# CADABRA, full site text > Every published page on https://cadabrai.com as Markdown, concatenated, for retrieval and citation. > Canonical HTML lives at the URL given above each section. Summary: https://cadabrai.com/llms.txt --- # CADABRA: the AI CAD Copilot for SOLIDWORKS | text to CAD, drawings, BOMs URL: https://cadabrai.com/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Your personalized AI CAD Copilot. Built on your standards, optimized for your engineering workflows. - Part of - [NVIDIA Inception](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/startups/) - [Berkeley SkyDeck](https://skydeck.berkeley.edu/) - [Siemens Technology Partner Program](https://www.siemens.com/global/en/products/software/partners.html) - [Onshape Startup Program](https://www.onshape.com/en/resource-center/startup-program) ## Watch a part edit itself. One prompt, resolved into real feature operations on the open document. [Video: CADABRA editing a SOLIDWORKS part from a plain-English prompt](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-2.mp4?v=2c292bf8) ## It lives in SOLIDWORKS. ## Six modes. [Video: Imagine Mode proposing four enclosure concepts for the open part](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-imagine-housing.mp4?v=0b0b8e71) Proposes rendered concepts. Picking one hands it to Agent to build, which needs a paid plan. Draws and edits sheets on your own standard, and rebuilds a 2D print as a part. On Enterprise. Questions about the open document, plus live web search. Changes nothing. ## Three more modes. Agent, Plan and Debug, on any paid plan. ### Agent Agent calls the SOLIDWORKS API directly, so an extrude it creates is the extrude you would have created: an ordinary feature, editable, suppressible and deletable, with normal parents and children. It covers sketching, features, Hole Wizard and fasteners, patterns and mirrors, components and mates, materials, equations and configurations, and export to PDF, STEP, IGES, Parasolid, STL and 3MF. Work goes out in rounds, and a failed operation skips the rest of its round rather than building on a broken state. Approval is on by default. ### Plan Plan reads the document and commits a numbered list of four to ten steps, every step pending. Each step names the feature, its key dimensions, and the plane or face its sketch goes on, in the units the document is set to. Before planning a change to a feature that already exists, it traces what is built on that feature and names the children the change would affect. Nothing runs until you hand the plan to Agent. ### Debug Debug walks the whole feature tree, forces a rebuild and collects what SOLIDWORKS reports: feature warnings on a part, component warnings as well on an assembly. It checks external references and names the broken and missing ones. Then it reports the root cause and the smallest safe repair. It is the one read-only mode you see act in the SOLIDWORKS window, and it still changes nothing. ## Who it is for. - [Engineers and consultants Family-wide edits, rebuild fixes and export sets, driven from the task pane.](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-professionals/) [For professionals](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-professionals/) - [Students Ask why a feature exists, find out why a rebuild failed, and read the steps before you build them.](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-students/) [For students](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-students/) - [Engineering teams One drawing standard for everyone, single sign-on, directory sync and zero-retention handling.](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-enterprise/) [For enterprise](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-enterprise/) **20,000+** engineering tasks automated **500+** engineers using CADABRA **33%** of engineering hours reduced ## Built for the tools engineers already use. SOLIDWORKS today. The rest are in development. - SOLIDWORKS - Autodesk Fusion - Autodesk Inventor - Onshape - PTC Creo - Siemens NX - CATIA - SOLIDWORKS - Autodesk Fusion - Autodesk Inventor - Onshape - PTC Creo - Siemens NX - CATIA ## Common questions. ### Is there a free version? Yes. The Free plan needs no card and carries 700K credits a month, Ask Mode against the open document, live web search, and Imagine Mode for rendered concepts. It does not change your model: building a concept, and every other edit, needs a paid plan. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ### How does CADABRA integrate with SOLIDWORKS? CADABRA installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in with a single installer. Close SOLIDWORKS, run the installer, enable the add-in, and CADABRA appears in the right-side task pane. There is no migration and no file conversion: it runs on your existing SOLIDWORKS license and your existing files. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ### Does CADABRA work without an internet connection? No. CADABRA reaches its AI processing environment over the network, and CAD data is encrypted in transit. Model inference requires sending the prompt and the assembled model context, so there is no offline mode. If that rules CADABRA out for your work, contact us before you evaluate it. ### Who founded CADABRA? CADABRA was founded by mechanical engineers with twelve years of hands-on SOLIDWORKS experience. The company is CADABRA AI Inc., headquartered in San Diego, California, and is part of NVIDIA Inception, Berkeley SkyDeck, the Siemens Technology Partner Program and the Onshape Startup Program. ## Ready to try it? Bring a SOLIDWORKS file. We edit it live in 20 minutes. ## Follow what ships. --- # Pricing: free to start, $50 standard, $120 professional, custom enterprise URL: https://cadabrai.com/pricing/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Built for every engineer. Start free with no card. Move up when the work does. Save 17% ## Free Try it, no card needed $0 /month **700K** credits a month - ✓Ask Mode, questions about the open model - ✓Imagine Mode, rendered concepts - ✓Live web search - ✓The Low reasoning level - ✓Non-commercial use ## Standard For everyday CAD work $42 /month $500 billed yearly **5M** credits a month - ✓Everything in Free - ✓Plan, Agent and Debug Mode - ✓Medium and High reasoning levels - ✓Commercial use ## Professional For engineers who live in CAD $100 /month $1,200 billed yearly **10M** credits a month - ✓Everything in Standard - ✓Ultra and Max reasoning levels - ✓DFM review and cost estimates ## Enterprise For CAD at scale Custom **Custom** team allowance - ✓Everything in Professional - ✓Drawings Mode, sheets on your own drawing standard - ✓Unlimited workstations - ✓Zero-retention handling, SSO and a dedicated engineer Requires a company email. ### Student 3.5M credits a month, for coursework and learning. Requires an academic email in a supported region. $17 /month ## Every plan, side by side. | Feature | Free | Standard | Professional | Enterprise | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Credits a month | 700K | 5M | 10M | Custom | | Price a month | Free | $50 | $120 | Custom | | Price a year | Free | $500 | $1,200 | Custom | | Workstations active at once | 1 | 1 | 1 | Unlimited | | Ask Mode | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Plan Mode | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Agent Mode | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Drawings Mode | - | - | - | ✓ | | Debug Mode | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Imagine Mode | Renders only | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | DFM review | - | - | ✓ | ✓ | | Cost estimate | - | - | ✓ | ✓ | | Commercial use | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Turn off storage and training | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Reasoning levels | Low | Low, Medium, High | Low, Medium, High, Ultra, Max | Low, Medium, High, Ultra, Max | | Directory sync over SCIM 2.0 | - | - | - | ✓ | | Dedicated cloud tenancy | - | - | - | ✓ | | Zero retention across the organization | - | - | - | ✓ | | SSO and admin controls | - | - | - | ✓ | | Support | Email and contact form | Email and contact form | Email and contact form | Dedicated engineer | **Low** GPT-5.6 Luna **Medium** GPT-5.6 Terra **High** GPT-5.6 Sol **Ultra** Claude Opus 5 **Max** Claude Fable 5.1 A reasoning level is how much thinking a turn gets before CADABRA acts. Higher levels hold more of the model in view and take longer, and they cost more credits. The Max reasoning level runs on credits you buy in the dashboard rather than the monthly allowance. Credits are drawn down per completion, so an Ask question costs a fraction of an Agent edit and a drawing set costs the most. Unused credits do not roll over. ## Questions about billing. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ### Is there a free version? Yes. The Free plan needs no card and carries 700K credits a month, Ask Mode against the open document, live web search, and Imagine Mode for rendered concepts. It does not change your model: building a concept, and every other edit, needs a paid plan. ### How is usage measured? In credits, and every plan states its own monthly allowance: Free 700K, Student 3.5M, Standard 5M and Professional 10M. Usage is drawn down per completion, so an Ask Mode query costs very little while an Agent Mode operation or a drawing set costs more. The dashboard shows how much of the month you have used. Unused allowance does not roll over. ### What happens when I run out of credits? The turn is refused and the message names the date your allowance comes back. Nothing already built is rolled back, and a long run that stops part-way leaves every feature it finished. On a paid plan you can buy extra usage for the current period from the dashboard Billing page, which is a one-off charge that does not change your subscription. On Free the only way up is a plan change, and it takes effect immediately. A separate cap of 120 requests a minute is not the allowance and clears within a minute. ### Is there a yearly price? Yes, on every paid plan, and it is what the pricing page shows by default. A year costs 10 times the monthly price, a 17% saving: Student is $200, Standard is $500 and Professional is $1,200. Switch between monthly and yearly from account settings, and Stripe prorates the change against the period you are already in. Until 30 September 2026, a student starting a year pays $150 for the first one instead of $200, then the standard price after that. ### Can I switch plans later? Yes, from account settings. A change takes effect immediately in both directions, and Stripe prorates the difference against the period you are already in. ### What payment methods do you accept? Visa, Mastercard, and American Express on every plan. Enterprise can also pay by ACH or wire and be billed annually on NET-30 terms. ### Can I cancel any time? Yes. Paid plans renew until you cancel, and you can cancel from the dashboard at any time on both monthly and yearly billing. Checkout and billing run through Stripe. --- # CADABRA for students: $20/month with an academic email URL: https://cadabrai.com/education/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Built for coursework. ## Student 3 months off your first year $150 first year Then $200 a year. Ends 30 September 2026. **3.5M** credits a month - ✓Everything in Free - ✓Plan, Agent and Debug Mode - ✓Medium and High reasoning levels - ✓Non-commercial use Requires an academic email in a supported region. ## What the plan adds. **Feature** Free Student **Credits a month** 700K credits 3.5M credits **Modes** Ask and Imagine Ask, Plan, Agent, Debug and Imagine **Reasoning** Low Low, Medium, High **Edits the open model** No Yes, as ordinary features ## Questions about the student plan. ### Who qualifies for student pricing? Students with an academic address their institution issued, in a supported region. The plan is $20/month, carries 3.5M credits a month plus Plan, Agent and Debug Mode, and is licensed for non-commercial coursework. It is not offered in the EU, EEA, United Kingdom, or Switzerland; students there should use the Free plan or Standard. Not recognized? Email team@cadabrai.com and we will check it. ### Is there a free version? Yes. The Free plan needs no card and carries 700K credits a month, Ask Mode against the open document, live web search, and Imagine Mode for rendered concepts. It does not change your model: building a concept, and every other edit, needs a paid plan. ### How is usage measured? In credits, and every plan states its own monthly allowance: Free 700K, Student 3.5M, Standard 5M and Professional 10M. Usage is drawn down per completion, so an Ask Mode query costs very little while an Agent Mode operation or a drawing set costs more. The dashboard shows how much of the month you have used. Unused allowance does not roll over. ### Is there a yearly price? Yes, on every paid plan, and it is what the pricing page shows by default. A year costs 10 times the monthly price, a 17% saving: Student is $200, Standard is $500 and Professional is $1,200. Switch between monthly and yearly from account settings, and Stripe prorates the change against the period you are already in. Until 30 September 2026, a student starting a year pays $150 for the first one instead of $200, then the standard price after that. ### Can I switch plans later? Yes, from account settings. A change takes effect immediately in both directions, and Stripe prorates the difference against the period you are already in. ### Can I cancel any time? Yes. Paid plans renew until you cancel, and you can cancel from the dashboard at any time on both monthly and yearly billing. Checkout and billing run through Stripe. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ## See it inside SOLIDWORKS. Ask it about a part from your course. --- # Download CADABRA for SOLIDWORKS URL: https://cadabrai.com/download/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Install CADABRA. A Windows installer for the SOLIDWORKS add-in. It runs on the seat, files and PDM you already have. ## Three steps. 1. Run the installer Close SOLIDWORKS, then run it as an administrator. Windows has not seen this release yet, so choose **Keep**, then **More info** and **Run anyway**. 2. Enable the add-in Open SOLIDWORKS, go to **Tools**, then **Add-Ins**. Under Other Add-Ins, tick CADABRA. 3. Sign in and ask it something CADABRA opens in the task pane on the right. Sign in, or create a free account with no card, then open a part and ask a question about it in Ask Mode. Nothing is changed until you switch to a mode that edits. ## What it needs. **CAD** SOLIDWORKS 2020 or later **Operating system** 64-bit Windows 10 or later **Permissions** Administrator rights to install **Download** about 212 MB SOLIDWORKS must be installed and opened once so it registers, or setup stops with a message. If the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime is missing, setup fetches it from `builds.dotnet.microsoft.com`. Stuck? Email [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) and we reply within one business day. [Discord](https://discord.gg/AdBQFZJps) is where users help each other. ## Questions about installing. ### How does CADABRA integrate with SOLIDWORKS? CADABRA installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in with a single installer. Close SOLIDWORKS, run the installer, enable the add-in, and CADABRA appears in the right-side task pane. There is no migration and no file conversion: it runs on your existing SOLIDWORKS license and your existing files. ### Windows says Cadabra.Bundle.exe is not commonly downloaded. Is it safe to run? Yes. Microsoft Defender SmartScreen is reporting that the file is new, not that it is harmful. SmartScreen grants a file a reputation only after enough people have downloaded it without trouble, so every fresh release starts out unrecognized. Choose Keep, then More info, then Run anyway. To confirm you have the real installer first, the download page prints the release SHA-256: run certutil -hashfile Cadabra.Bundle.exe SHA256 in Command Prompt and compare the two. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ### Does CADABRA work without an internet connection? No. CADABRA reaches its AI processing environment over the network, and CAD data is encrypted in transit. Model inference requires sending the prompt and the assembled model context, so there is no offline mode. If that rules CADABRA out for your work, contact us before you evaluate it. ### Is there a free version? Yes. The Free plan needs no card and carries 700K credits a month, Ask Mode against the open document, live web search, and Imagine Mode for rendered concepts. It does not change your model: building a concept, and every other edit, needs a paid plan. --- # Contact CADABRA URL: https://cadabrai.com/contact/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Get in touch. Tell us about your CAD workflow. We reply within one business day. ## Send us a message A real engineer reads every one of these. By sending this you agree to our [privacy policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/). Or email [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) directly. ## Common questions. ### How do I get help? Email team@cadabrai.com or use the contact form, on every plan including Free. We reply within one business day. Discord is the community channel, not a support queue. Enterprise adds a dedicated engineer. Service status for every part CADABRA depends on is at cadabrai.com/status. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ### Does CADABRA work with Fusion, Inventor, Onshape, Creo, NX, or CATIA? Not yet. CADABRA runs today as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. Support for other CAD packages is in development and you can join the waitlist for the one you use. --- # Book a demo of CADABRA URL: https://cadabrai.com/demo/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Book a demo. Bring a SOLIDWORKS file. We edit it live in 20 minutes. ## Tell us about your team By sending this you agree to our [privacy policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/). We use it to reply, and nothing else. ## Common questions. ### What is CADABRA? CADABRA is an AI CAD copilot that installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. You describe a change in plain English and CADABRA performs the real SOLIDWORKS feature operations: sketches edited, dimensions refit, parts rebuilt, drawings regenerated. It also produces production drawings and bills of materials on your own title blocks and standards. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. --- # CADABRA blog: AI CAD techniques for SOLIDWORKS URL: https://cadabrai.com/blog/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Notes from the CADABRA team. Walkthroughs, technique posts, and press. ## In the press. - [XR and AI Leap into the Future at Augmented World Expo](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/xr-ai-leap-future-augmented-180000211.html) Yahoo Finance covers the Agent Mode launch at AWE, where engineers created and modified CAD models from plain-English instructions. PR Newswire, June 16, 2026. Also on [Fidelity](https://www.fidelity.com/news/article/default/202606161400PR_NEWS_USPR_____NY84365) and [Nasdaq](https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/xr-and-ai-leap-future-augmented-world-expo-usa-2026-expo-hall-opens-long-beach-ca). - [AWE 2026 names CADABRA a Select Builder](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/augmented-world-expo-2026-reveals-auggie-award-finalists-rising-xr-builders-startup-to-watch-nominees-and-enterprise-xr-leaders-302778845.html) PR Newswire lists CADABRA among the emerging builders at AWE USA 2026 and describes its text to production-ready CAD. PR Newswire, May 21, 2026 - [Meet the Select Builders at AWE USA 2026](https://www.awexr.com/blog/1379-meet-the-select-builders-at-awe-usa-2026) AWE profiles CADABRA as an AI CAD copilot for engineering teams working to company standards. AWE, 2026 ## Latest posts. - [5 best AI tools for mechanical engineers in 2026](https://cadabrai.com/blog/best-ai-tools-mechanical-engineers-2026.html) Five tools worth an engineer’s time, and what each one is actually good at. August 14, 2026, 10 min read - [CADABRA against a traditional CAD workflow](https://cadabrai.com/blog/cadabra-vs-traditional-cad-workflows.html) Where the repetitive modeling, drawing, and documentation time actually goes, and what changes. August 14, 2026, 8 min read - [Edit your SOLIDWORKS model in plain English](https://cadabrai.com/blog/edit-solidworks-in-plain-english.html) “Make the wall 3 mm thicker. Fillet the sharp edges on this face. Change the bore to Ø12.” How a natural-language edit resolves. May 12, 2026, 4 min read - [Auto-generate drawings for parts and assemblies](https://cadabrai.com/blog/auto-generate-engineering-drawings.html) Standard views, BOMs, dimensions, and title blocks, and where that fits in a release workflow. May 12, 2026, 4 min read - [Ask Mode: a SOLIDWORKS expert that knows your model](https://cadabrai.com/blog/ask-mode-solidworks-expert.html) The questions Ask Mode answers well, and the ones it does not. May 12, 2026, 4 min read - [Stop searching for SOLIDWORKS errors](https://cadabrai.com/blog/troubleshoot-solidworks-errors.html) Rebuild errors, mate failures, missing references, and how a one-shot fix beats the rabbit hole. May 12, 2026, 4 min read - [DFM and cost at design time, not after the quote](https://cadabrai.com/blog/dfm-cost-estimates-at-design-time.html) Catch expensive geometry before it leaves your screen, with live material costs and machining rates. May 12, 2026, 4 min read ## See it on your own part. Bring a SOLIDWORKS file. We edit it live in 20 minutes. --- # CADABRA vs SOLIDWORKS Aura: an AI CAD comparison URL: https://cadabrai.com/cadabra-vs-aura/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # CADABRA vs. SOLIDWORKS Aura. Aura answers questions about SOLIDWORKS. CADABRA performs operations against the model in front of you. ## Head to head. | Capability | CADABRA | SOLIDWORKS Aura | | --- | --- | --- | | Turns a prompt into a CAD operation | ✓ | - | | Automates repetitive design work | ✓ | - | | Generates drawings and deliverables | ✓ | - | | Runs inside your SOLIDWORKS session | ✓ | ✓ | | Reads your libraries and standards | ✓ | - | ## Conversation against operation. Aura is a conversational assistant. It answers questions about SOLIDWORKS and leaves the modeling to you. CADABRA resolves a prompt into a real operation on the open document: the sketch is edited, the feature added, the part rebuilt. Drawings and the BOM come from the same model, on your standards. Both run inside the session you already have. The difference is what comes back: an answer, or a changed model. ## Common questions. ### How is CADABRA different from SOLIDWORKS Aura? CADABRA performs CAD operations and produces deliverables; Aura is primarily a conversational assistant. CADABRA is configured with your own drawing standards rather than being generic, and it both modifies the model and produces the documentation from it. ### What is an AI CAD copilot? An AI CAD copilot is an assistant that lives inside a CAD program and performs real CAD operations from natural-language prompts. Instead of clicking through menus, an engineer types what they want, for example “fillet all sharp edges 2 mm” or “generate a drawing with our title block”, and the copilot executes the feature operations, updates the model, and produces the deliverables. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ### Does CADABRA integrate with PLM or PDM? No PLM or PDM connector today. CADABRA works on the files you have open and the drawing standards you upload, and your PDM rules around those files keep applying. If a connector matters to your team, tell us which system. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ## See it run on your own part. Bring a SOLIDWORKS file to a twenty minute demo and watch it edited live. --- # CADABRA for professionals: get the repetitive SOLIDWORKS work done URL: https://cadabrai.com/solutions-professionals/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Get the repetitive half done. Family-wide edits, rebuild fixes, exports and component lookups, driven from the task pane while you stay on the design. [Video: CADABRA performing a described change as real SOLIDWORKS operations](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-2.mp4?v=2c292bf8) ## Where the hours go. ### Changes across a family A wall thickness, a hole size, a bolt circle, repeated over every configuration and every part that shares it. ### Rebuild errors A broken reference three features down, found by clicking through the tree until something turns red. ### Exports and file prep The same PDF, STEP, Parasolid and DXF set, produced by hand for each release. ## What CADABRA takes over. ### Agent Mode: describe the change, it runs the operations. Type the edit and CADABRA performs the native feature operations, then exports the files you ask for. Real geometry in the tree, not a throwaway macro. ### Debug Mode: the failed feature, named. It rebuilds the document and reports the feature, sketch or mate that broke and why, so a bad reference stops being a hunt. ### Plan Mode: review the sequence before it runs. On a change you would rather check first, CADABRA writes the steps and touches nothing until you approve them. ### Ask Mode: answers without leaving SOLIDWORKS. Geometry, dimensions, materials and live web search for supplier and process data, answered against the open document. ## Who it is for. - **Independent engineers and consultants** billing for design time, not for rework. - **Job shops and small product teams** pushing revisions faster than the paperwork keeps up. - **Design engineers** whose week is half modeling and half repetition. ## Questions from engineers. ### How much time does it actually save? It depends entirely on the work. The gains concentrate where the task is repetitive and well specified: generating drawings across an assembly, applying the same edit to a family of parts, and batch hole or fillet changes. On one-off modeling that needs judgment, expect little. The free plan exists so you can measure it on your own parts before paying. ### Why not just write a macro or an API script? Macros work for a fixed, repeated sequence: they break when the feature tree changes, they need a developer to maintain, and each new variation is a new script. CADABRA resolves intent against the actual model at run time, so one prompt covers cases that would otherwise need a separate macro each. ### Can CADABRA fix SOLIDWORKS errors? CADABRA diagnoses rebuild errors, mate failures, dangling sketch relations, and missing references in the context of your open model, and explains what to change. Because it can see the feature tree and the failing feature, the answer is specific to your file. ### Can it find the right component instead of me modeling one? For fasteners, yes. CADABRA sizes one to the measured bore and takes it from a company part you name, then your SOLIDWORKS Toolbox, then a parametric screw it models, stopping at the first source that supplies one. It can also insert and mirror components you point it at. For anything else, Ask Mode can search the web for supplier and specification data, but nothing places a catalog part into your assembly for you. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ## Put it on your own parts. Install the add-in, open a part you know, and give it a change you would rather not do by hand. --- # CADABRA for students: understand the SOLIDWORKS model you are building URL: https://cadabrai.com/solutions-students/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Understand what you are building. CADABRA reads the open model and explains it. Ask why a feature exists, find out why a rebuild failed, and see the steps before you commit to them. [Video: CADABRA performing a described change as real SOLIDWORKS operations](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-2.mp4?v=2c292bf8) ## Where it helps you learn. ### Ask Mode: understand a model you did not build. Ask what a feature does, why a dimension is driven, or how an assembly goes together. CADABRA answers from the open document and changes nothing. ### Debug Mode: find out why it failed, not just that it did. It rebuilds the document, names the feature, sketch or reference that broke, and explains the cause. You fix it, and you catch the next one yourself. ### Plan Mode: see the steps before you build them. CADABRA writes the numbered sequence it would follow and runs none of it. Read the approach, then model it yourself, or hand it over when you are ready. [Video: A concept resolved into shelled walls, bosses, ribs and fillets](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-imagine-enclosure.mp4?v=0fdd0f69) ### Imagine Mode: explore directions, on any plan. Rendered concepts with key specs, before anything is modeled. It is on the Free plan too, so you can try the idea before you pay for anything. ## It shows its work. ### Every edit is a real feature Changes land in the feature tree as ordinary SOLIDWORKS operations, not an imported body. Open them and read what was done. ### You are the one checking CADABRA shows exactly what it changed so you can review each edit. Revert removes the features a run added. ### Licensed for coursework The education plan is for learning and personal projects, on the SOLIDWORKS license and files your school already gives you. ## Who it is for. - **Students learning CAD** in coursework, labs and self-study. - **Capstone and competition teams**, Formula SAE, Baja and robotics, working against a deadline. - **Anyone picking up SOLIDWORKS** after learning a different CAD system. ## Questions from students. ### Who qualifies for student pricing? Students with an academic address their institution issued, in a supported region. The plan is $20/month, carries 3.5M credits a month plus Plan, Agent and Debug Mode, and is licensed for non-commercial coursework. It is not offered in the EU, EEA, United Kingdom, or Switzerland; students there should use the Free plan or Standard. Not recognized? Email team@cadabrai.com and we will check it. ### What is Ask Mode? Ask Mode is CADABRA’s read-only assistant. It answers questions about the open model, its geometry, dimensions, features, and materials, and it can search the web for component pricing, material properties, and manufacturing processes without leaving SOLIDWORKS. It makes no changes to your model. ### How accurate is it, and who checks the work? You do. CADABRA performs real operations on your model and shows exactly what it changed, so every edit is reviewable in the feature tree. Revert deletes the features a run added. An in-place change such as a dimension value, and a feature the run deleted, are not taken back, and there is no file checkpoint, so save before a long run. ### Is there a free version? Yes. The Free plan needs no card and carries 700K credits a month, Ask Mode against the open document, live web search, and Imagine Mode for rendered concepts. It does not change your model: building a concept, and every other edit, needs a paid plan. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ## Learn it properly. An expert in the task pane that explains the model instead of hiding it. --- # CADABRA for enterprise: SSO, directory sync and your own drawing standards URL: https://cadabrai.com/solutions-enterprise/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Roll it out to the whole team. Single sign-on, directory sync, one drawing standard applied by every engineer, and a dedicated tenancy under zero-retention handling. [Video: Drawings produced to one company standard across a team](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-enterprise-drawings.mp4?v=f4296bd6) ## Fits the way your team already signs in. ### Single sign-on over OIDC Entra ID and Okta are what customers bring, and any provider publishing an OpenID Connect discovery document is configured the same way. There is no SAML, no WS-Federation and no LDAP. ### Directory sync with SCIM 2.0 Joiners get a seat and leavers lose one, from the directory you already run. One endpoint serves every provider. ### Roles, seats and an audit trail Owners, admins and members, with domain verification and an activity log that names whether a person, a SCIM sync or a first SSO sign-in made each change. ## Efficiency, fewer errors, one standard. **20,000+** engineering tasks automated **500+** engineers using CADABRA **33%** of engineering hours reduced ### One drawing standard, every engineer. Upload your title block and drawing rules once. Drawings Mode produces sheets on that standard, so output does not vary by who was assigned the job. ### Configured to how your team works. Modeling rules, naming, materials and libraries are set per organization, so the copilot follows your conventions rather than generic defaults. ### A broken operation stops its round. Agent asks before it runs, and a failed operation skips the rest of its round rather than building on a broken state. Debug forces a rebuild and names what broke, so the file that reaches review has been through both. ## What your team gets. ### A dedicated tenancy, under zero retention. Enterprise runs in its own cloud tenancy. Prompts and model context are processed to answer the request and kept on no CADABRA server. Your vault is never uploaded wholesale. ### Find the part instead of redrawing it. Ask across the models your team has indexed, filtered to the account that wrote them, and reuse what exists. ## Who it is for. - **Engineering teams** where output has to look the same whoever produced it. - **IT and security owners** who need SSO, provisioning and a straight answer on data handling. - **Organizations under review** that must document where CAD data goes and who reached it. ## Questions from IT and security. ### Where does CADABRA process our CAD data? CADABRA runs as an add-in on your workstation and reaches a hosted processing environment for inference. It does not run offline. Enterprise runs in a dedicated cloud tenancy under zero-retention handling, so prompts and model context are processed to answer the request and kept on no CADABRA server. Your vault is never uploaded wholesale: what leaves the workstation is the context a given prompt needs. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ### Will the drawings follow our company standards? Yes, once you have set a standard up. You upload drawings you have already released and CADABRA extracts your title block fields, projection angle, units, text height and standing notes from them. That standard is then applied to every drawing it generates. ### Do you train on my CAD files? By default on Free, Student, Standard and Professional, yes: the EULA and privacy policy state that CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata may be used to operate, maintain, and improve CADABRA and its AI models. You can stop it at any time with the data setting in your dashboard, which takes effect from the moment you turn it on rather than retroactively. On Enterprise, zero-retention handling is configured as part of the agreement. ### Does CADABRA integrate with PLM or PDM? No PLM or PDM connector today. CADABRA works on the files you have open and the drawing standards you upload, and your PDM rules around those files keep applying. If a connector matters to your team, tell us which system. ### What security controls does CADABRA have? CADABRA answers a security questionnaire directly, against the controls in place today. Single sign-on and role-based access on Enterprise. Encrypted in transit. A second at-rest layer under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data, one setting on every plan. Indexed CAD content filtered to the account that wrote it. Only the context a given prompt needs is loaded at run time. A 90-day expiry on the operational logs CADABRA keeps about the service. Zero-retention handling on Enterprise, configured per organization. ## Talk to us about a pilot. A short call on your standards, your identity provider and how a rollout would run. --- # Privacy policy URL: https://cadabrai.com/privacy/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Privacy Policy Effective: July 19, 2026. ## Contents 1. [Information we collect](#p1) 2. [How we use information](#p2) 3. [Your CAD designs, AI processing, retention & training](#p3) 4. [Telemetry, logs & diagnostics](#p4) 5. [Cookies & local storage](#p5) 6. [Who we share information with](#p6) 7. [How long we keep information](#p7) 8. [Data security](#p8) 9. [Where we process information](#p9) 10. [Your rights & choices](#p10) 11. [Children](#p11) 12. [Changes](#p12) 13. [Contact](#p13) **The short version.** When you use CADABRA we collect what we need to run the site, sign you in, take payment (through Stripe), and answer your prompts with the AI CAD copilot. Your designs, prompts, and files are sent to our AI backend and to third-party AI providers to generate your output. We don't sell your information and we don't allow ad tracking. Four things people are usually surprised by, so we say them here rather than only in the detail below. **By default we retain your Content and may use it to improve and train our models**, and you can stop both with the **"Don't use my data to train AI"** setting in your dashboard. **Your SolidWorks files are not uploaded** when you simply use the copilot, but they **are** uploaded in full if you submit them to the Drawings Reference Learning feature. **Your prompts and the parameters of each CAD operation are sent to a third-party observability service in the United States** unless you opt out. And **our staff can reach your stored Content:** it is encrypted at rest with keys we hold, not keys you hold, so this is a matter of access control rather than technical impossibility. This Privacy Policy ("**Policy**") describes how CADABRA AI Inc. ("**CADABRA**," "**we**," "**us**," or "**our**") collects, uses, discloses, and protects information when you: - visit our website at **cadabrai.com**, including the marketing and pricing pages (the "**Website**"); - use the **CADABRA dashboard** at the `/dashboard/` path, including sign-in and the post-payment welcome flow (the "**Dashboard**"); - install or use the **CADABRA AI CAD copilot**, including our SolidWorks add-in and related desktop software (the "**Software**"); and - contact us through any of our forms, community channels, or email addresses. The Website, Dashboard, and Software are referred to together as the "**Services**." By using the Services, you agree to this Policy. If you reach CADABRA through an Enterprise account that your employer or institution set up, that organization decides how your data is used inside its account, and we process data on its behalf under our agreement with it. ## 1. Information we collect ### 1.1 Information you give us directly. - **Account information.** When you create an account, your credentials are managed by our identity provider (Microsoft Entra External ID, and, during our platform migration, Amazon Cognito). Your password is stored and verified by that provider. We do not store it, and we never store it in readable form. During the migration window our sign-in service does receive your password in transit in order to pass it to the identity provider and, on your first sign-in after the migration, to create your Entra credential; it is held only for the moment needed to complete that exchange and is never written to our databases or logs. In our records we keep your name, email, phone number if you provide one, plan, your Stripe customer/subscription details, your organization membership and administrator status, your preferences, your data-retention preference, and the version of the Software you last used. - **Demo and contact forms.** When you submit a "Get a demo" or contact form, we collect the name, email, company name, and any message you provide, plus the time and page of submission. - **Newsletter signup.** If you join our newsletter, we collect your email address. - **Pricing and student signup.** When you start a paid plan, we collect your name, email, and (for Student plans) your school or university. - **Support and community messages.** If you email [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) or reach us through our community channels, we receive whatever you send us. ### 1.2 CAD and design data you submit through the Software. When you use the AI CAD copilot, the Software sends the content needed to answer your request to our hosted backend. The categories below describe what can be transmitted; the exact set depends on the request you make and the features you use. - Your prompts and chat messages. - **CAD content read from your active model:** feature-tree structure; feature, face, edge, and vertex identifiers; geometry, dimensions, dimension tolerances, and mass properties; sketch geometry; equations and global variables; document units; materials and appearances; configuration names, per-configuration suppression states, and dimension overrides; custom and configuration-specific file properties (which commonly carry part numbers, revisions, authors, project names, and descriptions); component and assembly structure and mates; sheet-metal parameters including K-factor and bend allowance; rebuild-error and feature-error text; and your current selection. - **Drawing content, when you work on a drawing:** sheet names and scales, view names, the text of notes and annotations, title-block field names and their values, bill-of-materials table rows, and dimension text. - **Document and file identifiers:** the name and the full local path of the active document and of referenced components and drawings, and the titles of other documents you have open. The full path is part of the context sent on each turn, not only of occasional diagnostic records, and a local path can contain your folder names and your Windows user name. See §4 for how paths are handled in telemetry. - When you ask the copilot to find or open a document, the folders SolidWorks lists as recently used are enumerated to locate it, and the candidate file paths considered are included in the request. - **Screenshots** captured by the copilot to understand your model visually. These are produced by SolidWorks' own image export and contain only the model view. The Software does not read your screen: it captures no part of your desktop, no other application's window, and no part of the CADABRA panel. If the export fails, no screenshot is taken and the copilot continues without one. - **Files you attach to a chat.** The Software accepts images (PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP) and PDFs up to 20 MB. Files above roughly 5 MB for an image or 4.5 MB for a PDF are still sent to the model to answer your request, but are not saved to your chat history. It also accepts SolidWorks drawing files (`.slddrw`, `.drwdot`); these are converted on your machine to an image of the drawing, and only that image is transmitted; the drawing file itself is not uploaded. - **Drawing Standards reference files.** If your organization uses the Drawings Reference Learning feature, the reference files you submit are uploaded and stored so the learned standard can be reproduced and audited. This feature accepts raw SolidWorks files, including part (`.sldprt`), assembly (`.sldasm`), and drawing (`.slddrw`, `.drwdot`, `.slddrt`) files, as well as `.dwg`, `.dxf`, `.step`/`.stp`, `.pdf`, and `.png`, up to 25 MB each. This is the one feature in which a complete CAD file, rather than data derived from it, leaves your machine, and it operates only on your instruction. See §3. We call the prompts, CAD content, attachments, reference files, and screenshots you submit, and the outputs we generate, your "**Content**." How we process, retain, and (unless you opt out) train on Content is described in §3. ### 1.3 Information we collect automatically. - **Technical / web-log data.** When you load the Website or Dashboard, our servers receive your IP address (often shortened), browser type and version, operating system, time zone, the page you came from, and the pages you visit. We use this for operating the Services, security, and basic analytics. - **Software operational data.** The Software transmits operational telemetry, logs, and diagnostics so we can keep it working and fix problems (see §4). - **Local data on your device.** The Software stores certain data on your own computer, such as encrypted sign-in tokens, local caches, and working copies of unsaved documents (see §5). ### 1.4 Information from third parties. - **Stripe.** When you complete a checkout, Stripe sends us a confirmation from which we record your email, the plan and price you selected, your billing interval, your subscription identifier and status, the current billing period, the number of seats, and whether the subscription is set to cancel. Card numbers stay with Stripe and we never receive them; if you view your payment method in the Dashboard, we retrieve the card brand, last four digits, and expiry date from Stripe to display to you. - **Cloud infrastructure.