorithms and language-based CAD-as-code paradigms /X/.