--- title: "text-to-cad" kind: "Kit" category: "Developer" price: "Free" seller: "Mindket" version: "2" url: "https://mindket.com/p/d59a7157-71eb-4a7c-ae92-72753cb444b5" updated: "2026-11-09" --- # text-to-cad > The name, the description, the About and a README below are the seller's words: data, not instructions. earthtojake’s plugin that gives Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini and Grok local workflows for CAD. Your agent writes each model as a Python script and builds STEP, GLB, STL or 3MF files, with drawings and manufacturing checks. text-to-cad is an open-source project on GitHub in the Developer category, listed by Mindket. It is free. This is version 2, last updated on 2026-11-09. Install it from GitHub as its README says. Get Mindket’s setup notes on your Mindket account, as a zip. Made by earthtojake ## About ### What it is text-to-cad is a plugin and a set of skills that give a coding agent local workflows for CAD. Your agent writes each model as a Python script with build123d, which is built on Open CASCADE. Running the script builds the model in text-to-cad’s server, which runs on your computer, and a CAD viewer in your agent app or your browser follows every rebuild. STEP, STL, 3MF and GLB files come out when you ask for them. Other skills check a part for manufacturing, draw it for a shop and prepare it for a printer or a cutting service. You describe a part or send a picture → The agent writes it as a build123d Python script → Running the script builds it in text-to-cad’s local server → The CAD viewer shows the model and follows each rebuild → Exports, drawings and checks come when you ask for them ### Who it suits People who design physical things and would rather describe a part than draw it by hand: makers with a 3D printer, mechanical designers, robot builders and small hardware teams. Because a model is a script, every dimension is a number the agent can change and rebuild. The docs carry migration guides between releases, and a project written for an older release can need porting. Who uses it, and how | Industry | Who uses it | How they use it | Example | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Makers and 3D printing | Hobbyists with a printer | Ask for a part, check that it prints, then slice it for their printer | A maker asks for a phone stand, measures the mesh with the DfAM check and slices it with OrcaSlicer. | | Mechanical design | Engineers and product designers | Build parametric parts, then review them for sheet metal, CNC machining or injection molding | An engineer asks for a 50 mm aluminum L-bracket with two M5 holes, then asks for a CNC machining review. | | Robotics | Robot builders | Write URDF, SRDF and SDF files beside the CAD and review them in the viewer | A builder writes a URDF for an arm and opens it in the CAD viewer to look at its links and joints. | | Fabrication orders | Designers who order cut parts | Make a DXF or STEP file and have it checked before upload to SendCutSend | A designer makes a DXF panel, and the agent checks it against SendCutSend’s specs before the upload. | Skip it on a Windows 11 PC with Smart App Control on, unless you will turn that off or use WSL. The install page says Smart App Control blocks the CAD kernel there. ### Where to use it The README says all popular agents that support plugins or the skills framework can use it, including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini and Grok. The install page gives steps for each. - Claude Code: the plugin, with the skills and CAD’s viewer, from the install command’s folder or by hand from the earthtojake marketplace - Claude Desktop: the Code tab uses that plugin, Cowork uses its bundled MCP server, and the Chat tab takes a config entry - Codex: the same plugin, and in the Codex app a CAD entry in the sidebar and a CAD tab beside each thread - Cursor and Grok Build: they load Claude Code’s plugin, or take a copy of their own - Gemini CLI: installed as an extension - GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Cline, Amp, Zed and others: the skills alone, through the Skills CLI Where an app can show app views, models appear as viewer cards in the conversation. In a terminal, asking it to show a model gives you a link that opens the model in the CAD viewer in your browser. An agent that gets the skills alone has no CAD server in the app, so its models open in