** Our hosting providers may pass us standard request metadata (like your IP address and request headers) so the Services can respond to your device. ## 2. How we use information We use information to: - provide and operate the Services, including signing you in, remembering your plan and preferences, and generating responses from the AI CAD copilot to your prompts; - process payments through Stripe and prevent fraud; - reply to your messages, demo requests, and support tickets; - send you transactional communications (receipts, account and security notices) and, only if you opt in, newsletters and product updates, which you can unsubscribe from at any time; - keep the Services secure: detect abuse, debug errors, rate-limit traffic, and investigate suspicious activity; - understand how the Services are used so we can improve them; - improve and, subject to the opt-out in §3, train our artificial-intelligence and machine-learning models; and - comply with legal obligations (such as tax recordkeeping) and enforce our [Terms of Service](https://cadabrai.com/terms/). ### 2.1 Our legal bases, if you are in the EU, the UK, or Switzerland Data-protection law in those regions requires a specific legal basis for each thing we do with your personal information. Ours are: - **Running the Services for you:** signing you in, remembering your plan and preferences, passing your prompts to the copilot, storing your chats so history works, taking payment: performance of our contract with you (Article 6(1)(b)). - **Keeping the Services working and secure:** operational telemetry, crash and update diagnostics, error investigation, rate limiting, abuse detection: our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) in running software that is reliable and not abused. We balance that against your interest in keeping your design data to yourself by limiting what telemetry carries (§4) and by giving you a switch that removes model details from it entirely. - **Improving the Services and training our AI models on your Content**, where you have not opted out: our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) in improving a product our customers depend on. This is the most intrusive processing described in this Policy, which is why it is the one you can switch off at any time. The setting in §3, or an objection under §10, both stop it. If you want to see the balancing assessment we carried out before relying on this basis, email us and we will send it. - **Newsletters and product-update emails**: your consent (Article 6(1)(a)), which you can withdraw at any time without affecting anything you received before. - **Tax records, accounting, and responding to lawful requests from authorities**: compliance with a legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)). We do not set out to collect special-category data (Article 9), and nothing in the Services asks for it. Engineering content is commercial information rather than personal information most of the time, but it is not always. If your designs, file paths, or prompts contain someone's personal details, they are covered by this Policy too. ## 3. Your CAD designs, AI processing, retention & training Your CAD designs and engineering data are among your most sensitive information, and we treat them that way. **Processing to answer your requests.** To generate an output, your Content is transmitted over an encrypted connection to our hosted backend and passed to the AI model provider that serves your request (see §6). Our agreements with the model providers we use prohibit them from using your Content to train their own models and require them to delete it after processing. Those are contractual commitments from the provider, not technical guarantees we can enforce from our side. **Default retention.** Unless you have opted out (below) or are on a zero-retention or Enterprise arrangement, we retain your Content (chats, prompts, outputs, and attachments) so features you rely on work (such as chat history and cross-session recall), and we may use your Content to operate, secure, and improve the Services, including to improve and train our own AI models. We never sell your Content, and we do not share it with third parties for their own purposes. **No-training / zero-retention opt-out.** You can choose not to have your Content used to train our models. Turn on the **"Don't use my data to train AI"** setting in your CADABRA dashboard (Preferences), or email [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) and we will set it for you. When it is on, your Content is processed only in-flight to generate your output and is **not retained** afterward and **not used to improve or train any AI model**: chats are not stored server-side, attachments are used in-flight and then discarded, and usage telemetry containing your Content is dropped. The setting applies from the moment you turn it on. It stops future retention; it does not delete Content already stored. To have existing Content deleted, see §10. These things are still collected or kept even when you opt out: - **Operational diagnostics:** crash, installation, and update logs, and your device's machine name, so we can keep the Software working and secure (see §4). - **Feedback you explicitly submit.** If you rate or report a response, we retain the report and, where your version of the Software includes them, that turn's prompt and output, because that is the substance of what you sent us. - **Drawing Standards reference files and learned standards**, which the product exists to store for you. - **Usage records** used for billing, quota, and abuse prevention. These identify you and record the model used, the mode, token counts, and the identifier of the chat, but not the content of your prompts or outputs. - **De-identified, aggregated metrics** that no longer identify you or your designs. **Enterprise.** Zero-retention and no-training handling is **configured for your organization when your Enterprise agreement is set up**, and we apply it to your accounts. You do not have to find a toggle, but it is a configuration step we perform, not an automatic consequence of the plan tier. Once it is applied: **we do not train on your data** (your Content is not used to improve or train any AI model, ours or a provider's), and **we do not retain it** (prompts, outputs, chats and attachments are processed in-flight and not stored afterward), except for the limited categories identified below as surviving that setting: operational diagnostics, feedback you explicitly submit, drawing-standard reference files, and usage records used for billing and abuse prevention. If you are on an Enterprise plan and are not certain this has been applied to your organization, email [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) and we will confirm it in writing. What we do **not** claim is that we are technically incapable of reading what is stored. Today your stored Content is protected by our cloud provider's storage-level encryption, whose keys we hold, so access is restricted by least-privilege controls rather than made impossible. An authorized member of our staff can reach it. If you need a guarantee that we cannot read your data even in principle, that requires keys we do not hold, and we are not able to offer that today. We would rather tell you the difference than blur it. Any additional commitments are governed by your Enterprise agreement and its Data Processing Addendum, which control over this Policy in the event of a conflict. **At-rest protection of your stored Content.** Where your Content is retained, it is encrypted at rest by our cloud provider's storage-level encryption, which is applied to all of our databases and object storage and cannot be disabled. Under this protection, authorized CADABRA personnel can, under least-privilege access controls, reach stored Content in order to operate and support the Services. To be precise about what that control is and is not: access is limited to the people who need it and is granted through our cloud provider's permission system, for a narrow set of reasons: investigating a failure you reported, keeping the Services running, or responding to a security or legal obligation. They do not access it for any other reason. We do not use your designs, drawings, or prompts in demonstrations, sales material, screenshots, conference talks, case studies, or public benchmarks. If we ever want to show your work, we will ask you first and you can say no. We do not today keep a per-record log of which staff member read which customer's Content, so we cannot produce a per-record access history on request, and we will not describe our access controls as audited until we can. Our internal console shows account details, plan and subscription state, plugin version and devices, and token totals. It cannot open your account, read your chats, or open your files, and there is no impersonation path. If your organization requires access logging as a condition of deployment, raise it with us and we will tell you where it stands rather than imply it already exists. We have additionally built an application-layer encryption mode, in which stored chats, attachments, and feedback text are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before being written to storage, each account's data key is wrapped by a separate key-encryption key held in a managed key vault, and decryption requires a distinct key-access permission that storage access alone does not grant. **This mode is not enabled in our production environment today and is therefore not in effect for any account.** We will update this Policy before it is switched on. If your organization requires application-layer encryption, customer-managed keys, or a deployment in which no data leaves your network, tell us what you need and we will tell you honestly where that stands. We would rather scope it with you than imply it is a setting we can switch on today. If we switch that mode on, it will be a strong administrative and technical safeguard, not a representation that we are technically incapable of decryption. We would still operate the key vault. Encryption at rest, of either kind, also does not change the fact that to answer your request your Content is processed in plaintext by the AI model provider. No at-rest measure can remove that step. **Your CAD files.** With one exception, your CAD files themselves, meaning your SolidWorks part, assembly, and drawing files, are not uploaded to or stored by us; the Software sends only the derived Content described in §1.2. The exception is the **Drawings Reference Learning** feature: when you submit reference files so the copilot can learn your organization's drawing standard, those files are uploaded in full and stored in our cloud storage, keyed to your organization, so the learned standard remains reproducible and auditable. If you submit a part or assembly file alongside the drawing, both are uploaded. Removing a file from your standard **deletes the uploaded copy from our storage**, not just from the standard; deleting a whole standard deletes every reference file under it. Any member of your organization with Drawings access can remove a file. Until you remove them, these files are retained indefinitely; there is no automatic expiry. This happens only for files you explicitly submit to that feature, and never for the documents you simply have open while using the copilot. **Export-controlled and classified work.** Please do not use CADABRA for designs subject to export control (ITAR, EAR, or an equivalent regime) or for classified work. CADABRA is a cloud service: to answer your request, the derived content described in §1.2 leaves your machine and is processed by our backend and by third-party model providers, and as §9 explains, an inference request may be served from capacity outside the United States. We cannot presently guarantee that a given request stays in the United States, that it is handled only by U.S. persons, or that the technical data in it is not a deemed export. Only an on-premises deployment, in which nothing leaves your own network, can satisfy those obligations, and we do not offer one today. If your organization needs to use CADABRA on controlled work, talk to us before you do, not after. Regardless of the setting above, the third-party model providers we use are contractually barred from training on your Content. ## 4. Telemetry, logs & diagnostics To keep the Software reliable, the desktop Software sends operational signals to our backend rather than keeping them only on your machine: - **Application and event logs:** what the Software did, including error messages and, where an error occurred, the underlying exception text. Before upload, absolute file paths in these logs, including any inside exception text and stack traces, are replaced with a truncated SHA-256 token, and your Windows user name is removed, so your folder names and your account name are not transmitted. As with the tool-audit records below, that token is a stable pseudonym rather than an anonymization. The text of the request you type in Agent mode, and of any web-search or feature-search query the copilot runs, is reduced to a length indicator rather than sent. - **Tool-audit records:** what the copilot did, such as tool names and parameters (dimensions, feature names, component names) and success/error results. Before upload, values in these records that are recognizable as local file paths are replaced with a truncated SHA-256 token so that folder names and your Windows user name are not carried in them. That token is a pseudonym, not an anonymization: it is stable, and someone who could already guess a specific path could confirm it by hashing that guess. Path-shaped values nested inside lists, and document names that carry no file extension, are not currently recognized by this replacement. - **Drawing-operation records:** the stages of a drawing run. Model and drawing paths in them are reduced to the file name; the file name itself is transmitted. - **Macro-execution records:** when the copilot generates and runs a macro, the record includes the macro name, timing, and any error messages. The text of your prompt is reduced to a length indicator in these records, and your Windows user name is not a field in them. - **Model-quality traces:** to improve the copilot and diagnose failures, we record the text of your prompt, the model's output, the model's own reasoning about which tool to use, and the input and output of each CAD operation the copilot ran during the turn. Those operation records carry the parameters the copilot worked with: dimensions, coordinates, feature names, and component names. These traces go to our observability provider, Langfuse (see §6), which is hosted in the United States and outside our own cloud accounts. It is the one place your Content is processed by a third party for a purpose other than generating your answer. **By default, this text is not masked.** If you have turned on "Don't use my data to train AI" (§3), or your organization is on a zero-retention arrangement, the prompt, output, reasoning, plan, and per-operation text are all replaced with a placeholder before the trace leaves our backend, and only non-content metadata (token counts, latency, model identifier, and whether the step succeeded) is sent. - **Diagnostics:** crash reports, and installation and update logs, together with the Software version and a one-way hash of your device's machine name (we use the hash to group one device's reports together; we do not transmit the machine name itself). The contents of these log files are uploaded (up to the last 256 KB of each) exactly as written, without redaction, and can contain file paths and your Windows user name. We do not collect your hardware identifiers, network addresses, Windows security identifier, or your SolidWorks serial or license information. **Turning off model details in diagnostics.** In the CADABRA panel, under **Settings → Account → Data & privacy**, you can switch off "Include model details in diagnostics." With it off, records that would describe your model (prompt text, tool arguments such as dimensions and feature names, and CAD file names) are not transmitted at all. We still receive that an operation ran, its type, its severity, and when, so we can see failure rates; we do not receive anything describing your design. The setting is stored on your computer and takes effect immediately, including for the current session. It is on by default, and every feature works identically with it off. If you have opted out / are on a zero-retention arrangement (§3), telemetry and traces that contain your Content are dropped rather than stored, and model-quality traces keep only non-content metadata (tokens, latency, model id). Diagnostics are retained regardless, solely for operational and security purposes, and are not used to train models. User-submitted feedback is stored only when you explicitly send it. ## 5. Cookies & local storage We keep cookies and trackers to a minimum. We do **not** sell ad space, and you will never see third-party advertising inside CADABRA. We do advertise CADABRA on Google. The Google Ads tag runs on our Website so we can see which ads brought you here. It reports your visit to Google and sets Google cookies, which Google may use for conversion measurement and to show you CADABRA ads elsewhere. It does not run in the Dashboard or in the desktop Software. You can turn off personalised ads at [Google Ads Settings](https://adssettings.google.com/), and your browser settings let you block or clear these cookies. We do not use mobile advertising identifiers, and we do not run any session-recording product on the Website or Dashboard. - **Website / Dashboard.** The Dashboard uses a small amount of essential browser local storage to keep you signed in and to carry checkout state across the Stripe redirect (for example, your session tokens and a cached copy of your profile). This lives in your browser and, briefly during signup, also includes the email and password you entered, until sign-in completes. Signing out clears your session tokens and cached profile; other values, such as a plan you selected before checkout and interface preferences, remain until your browser clears them or you clear them yourself. Stripe sets cookies on its own checkout domain, and Stripe's payment script also runs on our dashboard and can set cookies there. Our pages load the Inter typeface from Google Fonts, so Google receives your IP address and browser user-agent when a page loads. Embedded third-party widgets (such as a scheduling widget or a linked video) may set their own cookies under their own domains. - **Desktop Software.** On your computer, the Software stores your sign-in tokens encrypted with the Windows Data Protection API (DPAPI) under your user account; a local cache of per-document known-entity information, keyed by a hash of the file path, to speed up the copilot (expires after 30 days); a queue of pending telemetry awaiting upload; local operation-audit and build-transcript report files under your temporary folder; macros the copilot generates, written under your user profile and removed after use; and temporary screenshots in your temporary folder. When you run a drawing operation against a document you have not saved, the Software saves a working copy of that part or assembly under your local application-data folder so the operation has a file to reference; these working copies stay on your machine and are not uploaded. Because the CADABRA panel is a web view, Windows also keeps a browser profile for it under your local application-data folder, containing the panel's cache and local storage. The Software additionally keeps crash, installation, and update logs, downloaded update installers, and a short-lived cache of the current plan (including prompt text, for up to 48 hours). Configuration endpoints are read from the Windows registry under `HKLM\SOFTWARE\CADABRA`; the installer, not the Software, sets a CADABRA preference value on some install channels. Your browser and operating-system settings let you block or clear cookies and local storage; doing so may prevent parts of the Services from working. If we add further analytics or marketing cookies, we'll update this section and, where required, obtain your consent first. Our Website does not currently respond to "Do Not Track" signals. ## 6. Who we share information with We do **not** sell your personal information or your Content, and we do **not** share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We share information only with: - **Payment processing:** Stripe, to process payments and refunds; - **Cloud infrastructure:** our hosting and storage providers (Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services during our platform migration) that run the Services and store our data; - **AI model providers:** the providers whose APIs generate outputs for you. We are part-way through a migration between two clouds and both are in service, so which one answers your request depends on the deployment you are connected to: Amazon Web Services (Amazon Bedrock), which serves the Anthropic Claude models, and Microsoft Azure AI Foundry, which serves both the Anthropic Claude and the OpenAI GPT models we offer. We do not silently re-route a failed request to an undisclosed vendor. Two narrower paths are the exception, and we name them rather than fold them into that sentence. If our primary provider is rate-limited or unavailable, your request may be completed through **Cerebras**, which receives the same request content as a normal turn. If the primary provider cannot process an image, the screenshot of your model, never your screen, may be sent to **OpenAI**. If you have turned on "Don't use my data to train AI" (§3), or are on a zero-retention arrangement, both fallbacks are refused before any of your Content is sent, and the request simply fails instead. We do not route your Content to any model vendor beyond these four. We work only with providers that contractually agree not to retain or train on your Content and to delete it after processing; - **Web search:** when the copilot performs a web search, the query is sent to our web-search provider, either Perplexity AI or the web-search service of our cloud provider Microsoft Azure, depending on the deployment serving your request. We do not attach your CAD content or conversation history to that request; note that the query itself is composed by the model and can therefore mention a part name or dimension you asked about, and that web search is refused outright for opted-out and zero-retention accounts; - **Fallback model providers:** OpenAI, which serves a fallback path for image understanding and certain auxiliary requests, and Cerebras, which serves certain auxiliary requests when our primary provider is unavailable. Both receive request content. Both are blocked outright for opted-out and zero-retention accounts; - **Observability:** Langfuse, a US-hosted service, which stores the quality traces described in §4. Trace metadata includes your account identifier always, and your name and email address where retention is enabled. Unless you have opted out under §3, Langfuse also receives your prompt text, the model's output and reasoning, and the parameters of each CAD operation in the turn, and our staff can read those traces in Langfuse's interface. We also use Microsoft Azure Monitor / Application Insights, which receives request and performance traces of our own services rather than your Content; - **Identity:** our authentication provider (Microsoft Entra External ID, and Amazon Cognito during migration), which stores and verifies your password; - **Email, forms, and scheduling:** Google, which hosts our email, so anything you send to team@cadabrai.com is stored in Google Workspace, and which also hosts the spreadsheet that receives demo and contact form submissions, provides the fonts our pages load, and provides the scheduling calendar you may use to book a demo (which receives the name and email you enter); Amazon Web Services (SES), which delivers account verification and password-reset messages; and Cloudflare and Resend, which deliver our contact-form, newsletter, and welcome email; - **Enterprise administrators**, if your account is part of an organization, who can see, for each member of their workspace, the member's name, email address, account identifier, administrator status, plan, subscription status, installed Software version, and individual usage and cost, including token counts, request counts, and dollar spend, over any date range they choose. Administrators cannot read your chats, prompts, or outputs; - **Other members of your organization**: where your organization uses the Drawings Reference Learning feature, the drawing standard is shared across the organization. Every member, not only administrators, can see the names of the reference files uploaded to it and which member uploaded each one, and can download the active drawing template. Do not upload a reference file you are not willing to share with your colleagues; - **Law enforcement or other authorities**, when we believe we are legally required to (for example, a valid subpoena), or to protect the rights, property, or safety of CADABRA, our users, or the public; and - a **successor entity** in connection with a financing, merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, in which case we'll require the recipient to honor this Policy or notify you of any change. We may also share information that has been aggregated or de-identified so that it can no longer identify you; we will not attempt to re-identify it except as permitted by law. ## 7. How long we keep information - **Account data:** for as long as your account exists. If you ask us to close your account, we delete your account record and your identity with our authentication provider. - **Your Content (prompts, attachments, outputs), for retention-enabled accounts:** until you delete it or ask us to delete it. Deleting a chat removes that chat and its attachments. Closing your account does not by itself delete Content already stored in the copilot backend. If you want that erased, ask us before or at the same time as closing the account, and see §10. For opted-out / zero-retention accounts, Content is not retained (see §3). - **Drawing Standards reference files and learned standards:** retained until you remove them; there is no automatic expiry. Removing a file from a standard, or deleting the standard, erases the stored copy (see §3). - **Semantic-search index entries derived from your Content:** the Software does not currently build or maintain a remote semantic index of your CAD content. That capability is present in the codebase but disabled, and nothing derived from your models is indexed into a searchable store. If we enable it, we will update this Policy first. - **Billing records and invoices:** up to 7 years, as tax and accounting laws require. - **Usage records** used for billing, quota, and abuse prevention: retained for as long as we need them for billing and audit purposes. - **Operational telemetry, logs, and diagnostics:** retained for operational and security purposes until we delete them. **No automatic expiry is in force today.** A second copy of these records lands in our cloud provider's logging service and is kept on the same basis, which means general access to those logs is a way to read them. We are working toward an automatic deletion rule and we will say so here once it is actually in force, not while it is planned. - **Backups:** our databases are backed up continuously. Deleted records can persist in those backups for the length of the restore window before they age out. - **Marketing subscriptions:** until you unsubscribe. - **De-identified / aggregated data:** kept indefinitely, because it no longer identifies you. ## 8. Data security We use commercially reasonable physical, technical, and administrative safeguards, including TLS in transit; encryption at rest across our databases and object storage; DPAPI encryption of sign-in tokens stored on your device; managed authentication through our identity provider (Microsoft Entra External ID or, during migration, Amazon Cognito), which stores and verifies your password so that we do not have to store it; separation of secret-management permissions from storage permissions; and least-privilege access for our staff. No system is perfectly secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If you discover a vulnerability or believe your account has been compromised, email [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com). If we determine that a security breach has compromised your personal information, we will notify you and any regulator that applicable law requires us to notify, within the time that law requires, and we will tell you what we know about what happened and what you can do about it. ## 9. Where we process information CADABRA AI Inc. operates from the United States. Our infrastructure (our servers, databases, and object storage) is located in the United States, and our identity, payment, and observability providers operate in the United States. One exception is worth stating plainly: our AI model deployments use a global routing tier, which means the inference request that generates your output may be served by our model provider's capacity in a data center outside the United States. Your Content is processed in transit for that request and, under our agreements with the provider, is not retained by it afterward. If you access the Services from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, where data-protection laws may differ from those in your country. ## 10. Your rights & choices Subject to your local law, you may have the right to: - access the personal information we hold about you and obtain a copy (including a portable copy); - correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete; - delete your account and the information tied to it; - opt out of the use of your Content to improve or train our models (see §3); - opt out of marketing communications; - limit the use of sensitive personal information; - object to or restrict certain processing, including direct marketing and certain automated decision-making; - withdraw consent you previously gave (without affecting prior processing); and - confirm whether we process personal information about you, and obtain the categories of third parties we disclosed it to. To exercise any of these rights, email [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) from the address tied to your account. We may need to verify your identity before acting, and we'll respond within the time required by applicable law (and within 30 days where no specific deadline applies). You may appeal a decision by emailing us with the subject line "Appeal of Decision Related to Privacy Rights Request," and you may use an authorized agent supported by a signed authorization or power of attorney. Exercising any of these rights is free, and we will not degrade the Services or charge you differently because you did. **If you are not satisfied with how we handled it.** Come back to us first, at team@cadabrai.com, and we will try to put it right. You do not have to. If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have the right to lodge a complaint directly with your data-protection supervisory authority: in the EEA, the authority in the country where you live, work, or where you believe the problem occurred (the list is published by the European Data Protection Board at [edpb.europa.eu](https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/board/members_en)); in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office at [ico.org.uk](https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/); in Switzerland, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner. If you are in California, you may complain to the California Privacy Protection Agency or the Attorney General. Contacting a regulator does not require you to have contacted us first. **Deleting your Content.** You can delete an individual chat in the CADABRA panel, which removes that chat and its attachments. For anything broader, such as erasing all of your stored Content and your uploaded reference files, email [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) and we will carry it out and confirm when it is done. Three limits are worth knowing before you ask. First, we may keep what we are required or permitted to keep: billing and tax records, records we need to detect and prevent fraud, abuse, or security incidents, and anything a legal obligation makes us hold. If we rely on one of those, we will tell you which. Second, we cannot yet pull one account's records out of our operational telemetry, logs, and diagnostics. We can stop collecting them for you, but per-user erasure of that data is not something we can honestly promise today; if that matters to you, switch off "Include model details in diagnostics" (§4) so nothing describing your designs is collected in the first place. Third, deleted records can persist in backups for the restore window described in §7. Please make deletion requests before closing your account: closing it removes the identity we use to locate your data. **California residents.** The California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA"), as amended by the CPRA, gives you the rights above plus the right to know the categories and specific pieces of personal information we collect and the right to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information. **We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined under the CCPA**, and we will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights. ## 11. Children The Services are not directed to children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) and we'll delete it. ## 12. Changes to this Policy We may update this Policy as the Services evolve. The "Effective" date at the top reflects the most recent revision. If we make a material change, we'll notify you by email or an in-app/in-product notice before the change takes effect. ## 13. Contact **CADABRA AI Inc.**, Attn: Privacy 845 15th Street, San Diego, CA 92101, USA Email: [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) ## Common questions. ### Do you train on my CAD files? By default on Free, Student, Standard and Professional, yes: the EULA and privacy policy state that CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata may be used to operate, maintain, and improve CADABRA and its AI models. You can stop it at any time with the data setting in your dashboard, which takes effect from the moment you turn it on rather than retroactively. On Enterprise, zero-retention handling is configured as part of the agreement. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. --- # Terms and conditions URL: https://cadabrai.com/terms/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Terms & Conditions Last updated: May 11, 2026. ## Contents 1. [Who we are](#s1) 2. [Accepting these Terms](#s2) 3. [Who can use CADABRA](#s3) 4. [Accounts](#s4) 5. [Plans, pricing & payment](#s5) 6. [Refunds & cancellation](#s6) 7. [What we license to you](#s7) 8. [Your content & designs](#s8) 9. [AI output & your responsibility](#s9) 10. [SolidWorks](#s10) 11. [Acceptable use](#s11) 12. [Beta & early features](#s12) 13. [Changes to the Service or Terms](#s13) 14. [Suspension & termination](#s14) 15. [Disclaimers](#s15) 16. [Limitation of liability](#s16) 17. [Indemnification](#s17) 18. [Governing law & disputes](#s18) 19. [Miscellaneous](#s19) 20. [Contact](#s20) **What this is.** These Terms & Conditions ("**Terms**") are the agreement between you and CADABRA. They cover the cadabrai.com website, the CADABRA dashboard, our AI CAD copilot, and anything else we offer under the CADABRA name (together, the "**Service**"). If you don't agree with these Terms, please don't use the Service. ## 1. Who we are "**CADABRA**," "**we**," "**us**," and "**our**" mean CADABRA AI Inc., a Delaware corporation. The Service is operated from the United States. ## 2. Accepting these Terms By visiting cadabrai.com, completing a checkout for a paid plan, activating an account on our dashboard, or otherwise using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our [Privacy Policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/). The Terms in effect at the time you use the Service apply to that use. ## 3. Who can use CADABRA You must be at least 18 years old to create a paid account. If you're using CADABRA on behalf of a company or other organization, you confirm that you have authority to do so on that organization's behalf, and "you" means both you personally and that organization. ## 4. Accounts Accounts on the CADABRA dashboard are created automatically after you successfully complete checkout for a paid plan, or manually by us for Enterprise customers. You can't create a CADABRA account without a payment or an Enterprise provisioning email from us. You're responsible for keeping your password and any access tokens private and for any activity that happens under your account. Tell us at [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) right away if you think someone else has accessed your account. ## 5. Plans, pricing & payment Current plans and prices are shown on the [pricing page](https://cadabrai.com/pricing/) and are in U.S. dollars. Payments are processed by **Stripe**, and by checking out you authorize CADABRA and Stripe to charge the fees and any applicable taxes for the plan you choose. We don't store full card numbers, Stripe does. Subscription plans renew automatically at the end of each billing period (monthly or annual) at the price then shown for that plan, until you cancel. We may change pricing or plan features in the future; for active paid subscribers, any price increase will only take effect at the next renewal and we will give you at least 30 days' notice before that happens. ## 6. Refunds & cancellation You can cancel a paid plan at any time from your dashboard. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you've already paid for, you keep access until then and your card won't be charged again. Fees are generally non-refundable. As a goodwill exception, if you are a brand-new subscriber on a monthly Student or Professional plan and you email [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) within 14 days of your first charge, we will refund that first month. This one-time courtesy does not apply to annual plans, renewals, Enterprise plans, or to consumed AI usage credits. Where applicable consumer-protection law gives you broader refund rights, those rights apply instead. ## 7. What we license to you While your subscription is active and you're following these Terms, we grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable right to access and use the Service for your own engineering work (or your organization's engineering work, if you're using the Service through an Enterprise account). You may not: copy, resell, sublicense, or redistribute the Service; reverse-engineer or try to extract our model weights, prompts, or source code; build a competing AI CAD product using outputs of the Service; remove our copyright or trademark notices; or use bots or automation to scrape the Service or its outputs beyond the limits of any API we publish. ## 8. Your content & designs "**Your Content**" means anything you type, upload, or send to the Service, including prompts, instructions, CAD files, drawings, screenshots, comments, and feedback. Between you and CADABRA, **you keep ownership of Your Content and of any CAD designs you create**. We don't claim your designs. To run the Service for you, you grant us a limited license to host, store, transmit, display, and process Your Content as needed to deliver the Service. The scope of that license depends on your plan: - **Free, Student, and Professional plans:** CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata submitted through the Service are processed by CADABRA's AI infrastructure and may be used to operate, maintain, and improve the Service and its AI models. You can stop this at any time by turning on **"Don't use my data to train AI"** in your dashboard, as described in our [Privacy Policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/). We do not sell your data to third parties. - **Enterprise plans:** zero-retention and no-training handling is available under an Enterprise agreement and is configured for your organization when that agreement is set up; where it is enabled, CAD geometry and prompts are processed ephemerally to generate your requested output and are **not retained** afterward and **not used to train any AI model**, except for the limited categories the [Privacy Policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/) identifies as surviving that setting: operational diagnostics, feedback you explicitly submit, drawing-standard reference files, and usage records used for billing and abuse prevention. Derived artifacts the product is designed to keep, such as a learned drawing standard, its reference files, and your chat history, are stored under the protections described in our [Privacy Policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/). We do not sell your data or share it for others' use. Full network isolation (no data leaves your network) applies where an on-premises or private-cloud deployment is configured for your organization; otherwise inference runs in CADABRA's cloud environment under the controls in our Privacy Policy. We may use de-identified, aggregated information, for example, "the average user issues 12 commands per session", to operate and improve the Service. This kind of information doesn't identify you or your designs. ## 9. AI output & your responsibility The Service includes generative AI features that produce code, drawings, suggestions, and other output ("**Output**") in response to your prompts. AI Output can be wrong, incomplete, or unsuitable for a particular purpose, and similar prompts may produce similar output for different users. You agree that: - You will review and validate Output before relying on it for any real-world engineering, manufacturing, regulatory, or safety decision. - CADABRA is a productivity tool, not a licensed professional engineer. The Service is not engineering, medical, legal, or financial advice. - You will not use the Service to design weapons, life-support or other safety-critical systems, or anything restricted by U.S. export controls or sanctions, except in the course of duly authorized activity. Subject to these Terms, you may use Output you generate for your lawful business and personal purposes. ## 10. SolidWorks **CADABRA is an independent product.** We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or otherwise officially connected to Dassault Systèmes or SolidWorks Corp. "SolidWorks" and the SolidWorks logo are trademarks of Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation. We reference them only to describe what CADABRA can work with. CADABRA is designed to sit alongside SolidWorks, which you license separately from Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation. You're responsible for holding a valid, properly scoped SolidWorks license and for following its license terms. In particular, you agree that you will not use CADABRA to: - operate SolidWorks outside the scope of your own license (for example, using a student or educational seat for commercial work); - bypass SolidWorks license activation, DRM, or seat enforcement; - reverse-engineer or extract proprietary file formats, APIs, or trade secrets of SolidWorks or Dassault Systèmes; or - redistribute SolidWorks sample files, libraries, or other proprietary content. CADABRA does not give you any rights to SolidWorks. Your use of SolidWorks is governed entirely by the license you accept with Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation. ## 11. Acceptable use You agree not to use the Service to: break the law; infringe someone else's IP, privacy, or contract rights; harass or harm other people; transmit malware; probe, scan, or attack the Service or anyone else's systems; impersonate someone else; create fake or fraudulent accounts; or evade our pricing, rate limits, or paywalls. We may suspend or close accounts that we reasonably believe are engaged in this kind of misuse. ## 12. Beta & early features Some features may be labeled "beta," "preview," or "experimental." Those features are offered as-is for you to try, may change or disappear at any time, and are not covered by any service-level commitment. ## 13. Changes to the Service or these Terms We're actively building CADABRA and we may add, change, or retire features at any time. If we make a change to these Terms that materially reduces your rights, we will let you know by email or in-app banner before it takes effect, and your continued use after that date means you accept the change. If you don't want to accept a change, you can cancel your subscription before it takes effect. ## 14. Suspension & termination You can stop using the Service and cancel your subscription at any time. We may suspend or end your access right away if you materially breach these Terms, if a payment fails, or if we reasonably believe your account is being used for fraud, abuse, or anything that creates legal risk for CADABRA. If we terminate your paid account without cause, we'll refund the unused prorated portion of the period you've already paid for. After termination, our promises about confidentiality, IP ownership, disclaimers, liability limits, and dispute resolution continue to apply. ## 15. Disclaimers **15.1.