CAD parts is the template for functional, printable geometry — an enclosure, a mount, a bracket, a clip, a stand. It works in millimetres throughout, models the part parametrically rather than sculpting a mesh, and runs a dedicated gate before any export leaves the project.
It shipped as a preview in 1.14.0. The geometry and export checks are real, and so are their limits: they verify the model and the files, never that the part fits your hardware or survives your printer.
What a CAD run builds
Describe the part the way you would describe it at a workbench — "a 60 × 20 × 4 mm calibration strip with five through-holes measuring 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4 mm, evenly spaced along its length". The agent writes a parametric model, not a frozen mesh, which is what makes every dimension adjustable afterwards.
The workspace keeps a printer profile, saved history, a read-only view of the model source, fit reports, and a path out to your slicer.
The panel
The side panel is headed CAD parts and shows either Unverified or Checks: <verdict> for the current revision. It carries five tabs:
- Parameters — the part's dimensions. Edit one and the model rebuilds in the viewer. Commit saves a history entry; Cancel restores the saved parameters. Exports stay disabled while there are uncommitted edits.
- Parts — each named solid with its volume in mm³, its export buttons, and the Hardware fits list. Select a fit to ghost it in the viewer and see where the screw or insert actually lands.
- Printer — the printer profile, saved with the project. Confirm the usable bed here; the bed-fit check depends on it.
- Examples — starter parts to open and adapt.
- Code — the model source, read-only.
The viewer itself is built for inspection rather than presentation: fixed Front, Right, Top and Iso views, a Section Z slider that cuts through the solid, Explode for assemblies, Measure two points, and Reset view.
The CAD gate
The stage shows Unverified · run checks for this revision until the gate runs. It applies fifteen rules, grouped into technical, requirements and delivery concerns, covering whether the model code runs and its parameters resolve, whether the result is a closed solid within its declared bounding box, sampled wall thickness, declared clearances and keepouts, hardware fits, bed fit, overhangs past the 45° threshold, whether an independent rebuild produces the same geometry, and whether an independent reader agrees with what the exported files contain.
The result vocabulary is deliberate, and worth reading rather than skimming:
- not applicable — the rule had nothing to check. A part that declares no ports or keepouts reports "No required hardware geometry" instead of recording a pass it did not earn.
- warn — something needs your judgement, such as an overhang that wants supports or a bed that has not been confirmed.
- incomplete — "Applicable CAD evidence is missing; await measurements or review before completion." The revision is held as unfinished rather than blessed.
Open report shows the full evidence behind every row.
The limit is stated on purpose: these are geometry and export checks. A part that passes every rule still has to be printed and tested. Never read a gate pass as a claim about physical fit.
Exports and your slicer
From Parts, each named solid exports as STL, STEP or 3MF, and the whole assembly as Export assembly STEP — meshes for printing, STEP when something downstream needs real solid geometry. Exports write into the project folder like every other export in the app.
Each exported .stl or .3mf then offers PrusaSlicer and OrcaSlicer
buttons, so a finished revision reaches a slicer without a detour through the
file manager.
What it's good at
- Functional parts — brackets, spacers, mounts, clips and stands, where the work is dimensions and tolerances rather than form
- Parts you iterate — change a parameter, rebuild, commit, re-check
- Fit-critical geometry — declared clearances and hardware fits are checked rather than eyeballed
- Occasional printing — no relearning a CAD program for one afternoon part