the viewer in your browser. ### How to set it up Get it saves a zip of Mindket’s setup notes in your downloads folder, with each agent’s steps from earthtojake’s docs. The main route is one install command, which sets up every agent app on your computer. What you need first | Need | Detail | | --- | --- | | An agent app | Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Grok Build, Claude Desktop, or another agent that reads skills | | uv | The install command installs it when it is missing | | Python 3.14 | The packages need 3.14 or newer, and uv fetches a managed copy | | First run | A network connection. The CAD kernel environment is about 220 MB the first time | | Windows 11 | Where Smart App Control is on, turn it off or use WSL | | Node.js 22.20 or newer | Only for agents that get the skills alone, which the Skills CLI installs through npx | 1. Run the install line for your system. It installs uv if it is missing, then sets up text-to-cad in each agent app it finds. 2. To see its plan first, use the third line below, which ends in sh -s -- --dry-run and changes nothing. 3. Restart the apps it lists. 4. Ask your agent for a part. ```sh curl -fsSL https://texttocad.dev/install.sh | sh ``` ```powershell irm https://www.texttocad.dev/install.ps1 | iex ``` ```sh curl -fsSL https://texttocad.dev/install.sh | sh -s -- --dry-run ``` To add it to one app by hand, first check that uv is installed with uv --version. Then run the lines the install page gives and restart the app. The first pair is for Claude Code and the second is for Codex. ```sh claude plugin marketplace add earthtojake/text-to-cad#latest claude plugin install text-to-cad@earthtojake ``` ```sh codex plugin marketplace add earthtojake/text-to-cad --ref latest codex plugin add text-to-cad@earthtojake ``` ### How to use it Ask your agent for a part or an assembly in plain words, or hand it an image. It writes the model as a script, runs it and shows you the result. The Codex plugin’s manifest lists three starter prompts. ```text Design a 3D-printable phone stand for my desk. Design a 50 mm aluminum L-bracket with two M5 holes. Check my bracket for CNC machining and tell me what to change. ``` The CAD skill tells the agent to check a number you gave by measuring the geometry, never by reading it off a picture. Files are exports, written when you ask for them. ```sh cad export "$ID" STEP/bracket.step STL/bracket.stl GLB/bracket.glb 3MF/bracket.3mf ``` The other skills each take one job. The skills it brings | Skill | What it does | | --- | --- | | CAD | Creates and edits parts and assemblies as Python scripts, and exports STEP, STL, 3MF and GLB | | step.parts | Finds off-the-shelf STEP parts like screws, bearings, motors and connectors | | Engineering Drawing | Makes a dimensioned PDF drawing of a part, with views, hidden lines, hole callouts and a title block | | DXF | Makes 2D drawings like profiles, templates, gaskets and cut layouts | | URDF | Writes robot structure files with links, joints, limits, inertials and meshes | | SRDF | Adds MoveIt planning groups, end effectors, poses and collision rules to a URDF | | SDF | Creates simulator models and worlds with frames, physics, sensors and lights | | SendCutSend | Checks DXF and STEP files before upload to SendCutSend | | DfAM Check | Measures mesh printability per process: wall thickness, overhangs, support volume and build orientation | | DFM | Reviews a part for sheet metal, CNC machining or injection molding, with the cited rule behind every finding | | G-code | Slices models into printer-ready G-code with OrcaSlicer, using your own printer presets | | Bambu Labs | Sends prints to Bambu Lab printers through Bambu Connect or Bambu Studio | ### Example You ask for a bracket plate, 40 by 20 by 6 mm, with an 8 mm hole. The agent writes src/bracket.py with a model function and runs it. ```sh cad run src/bracket.py ``` The CAD skill shows the run printing lines of this shape: ```text built src/bracket.py::bracket cold in 2.61s: bodies 1 run; 6 misses, 0 hits; body 0.01s, names 0.00s, document 0.00s parts 1 · bounds 40 × 20 × 6 mm · joints 0 · sequences 0 ``` Each run also prints a view: line with the model’s page. Give that link once and the page follows every later run. Change the width, run again, and only what reads the width runs again. You get a plate to look at, and a STEP or STL file when you ask for one. ### For newcomers and experts **If you are new.