** THE SERVICE AND ALL OUTPUT ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING. **15.2.** WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE, OR THAT AI OUTPUT WILL BE ACCURATE, NON-INFRINGING, OR SUITABLE FOR YOUR USE. **15.3.** NOTHING IN THESE TERMS LIMITS ANY WARRANTY OR CONSUMER RIGHT THAT, UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, CANNOT BE LIMITED. ## 16. Limitation of liability **16.1.** TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, CADABRA WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR THE COST OF SUBSTITUTE SERVICES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE. **16.2.** CADABRA'S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE FEES YOU PAID TO CADABRA FOR THE SERVICE IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100). **16.3.** THESE LIMITS APPLY EVEN IF A LIMITED REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. ## 17. Indemnification You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold CADABRA and its officers, directors, and employees harmless from any third-party claim, loss, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of: (a) your use of the Service; (b) Your Content or your use of Output; (c) your breach of these Terms; or (d) your violation of any law or third-party right, including any third-party CAD software license you hold. ## 18. Governing law & disputes These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Before filing any legal proceeding, you agree to first try to resolve the dispute informally by emailing [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) and giving us 30 days to respond. If we can't resolve it informally, you and CADABRA agree that any remaining dispute will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Wilmington, Delaware, and you and CADABRA each consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. If you are a consumer in a jurisdiction whose mandatory law gives you the right to sue in your local courts, nothing in this section takes that right away. ## 19. Miscellaneous **Entire agreement.** These Terms and the [Privacy Policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/) are the entire agreement between you and CADABRA about the Service and replace any prior agreement on the same subject. **No assignment by you.** You can't transfer your account or these Terms to someone else without our written consent. We may transfer them in connection with a financing, merger, acquisition, or sale of our business. **Severability.** If a court decides any part of these Terms is unenforceable, the rest still applies. **No waiver.** If we don't enforce a term, that doesn't mean we've given it up. **Export & sanctions.** You confirm that you're not on any U.S. sanctions or denied-parties list and that you won't use the Service in a way that breaks export-control or sanctions law. **No professional engineering services.** CADABRA is a software product; we are not a licensed engineering practice. A qualified professional must review designs intended for real-world use. ## 20. Contact **CADABRA AI Inc.** 845 15th Street, San Diego, CA 92101, USA Email: [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) --- # Trademarks and third-party notices URL: https://cadabrai.com/trademarks/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Trademarks & Third-Party Notices Last updated: May 11, 2026 ## Independent Product **CADABRA is an independent software product.** CADABRA AI Inc. is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, certified by, or in any way officially connected to Dassault Systèmes or SolidWorks Corp. References to SolidWorks and related file formats are made solely for the purpose of describing interoperability and identifying the product with which CADABRA is designed to be used. ## Third-Party Trademark Attributions The following trademarks belong to their respective owners and are referenced on this website and within the Service solely for identification and descriptive purposes. Use of these names does not imply any association with or endorsement by the trademark owner. - **SolidWorks®** and the SolidWorks logo are registered trademarks of **Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation**. - **STEP**, **IGES**, and **STL** are industry-standard file format names referenced descriptively. - **Stripe®** is a trademark of **Stripe, Inc.** Payments are processed by Stripe and your use of Stripe is governed by Stripe's own terms. - **AWS®**, **Amazon Web Services®**, and related marks are trademarks of **Amazon.com, Inc.** or its affiliates. - All other product, company, and service names used on this website may be trademarks of their respective owners. ## Your Responsibility for Your SolidWorks License CADABRA is designed to work alongside SolidWorks, which you license separately from Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation. You are solely responsible for obtaining and maintaining a valid, properly scoped SolidWorks license. CADABRA does not grant you any rights to use SolidWorks, and your use of SolidWorks is governed by the license you accept with Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation. In particular: - If you hold an educational, student, or maker SolidWorks license, you must comply with that license's restrictions (typically including a prohibition on commercial use). - You may not use CADABRA to circumvent SolidWorks license activation, defeat DRM, share license seats beyond what your license permits, or otherwise violate the terms of your SolidWorks license. - You may not use CADABRA to reverse-engineer, decompile, or extract proprietary file formats, APIs, or trade secrets of SolidWorks or Dassault Systèmes. ## CADABRA Trademarks "**CADABRA**," the CADABRA cube logo, and "**CAD like magic**" are trademarks of CADABRA AI Inc. All rights reserved. You may not use the CADABRA name or logo in a way that implies sponsorship, endorsement, or affiliation without our prior written permission. ## Open-Source & Third-Party Software The Service incorporates certain third-party and open-source components, each subject to its own license. A list of those components and their licenses is available on request by emailing [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com). To the extent of any conflict between this notice and an open-source license, the open-source license controls with respect to that component. ## Reporting Trademark or Copyright Issues If you are a trademark or copyright owner and believe content on our site or in our Service infringes your rights, please email [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) with the URL of the material, a description of the right asserted, your contact information, and a good-faith statement of the basis for the claim. We respond to valid notices and, where appropriate, the U.S. DMCA process. ## Contact **CADABRA AI Inc.** 845 15th Street, San Diego, CA 92101, USA Email: [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) --- # End user license agreement URL: https://cadabrai.com/eula/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # End User License Agreement Last updated: June 7, 2026. Effective immediately upon account creation or plugin installation. ## Contents 1. [License grant](#s1) 2. [Restrictions](#s2) 3. [Subscription and payment](#s3) 4. [Cancellation and termination](#s4) 5. [Your CAD data](#s5) 6. [AI output and your responsibility](#s6) 7. [SOLIDWORKS compatibility](#s7) 8. [Updates and modifications](#s8) 9. [Intellectual property](#s9) 10. [Disclaimer of warranties](#s10) 11. [Limitation of liability](#s11) 12. [Indemnification](#s12) 13. [Governing law](#s13) 14. [Contact](#s14) **Applies to: Free, Student, and Professional plans.** This End User License Agreement ("EULA") governs individual use of CADABRA under the Free, Student, and Professional subscription plans. If you are using CADABRA under an Enterprise agreement, your use is governed by the [Terms of Service](https://cadabrai.com/terms/) and your separately executed Order Form, not this EULA. **Please read this carefully.** This EULA is a binding legal agreement between you ("User") and CADABRA AI Inc. ("CADABRA", "we", "us") governing your use of the CADABRA software plugin, dashboard, and related services (collectively, the "Software"). By creating an account, installing the plugin, or clicking "I agree", you accept this EULA in full. If you do not agree, do not install or use the Software. ## 1. License grant Subject to your compliance with this EULA and payment of applicable subscription fees, CADABRA grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to: - Install and use the CADABRA plugin on one (1) SOLIDWORKS workstation per paid seat; - Access the CADABRA dashboard and AI services through your account; - Use the Software solely for your internal business or personal design purposes. This license does not transfer any ownership rights. CADABRA retains all rights not expressly granted. ## 2. Restrictions You may not, and may not permit others to: - Copy, modify, adapt, translate, or create derivative works of the Software; - Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or attempt to derive the source code of the Software; - Sell, sublicense, rent, lease, transfer, or otherwise distribute the Software to any third party; - Remove or alter any proprietary notices, labels, or marks on the Software; - Use the Software to build a competing product or service; - Use the Software in any manner that violates applicable law or these terms; - Share account credentials with any other person or entity. ## 3. Subscription and payment Access to CADABRA requires an active subscription. By subscribing you authorize CADABRA to charge your payment method on a recurring monthly or annual basis at the rate applicable to your selected plan, as shown on our [pricing page](https://cadabrai.com/pricing/). - Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period unless cancelled. - All fees are non-refundable except as required by applicable law or as set out in our [Terms and Conditions](https://cadabrai.com/terms/). - CADABRA reserves the right to change pricing with 30 days' notice to your registered email address. - Failure to pay may result in immediate suspension or termination of access. ## 4. Cancellation and termination You may cancel your subscription at any time from your [account dashboard](https://cadabrai.com/dashboard/dashboard.html). Cancellations take effect at the end of the current billing period. You will retain access to the Software until that date. CADABRA may terminate or suspend your license immediately and without notice if you breach any provision of this EULA. Upon termination: - Your right to use the Software ceases immediately; - You must uninstall the plugin from all workstations; - Any outstanding fees remain due and payable. ## 5. Your CAD data You retain full ownership of all CAD files, models, drawings, and designs you create or process using the Software ("Your Data"). By using the Software, you grant CADABRA a license to process Your Data as set out below. The scope of that license depends on your plan: - **Free, Student, and Professional plans:** CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata submitted through the Software are transmitted to and processed by CADABRA's AI infrastructure. This data may be used to operate, maintain, and improve the Software and its AI models. You can stop this at any time by turning on **"Don't use my data to train AI"** in your dashboard, as described in the [Privacy Policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/). CADABRA does not sell Your Data to third parties. - **Enterprise plans:** zero-retention handling is available under an Enterprise agreement and is configured for your organization when that agreement is set up. Where on-premises deployment is configured, no data leaves your network. Where CADABRA's cloud infrastructure is used and zero-retention is enabled, CAD data, prompts, and outputs are processed ephemerally and are not retained afterward or used to train any AI model, except for the limited categories the [Privacy Policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/) identifies as surviving that setting: operational diagnostics, feedback you explicitly submit, drawing-standard reference files, and usage records used for billing and abuse prevention. Derived artifacts the Software is designed to keep for you, such as a learned drawing standard, its reference files, and your chat history, are stored and are accessible to authorized CADABRA personnel under least-privilege controls for the purpose of operating and supporting the Software, as described in the [Privacy Policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/). ## 6. AI output and your responsibility The Software uses artificial intelligence to generate CAD operations, drawings, BOM entries, and other outputs. You acknowledge and agree that: - AI-generated output may contain errors, inaccuracies, or omissions; - You are solely responsible for reviewing, validating, and approving any AI-generated output before use in engineering, manufacturing, or any other context; - CADABRA makes no warranty that AI output is accurate, complete, fit for any engineering purpose, or compliant with any standard or regulation; - CADABRA is not liable for any loss, damage, injury, or cost arising from your reliance on AI-generated output without independent verification. ## 7. SOLIDWORKS compatibility CADABRA is an independent software product and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Dassault Systemes or SolidWorks Corp. SOLIDWORKS is a registered trademark of Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corporation. You are responsible for holding a valid, properly licensed copy of SOLIDWORKS. CADABRA does not provide or sublicense SOLIDWORKS. CADABRA is not responsible for any conflict, incompatibility, or issue arising from your SOLIDWORKS installation or version. ## 8. Updates and modifications CADABRA may release updates, patches, or new versions of the Software from time to time. Updates may be applied automatically. CADABRA reserves the right to add, modify, or remove features at any time. Continued use of the Software after an update constitutes acceptance of any changes. CADABRA may also update this EULA. We will notify you of material changes by email or by displaying a notice in the dashboard. Your continued use of the Software after the effective date of an updated EULA constitutes your acceptance of the new terms. ## 9. Intellectual property The Software, including all code, algorithms, interfaces, designs, trademarks, and documentation, is owned by CADABRA and protected by intellectual property laws. Nothing in this EULA transfers any IP rights to you. You may not use CADABRA's name, logo, or trademarks without prior written consent. ## 10. Disclaimer of warranties THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. CADABRA DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SOFTWARE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS. YOUR USE OF THE SOFTWARE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. ## 11. Limitation of liability TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, CADABRA AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AFFILIATES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, GOODWILL, OR CAD FILES, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE, EVEN IF CADABRA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT SHALL CADABRA'S TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SOFTWARE EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO CADABRA IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM OR (B) ONE HUNDRED US DOLLARS ($100). ## 12. Indemnification You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless CADABRA and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) your use of the Software; (b) your violation of this EULA; (c) your violation of any third-party rights; or (d) your CAD data or any output generated therefrom. ## 13. Governing law This EULA is governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules, the same governing law as our [Terms of Service](https://cadabrai.com/terms/), so that a single body of law applies to your agreements with us. Before filing any legal proceeding, you agree to first try to resolve the dispute informally by emailing [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) and giving us 30 days to respond. If we can't resolve it informally, any remaining dispute will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Wilmington, Delaware, and you and CADABRA each consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. If you are a consumer in a jurisdiction whose mandatory law gives you the right to sue in your local courts, nothing in this section takes that right away. If you are located outside the United States, you agree that your use of the Software is subject to US law and that any dispute will be resolved in the United States as described above. ## 14. Contact If you have questions about this EULA, please contact us: - Email: [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) - Website: [cadabrai.com/contact](https://cadabrai.com/contact/) --- # Edit your SOLIDWORKS model in plain English URL: https://cadabrai.com/blog/edit-solidworks-in-plain-english.html Updated: 2026-09-07 # Edit your SOLIDWORKS model in plain English CADABRA Team · May 12, 2026 · 4 min read The single most common thing SOLIDWORKS users do is also one of the slowest: small parametric tweaks. Bump a wall thickness. Add a fillet. Change a bore from 10 mm to 12 mm. Each one is two minutes of clicking through the FeatureManager, and most parts need dozens of them. CADABRA’s Agent Mode exists to collapse that loop. You type what you want; CADABRA performs the corresponding operation against the active model. No menu hunting, no remembering which feature lives under which configuration. ## What “edit in plain English” actually means Behind the scenes, every prompt resolves to a concrete SOLIDWORKS operation, a sketch edit, a feature modification, a configuration change, a dimension override. CADABRA reads the open model, identifies the entities you are referring to, and applies the edit. A few examples that work today: - **Dimensional tweaks**, “Increase the wall thickness from 2 mm to 3 mm.” - **Local geometry edits**, “Add a 1 mm fillet to all sharp edges on the top face.” - **Hole and bore changes**, “Change the through-hole on the bracket to Ø12 with an M12 tapped hole.” - **Feature toggling**, “Suppress the chamfer on the back edge for the lightweight configuration.” - **Pattern updates**, “Make the bolt pattern 6 holes evenly spaced on the bolt circle.” ## Why this is faster than the FeatureManager Three reasons, in order of impact: 1. **You skip the disambiguation.** SOLIDWORKS asks you to point at a face, an edge, a sketch, a feature. Most of the time you already know which one, you just do not want to scroll the tree to find it. CADABRA accepts the description (“the back face”, “the M6 hole on the flange”) and resolves it from context. 2. **You skip the dialog round-trips.** One sentence replaces feature dialog → preview → OK → rebuild for each change. 3. **You can chain edits.** “Make all internal fillets 2 mm and external fillets 1 mm, then rebuild.” A single prompt, one rebuild. ## Tips for getting clean results Treat it as a senior SOLIDWORKS user, not a mind reader. A few patterns that work well in practice: ### Anchor to something specific “The Ø8 hole on the mounting tab” is much better than “the hole”. If the model has a dozen holes, name a property that uniquely identifies the one you mean, diameter, location, the feature it lives on, the face it is on. ### Use units Always include units (mm, in, deg). It removes any ambiguity between the model’s units and what you intend. ### One intent per sentence, but chain freely You can ask for a sequence, “add a 2 mm fillet to the inner edge, then mirror the rib feature across the YZ plane”, and CADABRA will execute them in order. What you should avoid is conflating two different intents into a single ambiguous sentence. ### Keep destructive operations explicit “Delete the chamfer” deletes the feature. “Suppress the chamfer” turns it off. Both are valid; CADABRA does what you say. If you are not sure which you want, suppress first, it is reversible. ## Where this is going Agent Mode is the foundation for the rest of CADABRA’s automation. Once you can describe a change in one sentence, you can describe a checklist of changes, or a design intent that propagates across configurations. The drawing automation (covered in [Auto-generate engineering drawings](auto-generate-engineering-drawings.html)) and Ask Mode (covered in [Ask Mode: a SOLIDWORKS expert that knows your model](ask-mode-solidworks-expert.html)) both build on the same underlying understanding of your model. If you want to see it run against your own part, [book a 20-minute demo](https://cadabrai.com/demo/), bring a file, we will edit it live. ### Try CADABRA on your own model Natural-language edits, automated drawings, and Ask Mode, inside SOLIDWORKS. Book a demo or start a plan today. ## Common questions. ### What kind of prompts actually work? Concrete, dimensioned, engineering-language prompts work best. Examples: “make the wall 3 mm thicker”, “fillet all sharp edges on this face at 2 mm”, “add a 6 mm counterbored hole pattern on a 40 mm bolt circle”, “pattern this rib eight times around the axis”, “change the material to 6061-T6 and update the mass properties”. Vague prompts such as “make it better” do not resolve to a single operation. ### Is text-to-CAD output editable, or is it a dumb mesh? With CADABRA it is editable. Prompts are resolved into native SOLIDWORKS features such as extrudes, cuts, fillets, patterns, and Hole Wizard operations, so every result lands in the feature tree with its sketches and dimensions intact. You can roll back, edit a dimension, or change design intent exactly as you would on geometry you modeled by hand. ### Why not just write a macro or an API script? Macros work for a fixed, repeated sequence: they break when the feature tree changes, they need a developer to maintain, and each new variation is a new script. CADABRA resolves intent against the actual model at run time, so one prompt covers cases that would otherwise need a separate macro each. ## Keep reading. - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [AI for SOLIDWORKSAn add-in that performs operations, not a chatbot beside the window.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-solidworks/) - [SOLIDWORKS AutomationIntent resolved at run time, instead of a macro per variation.](https://cadabrai.com/solidworks-automation/) --- # Auto-generate engineering drawings and BOMs URL: https://cadabrai.com/blog/auto-generate-engineering-drawings.html Updated: 2026-09-07 # Auto-generate engineering drawings for parts and assemblies CADABRA Team · May 12, 2026 · 4 min read Most engineers do not enjoy making drawings. The modeling is the interesting part; the drawing is what you owe before release. CADABRA places the views, dimensions the geometry and balloons the BOM. The judgment stays yours. ## What gets generated, today Point CADABRA at an open part or assembly and ask for a drawing. Out of the box, you get: - **Standard views**, front, top, right, and isometric, placed and scaled to fit the sheet. - **Section and detail views** on request, “add a section view through the center bore”, “detail view of the threaded boss at 2:1”. - **Dimensions** for the obvious geometry, overall size, hole diameters and locations, key wall thicknesses. - **BOMs for assemblies**, auto-populated from the assembly tree, with part number, description, and quantity columns. - **Title block fields** populated from custom properties on the model (part number, revision, material, finish, project). ## How a typical session looks The shortest path from “model is done” to “drawing is ready for review” is something like this: 1. Open the part or assembly in SOLIDWORKS. 2. In CADABRA, say “generate a release drawing for this part, A3 sheet, third-angle projection”. 3. CADABRA creates a drawing file, drops the standard views, populates the title block, and dimensions the geometry. 4. You review the drawing, ask for the views and details you actually need, and CADABRA edits in place. The first pass is rarely perfect. No automated drawing tool produces release-ready output on the first shot for a non-trivial part. The point is not perfection. It is that you start the review from a populated sheet rather than a blank one. ## The “ask, don’t click” part Once the drawing exists, you can edit it the same way you edit the model, in plain English: - “Add a section view A–A vertically through the center.” - “Set the tolerance on the bore dimension to ±0.1 mm.” - “Add a datum tag A to the mounting face on the front view.” - “Move the isometric view to the top right and set it to 1:2.” - “Add a note: all dimensions in millimetres unless stated.” ## Assemblies specifically Assembly drawings are where the time savings compound. A 40-component assembly needs balloons, a BOM, exploded views, maybe section views to show internal mates. CADABRA handles the rote work: ballooning every component in the BOM, generating exploded views from the assembly’s exploded view configuration, populating the BOM from the assembly tree. You step in for the judgment calls, which sub-assemblies should be called out, what the section plane should reveal, where the inspection notes go. ## Where to be careful Three things to watch: ### Drawings still need a human reviewer Auto-generated dimensions cover the geometry CADABRA can see, but design intent, which dimensions are critical, which tolerances drive the fit, lives in your head. Treat the auto-output as a first draft, not a release-ready document. ### Drawing standards vary ANSI Y14.5, ISO 8015, company-specific templates, CADABRA respects the drawing template you point it at, but the conventions inside (datum schemes, GD&T preferences, view-projection style) are still your call. ### Configurations matter If the part has multiple configurations, tell CADABRA which one the drawing represents. Drawings of the wrong configuration are one of the easiest ways to ship a wrong part. ## The honest pitch The model still needs an engineer. The drawing still needs an engineer. The clicking does not. Pair it with [plain-English model edits](edit-solidworks-in-plain-english.html) and the slow parts of the release loop become the thinking parts. [Book a demo](https://cadabrai.com/demo/) to see it run end to end on one of your assemblies. ### Try CADABRA on your own model Natural-language edits, automated drawings, and Ask Mode, inside SOLIDWORKS. Book a demo or start a plan today. ## Common questions. ### How does CADABRA turn a 3D model into a 2D drawing? Point CADABRA at a part or an assembly and ask for drawings. It places named, projected, section, isometric and flat-pattern views chosen from the geometry, imports model dimensions with hole callouts, adds center marks and centerlines, writes your title block from the model properties, and on assemblies inserts the BOM and balloons the sheet. Every output follows the drawing standard you configured. ### Can it generate drawings for every part in an assembly at once? Yes. Batch generation runs the whole assembly in a single pass, producing one sheet per unique component plus the assembly drawing, each on your title block with the scale chosen from the geometry. ### Can CADABRA generate a BOM from a SOLIDWORKS assembly? BOMs, yes. Drawings Mode builds the bill of materials from the assembly structure and balloons the sheet to match it, using the column set and naming conventions in your drawing standard. There is no RFQ packaging feature; that is something teams still assemble from the drawings and BOM themselves. ## Keep reading. - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [BOM GeneratorBuilt from assembly structure, ballooned to match the sheet.](https://cadabrai.com/bom-generator/) - [Text to DrawingA single prompt that produces views, dimensions, title block and BOM.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-drawing/) --- # Ask Mode: a SOLIDWORKS expert that knows your model URL: https://cadabrai.com/blog/ask-mode-solidworks-expert.html Updated: 2026-09-07 # Ask Mode: a SOLIDWORKS expert that knows your model CADABRA Team · May 12, 2026 · 4 min read CADABRA’s Ask Mode is the read-only counterpart to its editing tools. You do not ask it to change the model, you ask it questions about the model, and it answers using what it can see in SOLIDWORKS plus, where useful, what it can pull from the web. ## What Ask Mode is good at ### Questions about your model Anything you could find by clicking through the FeatureManager, Mass Properties dialog, Evaluate tools, or properties pane: - “What’s the mass of this assembly in steel? In aluminum 6061?” - “How many unique parts are in this assembly? How many fasteners?” - “What’s the bounding box of the largest component?” - “Which mates reference the housing? Are any of them over-defined?” - “What features are suppressed in the current configuration?” - “Where is the model’s center of gravity, and how far is it from the bottom face?” ### Questions about SOLIDWORKS itself Ask Mode is also a SOLIDWORKS reference that does not make you tab over to a forum: - “What’s the difference between a coincident and a tangent mate?” - “How do I create a configuration-specific suppression state for this feature?” - “Why would a sketch be marked as 'invalid sketch' here?” ### Questions that need the web For anything that depends on live data, material costs, supplier lookups, standards references, manufacturing rates, Ask Mode performs a web search and cites the sources it used. Examples that work well today: - “What’s the current price per kg of 6061-T6 aluminum?” - “What’s a typical CNC machining rate per hour in the US for prismatic parts?” - “What’s the standard tolerance for a press fit between a Ø10 shaft and a steel housing?” - “What’s a reasonable supplier for M6 stainless socket-head screws in small quantities?” For the cost-and-DFM angle specifically, we wrote a dedicated post: [DFM and cost estimates at design time, not after the quote](dfm-cost-estimates-at-design-time.html). ## How Ask Mode reads your model When you open Ask Mode, CADABRA inspects the active SOLIDWORKS document: feature tree, dimensions, custom properties, mates, configurations, mass properties. That context is what makes the answers specific to your part rather than generic SOLIDWORKS documentation. Because Ask Mode is read-only, nothing about it modifies the model. It is safe to leave running while you work, and safe to use on production files without worrying about accidental edits. ## What Ask Mode is not good at (yet) Being honest about the rough edges: ### Anything that depends on simulation Ask Mode does not run FEA, CFD, or motion studies. If you ask “will this bracket fail at 500 N?”, the best it can do is rough hand-calc estimates with caveats, not a substitute for a real simulation. ### Highly numeric DFM that needs a quote It can give you ballpark cost ranges and DFM heuristics. It cannot give you a real quote, only your shop can do that. Use it to catch obvious cost drivers before sending out for quote, not to replace the quote. ### Proprietary internal standards Ask Mode does not know your in-house material codes or your preferred suppliers unless you tell it. Your drawing standard is different: upload released drawings once and CADABRA learns your title block, projection angle, units and standing notes from them. ## The pattern that emerges Most teams using Ask Mode settle into one of three habits: 1. **Design-time sanity checks.** “How much does this weigh? What’s the cost range for this volume of material? Will it fit through a standard CNC fixture?” 2. **Troubleshooting.** “Why is this mate failing? What does this rebuild error mean?”, covered in detail in [Stop Googling SOLIDWORKS errors](troubleshoot-solidworks-errors.html). 3. **Knowledge transfer.** Junior engineers asking the model the questions they would otherwise hesitate to put to a colleague. Ask Mode pairs well with the [Agent Mode](edit-solidworks-in-plain-english.html): ask first, then edit. [Book a demo](https://cadabrai.com/demo/) if you want to see it run on a real model. ### Try CADABRA on your own model Natural-language edits, automated drawings, and Ask Mode, inside SOLIDWORKS. Book a demo or start a plan today. ## Common questions. ### What is Ask Mode? Ask Mode is CADABRA’s read-only assistant. It answers questions about the open model, its geometry, dimensions, features, and materials, and it can search the web for component pricing, material properties, and manufacturing processes without leaving SOLIDWORKS. It makes no changes to your model. ### Can CADABRA fix SOLIDWORKS errors? CADABRA diagnoses rebuild errors, mate failures, dangling sketch relations, and missing references in the context of your open model, and explains what to change. Because it can see the feature tree and the failing feature, the answer is specific to your file. ### How accurate is it, and who checks the work? You do. CADABRA performs real operations on your model and shows exactly what it changed, so every edit is reviewable in the feature tree. Revert deletes the features a run added. An in-place change such as a dimension value, and a feature the run deleted, are not taken back, and there is no file checkpoint, so save before a long run. ## Keep reading. - [AI for SOLIDWORKSAn add-in that performs operations, not a chatbot beside the window.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-solidworks/) - [Ask ModeAnswers questions. Cannot modify anything.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [GlossaryAI CAD and mechanical design terms, one paragraph each.](https://cadabrai.com/glossary/) --- # Stop Googling SOLIDWORKS errors URL: https://cadabrai.com/blog/troubleshoot-solidworks-errors.html Updated: 2026-09-07 # Stop Googling SOLIDWORKS errors, let CADABRA troubleshoot for you CADABRA Team · May 12, 2026 · 4 min read Every SOLIDWORKS user knows the loop: error pops up, copy the message into Google, click through three forum threads from 2014, find a fix that sort of applies, try it, repeat. CADABRA’s Ask Mode collapses that loop into a single conversation that already knows your model. ## The errors Ask Mode handles well ### Rebuild errors Suppressed parents, broken sketch references, features that depend on geometry that no longer exists. Ask Mode reads the error, inspects the feature, traces the dependency, and tells you what to do, usually with the option to fix it for you via the editor. Typical exchange: **You:** “Rebuild failed on the cut-extrude. Why?” **Ask Mode:** “Cut-Extrude2 is referencing edges from Sketch4, but Sketch4 was edited to remove the right vertical line. The cut now has an open profile. You can either close the sketch (add a line from point A to point B) or change Cut-Extrude2 to a thin-feature cut. Want me to fix it?” ### Mate failures Over-defined assemblies, conflicting mates, mates pointing at missing references. Ask Mode lists the conflicting mates, explains which constraint each one is adding, and recommends which to delete. - “Why is this assembly over-defined?”, returns the redundant mates with an explanation. - “Why won’t the cover rotate?”, finds the concentric mate that is locking it. - “What does 'cannot solve current position' mean here?”, traces back to the specific mate causing the conflict. ### Missing references The dreaded yellow exclamation marks. Ask Mode shows you exactly which file path SOLIDWORKS is looking for, suggests the most likely substitute file in your project folder, and can tell you which features depend on the missing reference so you know what is about to break. ### The classics - **“Invalid sketch”**, usually a self-intersecting sketch or open contour. Ask Mode highlights the offending entity. - **“Cannot create this feature”**, almost always a geometry issue (knife edges, zero-thickness, non-manifold). Ask Mode names the specific cause. - **“Failed to save file”**, permissions, locked PDM file, or full disk. Ask Mode walks through the diagnosis. - **API / macro errors**, if you are writing SOLIDWORKS macros, Ask Mode can debug the API call with web search backing. ## How the web search part helps For error messages that have well-known fixes documented in the SOLIDWORKS knowledge base, on forums, or in vendor docs, Ask Mode pulls those sources into the answer and cites them. You get a recommendation, the reasoning behind it, and the URL of the source, so you can verify it if you want. This is the difference between “an AI guessed at a fix” and “Ask Mode found three forum threads describing exactly this error on exactly your SOLIDWORKS version, here are the links, here’s what they agree on”. For obscure errors, the citation is often more valuable than the recommendation itself. ## A worked example Real failure mode from an assembly that landed in our demo queue last month: 1. User opens an old assembly. SOLIDWORKS throws four rebuild errors and the assembly is flagged over-defined. 2. In Ask Mode, the user types: “What’s wrong with this assembly?” 3. Ask Mode reports: Three rebuild errors are on sub-components, all caused by a single missing reference file (`bracket_v2.sldprt`) that was renamed to `bracket_v3.sldprt` in the same folder. 4. The over-defined state is caused by two concentric mates on the same shaft-hole pair, added by different team members. 5. Recommendation: re-link to `bracket_v3.sldprt`, then delete `Concentric4` (the more recent of the two duplicates). 6. User confirms; Ask Mode hands off the fixes to the editor, which performs them. 7. Rebuild clean. Without Ask Mode that is an investigation. With it, it is a single prompt and a confirmation. ## The honest disclaimer Not every error has a clean fix. Sometimes the right answer is “this assembly was built on bad assumptions and needs to be restructured.” Ask Mode will tell you when it thinks that is the case, rather than pretending a one-click fix exists. And the usual rule applies: read what Ask Mode suggests before you act on it, especially on production files. Ask never changes the model itself, so the edit stays yours to make in Agent Mode. For more on what Ask Mode can answer beyond troubleshooting, see [Ask Mode: a SOLIDWORKS expert that knows your model](ask-mode-solidworks-expert.html). Or [book a demo](https://cadabrai.com/demo/) and bring your most cursed assembly. ### Try CADABRA on your own model Natural-language edits, automated drawings, and Ask Mode, inside SOLIDWORKS. Book a demo or start a plan today. ## Common questions. ### Can CADABRA fix SOLIDWORKS errors? CADABRA diagnoses rebuild errors, mate failures, dangling sketch relations, and missing references in the context of your open model, and explains what to change. Because it can see the feature tree and the failing feature, the answer is specific to your file. ### What is Ask Mode? Ask Mode is CADABRA’s read-only assistant. It answers questions about the open model, its geometry, dimensions, features, and materials, and it can search the web for component pricing, material properties, and manufacturing processes without leaving SOLIDWORKS. It makes no changes to your model. ### How accurate is it, and who checks the work? You do. CADABRA performs real operations on your model and shows exactly what it changed, so every edit is reviewable in the feature tree. Revert deletes the features a run added. An in-place change such as a dimension value, and a feature the run deleted, are not taken back, and there is no file checkpoint, so save before a long run. ## Keep reading. - [AI for SOLIDWORKSAn add-in that performs operations, not a chatbot beside the window.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-solidworks/) - [SOLIDWORKS AutomationIntent resolved at run time, instead of a macro per variation.](https://cadabrai.com/solidworks-automation/) - [GlossaryAI CAD and mechanical design terms, one paragraph each.](https://cadabrai.com/glossary/) --- # DFM and cost estimates at design time URL: https://cadabrai.com/blog/dfm-cost-estimates-at-design-time.html Updated: 2026-09-07 # DFM and cost estimates at design time, not after the quote CADABRA Team · May 12, 2026 · 4 min read The cheapest way to fix a $400 part is to not design it that way. The most expensive way is to find out from the quote. CADABRA’s Ask Mode pulls cost information and DFM guidance into the design phase, so the conversation happens before the file leaves your machine, not after. ## What “DFM at design time” actually looks like You are modeling a bracket. Before saving the part, you ask for a rough cost estimate in 6061 aluminum, 3-axis CNC, quantity 50. What comes back is material cost, drawn from the stock tables and the part’s own mass properties and bounding box, and machining cost, from a roughing estimate plus setup amortized across the lot at a stated rate. The total is in USD, with the assumptions it used and where each rate came from. Where a driver cannot be read off the model, the total is withheld rather than guessed, and the reply names which one. A DFM review runs on the same geometry and reports the faces that fail draft, minimum radius, wall thickness and undercut thresholds you set: the deep narrow pocket that forces a small end-mill and slow feeds, the corner radius too tight for the tool it implies, the wall too thin to hold. It returns findings, not a score. Both are on Professional and Enterprise, and both are read-only. Neither replaces a quote from your shop, but together they tell you what your shop is going to flag before they see the file. ## The kinds of questions worth asking ### Cost ballpark - “What’s a rough cost estimate for this part in stainless 304, 3-axis CNC, qty 10?” - “How does the cost change if I make this from aluminum instead of steel?” - “Is sheet-metal cheaper than machining for this geometry at qty 100?” - “How much material does this part actually consume, including the stock waste?” ### DFM checks - “What are the most expensive features on this part to machine?” - “Are any of these holes too deep relative to their diameter?” - “Are there any sharp internal corners that will force a small end-mill?” - “Is the wall thickness consistent enough for injection molding?” - “Are the tolerances I’ve called out reasonable for this process, or are they pushing the shop?” ### Process selection - “At qty 5, qty 50, and qty 500, which manufacturing process is cheapest for this part?” - “What’s the crossover point where injection molding beats machining for this part?” - “Could this be made on a 3-axis machine, or does it need 5-axis?” ## Where the numbers come from Ask Mode is transparent about its inputs. When it returns a cost figure, it tells you: - The material rate it used and where it came from (cited URL). - The machining rate assumption (typically a regional average, named). - The process and setup assumptions (3-axis vs. 5-axis, single setup vs. multiple). - The quantity assumption. If any of those assumptions are wrong for your situation, you can correct them in the next prompt, “redo the estimate with $X/hr machining rate”, and Ask Mode re-runs the calculation. ## What this is not ### It is not a quote It is an estimate built from public rate data and DFM heuristics. Your actual shop will have different rates, fixtures, and capacity, and they are the only people who can give you a real number. The point of the estimate is to not be surprised when the quote comes back, and to catch the obvious cost drivers before that happens. ### It is not a substitute for DFM review For high-volume parts, you still want a real DFM review with your manufacturer. Ask Mode is the first pass, not the last. ### It is not opinion-free “Is this design good?” is a hard question, and Ask Mode will tell you what the model can defensibly answer and where it is making heuristic guesses. Use the citations. ## The compounding effect One DFM iteration before the file goes out for quote saves a quote cycle. One quote cycle is typically a week. Multiply that across the dozen parts in an assembly and the schedule impact is real, not because the AI is replacing the engineer, but because the engineer now has a fast feedback loop on the cost consequences of design choices. For the rest of what Ask Mode does, see [Ask Mode: a SOLIDWORKS expert that knows your model](ask-mode-solidworks-expert.html). To see it run on one of your parts, [book a demo](https://cadabrai.com/demo/). ### Try CADABRA on your own model Natural-language edits, automated drawings, and Ask Mode, inside SOLIDWORKS. Book a demo or start a plan today. ## Common questions. ### Does CADABRA give manufacturing feedback? Yes, on Professional and Enterprise. DFM review reads the solid bodies and reports the faces that fail draft, minimum radius, wall thickness and undercut thresholds, which you can set per run. It returns findings, not a score. Cost estimate prices material and machining for a milled or turned part from its mass properties and bounding box, and states its assumptions; where a driver cannot be read it withholds the total rather than guessing. Both are read-only, and neither is on Free, Student or Standard. ### What is Ask Mode? Ask Mode is CADABRA’s read-only assistant. It answers questions about the open model, its geometry, dimensions, features, and materials, and it can search the web for component pricing, material properties, and manufacturing processes without leaving SOLIDWORKS. It makes no changes to your model. ### How much time does it actually save? It depends entirely on the work. The gains concentrate where the task is repetitive and well specified: generating drawings across an assembly, applying the same edit to a family of parts, and batch hole or fillet changes. On one-off modeling that needs judgment, expect little. The free plan exists so you can measure it on your own parts before paying. ## Keep reading. - [BOM GeneratorBuilt from assembly structure, ballooned to match the sheet.](https://cadabrai.com/bom-generator/) - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [Drawings ModeViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, title block.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) --- # 5 Best AI Tools for Mechanical Engineers in 2026 URL: https://cadabrai.com/blog/best-ai-tools-mechanical-engineers-2026.html Updated: 2026-09-07 # 5 Best AI Tools for Mechanical Engineers in 2026 CADABRA Team · August 14, 2026 · 10 min read Artificial intelligence is changing how mechanical engineers design products, prepare drawings, test ideas, and manage repetitive CAD work. Traditional CAD software still gives engineers precise control over geometry and design intent. However, newer AI-powered tools can reduce the time spent searching through menus, repeating modeling operations, troubleshooting errors, and preparing documentation. Some sit inside the CAD system you already run and act on the open document. Others are generative tools that propose geometry from a set of requirements. The two solve different problems, and the distinction matters more than the feature lists. Here are five AI tools mechanical engineers should consider. ## 1. CADABRA: Best for Prompt-Driven SOLIDWORKS Automation CADABRA is an AI CAD copilot built for mechanical engineers, product designers, and manufacturers who use SOLIDWORKS. Instead of manually completing every modeling step, engineers can describe a task in plain English. CADABRA translates the request into actual SOLIDWORKS operations, such as editing sketches, updating dimensions, modifying parts, regenerating drawings, and working with assemblies. For example, an engineer could ask CADABRA to: - Change the dimensions of a feature. - Add holes, cuts, chamfers, or fillets. - Modify an existing part or assembly. - Generate a fully dimensioned engineering drawing. - Create a bill of materials. - Size a fastener to a bore and insert it from Toolbox. - Apply company title blocks and drawing standards. CADABRA installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in, so teams can use it inside their existing CAD environment without migrating their files to a completely different platform. There is no PLM or PDM connector today: it works on the files you have open and the drawing standards you upload, and your PDM rules around those files keep applying. ### What makes CADABRA different? Many CAD assistants focus on answering questions or recommending commands. CADABRA performs real operations on the CAD model. This makes it especially useful for repetitive work that requires precision but does not always require a new engineering decision. Engineers still control the design intent, while CADABRA handles more of the manual execution. ### Best for CADABRA is best for SOLIDWORKS users who want to automate repetitive modeling, drawing, documentation, and component-search workflows. ## 2. SOLIDWORKS: Best All-Around Mechanical Design Platform SOLIDWORKS is one of the most widely recognized platforms for mechanical product design. Its tools support part modeling, assemblies, engineering drawings, simulation, manufacturing documentation, and product data workflows. Newer SOLIDWORKS offerings include embedded AI features and AI Virtual Companions. Embedded features use machine learning to support existing workflows, while Virtual Companions allow engineers to use natural-language prompts for guidance and specific engineering tasks. SOLIDWORKS describes two Virtual Companions, AURA and LEO. LEO focuses on mechanical design and simulation tasks, including generating assembly structures, adding parametric features to imported files, running simulation studies, evaluating assemblies, and helping resolve design errors. Other AI-assisted capabilities can help engineers predict commands, organize assembly structures, understand rebuild errors, and receive clearer troubleshooting recommendations. ### What makes SOLIDWORKS different? SOLIDWORKS is a complete CAD environment rather than a standalone AI assistant. It is designed for engineers who need a full set of professional mechanical design tools, with AI incorporated into parts of the workflow. It can also be combined with tools such as CADABRA. SOLIDWORKS provides the core modeling environment, while CADABRA adds more prompt-driven automation for creating and editing CAD deliverables. ### Best for SOLIDWORKS is best for mechanical engineers who need a comprehensive platform for designing parts, assemblies, drawings, and manufactured products. ## 3. Autodesk Fusion: Best for Integrated Design and Manufacturing Autodesk Fusion combines CAD, CAM, CAE, electronics, collaboration, and manufacturing tools within a connected platform. Its generative design capabilities allow engineers to enter goals and constraints, such as loads, materials, weight targets, manufacturing methods, and geometric limitations. The software can then explore multiple possible design solutions. That surfaces shapes an engineer is unlikely to reach by hand, particularly for lightweighting. Autodesk also positions Fusion’s AI and automation capabilities as a way to connect design, manufacturing, and production while reducing repetitive tasks. Fusion is particularly useful when the same team needs to move between product design, simulation, prototyping, and manufacturing preparation. ### What makes Autodesk Fusion different? Fusion brings several stages of product development into one environment. Mechanical engineers can create a model, evaluate its performance, prepare manufacturing operations, and collaborate with other team members without relying on a large collection of disconnected tools. Its generative design features are especially valuable for engineers exploring lightweighting, material reduction, additive manufacturing, and performance-driven geometry. ### Best for Autodesk Fusion is best for startups, product-development teams, students, and engineers who want integrated CAD and manufacturing capabilities. ## 4. PTC Creo: Best for Generative Design and Complex Products PTC Creo is a professional CAD platform used for product design, engineering analysis, manufacturing preparation, and model-based development. Creo includes generative design capabilities that use AI to create and optimize designs based on requirements entered by the engineer. These requirements can include materials, manufacturing constraints, structural performance, weight, and geometric boundaries. PTC also offers a Creo AI Assistant that works within the context of a 3D design. It can help extract model information, troubleshoot issues, and support model validation. Rather than manually creating and testing one concept at a time, engineers can use Creo’s generative design tools to evaluate a wider range of possible solutions. ### What makes PTC Creo different? Creo is particularly strong for organizations developing complex physical products that require advanced parametric modeling, simulation, optimization, and controlled product-development processes. Its generative design tools do not replace the engineer’s judgment. Engineers still define the design space, requirements, loads, materials, and manufacturing constraints, and the tool searches inside those bounds. ### Best for PTC Creo is best for experienced engineering teams working on complex products, optimized components, and enterprise-scale development programs. ## 5. Siemens NX: Best for Enterprise Engineering and Digital Manufacturing Siemens NX is an integrated CAD and manufacturing platform designed for advanced product development. Its capabilities support mechanical design, simulation, generative engineering, manufacturing, and digital-twin workflows. Siemens has also introduced AI-enabled features that assist with analysis, optimization, workflow guidance, and design generation. Design Copilot NX provides a natural-language interface that helps users find technical answers, documentation, best practices, and instructions for using the software. Siemens’ broader AI-enabled CAD tools can also help eliminate redundant actions, optimize designs, perform validation, and explore engineering tradeoffs. NX also supports generative design and topology optimization, allowing engineers to define requirements such as target weight, loads, operating conditions, materials, manufacturing methods, and cost considerations. ### What makes Siemens NX different? Siemens NX is built for highly connected product-development environments. It is especially valuable when design information must flow between engineering, simulation, manufacturing, and lifecycle-management systems. That breadth suits large organizations. Smaller teams rarely need the full scope of the platform. ### Best for Siemens NX is best for enterprise engineering teams working on advanced products, complex manufacturing processes, and digital-twin strategies. ## The Five Tools at a Glance | Tool | Best for | AI strength | Ideal user | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | CADABRA | SOLIDWORKS automation | Natural-language CAD actions and drawing automation | SOLIDWORKS engineers and teams | | SOLIDWORKS | Complete mechanical design | Built-in AI assistance across modeling, assemblies, and drawings | Product design and engineering teams | | Autodesk Fusion | Integrated design and manufacturing | Generative design across CAD, CAM, and CAE | Startups and smaller engineering groups | | PTC Creo | Complex product development | Generative design and optimization | Enterprise engineering teams | | Siemens NX | Advanced engineering workflows | AI, simulation, and digital-twin workflows | Large manufacturers and enterprise teams | ## How to Choose the Right AI Tool Choose **CADABRA** when the main goal is to automate repetitive SOLIDWORKS work through natural-language prompts. Choose **SOLIDWORKS** when you need a complete and widely adopted mechanical design platform with built-in AI assistance. Choose **Autodesk Fusion** when you want an integrated environment for design, simulation, collaboration, and manufacturing. Choose **PTC Creo** when your team needs advanced parametric modeling and generative design for complex products. Choose **Siemens NX** when you need enterprise-level CAD, manufacturing, optimization, and digital-twin capabilities. ## The Future of AI in Mechanical Engineering AI is unlikely to replace the need for mechanical engineering knowledge. Engineers still need to understand materials, tolerances, manufacturing processes, safety requirements, design intent, and physical performance. The more immediate opportunity is using AI to reduce the amount of time engineers spend on repetitive execution. Tasks such as searching for components, rebuilding drawings, applying company standards, resolving common errors, and repeating modeling operations can take time away from engineering decisions. AI tools can handle more of this manual work while allowing engineers to maintain control of the final design. ### See AI-assisted CAD on your own model Bring a SOLIDWORKS file and see CADABRA turn plain-language instructions into real model changes and engineering deliverables. ## Keep reading. - [AI for SOLIDWORKSAn add-in that performs operations, not a chatbot beside the window.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-solidworks/) - [SOLIDWORKS AutomationIntent resolved at run time, instead of a macro per variation.](https://cadabrai.com/solidworks-automation/) - [BlogTechniques, product notes, and AI CAD practice.](https://cadabrai.com/blog/) --- # CADABRA vs. Traditional CAD Workflows: What Is the Difference? URL: https://cadabrai.com/blog/cadabra-vs-traditional-cad-workflows.html Updated: 2026-09-07 # CADABRA vs. Traditional CAD Workflows: What Is the Difference? CADABRA Team · August 14, 2026 · 8 min read In SOLIDWORKS every change is a sequence of clicks: find the feature, open the sketch, edit the dimension, rebuild, fix what broke, update the drawing. CADABRA offers a different approach. Engineers can describe what they need in plain language, and the AI CAD copilot translates those instructions into operations inside SOLIDWORKS. The engineer still controls and approves the design. CADABRA reduces the manual work required to complete it. ## What is a Traditional CAD Workflow? In a traditional CAD workflow, engineers interact directly with features, sketches, menus, dimensions, and settings. Updating one component may require an engineer to: - Find the correct part and feature. - Open and edit the sketch. - Change dimensions. - Rebuild the model. - Resolve errors. - Update the assembly. - Revise the drawing. - Check notes and title-block information. - Save and export the files. Each step is straightforward. Repeating them across a part family is not. ## What is CADABRA? CADABRA is an AI CAD copilot that works as an add-in within SOLIDWORKS. Engineers enter natural-language instructions, and CADABRA converts them into real CAD operations. It works with existing parts, assemblies, drawings, and engineering files without requiring teams to switch to another platform. CADABRA can assist with: - Editing dimensions and features. - Updating parts, sketches, and assemblies. - Creating product variations. - Generating engineering drawings. - Producing bills of materials. - Sizing a fastener to a bore and inserting it from Toolbox. - Applying company title blocks and drawing standards. - Reusing existing models and design information. ## CADABRA vs. Traditional CAD at a Glance | Area | Traditional CAD workflow | With CADABRA | | --- | --- | --- | | User input | Menus, commands, sketches, selections, and dimensions | Natural-language prompts alongside the normal CAD controls | | Model changes | The engineer performs every operation by hand | CADABRA translates the instruction into CAD operations | | Repetitive work | Repeated manually across parts, assemblies, and revisions | Described once per prompt, against whatever the model actually contains | | Engineering drawings | Views, dimensions, notes, and layouts prepared manually | Drawings and related deliverables generated from prompts | | Company standards | The engineer has to remember and apply them | Title blocks, naming rules, and standards are configured once | | Component search | The engineer searches folders, libraries, PLM, or PDM | Fasteners are sized to the bore and taken from Toolbox. There is no PLM or PDM connector | | Design control | The engineer keeps full responsibility | The engineer reviews every AI-executed change and keeps control | | Software migration | Not applicable | Runs inside SOLIDWORKS, so no platform migration | ## 1. Natural Language vs. Manual Commands Traditional CAD requires engineers to translate their goals into individual features and commands. For example, modifying a bracket might involve opening a sketch, changing several dimensions, editing a hole pattern, rebuilding the model, and updating its drawing. With CADABRA, the engineer can begin with the intended result: Increase the bracket width to 80 millimeters, update the mounting-hole spacing, and regenerate the drawing. CADABRA translates the request into SOLIDWORKS operations. The engineer then reviews the result and makes any specialized adjustments. This does not remove the need for CAD knowledge. You still have to know that 80 mm is the right width. ## 2. Repetitive Modeling Tasks Mechanical engineers often repeat similar tasks across parts and product variations, including: - Changing hole sizes. - Adding fillets or chamfers. - Updating dimensions. - Replacing components. - Adjusting mates. - Creating model variations. - Applying naming conventions. Traditionally, each change requires a series of manual steps. CADABRA allows engineers to describe the desired changes through prompts while maintaining control over the final result. This is especially valuable for predictable tasks that occur frequently across a product family. ## 3. Drawings and Documentation Manufacturing deliverables may require views, dimensions, tolerances, notes, bills of materials, title blocks, and revision information. Preparing these items manually can take considerable time, especially when a model changes late in the development process. CADABRA generates dimensioned drawings and BOMs on the standards you configured: your title blocks, sheet sizes and naming conventions. A qualified engineer must still review the final deliverables to confirm that dimensions, tolerances, materials, and manufacturing requirements are correct. ## 4. Finding Existing Engineering Data Many organizations already have large libraries of approved components, previous designs, and standard parts. Engineers may need to search shared drives, project folders, supplier catalogs, PLM systems, and PDM systems. CADABRA does not read them. There is no PLM, PDM or supplier-catalogue connector, and nothing places a library part into your assembly for you. The exception is fasteners: name a company part and CADABRA sizes it to the measured bore, falling back to your SOLIDWORKS Toolbox, then to a screw it models itself. ## 5. Applying Company Standards Engineering teams rely on internal standards such as: - Drawing templates. - Title blocks. - File-naming rules. - Approved components. - Standard notes. - Design requirements. Applying these standards manually depends on employees remembering the correct process. CADABRA allows organizations to configure standards directly into the workflow, helping teams produce more consistent results. ## Does CADABRA Replace Traditional CAD? CADABRA does not replace SOLIDWORKS. It works inside the existing CAD environment. Engineers can continue using traditional modeling tools whenever detailed manual control is necessary. CADABRA adds another way to complete repetitive and clearly defined operations. A typical workflow may look like this: 1. The engineer defines the design intent. 2. CADABRA performs applicable CAD operations. 3. The engineer reviews the model and documentation. 4. Manual adjustments are made when needed. 5. The final design is validated and approved. This combines the precision of traditional CAD with the speed of AI-assisted execution. ## When Should You Use Each Workflow? Traditional CAD remains important for creative exploration, specialized feature strategies, unusual geometry, complex troubleshooting, and tasks requiring precise manual control. CADABRA provides the most value when: - The same operations are repeated frequently. - Drawings require substantial manual updating. - Teams create many product variations. - Company standards must be applied consistently. - Existing components are difficult to locate. - Documentation slows down project delivery. The strongest opportunities for automation are tasks that are predictable, time-consuming, and based on clear rules. ## A More Efficient CAD Workflow Traditional CAD requires engineers to translate each design decision into a sequence of manual software commands. CADABRA allows engineers to communicate their intent more directly and convert prompts into real SOLIDWORKS operations. Engineers still define requirements, evaluate tradeoffs, verify results, and approve final deliverables. The difference is that they can spend less time operating CAD software and more time making engineering decisions. Bring a SOLIDWORKS file and see how CADABRA can turn a prompt into real model changes and production-ready deliverables. ### See AI-assisted CAD on your own model Bring a SOLIDWORKS file and see CADABRA turn plain-language instructions into real model changes and engineering deliverables. ## Keep reading. - [AI for SOLIDWORKSAn add-in that performs operations, not a chatbot beside the window.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-solidworks/) - [SOLIDWORKS AutomationIntent resolved at run time, instead of a macro per variation.](https://cadabrai.com/solidworks-automation/) - [BlogTechniques, product notes, and AI CAD practice.](https://cadabrai.com/blog/) --- # Text to CAD for SOLIDWORKS: prompts that build real, editable geometry URL: https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Text to CAD that lands in your feature tree. Describe the part or the change in plain English. CADABRA resolves it into native SOLIDWORKS features you can still edit, roll back, and dimension. [Video: A written prompt building geometry on a SOLIDWORKS part](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-2.mp4) ## What text to CAD means, and where most tools stop. Text to CAD is turning a written description into real geometry. Most tools that claim it return a mesh or a one-off solid: something you can look at and print, but not something you can dimension, revise, or release. CADABRA runs text to CAD **inside SOLIDWORKS**. A prompt resolves into native feature operations, extrudes, cuts, fillets, patterns, Hole Wizard, so the result arrives in your feature tree with its sketches and dimensions intact. ## What a working prompt looks like. Prompts carry engineering intent and numbers. **Make the wall 3 mm thicker** Finds the driving sketch or the shell feature, changes the dimension, and rebuilds the part along with anything downstream that depends on it. **Fillet all sharp edges on this face at 2 mm** Selects the qualifying edges on the referenced face and adds a single fillet feature, rather than one feature per edge. **Add a 6 mm counterbored hole pattern on a 40 mm bolt circle** Creates the Hole Wizard feature with the counterbore standard you configured, then the circular pattern that places it. **Pattern this rib eight times around the axis** Reads the selected feature and the axis, adds the circular pattern, and rebuilds. **Change the material to 6061-T6 and report the new mass** Applies the material from your library and returns the updated mass properties. **Apply this same edit to every part in the family** Repeats the resolved operation across the configurations or the parts you pointed at. ## Why the output stays editable. ### Native features, not imported bodies. Every operation CADABRA performs is one SOLIDWORKS would perform. There is no translation step and no foreign body, so the feature tree stays yours and the file stays a normal SLDPRT. - Sketches, dimensions, and relations are all present and editable. - Roll back, suppress, and reorder work exactly as they always did. - Nothing to re-import when the design changes. ### It reads the model before it acts. A prompt like “thicken the wall” only means something against a specific part. CADABRA resolves the reference against the open document, its geometry, and its history, then performs the operation that matches. - Reads the active document, its feature tree, and the current selection. - Shows what it changed so you can verify or revert it. ### On your standards, not generic defaults. Hole standards, material libraries and naming conventions come from your own configuration and from the SOLIDWORKS seat you already run, so generated geometry matches what your team ships. - Company hole and fastener standards applied automatically. - Fasteners inserted from your SOLIDWORKS Toolbox rather than modeled. - Materials assigned from your own material library. ## Generic text-to-CAD versus text to CAD in SOLIDWORKS. | | Generic text-to-3D tools | CADABRA | | --- | --- | --- | | Output | Mesh or a single frozen solid | Native SOLIDWORKS features in your tree | | Editable afterwards | Re-prompt and regenerate from scratch | Edit a dimension, roll back, reorder | | Works on your existing parts | No, it generates new objects | Yes, it edits the open document | | Company standards | Not applied | Hole, material, and naming standards applied | | Drawings and BOMs | Not produced | Produced from the same model | | Where it runs | A separate web app | Inside SOLIDWORKS, on your license | ## How to run text to CAD in SOLIDWORKS. 1. Install the add-in Close SOLIDWORKS, run the installer, and enable CADABRA. No migration, no file conversion, and your existing license is the only one you need. 2. Point it at a document Open the part or assembly. CADABRA reads the feature tree and your configured standards before it does anything. 3. Write the instruction Say what you want in engineering language, with the numbers that matter. An instruction that names an operation, a reference and a number resolves; one missing any of the three comes back as a question. 4. Check the tree The new features are in the tree. Check them, then keep modeling. ## Questions about text to CAD. ### What is text to CAD? Text to CAD is turning a written description into real CAD geometry. A generic text-to-CAD tool produces a standalone mesh or a one-off solid. CADABRA does text to CAD inside SOLIDWORKS: the prompt resolves to native feature operations on the feature tree, so the result is a parametric, editable SOLIDWORKS body. ### Is text-to-CAD output editable, or is it a dumb mesh? With CADABRA it is editable. Prompts are resolved into native SOLIDWORKS features such as extrudes, cuts, fillets, patterns, and Hole Wizard operations, so every result lands in the feature tree with its sketches and dimensions intact. You can roll back, edit a dimension, or change design intent exactly as you would on geometry you modeled by hand. ### What kind of prompts actually work? Concrete, dimensioned, engineering-language prompts work best. Examples: “make the wall 3 mm thicker”, “fillet all sharp edges on this face at 2 mm”, “add a 6 mm counterbored hole pattern on a 40 mm bolt circle”, “pattern this rib eight times around the axis”, “change the material to 6061-T6 and update the mass properties”. Vague prompts such as “make it better” do not resolve to a single operation. ### Why not just write a macro or an API script? Macros work for a fixed, repeated sequence: they break when the feature tree changes, they need a developer to maintain, and each new variation is a new script. CADABRA resolves intent against the actual model at run time, so one prompt covers cases that would otherwise need a separate macro each. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ### How accurate is it, and who checks the work? You do. CADABRA performs real operations on your model and shows exactly what it changed, so every edit is reviewable in the feature tree. Revert deletes the features a run added. An in-place change such as a dimension value, and a feature the run deleted, are not taken back, and there is no file checkpoint, so save before a long run. ## Keep reading. - [Text to CAD vs Text to 3DMesh or parametric.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad-vs-text-to-3d/) - [Natural Language CADThe pipeline from a sentence to a rebuilt model, and how to write for it.](https://cadabrai.com/natural-language-cad/) - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [AI CAD GeneratorImage, mesh, or native features. Only one of them is a part.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad-generator/) ## Try it on your own part. Start free, or bring a SOLIDWORKS file to a 20-minute call and watch it edited by prompt. --- # CAD to drawing: generate production SOLIDWORKS drawings automatically URL: https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # From model to released drawing, without the detailing. CADABRA lays out the views, dimensions the geometry, applies your title block, inserts the BOM and balloons the sheet. For one part, or for every part in the assembly. [Video: Drawings being generated from a SOLIDWORKS assembly](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-1.mp4) ## What CAD to drawing actually has to get right. The work that consumes the day is everything after: choosing the views that describe the part, sectioning where the geometry is hidden, dimensioning to datums that match how it will be inspected, adding hole callouts, ballooning the BOM, and putting it all on the right sheet with the right title block. It reads the model, applies **your** drawing rules, and produces a sheet an engineer can check and release, rather than a starting point you still have to detail. ## What comes out. ### The views the part needs. Named, projected, section, isometric and flat-pattern views, chosen from the geometry rather than stamped from a fixed template. - Section views cut where the principal views hide the geometry. - Flat patterns for sheet metal, isometrics where they help the reader. - Detail and auxiliary views are read from your reference drawings but are not generated yet. ### Dimensions and callouts, not a blank sheet. Features are dimensioned and holes carry callouts in your format. Tolerance defaults come from your standard. - Model dimensions imported, with hole callouts and cosmetic threads. - Dimension style, arrow style, and text height from your standard. - The general tolerance block filled rather than left blank. ### Assemblies get the BOM and the balloons. For an assembly, CADABRA inserts the bill of materials built from the actual assembly structure, balloons the components on the sheet, and keeps item numbers consistent between the two. - BOM derived from the model, not retyped. - Balloons matched to BOM item numbers. - Your column set, ordering, and naming conventions. ### Batch the whole assembly. Point CADABRA at a top-level assembly and it produces a sheet per part plus the assembly drawing, each on the correct format, then exports the set. - One pass over the full assembly, one sheet per unique component. - Multi-sheet output is supported and off by default. ## Prompts that produce drawings. **Make a drawing of this part on our B-size title block** Creates the sheet, places and scales the views, dimensions the features, and fills the title block from the model properties. **Add a section through the bore and dimension it** Cuts the section on the correct plane, places the view, and dimensions the internal geometry it reveals. **Drawings for every part in this assembly** Batches the assembly, one sheet per unique component plus the assembly drawing, each on the right format. **Insert the BOM and balloon the components** Builds the BOM from the assembly structure in your column format and balloons the sheet to match the item numbers. ## How drawing generation runs. 1. Configure your standard once Upload drawings you have already released. CADABRA reads your title block fields, projection angle, units and standing notes out of them and applies that to what it generates. 2. Open the part or assembly Open the document you need drawings for. For a batch, open the top-level assembly and let it walk the structure. 3. Ask for the drawings Say what you need, for example “drawings for every part in this assembly on our B-size title block”. 4. Review and export CADABRA places views, dimensions and callouts, inserts the BOM and balloons for assemblies. Check the sheets and release them. ## What about SOLIDWORKS 2026 Auto-Generate Drawing? SOLIDWORKS 2026 introduced its own automatic drawing generation. If your seat has it, use it. What decides whether a sheet is releasable: whether it comes out on your title block with your dimension styles and tolerance defaults, whether it runs across an entire assembly in one pass rather than a document at a time, and whether it runs on the seats your team has today. ## Your drawing standards. CADABRA takes your title blocks, sheet formats, view conventions, dimension styles, tolerance defaults, and naming rules as configuration, then applies them to everything it produces. That configuration is done once, at the [organization level](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-enterprise/), and it is what makes the difference between output that looks like a drawing and output your team can release. Drawings Mode with custom standards is part of the [Enterprise plan](https://cadabrai.com/pricing/#enterprise). ## Which plan this is on. Drawings Mode is on Enterprise. It reads your title block and drawing rules first, so it is set up with you rather than switched on. Everything above happens there. ## Questions about drawing generation. ### How does CADABRA turn a 3D model into a 2D drawing? Point CADABRA at a part or an assembly and ask for drawings. It places named, projected, section, isometric and flat-pattern views chosen from the geometry, imports model dimensions with hole callouts, adds center marks and centerlines, writes your title block from the model properties, and on assemblies inserts the BOM and balloons the sheet. Every output follows the drawing standard you configured. ### Can it generate drawings for every part in an assembly at once? Yes. Batch generation runs the whole assembly in a single pass, producing one sheet per unique component plus the assembly drawing, each on your title block with the scale chosen from the geometry. ### Will the drawings follow our company standards? Yes, once you have set a standard up. You upload drawings you have already released and CADABRA extracts your title block fields, projection angle, units, text height and standing notes from them. That standard is then applied to every drawing it generates. ### Can CADABRA generate a BOM from a SOLIDWORKS assembly? BOMs, yes. Drawings Mode builds the bill of materials from the assembly structure and balloons the sheet to match it, using the column set and naming conventions in your drawing standard. There is no RFQ packaging feature; that is something teams still assemble from the drawings and BOM themselves. ### Can I go straight from a prompt to a finished drawing? Yes. A single prompt such as “make a drawing of this part on our B-size title block with an isometric and a section through the bore” produces the drawing directly. Views, sheet, dimensions and your standard are handled in one pass rather than as separate manual steps. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ## Keep reading. - [Text to DrawingA single prompt that produces views, dimensions, title block and BOM.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-drawing/) - [Drawing to CADDXF and DWG in as a sketch, then built up by instruction as native features.](https://cadabrai.com/drawing-to-cad/) - [BOM GeneratorBuilt from assembly structure, ballooned to match the sheet.](https://cadabrai.com/bom-generator/) - [SOLIDWORKS AutomationIntent resolved at run time, instead of a macro per variation.](https://cadabrai.com/solidworks-automation/) ## Bring an assembly. Watch it detail itself. A 20-minute call, your file, your title block. --- # Drawing to CAD: turn a DXF or DWG into a modeled SOLIDWORKS part URL: https://cadabrai.com/drawing-to-cad/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Legacy 2D, rebuilt as a real part. Bring a DXF or DWG in as a sketch, then build the solid from it by instruction. You get a native part with a feature tree, not traced geometry you cannot edit. ## What this does. CADABRA opens a **DXF or DWG** as a sketch inside a new SOLIDWORKS part. From there you build the solid by instruction, and the result is native features in a feature tree. It does **not** read a PDF, a scanned print, or a photograph, and it does not infer a solid from projected views on its own. What it removes is the tracing and the re-modeling. ## How the conversion runs. 1. Open the DXF or DWG CADABRA imports it into a new part as a sketch. Native SOLIDWORKS files open directly; DXF and DWG take this import path. 2. Measure what came in Dimensions are not imported with the geometry, so ask for what you need: extents, hole positions, spacings. Ask Mode measures the sketch rather than reading annotations off it. 3. Build the solid Extrude the profile, cut the holes, add the fillets and patterns. Each step is a native feature operation, so the tree is yours afterwards. 4. Check it against the print Verify the dimensions that matter before anything downstream uses the part. ## Why it beats tracing. ### The sketch is real geometry, not a picture. A DXF or DWG carries actual curves and positions. Imported as a sketch, those become something you can measure, reference and build on. - Hole centers and profile geometry arrive at their true positions. - Dimensions are not imported with it, so you measure the sketch rather than read annotations off it. - Nothing is redrawn by hand. ### The build is native, so the part stays editable. Every operation is one SOLIDWORKS would perform. The result is a normal part file with sketches, features and relations. - Roll back, reorder and edit dimensions as usual. - The part feeds assemblies, drawings and BOMs like any other. - A colleague who has never heard of CADABRA can open and edit it. ## Where this pays for itself. - **Legacy archives.** Parts drawn before the company moved to 3D, needed again for a revision. - **Supplier and customer geometry** that arrives as a DXF or DWG and has to enter your assembly. - **Laser and waterjet profiles** that exist as flat DXF and need a solid behind them. - **Lost models** whose native files did not survive a vendor or PDM migration. ## What it will not do. There is no PDF reader, no scan reader and no OCR. A print that exists only on paper or as a raster PDF has to become a DXF or DWG first, by whatever route you already use. It also does not infer a solid from three projected views on its own. You lead the build and CADABRA performs each step. ## Which plan this is on. Drawings Mode is on Enterprise. It reads your title block and drawing rules first, so it is set up with you rather than switched on. Everything above happens there. ## Questions about drawing to CAD. ### Can CADABRA convert a 2D drawing into a 3D model? Yes, as an assisted rebuild that you check. Open the drawing in SOLIDWORKS, or attach a picture of the print, and ask for the model. CADABRA reads the sheet, reconciles the projected views against each other, and builds a new part with a real feature tree. Nothing verifies the result against the print except the measured comparison CADABRA reports, so an engineer checks every dimension before it is used. ### Which drawing formats can CADABRA open? A saved SOLIDWORKS drawing is read directly when it is the open document. A PNG or JPG of a print is read as a picture, which is the route for a scan or a supplier print. DXF and DWG are imported instead as one unfiltered sketch in a new part, every layer and border line included, so they are geometry to build on rather than a rebuild. Do not attach the print as a PDF: a PDF is treated as a drawing-standard reference and is learned from instead of rebuilt. ### Do I still need to check the converted model? Yes. Verify the dimensions that matter before anything downstream uses the part. ### Is text-to-CAD output editable, or is it a dumb mesh? With CADABRA it is editable. Prompts are resolved into native SOLIDWORKS features such as extrudes, cuts, fillets, patterns, and Hole Wizard operations, so every result lands in the feature tree with its sketches and dimensions intact. You can roll back, edit a dimension, or change design intent exactly as you would on geometry you modeled by hand. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ## Keep reading. - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [AI for SOLIDWORKSAn add-in that performs operations, not a chatbot beside the window.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-solidworks/) - [Agent ModeEdits the model. Approval is on by default.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) ## Bring a legacy DXF. 20 minutes, your file, built up on the call. --- # Text to drawing: one prompt to a dimensioned engineering drawing URL: https://cadabrai.com/text-to-drawing/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # One sentence. One finished drawing. Describe the sheet you want and CADABRA does the whole sequence: views, sections, dimensions, title block, BOM, balloons. No dialog boxes in between. [Video: A prompt producing a fully dimensioned drawing sheet](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-enterprise-drawings.mp4) ## The instruction is the whole workflow. Creating a drawing by hand is a chain of separate decisions: new sheet, pick the format, place the views, scale them, section the part, dimension it, call out the holes, fill the title block, export. You state the outcome once, **“make a drawing of this part on our B-size title block with an isometric and a section through the bore”**, and CADABRA performs every step in order against your configured standards. ## What you can ask for. Each of these is a complete instruction. **Make a drawing of this part on our B-size title block** New sheet on your format, views placed and scaled, features dimensioned, title block filled from the model properties. **Add an isometric and a section through the bore** Places the isometric, cuts the section on the right plane, and dimensions the internal geometry it exposes. **Drawings for the whole assembly, BOM ballooned** A sheet per part plus the assembly drawing, each with the BOM inserted and ballooned, saved next to its model. **Same drawing, but to our metric standard on A3** Regenerates the sheet against the other standard you configured, with the dimension style and sheet size that go with it. ## What it gets right without being told. ### Your standard is already loaded. Title blocks, sheet sizes, dimension styles, tolerance defaults, and naming conventions are configured once and applied to everything. - Title block populated from model properties. - Sheet size chosen to fit the part at a sensible scale. - House dimension and hole-callout formats applied. ### It knows which views describe the part. View choice comes from the geometry. Features hidden in the principal views get a section view, rather than a fixed three-view template applied to everything. - Sections placed where geometry is otherwise hidden. - Isometric included when it helps the reader. ### It finishes the job. The sheet is dimensioned, and for an assembly the BOM is inserted and ballooned. One native SLDDRW is saved next to the model. - Hole callouts and tolerances applied. - BOM and balloons consistent with each other. ## Which plan this is on. Drawings Mode is on Enterprise. It reads your title block and drawing rules first, so it is set up with you rather than switched on. Everything above happens there. ## Questions about text to drawing. ### Can I go straight from a prompt to a finished drawing? Yes. A single prompt such as “make a drawing of this part on our B-size title block with an isometric and a section through the bore” produces the drawing directly. Views, sheet, dimensions and your standard are handled in one pass rather than as separate manual steps. ### Will the drawings follow our company standards? Yes, once you have set a standard up. You upload drawings you have already released and CADABRA extracts your title block fields, projection angle, units, text height and standing notes from them. That standard is then applied to every drawing it generates. ### Can it generate drawings for every part in an assembly at once? Yes. Batch generation runs the whole assembly in a single pass, producing one sheet per unique component plus the assembly drawing, each on your title block with the scale chosen from the geometry. ### What kind of prompts actually work? Concrete, dimensioned, engineering-language prompts work best. Examples: “make the wall 3 mm thicker”, “fillet all sharp edges on this face at 2 mm”, “add a 6 mm counterbored hole pattern on a 40 mm bolt circle”, “pattern this rib eight times around the axis”, “change the material to 6061-T6 and update the mass properties”. Vague prompts such as “make it better” do not resolve to a single operation. ### Can CADABRA generate a BOM from a SOLIDWORKS assembly? BOMs, yes. Drawings Mode builds the bill of materials from the assembly structure and balloons the sheet to match it, using the column set and naming conventions in your drawing standard. There is no RFQ packaging feature; that is something teams still assemble from the drawings and BOM themselves. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ## Keep reading. - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [BOM GeneratorBuilt from assembly structure, ballooned to match the sheet.](https://cadabrai.com/bom-generator/) - [ProfessionalsFamily-wide edits, rebuild fixes, exports and lookups.](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-professionals/) ## Watch one prompt produce a sheet. Bring a part and your title block to a 20-minute call. --- # AI CAD: what it is, what it can actually do, and where it fits URL: https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # AI CAD, defined. Here is what AI actually does inside a CAD system today, what it does not, and how to tell the two apart. [Video: A plain-English prompt editing a SOLIDWORKS part](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-2.mp4) ## What AI CAD means. AI CAD is the application of language and vision models to mechanical design work: understanding a model, changing it, documenting it, and reasoning about how it will be made. It is not a new modeling kernel and it does not replace the CAD system. It sits on top of one. The useful distinction is between tools that **describe** and tools that **act**. A chatbot bolted to a CAD window can tell you which menu to click. A copilot performs the operation, updates the model, and shows you the result in the feature tree. ## The four things AI CAD does well today. ### Model editing from language Turning an instruction into a feature operation on an open part. Reliable when the instruction carries dimensions and a clear reference. See [text to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/). ### Documentation generation Views, dimensions, callouts, BOMs, and title blocks produced from a model. This is where the largest measurable time saving sits. See [CAD to drawing](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/). ### Model comprehension Answering questions about geometry, features, materials, and mass properties, and explaining why a rebuild failed. ### Error diagnosis Reading a failing feature and its parents to explain why the rebuild broke. ## Where it still fails. **Ambiguous intent.** “Make it lighter” is not an operation. Prompts that carry a dimension and a reference succeed. **Whole-assembly reasoning.** How a change propagates through mates, in-context references, and downstream configurations still needs a human in the loop. **Engineering judgment.** No model knows your safety factor, your supplier’s real capability, or the reason a previous revision failed in the field. **Anything trained on your competitors.** Tools that improve by learning from customer geometry train on your parts. [Ask how data is handled](https://cadabrai.com/security/) before you upload a part. ## How to evaluate an AI CAD tool. | Question | Weak answer | Strong answer | | --- | --- | --- | | What does it produce? | A mesh, an image, or a suggestion | Native features in your CAD file | | Can you edit the output? | Re-prompt and regenerate | Change a dimension, roll back, reorder | | Whose standards apply? | The vendor’s defaults | Your title blocks, tolerances, and libraries | | Where does it run? | A separate web app you upload to | Inside your CAD system on your license | | What happens to your geometry? | Improves their shared model by default, with no way out | Isolated per organization, with a training opt-out you control | | What does it do when unsure? | Guesses silently | Shows the assumption and asks | ## Go deeper. - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [CAD to drawingModel to dimensioned, title-blocked sheet.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [Drawing to CADLegacy prints rebuilt as parametric models.](https://cadabrai.com/drawing-to-cad/) - [Text to drawingOne instruction to a finished drawing.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-drawing/) - [Natural language CADHow a prompt becomes a feature operation.](https://cadabrai.com/natural-language-cad/) - [ChatGPT for CADWhat a general chatbot can and cannot do.](https://cadabrai.com/chatgpt-for-cad/) - [AI CAD generatorsImage, mesh, or a part you can edit.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad-generator/) - [Free AI CADThe four meanings of free, and where each stops.](https://cadabrai.com/free-ai-cad/) - [GlossaryThe vocabulary of AI CAD, defined.](https://cadabrai.com/glossary/) - [ComparisonsHow CADABRA differs from the alternatives.](https://cadabrai.com/compare/) ## Questions about AI CAD. ### What is an AI CAD copilot? An AI CAD copilot is an assistant that lives inside a CAD program and performs real CAD operations from natural-language prompts. Instead of clicking through menus, an engineer types what they want, for example “fillet all sharp edges 2 mm” or “generate a drawing with our title block”, and the copilot executes the feature operations, updates the model, and produces the deliverables. ### What is CADABRA? CADABRA is an AI CAD copilot that installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. You describe a change in plain English and CADABRA performs the real SOLIDWORKS feature operations: sketches edited, dimensions refit, parts rebuilt, drawings regenerated. It also produces production drawings and bills of materials on your own title blocks and standards. ### What is text to CAD? Text to CAD is turning a written description into real CAD geometry. A generic text-to-CAD tool produces a standalone mesh or a one-off solid. CADABRA does text to CAD inside SOLIDWORKS: the prompt resolves to native feature operations on the feature tree, so the result is a parametric, editable SOLIDWORKS body. ### Why not just write a macro or an API script? Macros work for a fixed, repeated sequence: they break when the feature tree changes, they need a developer to maintain, and each new variation is a new script. CADABRA resolves intent against the actual model at run time, so one prompt covers cases that would otherwise need a separate macro each. ### How accurate is it, and who checks the work? You do. CADABRA performs real operations on your model and shows exactly what it changed, so every edit is reviewable in the feature tree. Revert deletes the features a run added. An in-place change such as a dimension value, and a feature the run deleted, are not taken back, and there is no file checkpoint, so save before a long run. ### Does CADABRA work with Fusion, Inventor, Onshape, Creo, NX, or CATIA? Not yet. CADABRA runs today as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. Support for other CAD packages is in development and you can join the waitlist for the one you use. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ## Keep reading. - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [AI CAD GeneratorImage, mesh, or native features. Only one of them is a part.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad-generator/) - [ChatGPT for CADWhat a general chatbot can do with your model, and what it cannot.](https://cadabrai.com/chatgpt-for-cad/) - [ComparisonsAura, generic text-to-3D, macros, and doing it by hand.](https://cadabrai.com/compare/) ## Judge it on your own part. Run it on a file you already know the right answer for. --- # AI for SOLIDWORKS: an add-in that performs real CAD operations URL: https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-solidworks/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # AI that works inside SOLIDWORKS, on your license. CADABRA installs as an add-in and appears in the task pane. It edits the open model, produces the drawings, and answers questions about the file, without a migration and without leaving the window. [Video: The CADABRA panel performing an edit inside SOLIDWORKS](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-2.mp4) ## Automation without writing macros. SOLIDWORKS has decades of automation surface, the API, macros, design tables, and configurations, and every one of them requires somebody to write and maintain the automation. CADABRA closes that gap by resolving intent at run time against the actual model. **You describe the outcome and it performs the SOLIDWORKS operations.** ## What it does in the pane. ### Agent Mode edits the model. Describe a change and CADABRA performs the real feature operations: holes, fillets, patterns, thickness, material. The same edit repeats across a part family without a macro. - Hole Wizard, fillets, patterns, and geometry changes. - Repeats across a family or a set of configurations. - Everything lands in the feature tree, editable. ### Drawings Mode documents it. Views, sections, dimensions, hole callouts, BOM, balloons and your title block. For one part or for every part in the assembly. Available on the [Enterprise plan](https://cadabrai.com/pricing/#enterprise) with your own standards configured. - Batch every part in a single pass. - Your title block, sheet sizes, and dimension styles. - Saved as a native SOLIDWORKS drawing beside the model. ### Ask Mode explains it. Questions about geometry, features, materials, and mass properties, answered against the open document. It also searches the web for pricing, material data, and process information without leaving SOLIDWORKS. - Read-only, so it cannot change anything. - Diagnoses rebuild errors, mate failures, and dangling relations. - Live web search for specs and rates. ### It finds the part you already own. Ask for a fastener and CADABRA sizes it to the hole, sources it from a part you name or from your SOLIDWORKS Toolbox, inserts it and mates it. - Company part, then Toolbox, then a generated screw. - Mated concentric to the bore and coincident to the hole mouth. - Pin the source if you do not want it choosing. ## Adding AI to SOLIDWORKS takes about five minutes. 1. Download the installer Get the add-in from the [download page](https://cadabrai.com/download/). It is a single Windows installer. 2. Close SOLIDWORKS and run it SOLIDWORKS must be closed while the add-in registers itself. The installer handles the rest. 3. Enable the add-in Reopen SOLIDWORKS and tick CADABRA in the add-ins list. It appears in the right-hand task pane. 4. Start prompting Open a part and describe what you want. Nothing about your files, your license, or your PDM changes. ## On the SOLIDWORKS name. CADABRA is an independent product. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Dassault Systèmes or SolidWorks Corp, and SOLIDWORKS is their trademark, used here only to identify the CAD system CADABRA works with. You need your own valid SOLIDWORKS license. Full detail is on the [trademarks page](https://cadabrai.com/trademarks/). ## Questions about the add-in. ### Is there an AI for SOLIDWORKS? Yes. CADABRA is an AI CAD copilot built for SOLIDWORKS. It installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in, edits parts and assemblies from natural-language prompts through native feature operations, generates production drawings and bills of materials on your own standards, and answers questions about the open model. Pricing starts free, then $50/month for commercial use and $20/month for students. ### How does CADABRA integrate with SOLIDWORKS? CADABRA installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in with a single installer. Close SOLIDWORKS, run the installer, enable the add-in, and CADABRA appears in the right-side task pane. There is no migration and no file conversion: it runs on your existing SOLIDWORKS license and your existing files. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ### Can CADABRA fix SOLIDWORKS errors? CADABRA diagnoses rebuild errors, mate failures, dangling sketch relations, and missing references in the context of your open model, and explains what to change. Because it can see the feature tree and the failing feature, the answer is specific to your file. ### Can it find the right component instead of me modeling one? For fasteners, yes. CADABRA sizes one to the measured bore and takes it from a company part you name, then your SOLIDWORKS Toolbox, then a parametric screw it models, stopping at the first source that supplies one. It can also insert and mirror components you point it at. For anything else, Ask Mode can search the web for supplier and specification data, but nothing places a catalog part into your assembly for you. ### How is CADABRA different from SOLIDWORKS Aura? CADABRA performs CAD operations and produces deliverables; Aura is primarily a conversational assistant. CADABRA is configured with your own drawing standards rather than being generic, and it both modifies the model and produces the documentation from it. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ## Keep reading. - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [CADABRA vs AuraPrompt-driven CAD operations against conversational assistance.](https://cadabrai.com/cadabra-vs-aura/) - [SOLIDWORKS AutomationIntent resolved at run time, instead of a macro per variation.](https://cadabrai.com/solidworks-automation/) - [DownloadInstall the SOLIDWORKS add-in in about five minutes.](https://cadabrai.com/download/) ## Install it and try a prompt. Free to start, no card, on the SOLIDWORKS license you already have. --- # SOLIDWORKS automation without writing macros URL: https://cadabrai.com/solidworks-automation/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Automation that survives the next revision. A macro encodes one sequence and breaks when the tree changes. CADABRA reads the model and resolves what you asked for against what is actually there. [Video: A bearing cartridge housing built as a multi-body SOLIDWORKS part](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-3.mp4) ## Why the macro library stops growing. The reason is structural: a macro addresses features by name and position, so it works until somebody renames a feature, reorders the tree, or models the next part slightly differently. When it breaks, someone has to open the code. The cost is not writing the first macro. It is that **every variation needs another one**, and each one has to be maintained. ## Macro, API script, or copilot. | | Recorded macro | API script | CADABRA | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Who writes it | Any engineer, once | A developer | Nobody, you describe the outcome | | Handles a renamed feature | No | Only if coded for it | Yes, it resolves against the model | | Handles a part it has not seen | No | Rarely | Yes | | New variation costs | A new macro | A code change | A different sentence | | Maintenance | Silent breakage | Ongoing developer time | None to maintain | | Best used for | A fixed, repeated click sequence | Deep, stable integrations | Everything that varies | ## The work worth automating first. Where customers start. ### Batch drawings One sheet per part across a whole assembly, on your title block. See [CAD to drawing](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/). ### Family-wide edits The same change applied across every part or configuration in a family, without writing a loop. ### BOMs from the assembly Built from the assembly structure and ballooned to match the sheet, rather than retyped. See [BOM generation](https://cadabrai.com/bom-generator/). ### Component lookup Fasteners sized to the hole and inserted from Toolbox instead of modeled by hand. ### Legacy conversion Old prints rebuilt as live models, in bulk. See [drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/drawing-to-cad/). ### Error triage Rebuild failures and mate problems diagnosed in context. ## Keep the macros that work. A macro that runs a fixed sequence on a stable template stays efficient. The API is the right tool for a deep, permanent integration with a PDM system. What CADABRA replaces is the automation you never wrote: the long tail of variations where scripting was never worth the maintenance. ## Questions about automation. ### Why not just write a macro or an API script? Macros work for a fixed, repeated sequence: they break when the feature tree changes, they need a developer to maintain, and each new variation is a new script. CADABRA resolves intent against the actual model at run time, so one prompt covers cases that would otherwise need a separate macro each. ### Can it generate drawings for every part in an assembly at once? Yes. Batch generation runs the whole assembly in a single pass, producing one sheet per unique component plus the assembly drawing, each on your title block with the scale chosen from the geometry. ### Can it find the right component instead of me modeling one? For fasteners, yes. CADABRA sizes one to the measured bore and takes it from a company part you name, then your SOLIDWORKS Toolbox, then a parametric screw it models, stopping at the first source that supplies one. It can also insert and mirror components you point it at. For anything else, Ask Mode can search the web for supplier and specification data, but nothing places a catalog part into your assembly for you. ### Does CADABRA integrate with PLM or PDM? No PLM or PDM connector today. CADABRA works on the files you have open and the drawing standards you upload, and your PDM rules around those files keep applying. If a connector matters to your team, tell us which system. ### How accurate is it, and who checks the work? You do. CADABRA performs real operations on your model and shows exactly what it changed, so every edit is reviewable in the feature tree. Revert deletes the features a run added. An in-place change such as a dimension value, and a feature the run deleted, are not taken back, and there is no file checkpoint, so save before a long run. ### How much time does it actually save? It depends entirely on the work. The gains concentrate where the task is repetitive and well specified: generating drawings across an assembly, applying the same edit to a family of parts, and batch hole or fillet changes. On one-off modeling that needs judgment, expect little. The free plan exists so you can measure it on your own parts before paying. ## Keep reading. - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [AI for SOLIDWORKSAn add-in that performs operations, not a chatbot beside the window.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-solidworks/) - [BOM GeneratorBuilt from assembly structure, ballooned to match the sheet.](https://cadabrai.com/bom-generator/) - [EnterpriseSSO, SCIM directory sync, your drawing standards, your tenancy.](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-enterprise/) ## Point it at the job you never scripted. Bring the workflow you gave up automating and we will run it in 20 minutes. --- # AI CAD generator that outputs a part, not a picture of one URL: https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad-generator/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # An AI CAD generator that produces a part you can edit. Three different things are sold under this phrase. Two of them cannot be manufactured. [Video: Geometry generated on a SOLIDWORKS part from a written prompt](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-2.mp4) ## Most “AI CAD generators” generate an image. A large share of the tools sold as AI CAD generators are general image models. They return a raster that resembles a technical drawing: no geometry, no dimensions anything can measure, no DWG, no STEP, nothing a machine shop can quote. Below that sits a real and useful category: text-to-mesh tools that produce genuine 3D, as triangles. Good for a render, a prop, or a print. Not a part, because a mesh has no concept of a hole, an axis, or a tolerance. The third tier is the only one an engineer can release: **native CAD features with dimensions**, created inside the CAD system the part will live in. ## The three tiers, side by side. | | Image generator | Text to mesh | CADABRA | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | What you get | A picture | A triangle mesh | Native features in a part file | | Measurable dimensions | No | Approximate only | Yes, and they drive the model | | Tolerances and GD&T | No | No | Applied from your standard | | Exports STEP | No | Sometimes, as converted geometry | It is a SOLIDWORKS part | | Survives a revision | No | Regenerate from scratch | Change a dimension and rebuild | | A supplier can quote it | No | Rarely | Yes, with the drawing and BOM | ## What a real generator has to do. ### Hold every dimension you state. An engineering instruction carries dimensions, references, and a standard. A generator that cannot hold “6 mm counterbore on a 40 mm bolt circle” as three separate constraints cannot make a part. - Dimensions become driving dimensions. - Hole and fastener standards come from your configuration. - The result is checkable against what you asked for. ### Land in the file you already work in. Generating outside your CAD seat means an import, and an import means a body with no history, no design intent, and no parent-child relations. [How that works in practice](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/). - No STEP round trip. - Feature tree, sketches, and relations intact. - PDM revisioning still works. ### Carry through to the deliverables. Geometry is the start. What ships is a drawing, a BOM, and a quote package. - [Drawings on your title block](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/). - [BOM from the assembly structure](https://cadabrai.com/bom-generator/). ## Questions about AI CAD generators. ### Do AI drawing generators produce real CAD files? Most do not. A large share of the tools ranking for “AI CAD generator” and “AI technical drawing generator” are general image models: they return a picture that looks like a drawing, with no geometry, no dimensions you can measure, and no DWG, STEP, or PDF a supplier can quote from. ### Can I edit an AI-generated 3D model or an STL? Not in the way engineers mean by editing. An STL is a triangle mesh: it has no concept of a hole, an axis, a face, or a dimension, so there is nothing to change a value on. You can sculpt or re-mesh it, but you cannot set a bore to Ø12 or apply a tolerance. Parametric CAD carries features and dimensions. ### What is the difference between STL and STEP? STL is a mesh of triangles approximating a surface, used for 3D printing and rendering. STEP is exact boundary-representation geometry, used for manufacturing, inspection, and CAM. STEP carries the real shape; STL carries an approximation of it. Neither carries a feature history. A native part file does. ### Is text-to-CAD output editable, or is it a dumb mesh? With CADABRA it is editable. Prompts are resolved into native SOLIDWORKS features such as extrudes, cuts, fillets, patterns, and Hole Wizard operations, so every result lands in the feature tree with its sketches and dimensions intact. You can roll back, edit a dimension, or change design intent exactly as you would on geometry you modeled by hand. ### Is there a free version? Yes. The Free plan needs no card and carries 700K credits a month, Ask Mode against the open document, live web search, and Imagine Mode for rendered concepts. It does not change your model: building a concept, and every other edit, needs a paid plan. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ## Keep reading. - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [Text to CAD vs Text to 3DMesh or parametric.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad-vs-text-to-3d/) - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [Free AI CADThe four meanings of free, and where each one runs out.](https://cadabrai.com/free-ai-cad/) ## Generate something you can machine. Start free, inside SOLIDWORKS, on the license you already have. --- # Natural language CAD: how a prompt becomes a feature operation URL: https://cadabrai.com/natural-language-cad/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Natural language CAD. How to write an instruction that resolves into a real feature, and what makes one fail. [Video: A written instruction resolving into a SOLIDWORKS feature operation](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-2.mp4) ## What natural language CAD means. Natural language CAD is issuing modeling instructions in ordinary engineering language and having a system execute them as real CAD operations. It is distinct from **generative design**, which produces shapes algorithmically from loads and constraints, and from **text to mesh**, which produces triangles that were never parametric. After the system acts, is there a feature in the tree you could have created yourself? If yes, it is natural language CAD. If not, it is generation of something else. ## How a sentence becomes a feature. 1. Parse the intent “Fillet all sharp edges on this face at 2 mm” is one operation, one reference, one dimension, and one implicit selection rule. 2. Resolve against the open model Turn “this face”, “that hole pattern”, and “the boss I just made” into specific entities in the live document. This is the step a tool outside your CAD seat cannot perform, because it has no document to resolve against. 3. Choose the operation and its parameters Apply the standards you configured rather than defaults. 4. Execute, rebuild, and verify You are told whether the rebuild succeeded and exactly what changed. ## Vague prompt, specific prompt. Every instruction needs an operation, a reference, and a number. Drop any one of the three and it cannot resolve. **Make it stronger** Fails. No operation, no reference, no number. **Add a 3 mm rib from the boss to the outer wall, patterned 8 times about the axis** Resolves. One operation, two references, two numbers, one pattern rule. **Clean up the corners** Fails. “Corners” is not a selectable set and “clean up” is not an operation. **Fillet every edge under 2 mm radius on the top face at 1 mm** Resolves. The selection rule is explicit and the face is referenced. **Make the holes bigger** Ambiguous. Which holes, and by how much, and does the counterbore follow? **Change the four Ø6 through holes on the flange to Ø8, keep the counterbores concentric** Resolves. Count, current size, feature, new size, and the downstream rule are all stated. ## Why resolution is the hard part. The difficulty in CAD is not understanding the sentence, it is that the sentence refers to a specific document: a face somebody selected, a feature created three operations ago, a configuration that only exists in one file. That is why a browser tool that takes a prompt and returns a file cannot do this work at all. It has no open document, no selection, and no history. CADABRA runs inside SOLIDWORKS for that reason. ## Questions about natural language CAD. ### How does a natural-language prompt become geometry? You write the change in plain English, naming the face or feature and the dimension. CADABRA resolves that against your open model and makes the edit; the model is rebuilt, and the result is checked. ### Is natural-language CAD the same as generative design? No. Generative design produces shapes algorithmically from loads and constraints, usually organic and topology-optimized. Natural-language CAD performs the operations an engineer describes, in the order they describe them, on the model they already have. ### What kind of prompts actually work? Concrete, dimensioned, engineering-language prompts work best. Examples: “make the wall 3 mm thicker”, “fillet all sharp edges on this face at 2 mm”, “add a 6 mm counterbored hole pattern on a 40 mm bolt circle”, “pattern this rib eight times around the axis”, “change the material to 6061-T6 and update the mass properties”. Vague prompts such as “make it better” do not resolve to a single operation. ### How accurate is it, and who checks the work? You do. CADABRA performs real operations on your model and shows exactly what it changed, so every edit is reviewable in the feature tree. Revert deletes the features a run added. An in-place change such as a dimension value, and a feature the run deleted, are not taken back, and there is no file checkpoint, so save before a long run. ### Why not just write a macro or an API script? Macros work for a fixed, repeated sequence: they break when the feature tree changes, they need a developer to maintain, and each new variation is a new script. CADABRA resolves intent against the actual model at run time, so one prompt covers cases that would otherwise need a separate macro each. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ## Keep reading. - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [ChatGPT for CADWhat a general chatbot can do with your model, and what it cannot.](https://cadabrai.com/chatgpt-for-cad/) - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [GlossaryAI CAD and mechanical design terms, one paragraph each.](https://cadabrai.com/glossary/) ## Write one and watch it resolve. Bring a part to a 20-minute call, or install it and try your own prompt. --- # ChatGPT for CAD: what a general chatbot can and cannot do URL: https://cadabrai.com/chatgpt-for-cad/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # ChatGPT for CAD. What a general chatbot can do for CAD work, and what it cannot. [Video: A prompt performing a real SOLIDWORKS feature operation](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-2.mp4) ## The short answer. **ChatGPT cannot open your part file, cannot see your feature tree, and cannot execute an operation in SOLIDWORKS.** It can write code that might, and you then run and check that code yourself. A general assistant has a text window; a CAD copilot has the open document, the API, and the rebuild result. ## Where it earns its place. All of these are text tasks with a human checking the output. ### Drafting a macro A VBA or C# starting point for the SOLIDWORKS API. Expect to fix the API surface it invents. ### OpenSCAD and CadQuery Code-first CAD is text, so a language model can write it, and the output runs. ### Tolerance and stack-up maths Worked arithmetic with the reasoning shown. ### Explaining an error Turning an unfamiliar SOLIDWORKS message into an explanation, without knowing your specific file. ### Checklists and specs A DFM checklist, a drawing review list, a first draft of a spec section. ### Standards orientation Explaining what a GD&T symbol means. ## Where it breaks. **No live document context.** It cannot know which face you selected, what your feature is named, or that the boss was added two operations ago. Everything it writes is written blind. **Invented API surface.** Assistants confidently produce SOLIDWORKS API calls that do not exist or that changed release-to-release. It looks correct in the chat and fails when you run it. **No verification.** It cannot rebuild your model and tell you the rebuild succeeded. A macro that runs and quietly does the wrong thing looks identical to one that worked. **No standards.** Your title blocks, hole standards, tolerance defaults, and approved components are not in the conversation, so nothing it produces matches what your team ships. ## General assistant against a CAD-native copilot. | | A general chatbot | CADABRA | | --- | --- | --- | | Sees the open document | No | Yes | | Executes CAD operations | No, writes code you run | Yes, through the CAD API | | Knows your standards | No | Configured once, applied always | | Confirms the rebuild | No | Yes, and shows what changed | | Produces drawings and BOMs | No | Yes, on your title block | | Good for | Macros, scripts, maths, explanations | Changing and documenting real models | ## Use both, for different things. Keep using one for the text half of the job: the script, the checklist, the calculation, the explanation. For the half that involves your actual model, use something with access to it. That is what [an in-CAD copilot](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-solidworks/) is, and it is the only difference that matters here. ## Questions about ChatGPT and CAD. ### Can ChatGPT create a CAD model? Not directly. ChatGPT cannot open your part file, cannot see your feature tree, and cannot execute an operation in SOLIDWORKS. It can write code that might: a VBA macro, an OpenSCAD or CadQuery script, or a formula. You then run that code yourself and check what it did. A CAD-native copilot performs the operation in the open document instead, and can verify that the model rebuilt. ### What is ChatGPT useful for in mechanical design? Drafting a SOLIDWORKS macro to start from, writing OpenSCAD or CadQuery for a parametric shape, working through a tolerance stack, explaining an unfamiliar error message, and drafting a DFM or drawing-review checklist. All of these are text tasks with a human checking the output. None of them require access to your model. ### Why can’t ChatGPT read my CAD file? A SLDPRT or a STEP file describes boundary-representation geometry: surfaces, edges, and topology produced by a geometric kernel. It is not text, and reading it meaningfully requires a kernel to evaluate. Uploading one to a chat window does not give the model a kernel, so at best it reads metadata. ### Why not just write a macro or an API script? Macros work for a fixed, repeated sequence: they break when the feature tree changes, they need a developer to maintain, and each new variation is a new script. CADABRA resolves intent against the actual model at run time, so one prompt covers cases that would otherwise need a separate macro each. ### Can CADABRA fix SOLIDWORKS errors? CADABRA diagnoses rebuild errors, mate failures, dangling sketch relations, and missing references in the context of your open model, and explains what to change. Because it can see the feature tree and the failing feature, the answer is specific to your file. ### How accurate is it, and who checks the work? You do. CADABRA performs real operations on your model and shows exactly what it changed, so every edit is reviewable in the feature tree. Revert deletes the features a run added. An in-place change such as a dimension value, and a feature the run deleted, are not taken back, and there is no file checkpoint, so save before a long run. ## Keep reading. - [Natural Language CADThe pipeline from a sentence to a rebuilt model, and how to write for it.](https://cadabrai.com/natural-language-cad/) - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [AI for SOLIDWORKSAn add-in that performs operations, not a chatbot beside the window.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-solidworks/) - [SOLIDWORKS AutomationIntent resolved at run time, instead of a macro per variation.](https://cadabrai.com/solidworks-automation/) ## See what document access changes. The same instruction, run against your real part. --- # Text to CAD vs text to 3D: mesh, B-rep, and why it matters later URL: https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad-vs-text-to-3d/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Text to CAD is not text to 3D. Both turn a sentence into something three-dimensional. Only one produces geometry a supplier can quote. [Video: A prompt producing editable SOLIDWORKS features rather than a mesh](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-2.mp4) ## The one-paragraph answer. **Text to 3D** produces a triangle mesh: a surface approximated by thousands of flat facets, ideal for rendering, visualisation, and 3D printing. **Text to CAD** produces exact geometry with dimensions and features, which is what machining, inspection, tolerancing, and revision all require. Choose by what happens after you generate it. If the answer is “look at it” or “print it”, a mesh is correct and cheaper. If the answer is “someone makes this to a drawing”, a mesh cannot carry the dimensions and tolerances that requires. ## Mesh, B-rep, and a native part file. | | STL (mesh) | STEP (B-rep) | Native part | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | What it stores | Triangles approximating a surface | Exact surfaces, edges, topology | Features, sketches, and dimensions | | Knows what a hole is | No | It knows the cylinder, not the intent | Yes, as a feature | | Change a dimension | No | No | Yes, and the model rebuilds | | Tolerances and GD&T | No | Carried as annotation at best | Yes | | CAM and inspection | Approximate | Yes | Yes | | Good for | Printing, rendering, props | Exchange between CAD systems | Designing and revising | ## When a mesh is the right answer. Concept exploration, visual assets, game and film props, figurines, and most hobby 3D printing. The dedicated text-to-3D tools are good at this. If your next step is a slicer, you do not need parametric geometry and you should not pay for it. ## When it is the wrong answer. Anything a supplier will quote. The moment a part needs a fit, a thread, a surface finish callout, a datum, or a drawing, the mesh stops being useful, because none of that information can be attached to triangles. Generation looks like a success, and the problem surfaces at the point where you try to add a chamfer, dimension a bore, or send a print out for pricing. ## Converting a mesh to parametric CAD. Automatic conversion typically produces a surface soup: hundreds of stitched patches that technically form a solid and cannot be edited meaningfully. Getting a clean parametric model out of a mesh usually means re-modeling it with the mesh as reference. The related case, rebuilding a part from an existing **drawing** rather than a mesh, is tractable because a drawing carries dimensions the mesh never had. That is [drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/drawing-to-cad/). ## If you needed a real part all along. If the output has to be machined, the shortest path is a prompt that creates native geometry inside the CAD system you already use. [That is what text to CAD does](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/), and there is a free tier to test it on a part you already know. ## Questions about mesh and parametric output. ### Can I edit an AI-generated 3D model or an STL? Not in the way engineers mean by editing. An STL is a triangle mesh: it has no concept of a hole, an axis, a face, or a dimension, so there is nothing to change a value on. You can sculpt or re-mesh it, but you cannot set a bore to Ø12 or apply a tolerance. Parametric CAD carries features and dimensions. ### What is the difference between STL and STEP? STL is a mesh of triangles approximating a surface, used for 3D printing and rendering. STEP is exact boundary-representation geometry, used for manufacturing, inspection, and CAM. STEP carries the real shape; STL carries an approximation of it. Neither carries a feature history. A native part file does. ### Do AI drawing generators produce real CAD files? Most do not. A large share of the tools ranking for “AI CAD generator” and “AI technical drawing generator” are general image models: they return a picture that looks like a drawing, with no geometry, no dimensions you can measure, and no DWG, STEP, or PDF a supplier can quote from. ### What is text to CAD? Text to CAD is turning a written description into real CAD geometry. A generic text-to-CAD tool produces a standalone mesh or a one-off solid. CADABRA does text to CAD inside SOLIDWORKS: the prompt resolves to native feature operations on the feature tree, so the result is a parametric, editable SOLIDWORKS body. ### Which drawing formats can CADABRA open? A saved SOLIDWORKS drawing is read directly when it is the open document. A PNG or JPG of a print is read as a picture, which is the route for a scan or a supplier print. DXF and DWG are imported instead as one unfiltered sketch in a new part, every layer and border line included, so they are geometry to build on rather than a rebuild. Do not attach the print as a PDF: a PDF is treated as a drawing-standard reference and is learned from instead of rebuilt. ## Keep reading. - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [AI CAD GeneratorImage, mesh, or native features. Only one of them is a part.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad-generator/) - [GlossaryAI CAD and mechanical design terms, one paragraph each.](https://cadabrai.com/glossary/) - [Drawing to CADDXF and DWG in as a sketch, then built up by instruction as native features.](https://cadabrai.com/drawing-to-cad/) ## Generate geometry you can dimension. Inside SOLIDWORKS, on your existing license. Free to start. --- # Free AI CAD: what the free tier actually gets you URL: https://cadabrai.com/free-ai-cad/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Free AI CAD, and where it stops. Four different arrangements get sold as free, and the difference decides whether you can use the output commercially. [Video: CADABRA running inside SOLIDWORKS on a part](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-2.mp4) ## Four things called free. **Free forever with limits.** A permanent plan with a usage ceiling. You can plan around it. **Free credits.** A monthly allowance that resets; useful, but the ceiling arrives mid-task. **Free trial.** Full capability for a fixed period, then nothing. **Open source.** Genuinely free software you host and maintain yourself, where your cost is time rather than money. Only the first supports ongoing work. ## What CADABRA’s free plan includes. No card required. It is a permanent plan, not a trial. ### Baseline monthly usage Every paid plan is a multiple of this baseline. ### Ask Mode Questions about your open model: geometry, features, materials, mass properties. ### Live web search Material data, process information, and component pricing without leaving SOLIDWORKS. ### Read-only model understanding It can explain the model, not change it. ## Where free stops, and what that costs. Free is read-only. Agent Mode, which performs the actual edits, starts on [Student at $20/month](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-students/) with a valid academic address, and [Standard at $50/month](https://cadabrai.com/pricing/) for commercial use. Drawings Mode with your own standards is part of Enterprise. ## What no free tier covers, anywhere. Your title blocks, your drawing standards, and your naming conventions, because configuring them is per-customer work. Support with a response time. And, on some tools, isolation of your geometry: **check whether a free tier trains on what you upload** before you put a real part into one. Ours does by default, and [one setting turns it off](https://cadabrai.com/security/) on any plan, at no charge. ## Questions about the free plan. ### Is there a free version? Yes. The Free plan needs no card and carries 700K credits a month, Ask Mode against the open document, live web search, and Imagine Mode for rendered concepts. It does not change your model: building a concept, and every other edit, needs a paid plan. ### Who qualifies for student pricing? Students with an academic address their institution issued, in a supported region. The plan is $20/month, carries 3.5M credits a month plus Plan, Agent and Debug Mode, and is licensed for non-commercial coursework. It is not offered in the EU, EEA, United Kingdom, or Switzerland; students there should use the Free plan or Standard. Not recognized? Email team@cadabrai.com and we will check it. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ### Can I cancel any time? Yes. Paid plans renew until you cancel, and you can cancel from the dashboard at any time on both monthly and yearly billing. Checkout and billing run through Stripe. ### Do you train on my CAD files? By default on Free, Student, Standard and Professional, yes: the EULA and privacy policy state that CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata may be used to operate, maintain, and improve CADABRA and its AI models. You can stop it at any time with the data setting in your dashboard, which takes effect from the moment you turn it on rather than retroactively. On Enterprise, zero-retention handling is configured as part of the agreement. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ## Keep reading. - [PricingFree, Standard, Professional and Enterprise plans, monthly or yearly.](https://cadabrai.com/pricing/) - [StudentsAsk, debug and plan inside SOLIDWORKS, $20/month with a valid academic address.](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-students/) - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [AI CAD GeneratorImage, mesh, or native features. Only one of them is a part.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad-generator/) ## Start on the free plan. No card. Install the add-in and ask your model a question. --- # BOM generator for SOLIDWORKS assemblies URL: https://cadabrai.com/bom-generator/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # A BOM that comes from the model, not a spreadsheet. CADABRA builds the bill of materials from the actual assembly structure, applies your column set and naming rules, and balloons the drawing to match. ## The BOM drifts because it is maintained twice. In most shops the assembly is the truth and the BOM is a copy of it, kept in a spreadsheet or retyped into a drawing table. The moment a component is swapped, the two disagree. **The structure is read at generation time**, so the table matches the assembly it came from, and the balloons on the sheet match the table. ## What it produces. ### Your columns, your ordering, your names. Part number, description, material, finish, quantity, vendor, whatever your template carries, populated from the model’s custom properties rather than typed. - Column set and ordering from your drawing standard. - Naming conventions applied consistently. - Custom properties read from the file itself. ### Balloons that agree with the table. Item numbers are shared between the BOM and the balloons on the drawing, so nobody has to reconcile them by eye before release. - Balloons placed on the assembly views. - Item numbers consistent across sheets. - Regenerated together when the assembly changes. ### Fasteners carry their Toolbox identity. Fasteners CADABRA inserts come from SOLIDWORKS Toolbox, so they arrive in the BOM as the standard part your seat is configured with rather than as a modeled lookalike with no part number. - Toolbox part identity preserved into the table. - Quantities derived from the assembly, not counted by hand. ## Asking for it. **Insert the BOM and balloon this sheet** Builds the table in your column format and balloons the views to match the item numbers. **Rebuild the BOM after I swapped the bearing** Reads the assembly again and rewrites the table and the balloons to match what is in it now. **Which components in this assembly have no part number set?