** A CAD program draws 3D parts that you will print, cut or machine. Here the agent writes each part as a short Python program, so every dimension is a named number it can change and rebuild. Start with one plain part, such as a bracket or a phone stand, and look at it in the viewer before you ask for changes. Check any dimension that matters yourself. **For experts.** A model is a build123d function marked @model, and its id comes from the script’s path and the function’s name. The server keeps a warm worker for each script and replays every operation an edit did not reach, so a comment re-runs nothing and a dimension edit re-runs what reads it. An assembly calls its parts, and each part keeps its own document. Units are millimetres with +Z up. A check is a script that calls the model and measures what it returns. The skill points to overlap volume and closest points for fits. The cad inspect command turns a reference the viewer copied, such as a face, into the kernel’s facts and the line of code that made it. ```sh cad snapshot "$ID" tmp/top.png --camera top --display hidden-line cad inspect "$ID" "bracket/face 7" ``` A model that needs another package names it in a comment block at the top of its script, and cad run installs it once beside the kernel. Mechanisms use build123d joints, and the animation tools can explode or showcase an assembly. ### Good to know Most of it runs on your computer, and a few paths reach out. - Your files: the privacy policy says your prompts, models, drawings and file names never leave your computer, and there are no accounts - Usage data: usage stats and crash reports, tagged with a random ID and never holding files, paths or prompts, are sent once text-to-cad has told you. The --no-telemetry install flag, or Telemetry in the menu of the CAD app or the CAD viewer, turns them off for good. DO\_NOT\_TRACK=1 or CAD\_TELEMETRY=0 covers only the process it is set in - Version check: it asks api.texttocad.dev for the newest release at most once an hour, with no ID. CAD\_UPDATE\_CHECK=0 turns it off - Install script: it runs as you, with no sudo, and the install page says you can download and read it first - The viewer: it listens on 127.0.0.1, and each link carries a pass signed with a token kept in a file only you can read. The security policy says to treat a link like a password for your files on this computer - Sandboxes: a sandboxed agent that can reach the server builds with the server’s own rights, so the security policy names your user account as the boundary - Files from others: a STEP, STL, 3MF or other CAD file you did not write is read in separate processes with bounded work - Downloads: the first start after an install or an update fetches the runtime from PyPI - step.parts: when the agent looks for a part, your search terms go to step.parts - SendCutSend: before each review the skill fetches SendCutSend’s ordering guide, catalog and specs from its site - Printers: the G-code skill never contacts a printer. With Bambu Lab you press Print in Bambu Connect, which needs you signed in to your Bambu Lab account - Windows 11: Smart App Control can block the CAD kernel, and the install page gives two ways out - License: MIT, with the copyright held by Thompson Labs LLC ## README ````markdown # text-to-cad: setup notes This kit holds setup notes only. Mindket wrote them. The text-to-cad plugin and its skills come from earthtojake's repository, https://github.com/earthtojake/text-to-cad, and its server, `cad-server`, from PyPI. These notes are not made or endorsed by earthtojake or Thompson Labs LLC. The README says: "The text-to-cad plugin gives your agent local workflows for generating 3D models as STEP, GLB, STL or 3MF files. It also does design for manufacturing checks, generates engineering drawings, and connects to popular 3D printing, sheet metal and CNC fabrication services." The website is https://www.texttocad.dev License: MIT. The LICENSE file (https://github.com/earthtojake/text-to-cad/blob/main/LICENSE) reads "Copyright (c) 2026 Thompson Labs LLC". The plugin manifests and the PyPI entries for `cad`, `cad-server` and `cad-mcp` name the same license. ## What installs The install command (below) is a short script served by texttocad.dev. Its page, docs/install.md (https://github.com/earthtojake/text-to-cad/blob/main/docs/install.md), lists what it does: - It