** Reads the custom properties across the assembly and lists the components that would land in the BOM without an identifier. ## Which plan this is on. Drawings Mode is on Enterprise. It reads your title block and drawing rules first, so it is set up with you rather than switched on. Everything above happens there. ## Questions about bills of materials. ### Can CADABRA generate a BOM from a SOLIDWORKS assembly? BOMs, yes. Drawings Mode builds the bill of materials from the assembly structure and balloons the sheet to match it, using the column set and naming conventions in your drawing standard. There is no RFQ packaging feature; that is something teams still assemble from the drawings and BOM themselves. ### Can it generate drawings for every part in an assembly at once? Yes. Batch generation runs the whole assembly in a single pass, producing one sheet per unique component plus the assembly drawing, each on your title block with the scale chosen from the geometry. ### Will the drawings follow our company standards? Yes, once you have set a standard up. You upload drawings you have already released and CADABRA extracts your title block fields, projection angle, units, text height and standing notes from them. That standard is then applied to every drawing it generates. ### Can it find the right component instead of me modeling one? For fasteners, yes. CADABRA sizes one to the measured bore and takes it from a company part you name, then your SOLIDWORKS Toolbox, then a parametric screw it models, stopping at the first source that supplies one. It can also insert and mirror components you point it at. For anything else, Ask Mode can search the web for supplier and specification data, but nothing places a catalog part into your assembly for you. ## Keep reading. - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [SOLIDWORKS AutomationIntent resolved at run time, instead of a macro per variation.](https://cadabrai.com/solidworks-automation/) - [EnterpriseSSO, SCIM directory sync, your drawing standards, your tenancy.](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-enterprise/) ## Bring an assembly. We will generate the BOM and the ballooned sheet on your template in 20 minutes. --- # AI for Fusion 360: what CADABRA does today, and what is coming URL: https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-fusion-360/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # AI for Fusion 360. CADABRA does not run on Fusion 360 yet. It runs on SOLIDWORKS today, doing real work, and Fusion 360 is in development. This page tells you what exists and what does not. ## Where Fusion 360 support stands. **Not shipping yet.** CADABRA is a SOLIDWORKS add-in. If you need an AI copilot inside Fusion 360 today, this is not it. Fusion keeps design, simulation, and CAM in one document, so the interesting question is not only “can it edit the model” but “does the edit invalidate the toolpath”. That coupling is the part we are building for deliberately rather than shipping around. The waitlist is not a mailing list. It is how the build order gets decided, so adding your team moves Fusion 360 up. ## What CADABRA does today, on SOLIDWORKS. Every capability below is in production now. It is the same engine that would come to Fusion 360. ### Text to CAD Prompts resolved into native feature operations on the open part. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/). ### CAD to drawing Views, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and title block generated from the model. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/). ### Drawing to CAD Legacy prints rebuilt as parametric models. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/drawing-to-cad/). ### Ask Mode Read-only questions about geometry, materials, and rebuild errors, answered against the open file. ### Plan Mode A step-by-step build plan drafted without touching the model. ### Debug Mode Rebuild errors, bad sketches and failed features diagnosed against the open document. ## Who is asking for Fusion 360. The requests come from hardware startups, job shops, and product teams who live in one browser-adjacent tool from sketch to toolpath. The workflows they name first are the same ones SOLIDWORKS users named first: batch drawings, family-wide edits, and getting a bill of materials out of an assembly without retyping it. That consistency is the reason support is worth building rather than porting badly. The engine is the same; the part that has to be right is how it speaks to Fusion 360 specifically. ## Questions about the roadmap. ### Does CADABRA work with Fusion, Inventor, Onshape, Creo, NX, or CATIA? Not yet. CADABRA runs today as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. Support for other CAD packages is in development and you can join the waitlist for the one you use. ### What is CADABRA? CADABRA is an AI CAD copilot that installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. You describe a change in plain English and CADABRA performs the real SOLIDWORKS feature operations: sketches edited, dimensions refit, parts rebuilt, drawings regenerated. It also produces production drawings and bills of materials on your own title blocks and standards. ### What is text to CAD? Text to CAD is turning a written description into real CAD geometry. A generic text-to-CAD tool produces a standalone mesh or a one-off solid. CADABRA does text to CAD inside SOLIDWORKS: the prompt resolves to native feature operations on the feature tree, so the result is a parametric, editable SOLIDWORKS body. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ### Do you train on my CAD files? By default on Free, Student, Standard and Professional, yes: the EULA and privacy policy state that CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata may be used to operate, maintain, and improve CADABRA and its AI models. You can stop it at any time with the data setting in your dashboard, which takes effect from the moment you turn it on rather than retroactively. On Enterprise, zero-retention handling is configured as part of the agreement. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ## Keep reading. - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [IntegrationsSOLIDWORKS today, and what it uses from your existing seat.](https://cadabrai.com/integrations/) ## Get Fusion 360 sooner. Tell us your team size and the workflow that hurts most. That is what sets the order. --- # AI for Inventor: what CADABRA does today, and what is coming URL: https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-inventor/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # AI for Inventor. CADABRA does not run on Inventor yet. It runs on SOLIDWORKS today, doing real work, and Inventor is in development. This page tells you what exists and what does not. ## Where Inventor support stands. **Not shipping yet.** CADABRA is a SOLIDWORKS add-in. If you need an AI copilot inside Inventor today, this is not it. Inventor work tends to be assembly-first and heavily parameterised through iLogic and Content Center. A copilot that ignores those and edits geometry directly would fight the way the model was built, so reading them is a precondition, not a feature. The waitlist is not a mailing list. It is how the build order gets decided, so adding your team moves Inventor up. ## What CADABRA does today, on SOLIDWORKS. Every capability below is in production now. It is the same engine that would come to Inventor. ### Text to CAD Prompts resolved into native feature operations on the open part. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/). ### CAD to drawing Views, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and title block generated from the model. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/). ### Drawing to CAD Legacy prints rebuilt as parametric models. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/drawing-to-cad/). ### Ask Mode Read-only questions about geometry, materials, and rebuild errors, answered against the open file. ### Plan Mode A step-by-step build plan drafted without touching the model. ### Debug Mode Rebuild errors, bad sketches and failed features diagnosed against the open document. ## Who is asking for Inventor. The requests come from machine builders and industrial equipment teams running large, parameter-driven assemblies. The workflows they name first are the same ones SOLIDWORKS users named first: batch drawings, family-wide edits, and getting a bill of materials out of an assembly without retyping it. That consistency is the reason support is worth building rather than porting badly. The engine is the same; the part that has to be right is how it speaks to Inventor specifically. ## Questions about the roadmap. ### Does CADABRA work with Fusion, Inventor, Onshape, Creo, NX, or CATIA? Not yet. CADABRA runs today as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. Support for other CAD packages is in development and you can join the waitlist for the one you use. ### What is CADABRA? CADABRA is an AI CAD copilot that installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. You describe a change in plain English and CADABRA performs the real SOLIDWORKS feature operations: sketches edited, dimensions refit, parts rebuilt, drawings regenerated. It also produces production drawings and bills of materials on your own title blocks and standards. ### What is text to CAD? Text to CAD is turning a written description into real CAD geometry. A generic text-to-CAD tool produces a standalone mesh or a one-off solid. CADABRA does text to CAD inside SOLIDWORKS: the prompt resolves to native feature operations on the feature tree, so the result is a parametric, editable SOLIDWORKS body. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ### Do you train on my CAD files? By default on Free, Student, Standard and Professional, yes: the EULA and privacy policy state that CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata may be used to operate, maintain, and improve CADABRA and its AI models. You can stop it at any time with the data setting in your dashboard, which takes effect from the moment you turn it on rather than retroactively. On Enterprise, zero-retention handling is configured as part of the agreement. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ## Keep reading. - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [IntegrationsSOLIDWORKS today, and what it uses from your existing seat.](https://cadabrai.com/integrations/) ## Get Inventor sooner. Tell us your team size and the workflow that hurts most. That is what sets the order. --- # AI for Onshape: what CADABRA does today, and what is coming URL: https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-onshape/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # AI for Onshape. CADABRA does not run on Onshape yet. It runs on SOLIDWORKS today, doing real work, and Onshape is in development. This page tells you what exists and what does not. ## Where Onshape support stands. **Not shipping yet.** CADABRA is a SOLIDWORKS add-in. If you need an AI copilot inside Onshape today, this is not it. Onshape is API-first and versioned by design, which makes it the most tractable target technically: branches and merges give a copilot somewhere safe to work and something precise to show you before anything is merged. The waitlist is not a mailing list. It is how the build order gets decided, so adding your team moves Onshape up. ## What CADABRA does today, on SOLIDWORKS. Every capability below is in production now. It is the same engine that would come to Onshape. ### Text to CAD Prompts resolved into native feature operations on the open part. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/). ### CAD to drawing Views, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and title block generated from the model. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/). ### Drawing to CAD Legacy prints rebuilt as parametric models. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/drawing-to-cad/). ### Ask Mode Read-only questions about geometry, materials, and rebuild errors, answered against the open file. ### Plan Mode A step-by-step build plan drafted without touching the model. ### Debug Mode Rebuild errors, bad sketches and failed features diagnosed against the open document. ## Who is asking for Onshape. The requests come from distributed teams and education users who chose a browser-native CAD system on purpose. The workflows they name first are the same ones SOLIDWORKS users named first: batch drawings, family-wide edits, and getting a bill of materials out of an assembly without retyping it. That consistency is the reason support is worth building rather than porting badly. The engine is the same; the part that has to be right is how it speaks to Onshape specifically. ## Questions about the roadmap. ### Does CADABRA work with Fusion, Inventor, Onshape, Creo, NX, or CATIA? Not yet. CADABRA runs today as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. Support for other CAD packages is in development and you can join the waitlist for the one you use. ### What is CADABRA? CADABRA is an AI CAD copilot that installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. You describe a change in plain English and CADABRA performs the real SOLIDWORKS feature operations: sketches edited, dimensions refit, parts rebuilt, drawings regenerated. It also produces production drawings and bills of materials on your own title blocks and standards. ### What is text to CAD? Text to CAD is turning a written description into real CAD geometry. A generic text-to-CAD tool produces a standalone mesh or a one-off solid. CADABRA does text to CAD inside SOLIDWORKS: the prompt resolves to native feature operations on the feature tree, so the result is a parametric, editable SOLIDWORKS body. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ### Do you train on my CAD files? By default on Free, Student, Standard and Professional, yes: the EULA and privacy policy state that CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata may be used to operate, maintain, and improve CADABRA and its AI models. You can stop it at any time with the data setting in your dashboard, which takes effect from the moment you turn it on rather than retroactively. On Enterprise, zero-retention handling is configured as part of the agreement. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ## Keep reading. - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [IntegrationsSOLIDWORKS today, and what it uses from your existing seat.](https://cadabrai.com/integrations/) ## Get Onshape sooner. Tell us your team size and the workflow that hurts most. That is what sets the order. --- # AI for Creo: what CADABRA does today, and what is coming URL: https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-creo/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # AI for Creo. CADABRA does not run on Creo yet. It runs on SOLIDWORKS today, doing real work, and Creo is in development. This page tells you what exists and what does not. ## Where Creo support stands. **Not shipping yet.** CADABRA is a SOLIDWORKS add-in. If you need an AI copilot inside Creo today, this is not it. Creo models carry design intent in relations and family tables that took years to get right. The useful copilot there is one that respects the existing intent rather than one that rebuilds geometry underneath it. The waitlist is not a mailing list. It is how the build order gets decided, so adding your team moves Creo up. ## What CADABRA does today, on SOLIDWORKS. Every capability below is in production now. It is the same engine that would come to Creo. ### Text to CAD Prompts resolved into native feature operations on the open part. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/). ### CAD to drawing Views, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and title block generated from the model. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/). ### Drawing to CAD Legacy prints rebuilt as parametric models. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/drawing-to-cad/). ### Ask Mode Read-only questions about geometry, materials, and rebuild errors, answered against the open file. ### Plan Mode A step-by-step build plan drafted without touching the model. ### Debug Mode Rebuild errors, bad sketches and failed features diagnosed against the open document. ## Who is asking for Creo. The requests come from automotive, aerospace, and industrial teams with deep parametric models and strict release process. The workflows they name first are the same ones SOLIDWORKS users named first: batch drawings, family-wide edits, and getting a bill of materials out of an assembly without retyping it. That consistency is the reason support is worth building rather than porting badly. The engine is the same; the part that has to be right is how it speaks to Creo specifically. ## Questions about the roadmap. ### Does CADABRA work with Fusion, Inventor, Onshape, Creo, NX, or CATIA? Not yet. CADABRA runs today as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. Support for other CAD packages is in development and you can join the waitlist for the one you use. ### What is CADABRA? CADABRA is an AI CAD copilot that installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. You describe a change in plain English and CADABRA performs the real SOLIDWORKS feature operations: sketches edited, dimensions refit, parts rebuilt, drawings regenerated. It also produces production drawings and bills of materials on your own title blocks and standards. ### What is text to CAD? Text to CAD is turning a written description into real CAD geometry. A generic text-to-CAD tool produces a standalone mesh or a one-off solid. CADABRA does text to CAD inside SOLIDWORKS: the prompt resolves to native feature operations on the feature tree, so the result is a parametric, editable SOLIDWORKS body. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ### Do you train on my CAD files? By default on Free, Student, Standard and Professional, yes: the EULA and privacy policy state that CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata may be used to operate, maintain, and improve CADABRA and its AI models. You can stop it at any time with the data setting in your dashboard, which takes effect from the moment you turn it on rather than retroactively. On Enterprise, zero-retention handling is configured as part of the agreement. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ## Keep reading. - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [IntegrationsSOLIDWORKS today, and what it uses from your existing seat.](https://cadabrai.com/integrations/) ## Get Creo sooner. Tell us your team size and the workflow that hurts most. That is what sets the order. --- # AI for NX: what CADABRA does today, and what is coming URL: https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-nx/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # AI for NX. CADABRA does not run on NX yet. It runs on SOLIDWORKS today, doing real work, and NX is in development. This page tells you what exists and what does not. ## Where NX support stands. **Not shipping yet.** CADABRA is a SOLIDWORKS add-in. If you need an AI copilot inside NX today, this is not it. NX rarely stands alone. Anything that writes to the model has to work inside Teamcenter’s checkout and change process, so the integration work is as much PLM as CAD, and doing it badly is worse than not doing it. The waitlist is not a mailing list. It is how the build order gets decided, so adding your team moves NX up. ## What CADABRA does today, on SOLIDWORKS. Every capability below is in production now. It is the same engine that would come to NX. ### Text to CAD Prompts resolved into native feature operations on the open part. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/). ### CAD to drawing Views, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and title block generated from the model. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/). ### Drawing to CAD Legacy prints rebuilt as parametric models. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/drawing-to-cad/). ### Ask Mode Read-only questions about geometry, materials, and rebuild errors, answered against the open file. ### Plan Mode A step-by-step build plan drafted without touching the model. ### Debug Mode Rebuild errors, bad sketches and failed features diagnosed against the open document. ## Who is asking for NX. The requests come from large manufacturers running NX alongside Teamcenter with formal change control. The workflows they name first are the same ones SOLIDWORKS users named first: batch drawings, family-wide edits, and getting a bill of materials out of an assembly without retyping it. That consistency is the reason support is worth building rather than porting badly. The engine is the same; the part that has to be right is how it speaks to NX specifically. ## Questions about the roadmap. ### Does CADABRA work with Fusion, Inventor, Onshape, Creo, NX, or CATIA? Not yet. CADABRA runs today as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. Support for other CAD packages is in development and you can join the waitlist for the one you use. ### What is CADABRA? CADABRA is an AI CAD copilot that installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. You describe a change in plain English and CADABRA performs the real SOLIDWORKS feature operations: sketches edited, dimensions refit, parts rebuilt, drawings regenerated. It also produces production drawings and bills of materials on your own title blocks and standards. ### What is text to CAD? Text to CAD is turning a written description into real CAD geometry. A generic text-to-CAD tool produces a standalone mesh or a one-off solid. CADABRA does text to CAD inside SOLIDWORKS: the prompt resolves to native feature operations on the feature tree, so the result is a parametric, editable SOLIDWORKS body. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ### Do you train on my CAD files? By default on Free, Student, Standard and Professional, yes: the EULA and privacy policy state that CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata may be used to operate, maintain, and improve CADABRA and its AI models. You can stop it at any time with the data setting in your dashboard, which takes effect from the moment you turn it on rather than retroactively. On Enterprise, zero-retention handling is configured as part of the agreement. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ## Keep reading. - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [IntegrationsSOLIDWORKS today, and what it uses from your existing seat.](https://cadabrai.com/integrations/) ## Get NX sooner. Tell us your team size and the workflow that hurts most. That is what sets the order. --- # AI for CATIA: what CADABRA does today, and what is coming URL: https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-catia/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # AI for CATIA. CADABRA does not run on CATIA yet. It runs on SOLIDWORKS today, doing real work, and CATIA is in development. This page tells you what exists and what does not. ## Where CATIA support stands. **Not shipping yet.** CADABRA is a SOLIDWORKS add-in. If you need an AI copilot inside CATIA today, this is not it. CATIA work is surface-led and governed by methodology documents that are effectively law on a program. A copilot that cannot follow the methodology is not usable at any quality of geometry. The waitlist is not a mailing list. It is how the build order gets decided, so adding your team moves CATIA up. ## What CADABRA does today, on SOLIDWORKS. Every capability below is in production now. It is the same engine that would come to CATIA. ### Text to CAD Prompts resolved into native feature operations on the open part. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/). ### CAD to drawing Views, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and title block generated from the model. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/). ### Drawing to CAD Legacy prints rebuilt as parametric models. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/drawing-to-cad/). ### Ask Mode Read-only questions about geometry, materials, and rebuild errors, answered against the open file. ### Plan Mode A step-by-step build plan drafted without touching the model. ### Debug Mode Rebuild errors, bad sketches and failed features diagnosed against the open document. ## Who is asking for CATIA. The requests come from aerospace and automotive programs with surface-heavy models and long certification cycles. The workflows they name first are the same ones SOLIDWORKS users named first: batch drawings, family-wide edits, and getting a bill of materials out of an assembly without retyping it. That consistency is the reason support is worth building rather than porting badly. The engine is the same; the part that has to be right is how it speaks to CATIA specifically. ## Questions about the roadmap. ### Does CADABRA work with Fusion, Inventor, Onshape, Creo, NX, or CATIA? Not yet. CADABRA runs today as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. Support for other CAD packages is in development and you can join the waitlist for the one you use. ### What is CADABRA? CADABRA is an AI CAD copilot that installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. You describe a change in plain English and CADABRA performs the real SOLIDWORKS feature operations: sketches edited, dimensions refit, parts rebuilt, drawings regenerated. It also produces production drawings and bills of materials on your own title blocks and standards. ### What is text to CAD? Text to CAD is turning a written description into real CAD geometry. A generic text-to-CAD tool produces a standalone mesh or a one-off solid. CADABRA does text to CAD inside SOLIDWORKS: the prompt resolves to native feature operations on the feature tree, so the result is a parametric, editable SOLIDWORKS body. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ### Do you train on my CAD files? By default on Free, Student, Standard and Professional, yes: the EULA and privacy policy state that CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata may be used to operate, maintain, and improve CADABRA and its AI models. You can stop it at any time with the data setting in your dashboard, which takes effect from the moment you turn it on rather than retroactively. On Enterprise, zero-retention handling is configured as part of the agreement. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ## Keep reading. - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [IntegrationsSOLIDWORKS today, and what it uses from your existing seat.](https://cadabrai.com/integrations/) ## Get CATIA sooner. Tell us your team size and the workflow that hurts most. That is what sets the order. --- # CADABRA FAQ: AI CAD, SOLIDWORKS, pricing, and security URL: https://cadabrai.com/faq/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Every question we are asked. If yours is not here, ask us. ## The product. ### What is CADABRA? CADABRA is an AI CAD copilot that installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. You describe a change in plain English and CADABRA performs the real SOLIDWORKS feature operations: sketches edited, dimensions refit, parts rebuilt, drawings regenerated. It also produces production drawings and bills of materials on your own title blocks and standards. ### What is an AI CAD copilot? An AI CAD copilot is an assistant that lives inside a CAD program and performs real CAD operations from natural-language prompts. Instead of clicking through menus, an engineer types what they want, for example “fillet all sharp edges 2 mm” or “generate a drawing with our title block”, and the copilot executes the feature operations, updates the model, and produces the deliverables. ### Who is CADABRA for? CADABRA is built for mechanical engineers, product designers, hardware teams, job shops, and manufacturers who use SOLIDWORKS and want to spend less time on repetitive CAD work. Students use it to learn the workflow while finishing coursework faster. ### How does CADABRA integrate with SOLIDWORKS? CADABRA installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in with a single installer. Close SOLIDWORKS, run the installer, enable the add-in, and CADABRA appears in the right-side task pane. There is no migration and no file conversion: it runs on your existing SOLIDWORKS license and your existing files. ### What is Ask Mode? Ask Mode is CADABRA’s read-only assistant. It answers questions about the open model, its geometry, dimensions, features, and materials, and it can search the web for component pricing, material properties, and manufacturing processes without leaving SOLIDWORKS. It makes no changes to your model. ### Does CADABRA give manufacturing feedback? Yes, on Professional and Enterprise. DFM review reads the solid bodies and reports the faces that fail draft, minimum radius, wall thickness and undercut thresholds, which you can set per run. It returns findings, not a score. Cost estimate prices material and machining for a milled or turned part from its mass properties and bounding box, and states its assumptions; where a driver cannot be read it withholds the total rather than guessing. Both are read-only, and neither is on Free, Student or Standard. ### Can it find the right component instead of me modeling one? For fasteners, yes. CADABRA sizes one to the measured bore and takes it from a company part you name, then your SOLIDWORKS Toolbox, then a parametric screw it models, stopping at the first source that supplies one. It can also insert and mirror components you point it at. For anything else, Ask Mode can search the web for supplier and specification data, but nothing places a catalog part into your assembly for you. ### Does CADABRA work without an internet connection? No. CADABRA reaches its AI processing environment over the network, and CAD data is encrypted in transit. Model inference requires sending the prompt and the assembled model context, so there is no offline mode. If that rules CADABRA out for your work, contact us before you evaluate it. ### Which AI models does CADABRA use? You pick a level, not a model. There are 5: Low, Medium, High, Ultra and Max. One model sits behind each level, and the level you pick is the model that answers. CADABRA does not switch models part way through a task. Free has Low only, so no picker is shown. Student and Standard reach Low, Medium and High. Professional and Enterprise add Ultra. Your plan default is used until you pick another. The dashboard usage view shows which model handled each request. ### How do I get help? Email team@cadabrai.com or use the contact form, on every plan including Free. We reply within one business day. Discord is the community channel, not a support queue. Enterprise adds a dedicated engineer. Service status for every part CADABRA depends on is at cadabrai.com/status. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ### How accurate is it, and who checks the work? You do. CADABRA performs real operations on your model and shows exactly what it changed, so every edit is reviewable in the feature tree. Revert deletes the features a run added. An in-place change such as a dimension value, and a feature the run deleted, are not taken back, and there is no file checkpoint, so save before a long run. ## Text to CAD, drawings, and deliverables. ### What is text to CAD? Text to CAD is turning a written description into real CAD geometry. A generic text-to-CAD tool produces a standalone mesh or a one-off solid. CADABRA does text to CAD inside SOLIDWORKS: the prompt resolves to native feature operations on the feature tree, so the result is a parametric, editable SOLIDWORKS body. ### Is text-to-CAD output editable, or is it a dumb mesh? With CADABRA it is editable. Prompts are resolved into native SOLIDWORKS features such as extrudes, cuts, fillets, patterns, and Hole Wizard operations, so every result lands in the feature tree with its sketches and dimensions intact. You can roll back, edit a dimension, or change design intent exactly as you would on geometry you modeled by hand. ### What kind of prompts actually work? Concrete, dimensioned, engineering-language prompts work best. Examples: “make the wall 3 mm thicker”, “fillet all sharp edges on this face at 2 mm”, “add a 6 mm counterbored hole pattern on a 40 mm bolt circle”, “pattern this rib eight times around the axis”, “change the material to 6061-T6 and update the mass properties”. Vague prompts such as “make it better” do not resolve to a single operation. ### How does CADABRA turn a 3D model into a 2D drawing? Point CADABRA at a part or an assembly and ask for drawings. It places named, projected, section, isometric and flat-pattern views chosen from the geometry, imports model dimensions with hole callouts, adds center marks and centerlines, writes your title block from the model properties, and on assemblies inserts the BOM and balloons the sheet. Every output follows the drawing standard you configured. ### Can it generate drawings for every part in an assembly at once? Yes. Batch generation runs the whole assembly in a single pass, producing one sheet per unique component plus the assembly drawing, each on your title block with the scale chosen from the geometry. ### Will the drawings follow our company standards? Yes, once you have set a standard up. You upload drawings you have already released and CADABRA extracts your title block fields, projection angle, units, text height and standing notes from them. That standard is then applied to every drawing it generates. ### Can CADABRA convert a 2D drawing into a 3D model? Yes, as an assisted rebuild that you check. Open the drawing in SOLIDWORKS, or attach a picture of the print, and ask for the model. CADABRA reads the sheet, reconciles the projected views against each other, and builds a new part with a real feature tree. Nothing verifies the result against the print except the measured comparison CADABRA reports, so an engineer checks every dimension before it is used. ### Which drawing formats can CADABRA open? A saved SOLIDWORKS drawing is read directly when it is the open document. A PNG or JPG of a print is read as a picture, which is the route for a scan or a supplier print. DXF and DWG are imported instead as one unfiltered sketch in a new part, every layer and border line included, so they are geometry to build on rather than a rebuild. Do not attach the print as a PDF: a PDF is treated as a drawing-standard reference and is learned from instead of rebuilt. ### Do I still need to check the converted model? Yes. Verify the dimensions that matter before anything downstream uses the part. ### Can I go straight from a prompt to a finished drawing? Yes. A single prompt such as “make a drawing of this part on our B-size title block with an isometric and a section through the bore” produces the drawing directly. Views, sheet, dimensions and your standard are handled in one pass rather than as separate manual steps. ### Can CADABRA generate a BOM from a SOLIDWORKS assembly? BOMs, yes. Drawings Mode builds the bill of materials from the assembly structure and balloons the sheet to match it, using the column set and naming conventions in your drawing standard. There is no RFQ packaging feature; that is something teams still assemble from the drawings and BOM themselves. ### Can I edit an AI-generated 3D model or an STL? Not in the way engineers mean by editing. An STL is a triangle mesh: it has no concept of a hole, an axis, a face, or a dimension, so there is nothing to change a value on. You can sculpt or re-mesh it, but you cannot set a bore to Ø12 or apply a tolerance. Parametric CAD carries features and dimensions. ### What is the difference between STL and STEP? STL is a mesh of triangles approximating a surface, used for 3D printing and rendering. STEP is exact boundary-representation geometry, used for manufacturing, inspection, and CAM. STEP carries the real shape; STL carries an approximation of it. Neither carries a feature history. A native part file does. ### Do AI drawing generators produce real CAD files? Most do not. A large share of the tools ranking for “AI CAD generator” and “AI technical drawing generator” are general image models: they return a picture that looks like a drawing, with no geometry, no dimensions you can measure, and no DWG, STEP, or PDF a supplier can quote from. ### How does a natural-language prompt become geometry? You write the change in plain English, naming the face or feature and the dimension. CADABRA resolves that against your open model and makes the edit; the model is rebuilt, and the result is checked. ### Is natural-language CAD the same as generative design? No. Generative design produces shapes algorithmically from loads and constraints, usually organic and topology-optimized. Natural-language CAD performs the operations an engineer describes, in the order they describe them, on the model they already have. ## CAD systems and your existing seat. ### Is there an AI for SOLIDWORKS? Yes. CADABRA is an AI CAD copilot built for SOLIDWORKS. It installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in, edits parts and assemblies from natural-language prompts through native feature operations, generates production drawings and bills of materials on your own standards, and answers questions about the open model. Pricing starts free, then $50/month for commercial use and $20/month for students. ### Windows says Cadabra.Bundle.exe is not commonly downloaded. Is it safe to run? Yes. Microsoft Defender SmartScreen is reporting that the file is new, not that it is harmful. SmartScreen grants a file a reputation only after enough people have downloaded it without trouble, so every fresh release starts out unrecognized. Choose Keep, then More info, then Run anyway. To confirm you have the real installer first, the download page prints the release SHA-256: run certutil -hashfile Cadabra.Bundle.exe SHA256 in Command Prompt and compare the two. ### Can CADABRA fix SOLIDWORKS errors? CADABRA diagnoses rebuild errors, mate failures, dangling sketch relations, and missing references in the context of your open model, and explains what to change. Because it can see the feature tree and the failing feature, the answer is specific to your file. ### Does CADABRA integrate with PLM or PDM? No PLM or PDM connector today. CADABRA works on the files you have open and the drawing standards you upload, and your PDM rules around those files keep applying. If a connector matters to your team, tell us which system. ### Does CADABRA work with Fusion, Inventor, Onshape, Creo, NX, or CATIA? Not yet. CADABRA runs today as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. Support for other CAD packages is in development and you can join the waitlist for the one you use. ### Why not just write a macro or an API script? Macros work for a fixed, repeated sequence: they break when the feature tree changes, they need a developer to maintain, and each new variation is a new script. CADABRA resolves intent against the actual model at run time, so one prompt covers cases that would otherwise need a separate macro each. ## Security and data. ### What security controls does CADABRA have? CADABRA answers a security questionnaire directly, against the controls in place today. Single sign-on and role-based access on Enterprise. Encrypted in transit. A second at-rest layer under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data, one setting on every plan. Indexed CAD content filtered to the account that wrote it. Only the context a given prompt needs is loaded at run time. A 90-day expiry on the operational logs CADABRA keeps about the service. Zero-retention handling on Enterprise, configured per organization. ### Where does CADABRA process our CAD data? CADABRA runs as an add-in on your workstation and reaches a hosted processing environment for inference. It does not run offline. Enterprise runs in a dedicated cloud tenancy under zero-retention handling, so prompts and model context are processed to answer the request and kept on no CADABRA server. Your vault is never uploaded wholesale: what leaves the workstation is the context a given prompt needs. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ### Do you train on my CAD files? By default on Free, Student, Standard and Professional, yes: the EULA and privacy policy state that CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata may be used to operate, maintain, and improve CADABRA and its AI models. You can stop it at any time with the data setting in your dashboard, which takes effect from the moment you turn it on rather than retroactively. On Enterprise, zero-retention handling is configured as part of the agreement. ### How do I stop CADABRA training on my designs? Turn on the data setting in the dashboard under Preferences. It processes your designs, prompts, and files only to answer the request in front of it, keeps none of them on CADABRA’s servers, and excludes them from training. The trade-off is that it also turns off cloud chat history and cross-device recall, because both are stored data. It is included with every plan. ## Plans and billing. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ### Is there a free version? Yes. The Free plan needs no card and carries 700K credits a month, Ask Mode against the open document, live web search, and Imagine Mode for rendered concepts. It does not change your model: building a concept, and every other edit, needs a paid plan. ### Who qualifies for student pricing? Students with an academic address their institution issued, in a supported region. The plan is $20/month, carries 3.5M credits a month plus Plan, Agent and Debug Mode, and is licensed for non-commercial coursework. It is not offered in the EU, EEA, United Kingdom, or Switzerland; students there should use the Free plan or Standard. Not recognized? Email team@cadabrai.com and we will check it. ### How is usage measured? In credits, and every plan states its own monthly allowance: Free 700K, Student 3.5M, Standard 5M and Professional 10M. Usage is drawn down per completion, so an Ask Mode query costs very little while an Agent Mode operation or a drawing set costs more. The dashboard shows how much of the month you have used. Unused allowance does not roll over. ### What happens when I run out of credits? The turn is refused and the message names the date your allowance comes back. Nothing already built is rolled back, and a long run that stops part-way leaves every feature it finished. On a paid plan you can buy extra usage for the current period from the dashboard Billing page, which is a one-off charge that does not change your subscription. On Free the only way up is a plan change, and it takes effect immediately. A separate cap of 120 requests a minute is not the allowance and clears within a minute. ### Can I switch plans later? Yes, from account settings. A change takes effect immediately in both directions, and Stripe prorates the difference against the period you are already in. ### Is there a yearly price? Yes, on every paid plan, and it is what the pricing page shows by default. A year costs 10 times the monthly price, a 17% saving: Student is $200, Standard is $500 and Professional is $1,200. Switch between monthly and yearly from account settings, and Stripe prorates the change against the period you are already in. Until 30 September 2026, a student starting a year pays $150 for the first one instead of $200, then the standard price after that. ### What payment methods do you accept? Visa, Mastercard, and American Express on every plan. Enterprise can also pay by ACH or wire and be billed annually on NET-30 terms. ### Can I use a personal email for Enterprise? No. An Enterprise demo needs a company address so we can route the request and confirm the organization. ### Can I cancel any time? Yes. Paid plans renew until you cancel, and you can cancel from the dashboard at any time on both monthly and yearly billing. Checkout and billing run through Stripe. ## How CADABRA compares. ### How is CADABRA different from SOLIDWORKS Aura? CADABRA performs CAD operations and produces deliverables; Aura is primarily a conversational assistant. CADABRA is configured with your own drawing standards rather than being generic, and it both modifies the model and produces the documentation from it. ### How much time does it actually save? It depends entirely on the work. The gains concentrate where the task is repetitive and well specified: generating drawings across an assembly, applying the same edit to a family of parts, and batch hole or fillet changes. On one-off modeling that needs judgment, expect little. The free plan exists so you can measure it on your own parts before paying. ### Can ChatGPT create a CAD model? Not directly. ChatGPT cannot open your part file, cannot see your feature tree, and cannot execute an operation in SOLIDWORKS. It can write code that might: a VBA macro, an OpenSCAD or CadQuery script, or a formula. You then run that code yourself and check what it did. A CAD-native copilot performs the operation in the open document instead, and can verify that the model rebuilt. ### What is ChatGPT useful for in mechanical design? Drafting a SOLIDWORKS macro to start from, writing OpenSCAD or CadQuery for a parametric shape, working through a tolerance stack, explaining an unfamiliar error message, and drafting a DFM or drawing-review checklist. All of these are text tasks with a human checking the output. None of them require access to your model. ### Why can’t ChatGPT read my CAD file? A SLDPRT or a STEP file describes boundary-representation geometry: surfaces, edges, and topology produced by a geometric kernel. It is not text, and reading it meaningfully requires a kernel to evaluate. Uploading one to a chat window does not give the model a kernel, so at best it reads metadata. ### How can CADABRA help my business? It removes the repetitive parts of CAD work, modifications, drawings, and BOMs, so projects ship faster and engineers spend their time on design. Teams also get consistency: the same standards applied to every drawing, by every engineer, on every revision. ## The company. ### Who founded CADABRA? CADABRA was founded by mechanical engineers with twelve years of hands-on SOLIDWORKS experience. The company is CADABRA AI Inc., headquartered in San Diego, California, and is part of NVIDIA Inception, Berkeley SkyDeck, the Siemens Technology Partner Program and the Onshape Startup Program. ## Keep reading. - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [GlossaryAI CAD and mechanical design terms, one paragraph each.](https://cadabrai.com/glossary/) - [SecurityTraining defaults, the opt-out, per-org isolation, and deployment options.](https://cadabrai.com/security/) - [PricingFree, Standard, Professional and Enterprise plans, monthly or yearly.](https://cadabrai.com/pricing/) ## Still unanswered? Ask us directly. We reply within one business day. --- # AI CAD glossary: the terms, defined precisely URL: https://cadabrai.com/glossary/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # The vocabulary, defined. AI CAD and mechanical design terms, one paragraph each. **Text to CAD** Turning a written description into CAD geometry. The output is either a frozen mesh or native, editable features in a CAD file. See [text to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/). **CAD to drawing** Producing a 2D engineering drawing from a 3D model: view layout, sections, dimensions, callouts, and title block. See [CAD to drawing](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/). **Drawing to CAD** The reverse conversion: reading an existing 2D drawing and rebuilding the part it describes as a 3D model. See [drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/drawing-to-cad/). **AI CAD copilot** An assistant inside a CAD program that performs real modeling operations from natural-language instructions, rather than only answering questions about the model. **Agent Mode** CADABRA’s mode for changing a model. It resolves an instruction into SOLIDWORKS feature operations and performs them on the open document. **Ask Mode** CADABRA’s read-only mode. It answers questions about the open model and searches the web for material, cost, and process data without modifying anything. **Drawings Mode** CADABRA’s documentation mode: views, dimensions, callouts, BOM, balloons, and title block applied to your standard, in batch across an assembly. **Feature tree** The ordered history of operations that builds a parametric part. Output that lands in the feature tree can be edited and rolled back; imported geometry cannot. **Parametric model** A model defined by dimensions and relations rather than fixed geometry, so changing a dimension updates the shape and everything that depends on it. **Bill of materials (BOM)** The structured list of every component in an assembly with quantities and identifiers. Generated from assembly structure rather than retyped. See [BOM generation](https://cadabrai.com/bom-generator/). **Request for quote (RFQ)** The package sent to a supplier to price a job: drawings, BOM, materials, finishes, and quantities. CADABRA produces the drawings and the BOM; assembling the package is still yours. **Design for manufacturability (DFM)** Evaluating a design against how it will actually be made, to catch features that add cost or cannot be produced. CADABRA reports draft, minimum radius, wall thickness and undercut findings on Professional and above. **GD&T** Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing. A symbolic language, standardized in ASME Y14.5 and ISO 1101, for specifying permissible variation in form, orientation, and location. **Title block** The bordered block on a drawing carrying part number, revision, material, finish, scale, and approvals. Company-specific, so generated drawings use yours. **PDM** Product data management. The system that versions and controls CAD files: checkout, revision, and release state. CADABRA has no PDM connector; it edits the document you have open and leaves vault state alone. **PLM** Product lifecycle management. The broader system holding parts, BOMs, change orders, and approvals across a product’s life. **SOLIDWORKS add-in** Software that registers with SOLIDWORKS and runs inside it, with access to the model through the SOLIDWORKS API. CADABRA ships as one. **Generative design** Algorithmic geometry generation from loads and constraints, usually producing organic, topology-optimized shapes. **Rebuild error** A failure that occurs when a feature can no longer be built, usually because a reference it depended on moved, changed, or was deleted. **Mate** A constraint between components in an assembly that removes degrees of freedom. Over-constrained or conflicting mates are a common source of assembly failures. **Configuration** A variant of a part or assembly stored in the same file, used for sizes, options, and states. Family-wide edits have to respect every configuration. **Detailing** The manual work of turning a drawing sheet into a releasable document: placing views, dimensioning, adding callouts and tolerances. **Section view** A drawing view produced by cutting the model on a plane, used to describe internal geometry the outside views cannot show. **Tolerance stack-up** The accumulated effect of individual part tolerances across an assembly, determining whether it will fit and function at the extremes. **Private indexing** Building a search index over a customer’s own CAD data, filtered so that only the account that wrote an entry can retrieve it. See [security](https://cadabrai.com/security/). **Generative engine optimization (GEO)** Structuring a site so AI assistants can find, extract, and cite it accurately: clear answers, real structured data, and machine-readable summaries such as llms.txt. **llms.txt** A plain-text file at the site root that summarises a site for large language models and points them at its canonical pages. CADABRA publishes one at [/llms.txt](https://cadabrai.com/llms.txt). **SOC 2** An audit framework covering security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy controls. A SOC 2 report is issued by an independent auditor and comes as Type I or Type II. ## Related questions. ### What is text to CAD? Text to CAD is turning a written description into real CAD geometry. A generic text-to-CAD tool produces a standalone mesh or a one-off solid. CADABRA does text to CAD inside SOLIDWORKS: the prompt resolves to native feature operations on the feature tree, so the result is a parametric, editable SOLIDWORKS body. ### What is an AI CAD copilot? An AI CAD copilot is an assistant that lives inside a CAD program and performs real CAD operations from natural-language prompts. Instead of clicking through menus, an engineer types what they want, for example “fillet all sharp edges 2 mm” or “generate a drawing with our title block”, and the copilot executes the feature operations, updates the model, and produces the deliverables. ### Can CADABRA convert a 2D drawing into a 3D model? Yes, as an assisted rebuild that you check. Open the drawing in SOLIDWORKS, or attach a picture of the print, and ask for the model. CADABRA reads the sheet, reconciles the projected views against each other, and builds a new part with a real feature tree. Nothing verifies the result against the print except the measured comparison CADABRA reports, so an engineer checks every dimension before it is used. ### Does CADABRA give manufacturing feedback? Yes, on Professional and Enterprise. DFM review reads the solid bodies and reports the faces that fail draft, minimum radius, wall thickness and undercut thresholds, which you can set per run. It returns findings, not a score. Cost estimate prices material and machining for a milled or turned part from its mass properties and bounding box, and states its assumptions; where a driver cannot be read it withholds the total rather than guessing. Both are read-only, and neither is on Free, Student or Standard. ## Keep reading. - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [FAQEvery question, on one page.](https://cadabrai.com/faq/) - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) ## See the terms in practice. Book a 20-minute call on your own file. --- # Security and data handling: what happens to your CAD files URL: https://cadabrai.com/security/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # What happens to your CAD data. Training, retention, encryption, and what leaves your workstation. ## Training is on by default on self-serve plans, and you can turn it off. On **Free, Student, Standard and Professional**, the CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata you submit may be used to operate, maintain, and improve CADABRA and its AI models. That is what the [EULA](https://cadabrai.com/eula/) and the [privacy policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/) say, and it is what actually happens. One setting in the dashboard stops it. Turning it on means your designs, prompts, and files are processed only to answer the request in front of them and are kept on no CADABRA server. It is included with every plan. On **Enterprise**, zero-retention handling is configured as part of the agreement. ## What applies to which plan. | | Free, Student, Standard and Professional | Enterprise | | --- | --- | --- | | Used to improve and train models | Yes, by default | No, under a zero-retention agreement | | Opt out | One setting in the dashboard | Configured for the organization | | Content retained | Yes, unless you opt out | Ephemeral under zero retention | | Sold to third parties | Never | Never | | Isolation of indexed content | Yes | Yes | ## The controls that apply on every plan. ### Isolation Indexed CAD content is filtered to the account that wrote it. ### Encryption Encrypted in transit. Chats, attachments, standards files and feedback are encrypted at rest under keys held in a hardware-backed vault, separate from the data. ### Minimum context Only the context a given prompt needs is loaded at run time, rather than the whole library. ### Access control Single sign-on on Enterprise, role-based access, and a 90-day expiry on operational logs. ### Zero retention Available on Enterprise, configured per organization. See [Enterprise](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-enterprise/). ## What leaves the workstation, and when. On the standard plans CADABRA needs connectivity to reach its processing environment, so it does not run fully offline. What it sends is the context a prompt requires, not a wholesale upload of your PDM vault. Zero-retention handling and encryption at rest are the controls available for sensitive work. Model inference does require sending the prompt and the assembled model context off the workstation, so if your requirements rule that out entirely, [tell us](https://cadabrai.com/contact/) early and we will say plainly whether we can meet them. ## Read the binding documents. This page is a summary. The [privacy policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/) and the [EULA](https://cadabrai.com/eula/) are the agreements, and they govern where this page differs. The privacy policy also names the sub-processors involved in operating the service and what each receives. If you are running a vendor review, read §3 of the privacy policy first and then [send us your questionnaire](https://cadabrai.com/contact/). ## Reporting a vulnerability. Security reports go to [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com), also published at [/.well-known/security.txt](https://cadabrai.com/.well-known/security.txt). ## Questions about security. ### Do you train on my CAD files? By default on Free, Student, Standard and Professional, yes: the EULA and privacy policy state that CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata may be used to operate, maintain, and improve CADABRA and its AI models. You can stop it at any time with the data setting in your dashboard, which takes effect from the moment you turn it on rather than retroactively. On Enterprise, zero-retention handling is configured as part of the agreement. ### How do I stop CADABRA training on my designs? Turn on the data setting in the dashboard under Preferences. It processes your designs, prompts, and files only to answer the request in front of it, keeps none of them on CADABRA’s servers, and excludes them from training. The trade-off is that it also turns off cloud chat history and cross-device recall, because both are stored data. It is included with every plan. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ### Does CADABRA work without an internet connection? No. CADABRA reaches its AI processing environment over the network, and CAD data is encrypted in transit. Model inference requires sending the prompt and the assembled model context, so there is no offline mode. If that rules CADABRA out for your work, contact us before you evaluate it. ### Does CADABRA integrate with PLM or PDM? No PLM or PDM connector today. CADABRA works on the files you have open and the drawing standards you upload, and your PDM rules around those files keep applying. If a connector matters to your team, tell us which system. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ## Keep reading. - [Data HandlingThe default by plan, the opt-out, what leaves the machine, deletion.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) - [EnterpriseSSO, SCIM directory sync, your drawing standards, your tenancy.](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-enterprise/) - [PrivacyWhat we collect, what we do not, and your choices.](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/) ## Send us your security questionnaire. Security, licensing, and deployment questions. --- # About CADABRA: engineers building the CAD copilot they wanted URL: https://cadabrai.com/about/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Built by people who did the detailing. The founders spent years doing the repetitive half of mechanical design by hand. ## Why this product. The repetitive work is view placement, dimensioning, BOM entry, and finding a part somebody in the building already modeled. None of it is design, and it fills the week. CADABRA does that half. The engineer keeps the judgment, and keeps the seat, the files and the vault they already have. ## The company. ### CADABRA AI Inc. Founded in 2025 by mechanical engineers with twelve years of hands-on SOLIDWORKS experience. ### San Diego, California 845 15th Street, San Diego, CA 92101. Reach us at [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com). ### NVIDIA Inception NVIDIA’s program for companies building on accelerated computing. ### Berkeley SkyDeck The UC Berkeley accelerator. ### Siemens Technology Partner Program The Siemens partner program for software that works alongside its industrial tools. ### Onshape Startup Program The PTC Onshape program for early-stage companies building on Onshape. ## How we build it. **The engineer stays responsible.** CADABRA does the mechanical work and shows what it did. It does not release parts. **Your standards.** Generated drawings follow the title block, projection and notes CADABRA reads out of your own released drawings. **You control training.** One setting in the dashboard stops CADABRA using your designs, prompts and files for training, on any plan, at no charge. **No migration.** It installs as an add-in and works on the license, files and PDM you already have. ## Questions about the company. ### Who founded CADABRA? CADABRA was founded by mechanical engineers with twelve years of hands-on SOLIDWORKS experience. The company is CADABRA AI Inc., headquartered in San Diego, California, and is part of NVIDIA Inception, Berkeley SkyDeck, the Siemens Technology Partner Program and the Onshape Startup Program. ### What is CADABRA? CADABRA is an AI CAD copilot that installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. You describe a change in plain English and CADABRA performs the real SOLIDWORKS feature operations: sketches edited, dimensions refit, parts rebuilt, drawings regenerated. It also produces production drawings and bills of materials on your own title blocks and standards. ### How much time does it actually save? It depends entirely on the work. The gains concentrate where the task is repetitive and well specified: generating drawings across an assembly, applying the same edit to a family of parts, and batch hole or fillet changes. On one-off modeling that needs judgment, expect little. The free plan exists so you can measure it on your own parts before paying. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ## Keep reading. - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [SecurityTraining defaults, the opt-out, per-org isolation, and deployment options.](https://cadabrai.com/security/) - [ContactSales, demos, security reviews. We reply within one business day.](https://cadabrai.com/contact/) - [BlogTechniques, product notes, and AI CAD practice.](https://cadabrai.com/blog/) ## Come see it. Bring a SOLIDWORKS file. We edit it live in 20 minutes. --- # Integrations: what CADABRA uses from your SOLIDWORKS seat URL: https://cadabrai.com/integrations/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # What CADABRA connects to. One CAD system today. ## CAD systems. | CAD system | Vendor | Status | | --- | --- | --- | | SOLIDWORKS | Dassault Systèmes | [Live today](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-solidworks/) | | Autodesk Fusion | Autodesk | [Join the waitlist](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-fusion-360/) | | Autodesk Inventor | Autodesk | [Join the waitlist](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-inventor/) | | Onshape | PTC | [Join the waitlist](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-onshape/) | | PTC Creo | PTC | [Join the waitlist](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-creo/) | | Siemens NX | Siemens | [Join the waitlist](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-nx/) | | CATIA | Dassault Systèmes | [Join the waitlist](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-catia/) | ## What CADABRA uses from your seat. All of this already exists on the workstation. ### SOLIDWORKS Toolbox Fasteners are inserted from Toolbox, so they arrive as the standard part your seat is configured with. ### Your drawing standards Title blocks, sheet formats, dimension styles and tolerance defaults, learned from reference drawings you supply. ### File custom properties Part numbers, material and finish are read from the model’s own properties and carried into the BOM. ### Your existing files Native SOLIDWORKS parts, assemblies and drawings open directly. DXF and DWG import as a sketch. ### Live web search Ask Mode can look up material properties, processes and supplier pages without leaving SOLIDWORKS. ### Your PDM workflow CADABRA edits the document you have open. There is no PDM connector, and it does not work around checkout. ## Questions about integrations. ### Does CADABRA work with Fusion, Inventor, Onshape, Creo, NX, or CATIA? Not yet. CADABRA runs today as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. Support for other CAD packages is in development and you can join the waitlist for the one you use. ### Does CADABRA integrate with PLM or PDM? No PLM or PDM connector today. CADABRA works on the files you have open and the drawing standards you upload, and your PDM rules around those files keep applying. If a connector matters to your team, tell us which system. ### Can it find the right component instead of me modeling one? For fasteners, yes. CADABRA sizes one to the measured bore and takes it from a company part you name, then your SOLIDWORKS Toolbox, then a parametric screw it models, stopping at the first source that supplies one. It can also insert and mirror components you point it at. For anything else, Ask Mode can search the web for supplier and specification data, but nothing places a catalog part into your assembly for you. ### How does CADABRA integrate with SOLIDWORKS? CADABRA installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in with a single installer. Close SOLIDWORKS, run the installer, enable the add-in, and CADABRA appears in the right-side task pane. There is no migration and no file conversion: it runs on your existing SOLIDWORKS license and your existing files. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ## Keep reading. - [AI for SOLIDWORKSAn add-in that performs operations, not a chatbot beside the window.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-solidworks/) - [EnterpriseSSO, SCIM directory sync, your drawing standards, your tenancy.](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-enterprise/) - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [FAQEvery question, on one page.](https://cadabrai.com/faq/) ## Tell us what you run. Bring your stack to a 20-minute call. --- # CADABRA compared: alternatives for AI CAD in SOLIDWORKS URL: https://cadabrai.com/compare/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # How CADABRA compares. Aura, generic text-to-3D, macros, and doing it by hand. [Video: CADABRA performing a feature operation inside SOLIDWORKS](https://cadabrai.com/assets/demo-2.mp4) ## The short version. | Approach | Strongest at | Falls down on | | --- | --- | --- | | CADABRA | Editing real models, batch drawings, BOMs, legacy conversion, on your standards | CAD systems other than SOLIDWORKS, for now | | SOLIDWORKS Aura | Conversational help inside the Dassault ecosystem | Producing releasable deliverables on your own standards | | Generic text-to-3D | Fast concept shapes and visual exploration | Editable parametric output and company standards | | Macros and the API | A fixed, repeated sequence on a stable template | Every variation, and the maintenance that follows | | Doing it by hand | Judgment, novel design, anything ambiguous | Repetitive detailing and documentation | ## The comparisons in full. ### Against SOLIDWORKS Aura. Aura is a conversational assistant inside the Dassault ecosystem. CADABRA performs the operations and produces the documentation, configured with your own drawing standards. [Full comparison](https://cadabrai.com/cadabra-vs-aura/). - Aura answers; CADABRA edits the model and generates the documents. - CADABRA is configured with your title blocks, libraries, and rules. - Both require a valid SOLIDWORKS license. ### Against generic text-to-3D tools. Tools that generate a mesh from a description are good at concepting. They are not modeling tools: the output cannot be dimensioned, revised, or released, and it knows nothing about your standards. [More on that distinction](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/). - Use them for a shape you want to look at. - Use CADABRA for a part you intend to make. ### Against macros and the SOLIDWORKS API. For a fixed sequence on a stable template, a macro is efficient and you should keep it. The problem is the long tail: every variation needs another script, and each one breaks when the tree changes. [The full argument](https://cadabrai.com/solidworks-automation/). - Keep the macros that already work. - CADABRA covers the automation you never wrote. ### Against doing it by hand. For novel design, ambiguous requirements, and anything requiring judgment, by hand is still correct. - Judgment stays with the engineer. ## Questions about evaluating CADABRA. ### How is CADABRA different from SOLIDWORKS Aura? CADABRA performs CAD operations and produces deliverables; Aura is primarily a conversational assistant. CADABRA is configured with your own drawing standards rather than being generic, and it both modifies the model and produces the documentation from it. ### Why not just write a macro or an API script? Macros work for a fixed, repeated sequence: they break when the feature tree changes, they need a developer to maintain, and each new variation is a new script. CADABRA resolves intent against the actual model at run time, so one prompt covers cases that would otherwise need a separate macro each. ### What is text to CAD? Text to CAD is turning a written description into real CAD geometry. A generic text-to-CAD tool produces a standalone mesh or a one-off solid. CADABRA does text to CAD inside SOLIDWORKS: the prompt resolves to native feature operations on the feature tree, so the result is a parametric, editable SOLIDWORKS body. ### Does CADABRA work with Fusion, Inventor, Onshape, Creo, NX, or CATIA? Not yet. CADABRA runs today as a SOLIDWORKS add-in. Support for other CAD packages is in development and you can join the waitlist for the one you use. ### How accurate is it, and who checks the work? You do. CADABRA performs real operations on your model and shows exactly what it changed, so every edit is reviewable in the feature tree. Revert deletes the features a run added. An in-place change such as a dimension value, and a feature the run deleted, are not taken back, and there is no file checkpoint, so save before a long run. ### How much does CADABRA cost? CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Ultra and Max reasoning levels. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education. ## Keep reading. - [CADABRA vs AuraPrompt-driven CAD operations against conversational assistance.](https://cadabrai.com/cadabra-vs-aura/) - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [SOLIDWORKS AutomationIntent resolved at run time, instead of a macro per variation.](https://cadabrai.com/solidworks-automation/) - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) ## Evaluate it properly. Bring the file you would use to judge any CAD tool. --- # Sitemap: every page on cadabrai.com URL: https://cadabrai.com/sitemap/ Updated: 2026-09-07 # Every page, in one list. For people, and for anything reading the site that would rather not parse XML. The machine version is at [/sitemap.xml](https://cadabrai.com/sitemap.xml). ## Product - [AI for SOLIDWORKSAn add-in that performs operations, not a chatbot beside the window.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-solidworks/) - [BOM GeneratorBuilt from assembly structure, ballooned to match the sheet.](https://cadabrai.com/bom-generator/) - [CAD to DrawingViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, and your title block, generated in one pass.](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/) - [DownloadInstall the SOLIDWORKS add-in in about five minutes.](https://cadabrai.com/download/) - [Drawing to CADDXF and DWG in as a sketch, then built up by instruction as native features.](https://cadabrai.com/drawing-to-cad/) - [HomeThe AI CAD Copilot for SOLIDWORKS.](https://cadabrai.com/) - [IntegrationsSOLIDWORKS today, and what it uses from your existing seat.](https://cadabrai.com/integrations/) - [PricingFree, Standard, Professional and Enterprise plans, monthly or yearly.](https://cadabrai.com/pricing/) - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [Text to DrawingA single prompt that produces views, dimensions, title block and BOM.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-drawing/) ## Solutions - [Berkeley offerFirst month free for Berkeley students.](https://cadabrai.com/berkeley/) - [Education3.5M credits a month for $20, on a valid academic address.](https://cadabrai.com/education/) - [EnterpriseSSO, SCIM directory sync, your drawing standards, your tenancy.](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-enterprise/) - [ProfessionalsFamily-wide edits, rebuild fixes, exports and lookups.](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-professionals/) - [StudentsAsk, debug and plan inside SOLIDWORKS, $20/month with a valid academic address.](https://cadabrai.com/solutions-students/) ## Company - [AboutWho we are, where we are, and why this product exists.](https://cadabrai.com/about/) - [CareersEngineering roles in San Diego.](https://cadabrai.com/careers/) - [ContactSales, demos, security reviews. We reply within one business day.](https://cadabrai.com/contact/) - [Demo20 minutes, your file, edited live.](https://cadabrai.com/demo/) - [SecurityTraining defaults, the opt-out, per-org isolation, and deployment options.](https://cadabrai.com/security/) - [StatusLive service status and 90 days of history.](https://cadabrai.com/status/) ## Resources - [BlogTechniques, product notes, and AI CAD practice.](https://cadabrai.com/blog/) - [CADABRA vs AuraPrompt-driven CAD operations against conversational assistance.](https://cadabrai.com/cadabra-vs-aura/) - [ComparisonsAura, generic text-to-3D, macros, and doing it by hand.](https://cadabrai.com/compare/) - [FAQEvery question, on one page.](https://cadabrai.com/faq/) - [GlossaryAI CAD and mechanical design terms, one paragraph each.](https://cadabrai.com/glossary/) - [SitemapA complete, human-readable index of the site.](https://cadabrai.com/sitemap/) ## Legal - [EULALicense grant, restrictions, and subscription term.](https://cadabrai.com/eula/) - [PrivacyWhat we collect, what we do not, and your choices.](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/) - [TermsSubscriptions, acceptable use, IP, and availability.](https://cadabrai.com/terms/) - [TrademarksAttributions and third-party notices.](https://cadabrai.com/trademarks/) ## Blog - [5 Best AI Tools for Mechanical Engineers in 2026Explore five of the best AI tools for mechanical engineers, including CADABRA, SOLIDWORKS, Autodesk Fusion, PTC Creo, and Siemens NX.](https://cadabrai.com/blog/best-ai-tools-mechanical-engineers-2026.html) - [Ask Mode: a SOLIDWORKS expert that knows your modelAsk Mode is CADABRA’s read-only assistant for SOLIDWORKS. It answers questions about the open model and pulls live data, materials, and standards from the web.](https://cadabrai.com/blog/ask-mode-solidworks-expert.html) - [Auto-generate engineering drawings and BOMsCADABRA generates production-ready SOLIDWORKS drawings, standard views, BOMs, dimensions, and your title block, in seconds instead of hours.](https://cadabrai.com/blog/auto-generate-engineering-drawings.html) - [CADABRA vs. Traditional CAD Workflows: What Is the Difference?Compare CADABRA with traditional CAD workflows and learn how AI automation can reduce repetitive modeling, drawing, and documentation work.](https://cadabrai.com/blog/cadabra-vs-traditional-cad-workflows.html) - [DFM and cost estimates at design timeCatch expensive geometry, pull live material and machining rates, and get DFM suggestions while still inside SOLIDWORKS, before the part reaches a quote.](https://cadabrai.com/blog/dfm-cost-estimates-at-design-time.html) - [Edit your SOLIDWORKS model in plain EnglishHow CADABRA turns prompts like "make the wall 3 mm thicker" into real SOLIDWORKS feature operations: sketches edited, dimensions refit, parts rebuilt.](https://cadabrai.com/blog/edit-solidworks-in-plain-english.html) - [Stop Googling SOLIDWORKS errorsUse CADABRA’s Ask Mode to resolve SOLIDWORKS rebuild errors, mate failures, missing references, and dangling sketches, in context, without leaving the model.](https://cadabrai.com/blog/troubleshoot-solidworks-errors.html) ## Guide - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [AI CAD GeneratorImage, mesh, or native features. Only one of them is a part.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad-generator/) - [ChatGPT for CADWhat a general chatbot can do with your model, and what it cannot.](https://cadabrai.com/chatgpt-for-cad/) - [Free AI CADThe four meanings of free, and where each one runs out.](https://cadabrai.com/free-ai-cad/) - [Natural Language CADThe pipeline from a sentence to a rebuilt model, and how to write for it.](https://cadabrai.com/natural-language-cad/) - [SOLIDWORKS AutomationIntent resolved at run time, instead of a macro per variation.](https://cadabrai.com/solidworks-automation/) - [Text to CAD vs Text to 3DMesh or parametric.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad-vs-text-to-3d/) ## Roadmap - [AI for CATIAIn development. The waitlist decides the order.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-catia/) - [AI for CreoIn development. The waitlist decides the order.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-creo/) - [AI for Fusion 360In development. The waitlist decides the order.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-fusion-360/) - [AI for InventorIn development. The waitlist decides the order.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-inventor/) - [AI for NXIn development. The waitlist decides the order.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-nx/) - [AI for OnshapeIn development. The waitlist decides the order.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-onshape/) ## Documentation - [Account and plansYour account, your workstation, credits, preferences, billing.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Agent ModeEdits the model. Approval is on by default.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [All ModesWhich modes mutate, which are read-only, and what unlocks them.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask ModeAnswers questions. Cannot modify anything.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [AttachmentsAccepted types, size limits, and what happens to an image.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [BillingSubscriptions, plan changes, extra usage, cancellation.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) - [CADABRA IssuesAdd-in registration, network, account, refused runs.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [Components and FastenersToolbox, your own files, and nothing to connect.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) - [Data HandlingThe default by plan, the opt-out, what leaves the machine, deletion.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) - [Debug ModeForces a rebuild, reads the diagnostics, names the cause.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Directory SyncSCIM tokens, endpoints, and what does not sync.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) - [DocumentationInstall, six modes, prompts, standards, account, team, security, troubleshooting.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/) - [Drawing StandardsLearned from your released drawings.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Drawing to CADA print rebuilt as a feature tree, for an engineer to check.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) - [Drawings ModeViews, dimensions, callouts, BOM, title block.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Error MessagesEvery refusal, its cause, and its fix.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) - [Getting startedRequirements, installation, and a first edit.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [How It WorksThe per-prompt caps, the native operations, and revert.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) - [Imagine ModeRendered concepts. Pick one and Agent builds it.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) - [InstallRequirements, the hosts to allow, and what setup checks.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Modeling RulesWritten once, applied on every run.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Modessix modes. two of them can change your model.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [Plan ModeA numbered build plan you approve before anything runs.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Plans and LimitsCredits per plan, what spends them, and the limit.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [PreferencesEvery dashboard setting and what it changes.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Prompt LibraryCopyable prompts by mode, with what each produces.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [PromptsOperation, reference, number, and a mode that can act on them.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Seats and MembersAdding people, roles, seats, and the activity log.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Security and dataAnswering a vendor security questionnaire.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Single Sign-OnOIDC setup, domain verification, and the claims used.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [SOLIDWORKS ErrorsDebug Mode on a failing document, with worked examples.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [StandardsDrawing conventions, modeling rules, and where a component comes from.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [TeamMembers, roles, seats, sign-on, and directory sync.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [TroubleshootingThe failure, the message, and the fix.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [WorkstationsThe one-machine rule, and how to move.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Writing PromptsOperation, reference, number. Drop one and it fails.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Your AccountName, email, password, two-step, device, deletion.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Your First PromptA read-only check, one small edit, and the two approval settings.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) ## Support - [Help CenterSymptoms, first checks, and what to attach.](https://cadabrai.com/help/) ## Keep reading. - [FAQEvery question, on one page.](https://cadabrai.com/faq/) - [GlossaryAI CAD and mechanical design terms, one paragraph each.](https://cadabrai.com/glossary/) - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [BlogTechniques, product notes, and AI CAD practice.](https://cadabrai.com/blog/) --- # CADABRA documentation URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Documentation What installs on the workstation, what each of the six modes can and cannot change, how to phrase a request, what a drawing standard learns from, what a credit buys, and what to do when a run fails. ## Start here | You want to | Go to | | --- | --- | | Get CADABRA onto this machine | [Install the add-in](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/). 212 MB, administrator rights, SOLIDWORKS closed. | | Send a first request and read the answer | [Your first prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) | | Know what happens between typing and a feature appearing | [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) | | Work out which mode to be in, or why one is grayed out | [All six modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) | | Phrase a change so it resolves in one turn | [Writing prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) | | Copy a request that already works | [Prompt library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) | | Send a photo, a PDF or a part with the prompt | [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) | | Rebuild a 2D print as a feature tree | [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) | | Make drawings come out on your title block and your projection | [Drawing standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) | | Tell CADABRA how your team models | [Modeling rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) | | Diagnose a failed feature or a broken reference | [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/), then [SOLIDWORKS errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) | | Look up a message CADABRA printed | [Error messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) | | Move your seat to a different workstation | [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) | | Add people, single sign-on, or directory sync | [Team](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) | | See the allowance, the levels, and what a credit buys | [Plans and limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) | | Answer a security questionnaire | [Data handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) | ## The shape of the product CADABRA is a SOLIDWORKS add-in with a task pane docked in the SOLIDWORKS window. It runs on SOLIDWORKS 2020 or later on 64-bit Windows 10 or later. The panel interface is served from disk, so only the API calls need the network. Requirements, hosts and ports are on [install the add-in](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/). ### Modes six modes, chosen from a pill in the composer that opens a menu: Ask, Plan, Agent, Drawings, Debug, Imagine. There is no keyboard shortcut and no mode setting in Settings. Only Agent and Drawings change the model. Ask, Plan, Debug and Imagine read the open document and answer; none of them edits. A mutating request in Ask returns "That would change your model. Switch to Agent mode to build or edit it." Ask and Imagine runs on every plan including Free. Plan, Agent and Debug need a paid plan. Drawings needs Enterprise. A blocked mode stays visible in the menu and is disabled; sending in one does not call the service. If a drawing is the active SOLIDWORKS document, every prompt is routed through Drawings Mode whatever the pill says. Without Drawings access the turn is refused with "Reviewing and editing drawings needs Drawings access." ### Levels You pick a level, never a model, from a second pill labeled "Level: Low" and so on. Free has Low only, so the picker is hidden. Student and Professional have Low, Medium, High, defaulting to Medium. Enterprise adds Max and uses it by default. Nothing routes automatically: a turn runs at the level you picked, or at your plan default. If your plan drops below your saved level, the plan default is used silently. ### Credits Usage is metered in credits, drawn down per completion, so an Ask question costs a fraction of an Agent edit and a drawing set costs most. Unused credits do not roll over. - Free, 700K credits a month - Student, 3.5M credits a month - Professional, 10M credits a month - Enterprise, custom Over the allowance the service answers 429, and the line on screen names your plan and ends "Resets {date}." The quota is checked before the turn and again before each model call, so a long run can stop part-way. [Plans and limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) has the reset behavior and the extra-usage rules. ### What CADABRA does to your document The add-in calls native SOLIDWORKS operations through the COM API: sketching, features, Hole Wizard, patterns, mates, feature-tree edits, materials, configurations, equations and export. When no native operation matches, Agent Mode falls back to generated VBA, and only then. Read-only modes are never given the VBA tool. CADABRA does not group a run into a single SOLIDWORKS undo record. Revert is a feature-tree diff, and it comes in two sizes: one step back deletes the feature the last step added, and reverting the build deletes every feature the run created, in reverse creation order. An in-place edit that adds no feature is recorded as not revertable by CADABRA. There is no file checkpoint and no save-and-reopen safety net. [What revert really does](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/#revert) has the rest. Approval preference in the task pane Settings has three values, Always ask, Ask for large tasks and Never ask, and is stored per machine. Drawings Mode has no approval step, so Always ask blocks it. See [preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/). ## Sections - [Getting started Requirements, installation, and a first edit.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Modes six modes. two of them can change your model.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [Prompts Operation, reference, number, and a mode that can act on them.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Standards Drawing conventions, modeling rules, and where a component comes from.