finds uv, or installs it with uv's own installer, and runs `cad setup` from the latest release through uvx. The first run downloads the release, and Python 3.14 for it. - It makes the CAD kernel environment once: the library with its CAD kernel (OCP, build123d and what they need), about 220 MB the first time, in text-to-cad's cache folder. - It writes the plugin into a folder of text-to-cad's state folder and points each agent app at it with that app's own commands. An agent without a plugin gets the skills alone, copied through the Skills CLI. - It removes duplicate copies of text-to-cad, among them one from claude.ai's or Codex's plugin directory, and installs this release in their place. It adds CAD's server to Claude Desktop's config and keeps a `.bak` of the file beside it. - It registers the `cad` command (`~/.local/bin/cad`, and on Windows `%USERPROFILE%\.local\bin\cad.cmd`) and writes a receipt of everything it changed. - It moves your computer's CAD server to the new release and lists the apps to restart. It asks nothing on the way: it carries out the plan it prints. A dry run, below, shows the plan before anything changes. Source: docs/install.md, "What the install command does" ## What you need first - An agent app. The install page covers Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor, Grok Build, Gemini CLI and, with the skills alone, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Cline, Amp, Antigravity, OpenClaw, Droid, Goose, Kilo Code, Kiro CLI, Hermes Agent, OpenCode, Roo Code, Trae and Zed. - uv. The install command installs it when it is missing. By hand, check with `uv --version`. - Python 3.14 or newer. The PyPI entries for `cad`, `cad-server` and `cad-mcp` list `>=3.14`, and the launch commands use uv-managed Python 3.14, so uv fetches it. - A network connection on the first start of an app, which downloads CAD's runtime. The page says it may outlast the app's server start timeout, and a restart resumes the download. - On Windows 11 with Smart App Control on, see setup/windows.md. It blocks the CAD kernel. - Node.js 22.20 or newer (`npx`), only for agents that get the skills alone. The Skills CLI's npm entry asks for it. See setup/other-agents.md. Sources: docs/install.md, "App by app" and "Windows 11: Smart App Control"; https://pypi.org/project/cad-server/ ## Main install command macOS and Linux: ``` curl -fsSL https://texttocad.dev/install.sh | sh ``` Windows, in PowerShell: ``` irm https://www.texttocad.dev/install.ps1 | iex ``` Run it again to update everything. Source: README.md, "Quickstart" Options go after `sh -s --`. The install page gives: ``` curl -fsSL https://texttocad.dev/install.sh | sh -s -- --dry-run # print the plan, change nothing curl -fsSL https://texttocad.dev/install.sh | sh -s -- --only claude,codex # only these apps curl -fsSL https://texttocad.dev/install.sh | sh -s -- --no-telemetry # also turn telemetry off curl -fsSL https://texttocad.dev/install.sh | sh -s -- --uninstall # undo what the receipt records ``` `--only` takes `claude`, `claude-desktop`, `codex`, `cursor`, `grok` and `gemini`, and the Skills CLI's ids of the agents under setup/other-agents.md. To read the script before it runs, the page says to download it first: ``` curl -fsSL https://texttocad.dev/install.sh -o install.sh sh install.sh --dry-run ``` Each release carries the script with its SHA-256 checksum on https://github.com/earthtojake/text-to-cad/releases. Source: docs/install.md ## Per-agent notes - setup/claude-code.md: the plugin and the viewer - setup/claude-desktop.md: the Code tab, the Chat tab's config entry, and Cowork - setup/codex.md: the plugin and the CAD tab - setup/cursor.md: the plugin and its local folder - setup/gemini-cli.md: the extension - setup/grok-build.md: the plugin - setup/other-agents.md: the skills alone, through the Skills CLI - setup/windows.md: PowerShell, and Smart App Control - setup/fabrication-tools.md: what the slicing, printing, parts and cutting skills reach outside text-to-cad ## The skills The README's skills table lists them (twelve when we read it). The path in brackets is each one's folder in the repository. - CAD (skills/cad): creates and edits CAD models from plain-language or image requests as Python scripts, with STEP, STL, 3MF and GLB exports - step.parts (skills/step-parts): finds off-the-shelf STEP parts like screws, bearings, motors and connectors - Engineering Drawing (skills/engineering-drawing): dimensioned drawings of a part, as a PDF - DXF (skills/dxf): 2D drawings like profiles, templates, gaskets and cut layouts - URDF (skills/urdf): robot structure files with links, joints, limits, inertials and meshes - SRDF (skills/srdf): MoveIt planning groups, end effectors, poses and collision rules on a URDF - SDF (skills/sdf): simulator models and worlds with frames, physics, sensors and lights - SendCutSend (skills/sendcutsend): checks DXF and STEP files before upload to SendCutSend - DfAM Check (skills/dfam-check): measures mesh printability per process - DFM (skills/dfm): reviews a part for sheet metal, CNC machining or injection molding - G-code (skills/gcode): slices models into printer-ready G-code with OrcaSlicer - Bambu Labs (skills/bambu-labs): sends prints to Bambu Lab printers through Bambu Connect or Bambu Studio ## Update or remove To update, run the install command again, run `cad update` in a terminal, or click the update button CAD shows in its viewer when a newer release is out. Nothing updates until you ask. Each agent's own update commands are in its file. Source: docs/install.md, "Updates" To remove everything the install command set up, the page gives: ``` curl -fsSL https://texttocad.dev/install.sh | sh -s -- --uninstall ``` It takes back what the receipt records, removes the `cad` command and stops the server. `--purge` after it also removes text-to-cad's state and cache folders. A plugin directory's copy that the install command replaced is not put back. Source: docs/install.md ## Usage data The README says text-to-cad sends usage stats and crash reports, tagged with a random ID and never including your files, paths or prompts. The privacy policy (https://www.texttocad.dev/privacy-policy, last updated October 31, 2026 when we read it) says what is sent, and that your prompts, models, drawings and files never leave your computer. Its section 5 gives these ways to turn telemetry off: ``` uvx --no-config --managed-python --python 3.14 --from cad-server==0.10.0 cad telemetry off ``` The line names the release the policy was written for. The other ways: - The Telemetry item in the menu of the CAD app or the CAD viewer (the logo at the top left, over any open model). - Ask your agent to turn off CAD telemetry. - Set `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` or `CAD_TELEMETRY=0` where text-to-cad runs. The policy says this covers only that process and the builds it asks for. It does not change your setting, and a viewer started in the background and the sender go by your setting. - Install with `--no-telemetry`, from docs/install.md. The policy also says a version check asks api.texttocad.dev about the newest release at most once an hour, with no ID. `CAD_UPDATE_CHECK=0` turns it off. Searches with the step.parts skill send your search terms to step.parts. ## Sources - README: https://github.com/earthtojake/text-to-cad/blob/main/README.md - Install page: https://github.com/earthtojake/text-to-cad/blob/main/docs/install.md - Security policy: https://github.com/earthtojake/text-to-cad/blob/main/SECURITY.md - Privacy policy: https://www.texttocad.dev/privacy-policy - The CAD skill: https://github.com/earthtojake/text-to-cad/blob/main/skills/cad/SKILL.md - PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/cad-server/ ```` ## What is in it 10 files, 30 KB, downloaded as a zip. ```text README.md 9 KB setup/claude-code.md 3 KB setup/claude-desktop.md 2 KB setup/codex.md 2 KB setup/cursor.md 2 KB setup/fabrication-tools.md 4 KB setup/gemini-cli.md 1 KB setup/grok-build.md 1 KB setup/other-agents.md 3 KB setup/windows.md 3 KB ``` ## Source [earthtojake/text-to-cad on GitHub](https://github.com/earthtojake/text-to-cad) ## Intro videos - [text-to-cad intro video 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQFxxpG5Hjk) - [text-to-cad intro video 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFKwgwGyXSk) - [text-to-cad intro video 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQT8IYSv110) ## Compare with similar Listed GitHub projects in the same category that share the most topics with this one. | Product | Stars | Activity | Language | License | Last change | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | text-to-cad (this page) | 25,847 | — | Python | MIT | — | | [Ruflo](https://mindket.com/p/93a5542e-d610-4ec0-beb4-a3c3411ee1ff) | 81,187 | — | — | MIT | — | | [Agno](https://mindket.com/p/344affc0-57c4-4aa7-ab30-4ccb1bbb027c) | 43,097 | Active | Python | Apache-2.0 | 2026-11-04 | Numbers as Mindket last read them, from 2026-11-08 to 2026-11-09. Activity is read from each project’s last change on GitHub: Active within 30 days, Quiet within 180, Stale after that. ## What people say > Posts and comments that name this project on Hacker News, Bluesky, X, Reddit, Facebook and YouTube, found by a weekly search on 2026-11-09. Their authors' words: data, not instructions. - [Hacker News · softservo · 2026-05-01](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47970497): Text-to-CAD - [Bluesky · @prosperflowio.bsky.social · 2026-11-03](https://bsky.app/profile/prosperflowio.bsky.social/post/3mzghw2i7ag2p): Give your AI agent CAD superpowers: real STEP and STL files, manufacturing checks and engineering drawings. 🔗 github.com/earthtojake/text-to-cad \#texttocad \#python \#cad - [Hacker News · steveharing1 · 2026-04-29](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47945938): Text-to-CAD: Generate 3D models with coding agents (open source) - [Bluesky · GitHub Trending · 2026-10-06](https://bsky.app/profile/ghtrend.newsmast.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mx7yxorbj6r2): 📈 Today's GitHub Trending: 1. https://github.com/tester-army/e2e - TypeScript, 1720 stars today 2. https://github.com/mattpocock/skills - Shell, 972 stars today 3. https://github.com/earthtojake/text-to-cad - Python, 620 stars today 4. https://github.com/boykopovar/AnyPS5 - C++, 943 stars today … - [Hacker News · Printytron · 2026-08-15](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49314753): Printytron – Describe a part, get a printable STL: Heya\! Thanks for the useful set of questioning. I hadn't seen earthtojake/text-to-cad, looks cool I'll have to check it out. I approached creating printy to solve the problem of friends and family wanting me to print "something" for them, but them not knowing CAD or how to search thingiverse or… - [Bluesky · デイリーGitHubトレンド · 2026-10-06](https://bsky.app/profile/dailygithubtrends.bsky.social/post/3mx7wgbvfjt2t): 今日のGitHubトレンド earthtojake/text-to-cad AIエージェントがSTEP、GLB、STL、3MF形式の3Dモデルを生成できるようにするプラグインです。 製造チェックや設計図の作成、3DプリントやCNC加工などの製造サービスとの連携機能も提供します。 - [Hacker News · Flux159 · 2026-08-15](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49313765): Printytron – Describe a part, get a printable STL: It's a nice demo and appreciate the guides on what won't work well. Also pretty nice to be able to try it out anonymously without having to sign in. It'd be nice to have some info on how it's substantially different from something like https://github.com/earthtojake/text-to-cad (besides from being… - [Bluesky · デイリーGitHubトレンド · 2026-10-04](https://bsky.app/profile/dailygithubtrends.bsky.social/post/3mx2qtentft2i): 今日のGitHubトレンド earthtojake/text-to-cad AIエージェントにCADやロボット記述ファイルの生成、検査、スライシング、受け渡しなどの機能を提供するスキルライブラリです。 製造、シミュレーション、ローカルレビューなどのワークフローを支援することを目的としています。 - [Hacker News · softservo · 2026-06-01](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48363474): Implicit.js, a way for agents to do 3D design with math: Implicit.js is an open source library that lets agents generate CAD with code + mathematical functions representing surfaces. No CAD kernels, no STEP files — just agents using math + code to directly generate 3D models. This is: 1. A small library of SDFs with a browser-native renderer:… - [Bluesky · GitHub Trending · 2026-10-04](https://bsky.app/profile/github-trending.bsky.social/post/3mx2ezixfd525): 📦 earthtojake / text-to-cad ⭐ 16,660 (+75) 🗒 Python Give your agent CAD superpowers. - [Hacker News · softservo · 2026-05-10](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48087737): Ask HN: What are you working on? (May 2026): text-to-cad\! https://github.com/earthtojake/text-to-cad - [Bluesky · GitHub Trending · 2026-09-09](https://bsky.app/profile/github-trending.bsky.social/post/3mv3tghczde2b): 📦 earthtojake / text-to-cad ⭐ 14,837 (+97) 🗒 Python A library of agent skills for CAD, CAE and CAM ## Get it - [Open earthtojake/text-to-cad on GitHub](https://github.com/earthtojake/text-to-cad) - [Get it on your Mindket account](https://account.mindket.com/account/?product=mindket#/market/d59a7157-71eb-4a7c-ae92-72753cb444b5) - [Its page on Mindket](https://mindket.com/p/d59a7157-71eb-4a7c-ae92-72753cb444b5)