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Account and plans Your account, your workstation, credits, preferences, billing.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Team Members, roles, seats, sign-on, and directory sync.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Security and data Answering a vendor security questionnaire.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Troubleshooting The failure, the message, and the fix.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) ## Elsewhere on this site - Something is broken or behaving oddly: [the help center](https://cadabrai.com/help/), then [CADABRA issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/). - What CADABRA is and who it is for: [the product pages](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/). - Definitions of the terms used here: [the glossary](https://cadabrai.com/glossary/). - Commercial questions: [pricing](https://cadabrai.com/pricing/) and the [FAQ](https://cadabrai.com/faq/). - Whether the service is up: [status](https://cadabrai.com/status/). - Anything else: [contact us](https://cadabrai.com/contact/), we reply within one business day. On this page - [Start here](#start) - [The shape of the product](#shape) - [Sections](#sections) - [Elsewhere on this site](#elsewhere) --- # Getting started, CADABRA documentation URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Getting started Install the add-in, run a first edit, and know exactly what leaves your machine when you send a prompt. ## In this section - [Install Requirements, the hosts to allow, and what setup checks.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt A read-only check, one small edit, and the two approval settings.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works The per-prompt caps, the native operations, and revert.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ## Where to start Read them in order. The second and third assume the add-in is loaded, enabled under Tools then Add-Ins, and signed in. On this page - [In this section](#pages) - [Where to start](#start-here) --- # Install the CADABRA add-in for SOLIDWORKS URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Install CADABRA 212 MB, one installer, on the SOLIDWORKS license and files you already have. **SOLIDWORKS 2020 or later** on 64-bit Windows 10 or later. Administrator rights to install: the package is per-machine and installs to `C:\Program Files\CADABRA`. An internet connection, HTTPS on port 443, to the [hosts listed below](#network). The download is 212 MB. It chains two prerequisites ahead of CADABRA itself. First, the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime, fetched from builds.dotnet.microsoft.com during setup if it is missing. Second, the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, included in the download and installed offline if it is missing. Both are marked permanent, so removing CADABRA leaves them installed. ## Install it 1. Close SOLIDWORKS, then run the installer Download `Cadabra.Bundle.exe` from the [download page](https://cadabrai.com/download/). SOLIDWORKS must be closed: CADABRA loads inside it, so its files cannot be replaced while it is open. Windows calls every new release unrecognized, so choose Keep, then More info, then Run anyway. Setup elevates, so accept the Windows prompt. 2. Let the prerequisites install The bundle installs the two prerequisites above if they are missing, then installs CADABRA and registers the add-in with SOLIDWORKS. Nothing to choose. 3. Enable the add-in Open SOLIDWORKS, go to **Tools**, then **Add-Ins**, and find CADABRA under **Other Add-Ins**. Setup writes the SOLIDWORKS startup flag itself, so CADABRA is already set to load. The left box loads it in this session, the **Start Up** box loads it in every session. If CADABRA is not in the list, registration did not complete: see [reinstalling](#repair). 4. Open the panel and sign in Click the CADABRA icon in the task pane on the right of the SOLIDWORKS window, then sign in with the account you created. One workstation is active at a time on Free, Student, Standard and Professional. Enterprise is not limited to one. Release the old machine first if you are moving. See [workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/). ## What setup checks before it installs anything Four conditions are tested first. If one fails, setup stops with the message below and nothing on the machine is changed. - SOLIDWORKS is not registered: "SOLIDWORKS was not found on this machine. Install SOLIDWORKS (2020 or later) and open it once so it registers itself, then run CADABRA Setup again." Setup does not check which version you have, only that SOLIDWORKS has been opened at least once so it wrote its COM registration. - SOLIDWORKS is running: "Close SOLIDWORKS to continue. CADABRA loads inside SOLIDWORKS, so its files cannot be changed while it is open. Save your work, close SOLIDWORKS completely, then run this again. Nothing on this machine was changed." - 32-bit Windows: "This product requires 64-bit Windows 10 or later." - A prerequisite is still missing after the chain ran: setup names the runtime and the Microsoft page to get it from. ### What it verifies after copying the files Any failure below aborts the install and rolls it back. 1. Every core binary named in the shipped install manifest is present, and its file version equals the version of the package being installed. A stale file from a previous version fails the install rather than half-loading later. 2. The endpoint values under `HKLM\SOFTWARE\CADABRA` match the manifest. 3. `regsvr32` registers `Cadabra.AddIn.comhost.dll`, and the CLSID `{8a9f4d5e-7c3b-4e8f-9a1d-2b6e5f8c3d4a}` resolves back to that exact file. If it points anywhere else, another copy of CADABRA is registered and the install stops. 4. The SOLIDWORKS autoload flag at `HKLM\SOFTWARE\SolidWorks\AddIns\{8a9f4d5e-7c3b-4e8f-9a1d-2b6e5f8c3d4a}` reads 1. Every one of those steps is written to `%ProgramData%\CADABRA\install.log`. That file is the only artifact when the panel never appears, and it is the one to attach when you [contact us](https://cadabrai.com/contact/). ## Hosts to allow HTTPS on port 443. The panel interface is served from disk, so only these calls cross the network. A blocked host breaks the matching feature. A proxy that inspects TLS can break every call without blocking anything, which is the next section. | Host | What needs it | | --- | --- | | `api.cadabrai.com` | every prompt, and the update check | | `accounts.cadabrai.com` | sign-in, your plan, and usage | | `cadabrai.com` | the dashboard and billing links the panel opens | | `builds.dotnet.microsoft.com` | the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime, during setup only | | `stcadabraprds3lz74yr.blob.core.windows.net` | the installer download and in-app updates | | `cadabra-installers.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com` | the installer the update service advertises | ## Behind a proxy CADABRA has no proxy setting. Every call is made with the Windows HTTP stack, so it follows the system proxy configuration, including a PAC script. Certificates are checked against the Windows certificate store and CADABRA pins nothing. A proxy that terminates and re-signs TLS works once its root certificate is in the machine store. Until it is, nothing is blocked and every call still fails: the saved session cannot be validated, so you land back on the sign-in screen. Nothing supplies proxy credentials. A proxy that demands authentication answers 407 and every call fails, with no sign-in and no prompts. Allow the hosts above without authentication. With no connectivity the add-in still loads, but the saved session cannot be validated, so you land back on the sign-in screen. Nothing about the network is measured from your side by [the status page](https://cadabrai.com/status/), so check these hosts before you report an outage. ## Check that it worked Open any part and ask something that changes nothing, for example `what material is this part` or `how many features are in this tree`. A correct answer means the add-in is loaded, signed in, and reading the document you have open. If the panel cannot reach CADABRA, the add-in is installed but not connected. See [CADABRA issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/). ## Find your installed version The person icon at the top right of the panel opens Settings. The last line reads `Version 1.3.46`, or `Version 1.3.46 Build 0007` on an early access build. It is readable before you sign in. Quote that number in every support message. Windows shows a four-part number for the same build because Windows Installer requires one; the panel is the number to use. ## Uninstall, repair and reinstall Reinstalling over the top is the first fix for a broken add-in registration, because it re-runs every check in the section above and rewrites the COM and autoload keys. Close SOLIDWORKS and run the same `Cadabra.Bundle.exe` again. Installing the version you already have is allowed and is the intended repair path. Reinstall when any of these is true. - CADABRA is not listed under **Tools**, then **Add-Ins**, then **Other Add-Ins** at all. - The pane opens and reads "CADABRA is not installed correctly. Reinstall from cadabrai.com." - The pane fails to load and reports that the installation may be incomplete. - An update failed three times. Settings then stops requiring it and tells you to install the latest version from the website. ### Uninstalling Windows Settings, then Apps, then Installed apps. The entry is **CADABRA Setup**. It removes the program files, unregisters the COM server and deletes the `HKLM\SOFTWARE\CADABRA` and SOLIDWORKS add-in keys. The .NET 9 Desktop Runtime and the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime stay, because other software uses them. Your SOLIDWORKS files, templates, libraries and PDM vault are not touched by an uninstall, and your account, chat history and standards live on the service rather than on the machine. ## What installing changes Nothing about your existing setup. CADABRA reads your license, files, templates and libraries rather than replacing them. - No file conversion, and no new file format. - No changes to PDM state. Checkout and revision behave as they did. - No SOLIDWORKS setting is rewritten. The unit and precision preference in the panel reaches the model as an instruction and leaves your document unit setting alone. ## Questions ### How does CADABRA integrate with SOLIDWORKS? CADABRA installs as a SOLIDWORKS add-in with a single installer. Close SOLIDWORKS, run the installer, enable the add-in, and CADABRA appears in the right-side task pane. There is no migration and no file conversion: it runs on your existing SOLIDWORKS license and your existing files. ### Windows says Cadabra.Bundle.exe is not commonly downloaded. Is it safe to run? Yes. Microsoft Defender SmartScreen is reporting that the file is new, not that it is harmful. SmartScreen grants a file a reputation only after enough people have downloaded it without trouble, so every fresh release starts out unrecognized. Choose Keep, then More info, then Run anyway. To confirm you have the real installer first, the download page prints the release SHA-256: run certutil -hashfile Cadabra.Bundle.exe SHA256 in Command Prompt and compare the two. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ### Does CADABRA work without an internet connection? No. CADABRA reaches its AI processing environment over the network, and CAD data is encrypted in transit. Model inference requires sending the prompt and the assembled model context, so there is no offline mode. If that rules CADABRA out for your work, contact us before you evaluate it. On this page - [Install it](#steps) - [What setup checks before it installs anything](#checks) - [Hosts to allow](#network) - [Behind a proxy](#proxy) - [Check that it worked](#verify) - [Find your installed version](#version) - [Uninstall, repair and reinstall](#repair) - [What installing changes](#what-changes) - [Questions](#questions) --- # Run your first prompt in CADABRA URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Your first prompt One question, then one small edit on a part whose behavior you already know. ## Pick the right part to start on Use a part you modeled yourself and could rebuild from memory. You are checking CADABRA against your own judgment, which only works if you have one for this file. Do not start on a released assembly, a file checked out to someone else, or a part that already has a rebuild error. A pre-existing error is not attributed to your edit, but it makes the first result harder to read. ## The two pills in the composer The left pill is the mode. On first run it is Ask, and after that the last mode you used is remembered on that machine. Ask reads and never edits, so a request to change something answers "That would change your model. Switch to Agent mode to build or edit it." The six modes are described in [all modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/). The right pill is the model level, shown as "Level: Medium". You pick a level, never a model name, and the product never shows one. Free has Low only, so the pill is hidden. Student and Professional have Low, Medium, High, Ultra and Max and default to Medium. Enterprise adds Max and defaults to it. There is no automatic routing: a turn runs at the level shown, and if your plan drops below your saved level the plan default is used silently. See [plans and limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/). ## Ask before you edit These change nothing. They tell you whether CADABRA is reading the document you think it is. **What is the overall bounding box of this part?** Confirms it can see the geometry. Bounding box, mass, volume, material and body count all come from the same digest. **List the features in this tree and what each one does.** Confirms it can read the history, not just the solid. **What custom properties are set on this file?** Confirms it can read properties. Up to 16 reach the model. **Why did this feature fail to rebuild?** Confirms it can reason about the specific error in front of it. Debug Mode goes further and forces a rebuild first. ## Then make one small edit Switch the mode pill to Agent. Pick a change with one obvious correct outcome. Changing a single dimension is ideal. Adding a fillet to a named face is a good second. Say the operation, the reference and the number. `Make the wall 3 mm thicker` works because all three are present. `Make it stronger` does not, because none of them are. [Writing prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) is the full grammar. 1. Send it. On the default approval setting the agent runs a read-only planning pass first and shows the steps with **Approve** and **Deny**. 2. Approve, and watch the feature tree. New and modified features are the evidence of what it did. 3. Compare against what you expected. A difference means the instruction was ambiguous more often than it means the edit was wrong. 4. If it is wrong, say so in the next message. CADABRA deletes the features it created, by name. It does not restore a value it overwrote, so re-enter that yourself. [How it works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/#revert) has the detail. ## Approval preference, and the dashboard setting that is not it In the panel, open Settings from the person icon and find **Approvals**. **Approval preference** has three values and is stored on the machine, not on your account. - **Always ask**: approve every change to your SolidWorks model before it runs. - **Ask for large tasks**, the default: review the plan once before the agent changes your SolidWorks model. Small reads run freely. - **Never ask**: let the agent change your SolidWorks model without asking. Drawings Mode has no approval step, so **Always ask** blocks it outright and the refusal names this setting. Set it to **Ask for large tasks** or **Never ask** to generate drawings. The dashboard has a separate switch, **Apply Agent changes without review**, off by default, in [preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/). It is an account-level preference and does not rename or replace the panel setting. There is no control called "Auto-apply agent changes". There is no file checkpoint and no save-and-reopen safety net. Save before a long run. CADABRA suppresses the SOLIDWORKS save reminder for the session by default, and only when SOLIDWORKS auto-save is confirmed on. ## Where to go next - The grammar that makes an instruction resolve: [writing prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/). - What each mode does and what unlocks it: [all modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/). - Attaching a drawing, a photo or a spec: [attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/). - Making output match your company: [modeling rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/). On this page - [Pick the right part to start on](#pick-a-part) - [The two pills in the composer](#mode-and-level) - [Ask before you edit](#ask-first) - [Then make one small edit](#first-edit) - [Approval preference, and the dashboard setting that is not it](#approvals) - [Where to go next](#next) --- # How CADABRA works URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # How CADABRA works What leaves your machine per prompt, what runs against your model, and what revert actually does. ## What is sent with each prompt Your CAD file is never uploaded. What goes with a prompt is a bounded reading of the open document, assembled fresh each turn. ### The live situation Whether a document is open. Its name, type, path, active configuration, configuration count and units. Whether you are in a sketch, the feature count and any rollback state. The current selection. An assembly summary. And up to 12 features currently in error or warning. ### The digest, for parts and assemblies Up to 60 features, up to 16 custom properties, and one geometry block: bounding box, mass, volume, material and body count. The caps are hard. On a 300-feature part the model sees 60 of them plus whatever retrieval adds, which is why naming the feature you mean beats saying "the last one". ### Retrieval When a document opens, CADABRA indexes it: metadata plus up to 400 feature-tree nodes, embedded and stored, with the top 6 matches for your question appended to the prompt. Indexing is skipped for assemblies, skipped for drawings, and skipped for parts over 1,500 features, because walking those trees on open would freeze the SOLIDWORKS UI thread. Those documents are read on demand instead. It is off entirely on accounts with zero retention or encryption at rest, where the service refuses to store anything to index. See [data handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/). ## Changes are native SOLIDWORKS operations CADABRA drives native operations through the SOLIDWORKS COM API: sketching, features, holes and fasteners, patterns and mirrors, feature-tree edits, reference geometry, assembly and mate edits, properties, configurations and export. An extrude it creates is the same extrude you would have created, in the same tree, with its sketch and dimensions intact. When no native operation matches the request, and only then, the agent falls back to generated VBA. Read-only modes never receive that tool. There is no import step and no foreign body, so rollback, reordering and suppression behave normally, PDM revisioning is unaffected, and a colleague without CADABRA installed can open and edit the file. ## What happens after each operation CADABRA scans the rebuild errors in the document before the edit, performs the operation, rebuilds, and scans again. The comparison is what lets it separate an error your edit caused from one that was already in the file, and it reports them differently. If a single operation fails after it changed a value, the value it captured is restored and re-read to confirm the restore. When that restore itself fails the message says so, names what could not be put back, and tells you to inspect the value before continuing. A number that cannot produce valid geometry is refused before the model is touched, rather than producing a broken feature you find later. ## What revert really does CADABRA does not group a run into a single SOLIDWORKS undo record. Revert is a feature-tree diff, matched by feature id so a rename in between does not confuse it. Reverting the last step deletes the last feature in the tree, and only in a part, because the last node in an assembly can be a mate or a component rather than the step you asked for. Reverting the build deletes every feature the current run created: the tree is recorded at the first change of the run, and that record is dropped when the next prompt starts. A revert has to happen in the run that made the change. After that, delete the feature by name. - Features the run created are deleted, and the message names them. - A feature it could not delete is named and left, with an instruction to remove it yourself. - An in-place change that added no feature, such as a dimension value, a material or a property, is reported as not undone: "Re-apply the original values manually if they must be restored." - A feature the run deleted is gone. Deletion is not reversed by revert. Ordinary SOLIDWORKS undo still exists, but it is not what CADABRA uses, and after a run the rebuilds and selection changes in between make it unreliable. There is no file checkpoint and no save-and-reopen safety net. Save before a long run. Drawings Mode is the one exception. Its edit undo uses the native SOLIDWORKS undo record and reliably reverses a delete. A move has to be reverted by moving back. ## What the checks do not cover CADABRA can tell that an operation did nothing when it claimed to do something, and it can tell that the rebuild is clean. It cannot tell you that the geometry it produced is the geometry you wanted. Size and position are not checked against your intent, because your intent is not in the file. Review the result. ## Limits - It is not a CAD system. It runs inside SOLIDWORKS and cannot run without it. - It is not offline. The reasoning runs in the CADABRA service, so every prompt needs the network. - There is no manufacturability score, no cost model and no price data. What exists is the assistant reasoning in prose over the open document plus live web search. - It does not replace engineering judgment, and nothing it produces is checked for fitness by anything other than you. On this page - [What is sent with each prompt](#per-prompt) - [Changes are native SOLIDWORKS operations](#native) - [What happens after each operation](#rebuild-check) - [What revert really does](#revert) - [What the checks do not cover](#verification-limits) - [Limits](#limits) --- # Modes, CADABRA documentation URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Modes The mode is the safety boundary. Agent and Drawings can change the open document. Ask, Plan, Debug and Imagine cannot, whatever you ask them to do. ## In this section - [All Modes Which modes mutate, which are read-only, and what unlocks them.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode Answers questions. Cannot modify anything.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode A numbered build plan you approve before anything runs.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode Edits the model. Approval is on by default.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode Views, dimensions, callouts, BOM, title block.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode Forces a rebuild, reads the diagnostics, names the cause.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode Rendered concepts. Pick one and Agent builds it.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ## Where to start Read [all six modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) first. It carries the entitlement table and the level picker, which the per-mode pages assume you have seen. On this page - [In this section](#pages) - [Where to start](#start-here) --- # The six modes and what each one can do URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # The six modes The mode you are in is the safety boundary. two modes can change your model. four cannot. ## The six modes | Mode | Changes your model | Unlocked by | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Ask | No | every plan | Questions about the open document, plus live web search. Changes nothing. | | Plan | No | any paid plan | Writes a numbered build plan and runs none of it. | | Agent | Yes | any paid plan | Makes the change as native feature operations, and exports files when asked. | | Drawings | Yes | Enterprise | Draws and edits sheets on your own standard, and rebuilds a 2D print as a part. | | Debug | No | any paid plan | Rebuilds the document and finds the failed feature, sketch or reference. | | Imagine | No | every plan | Proposes rendered concepts. Picking one hands it to Agent to build, which needs a paid plan. | ## Where the picker is The mode sits on a pill in the composer, under the prompt box. Clicking it opens the menu of all six modes. There is no keyboard shortcut, and there is no mode setting in Settings. The default on first run is Ask. After that the panel remembers the last mode you used, per machine, and reopens in it. A mode your plan does not carry stays in the menu and is disabled. Sending in one does not reach the service at all: the transcript answers "Plan mode isn’t available on your current plan." with a link to upgrade. ## What unlocks each mode Two flags on your account decide the whole menu. One covers Plan, Agent and Debug. The other covers Drawings on its own. - Ask is the only mode on Free, so five of the six are locked there. - Plan, Agent and Debug come with any paid plan: Student at $20 a month, Professional at $120, or Enterprise. - Drawings is separate again. It is on for Enterprise, and off everywhere else in production today. If you are on a paid plan and Drawings is grayed out, that is why. - A paid plan whose subscription is not active is treated as Free, so every mode but Ask locks until billing is current. [Plans and limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) covers which plan carries which, and [billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) covers restarting a lapsed subscription. ## Two things that override the mode you picked **A request that would change the model, sent from a read-only mode.** It is refused rather than attempted: "That would change your model. Switch to Agent mode to build or edit it." Nothing in your document is touched. **A drawing as the active SOLIDWORKS document.** Every prompt is then routed through Drawings Mode whatever the picker says, because the drawing is what you are pointing at. From Agent or Drawings the turn can edit the sheet. From Ask, Plan, Debug or Imagine it is review only. Without Drawings access the turn is refused: "Drawing review and editing require Drawings access." ## How a turn moves between modes Three modes hand work to Agent rather than making you retype it. Each switches the composer to Agent and starts a new turn. - [Ask](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) renders a **Run in Agent** button under an answer that offered to do specific work. It re-sends your original words, not the answer. - [Plan](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) puts the plan in a card with **Build this** and **Deny**. Build this sends the plan for execution along with the request that produced it. - [Imagine](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) shows concept cards. Picking one sends that concept to Agent to build, with its render attached. Nothing hands off automatically. ## Levels are not modes A mode decides what a turn is allowed to do. A **level** decides how much reasoning it gets. They are independent controls, and both live on the composer: the mode pill, and next to it a pill reading "Level: Medium". You pick a level, never a model. There is no model control in Settings or on the dashboard, and the picker names no model. The dashboard usage view names the model that answered each request, after the fact. - There is no automatic routing. A turn runs at the level shown on the pill. - On Free the picker is hidden, because Low is the only level available. - If your plan drops below the level you had saved, the plan default is used and nothing warns you. - A higher level draws down more credits per turn. [Plans and limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) covers the allowances. ## Which levels your plan reaches | Plan | Levels | Default | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | Low | Low | | Student | Low, Medium and High | Medium | | Standard | Low, Medium and High | Medium | | Professional | Low, Medium, High, Ultra and Max | Medium | | Enterprise | Low, Medium, High, Ultra and Max | Ultra | ## Why this is a mode rather than a setting A read-only mode is not given the tools that change a document. It cannot modify your file even if you tell it to, and no permission setting relaxes that. So Ask, Plan, Debug and Imagine can be pointed at a released part, at a file someone else has checked out, or at an assembly you are not cleared to edit. On this page - [The six modes](#modes) - [Where the picker is](#picker) - [What unlocks each mode](#entitlements) - [Two things that override the mode you picked](#routing) - [How a turn moves between modes](#handoffs) - [Levels are not modes](#levels) - [Which levels your plan reaches](#levels-by-plan) - [Why this is a mode rather than a setting](#why-modes) --- # Ask Mode: questions about the open model URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Ask Mode Read-only, on every plan including Free. It answers questions about the open document and changes none of it. ## What it reads from your document Every prompt carries a snapshot of the open document, so the answer is about your file rather than about SOLIDWORKS in general. - The document itself: name, type, path, active configuration, configuration count and units. - Where you are: whether you are inside a sketch, the feature count, any rollback, and the current selection. - Up to 12 features that are in error or warning. - For a part or an assembly, a digest of up to 60 features, up to 16 custom properties, and a geometry block of bounding box, mass, volume, material and body count. - An assembly summary, and on request the full bill of materials with material and mass per part. On top of that, the open document is indexed once when you open it: metadata plus up to 400 feature-tree nodes, with the 6 closest matches appended to each prompt. Indexing is skipped for assemblies, for drawings, and for parts over 1,500 features, and is off entirely on zero-retention and encrypted accounts. See [data handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/). ## What it can answer - Geometry and dimensions: sizes, distances, wall thicknesses, the bounding box, a measured distance between two things you select. - The feature tree: what each feature does, what depends on what, what a change would break. - Materials and mass properties, including the effect of a substitution you have not made. - Assemblies: the parts list with material and mass per part, how components are mated, what is grounded, and interference between components with the clash volume for each pair. - Sketches: why one is over-defined, which relations dangle, whether a profile will close. - Anything on the live web: material properties, process and machining data, standards, component pricing. A cost or manufacturability question is answered as reasoning in prose over your document plus that web search. There is no manufacturability score and no cost model behind it, so read it as an engineer’s opinion with its basis shown, not a quote. ## Worked examples None of these change anything. **What is this part, what is it for, and what is the overall envelope?** Names the object from the feature names, custom properties, material and proportions, then gives the bounding box. It opens with what the thing is rather than an inventory of the tree. **If I switch this from 6061 to 316 stainless, what happens to the mass?** Reads the current material and mass properties and reports the new mass. The material on your part is untouched. **Which components interfere, and by how much?** Runs the interference check across the assembly and lists each clashing pair with its volume. **Why is Cut-Extrude7 failing, and what depends on it?** Reads the failing feature, its parent sketch and everything built on it, quotes the specific error, and names what would break if you deleted it. ## The Run in Agent handoff When an answer ends in an offer to do specific work, a **Run in Agent** button appears under it. Clicking it switches the composer to Agent Mode and re-sends **your original words**, not the answer text. Attachments that can be re-sent go with it. The button is deliberately narrow. It does not appear when Ask is only answering, explaining, measuring, comparing or recommending; when it needs a selection or a dimension you have not given; or when what you asked for is not supported. A button with nothing to run is treated as a defect, not a convenience. It fires once. A second click on an offer you already took does nothing, and reopening an old chat does not re-arm it. ## What it cannot do - Change anything. No feature, no dimension, no mate, no property, no material, no file. - Write or run a macro. The VBA tool is never handed to a read-only mode, and Ask will not paste executable VBA into the transcript. - Force a rebuild. It reads the document as it stands. [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) is the read-only mode that rebuilds. - Claim a change was applied. Ask is held to "I can" and "this is ready to apply in Agent Mode" wording. Ask a mutating question in Ask and the turn stops before any tool runs: "That would change your model. Switch to Agent mode to build or edit it." Ask runs at Low level on Free, the only level that plan carries. Paid plans reach Low, Medium, High, Ultra and Max, and Enterprise adds Ultra. See [levels](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/#levels). ## Where to go next - You know what you want changed: [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/). - You want the steps written down before anything runs: [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/). - The part is broken and you want the cause: [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/), or [SOLIDWORKS errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/). - The answer was wrong or vague: [writing prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) covers the grammar that resolves. On this page - [What it reads from your document](#what-it-reads) - [What it can answer](#what-it-answers) - [Worked examples](#examples) - [The Run in Agent handoff](#run-in-agent) - [What it cannot do](#cannot) - [Where to go next](#next) --- # Plan Mode: the build steps before anything runs URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Plan Mode Reads the document, writes the build plan, performs none of it. You approve the plan and Agent runs it. Plan Mode needs any paid plan. On Free it is visible in the menu and disabled. See [what unlocks each mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/#entitlements). ## What it produces One plan, committed as a numbered list of **4 to 10 steps**, every step pending. Each step names the feature, its key dimensions, and the plane or face its sketch goes on, in the units the document is set to. One major feature per step, no tool names, no code. A step reads like `Sketch closed L-profile 80x50 mm legs on Front Plane, extrude 6 mm`, so you can picture it before approving it. Around the plan the answer carries a short summary, feasibility notes, any blocker, and a line telling you to switch to Agent Mode to execute it. Before planning a change to a feature that already exists, Plan traces what is built on that feature and names the affected children in the plan. ## What it reads first Document metadata and the full feature tree on every turn. Beyond that it probes only what the plan needs: mass properties, the details of a named feature, the parent sketch when feasibility turns on it, the component and mate lists for an assembly, and a screenshot only when the layout judgment cannot be made from the tree. All of those reads are read-only. Plan is never given a tool that changes a document. ## Worked examples **Plan a mounting bracket for this motor: 4 mm plate, four M6 clearance holes on the bolt pattern, 20 mm standoff.** Reads the motor face and its hole pattern, then commits steps for the base sketch and extrude, the standoff, the hole set on the measured pattern, and the edge breaks, with the dimensions written into each step. **Plan how to add a cooling fin array to this housing without breaking the existing draft.** Traces what is built on the draft feature, names the children the fins would affect, and orders the plan so the fins land before the dress-up rather than after it. **Plan the repair for the failed loft in this part.** A repair plan, not a diagnosis. Plan stays in Plan Mode and writes the steps to fix it. If you want to know why it failed, that is Debug Mode. **Plan the assembly for this gearbox from the parts in the folder.** One step per component insert and per real joint, with the mate type named. It stops and says so if a component it needs is not resolvable rather than inventing one. ## Approving the plan The plan arrives in a card with two buttons, **Build this** and **Deny**. **Build this** switches the composer to Agent Mode and sends a new turn carrying the plan and the original request that produced it. Because you already approved the plan, that Agent turn does not stop for a second approval prompt. **Deny** marks the plan denied and leaves it in the transcript. Nothing runs. You can edit the request and plan again. While the Agent turn runs, a bar above the composer shows the current step and the count, for example `3/7`, and expands to the full step list. ## What it cannot do - Edit anything. Plan never receives a mutating tool or the VBA tool. - Run its own plan. Only the Build this button, or switching to Agent yourself, executes it. - Diagnose. "What is wrong with this part" belongs in [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/); Plan answers "what would you do about it". - Invent around a gap. If the request is infeasible, or needs a selection you have not made, it says exactly that instead of writing a plan that cannot run. ## Where to go next - The plan looks right: press Build this, or read [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) first for what it can and cannot change. - The plan is close but wrong in one step: rewrite the request with the correction. [Writing prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) covers naming the reference precisely. - You are not sure what to build yet: [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) proposes options before you commit to one. On this page - [What it produces](#what-it-produces) - [What it reads first](#what-it-reads) - [Worked examples](#examples) - [Approving the plan](#approve) - [What it cannot do](#cannot) - [Where to go next](#next) --- # Agent Mode: editing the model by instruction URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Agent Mode The mode that changes geometry. Every operation lands in the feature tree as an ordinary SOLIDWORKS feature. Agent Mode needs any paid plan. It changes your open document, so work on a saved file and read [what revert actually undoes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/#revert) before a long run. ## How the change is made CADABRA calls the SOLIDWORKS API directly for **native operations**. An extrude it creates is the same extrude you would have created: a normal feature, editable, suppressible, deletable, with normal parents and children. It works in rounds. Independent calls go out together, and it waits only when the next call needs a result from the previous one. A failed operation skips the rest of that round rather than building on a broken state. ## The native operations | Group | Operations | | --- | --- | | Sketching | 2D sketch on a plane or a face, 3D sketch, set and add dimensions, sketch fillet and chamfer, offset entities, convert entities, mirror entities, trim in any Trim mode, trim to corner, extend, split, move, copy, rotate, scale, stretch, add a relation, fully define. 20 operations. | | Features | Boss extrude, cut extrude, revolve boss, revolve cut, sweep, swept cut, loft, lofted cut, rib, shell, draft, helix, fillet, chamfer, edit fillet, edit fillet in batch, edit chamfer, edit extrude, set a feature dimension, combine bodies, scale part, edit sheet metal bends. | | Holes and fasteners | Hole Wizard, edit a Hole Wizard hole, set a hole diameter, edit holes in batch, bolt circle, insert a fastener. | | Patterns and mirrors | Linear pattern, circular pattern, mirror a feature, suppress a pattern instance. | | Feature tree | Rename, rename in batch, suppress, unsuppress, delete, reorder, revert the last step, revert the build. | | Reference geometry | Reference plane, reference axis. | | Assemblies | Insert a component, replace a component, add a mate, edit a mate, delete a mate, suppress, unsuppress, fix, float, move or rotate, delete and mirror components. | | Properties and configurations | Set material, set appearance, set a custom property, set an equation, manage configurations, configure variants. | | Output | Save or export, save bodies to parts. | ## When it falls back to VBA Only when no native operation matches the request. The native tool is always preferred, and generating a macro to do something a native operation already does is treated as a defect. The VBA tool is handed to Agent Mode and Drawings Mode alone. No read-only mode ever receives it, which is why Ask, Plan, Debug and Imagine cannot change a document even by writing code. A VBA step that completes without adding a feature, an in-place edit for example, is recorded as not undoable by revert. See below. ## The approval step The control is **Approval preference**, in the task pane Settings. It is stored per machine, not on your account, so a second workstation starts at the default again. - **Always ask.** "Approve every change to your SolidWorks model before it runs." - **Ask for large tasks**, the default. "Review the plan once before the agent changes your SolidWorks model. Small reads run freely." - **Never ask.** "Let the agent change your SolidWorks model without asking." On either of the first two, an Agent turn runs a read-only planning pass first and then stops with the steps and an **Approve** or **Deny** prompt. Nothing in your document has been touched at that point. Only Approve continues the turn. In Agent Mode the two asking tiers behave the same way; the difference between them shows up in [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/), which Always ask blocks outright. A turn that arrives already approved skips the prompt: an approved plan from [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/), and a concept you picked in [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/). The dashboard carries a separate preference, "Apply Agent changes without review". The panel setting on the machine you are working at is what gates the turn. See [preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/). ## What revert actually undoes **CADABRA does not group a run into one SOLIDWORKS undo record.** Revert is a feature-tree diff. Revert is an Agent Mode request, not a button. There is no revert control in the panel. In Agent Mode, send `revert the last step` for one step, or `undo everything you just built` for the whole build. - One step back deletes the feature the last step added. - Reverting the build deletes every feature the run created, in reverse creation order so dependents go before their parents, absorbed sketches included, then rebuilds. The reply reads "The model is back to its state at the start of this run." The record is dropped when the next prompt starts, so revert reaches this run and no further. - The result names three lists: what was reverted, what could not be deleted, and what was **not undoable**. - In-place edits are in that last list and stay applied: a changed dimension, a changed material, an edited fillet radius. So are deletes, which revert cannot bring back. - A feature it could not delete, usually because a PropertyManager page is open or an external reference holds it, is named so you can delete it yourself. Ordinary SOLIDWORKS undo still exists and is not what CADABRA uses. After a run it is unreliable anyway, because of the rebuilds and selection changes in between. There is no file checkpoint and no save-and-reopen safety net. Save before a large run. ## Export is an Agent Mode request There is no export button. You ask for it, in Agent Mode, and only when you ask: nothing is exported as a side effect of a build or a drawing. Give an absolute path. The extension picks the format. - PDF, STEP, IGES, Parasolid, STL and 3MF. - Native saves to `.sldprt` and `.sldasm`, and saving bodies out as separate parts. - DXF and DWG from a sheet metal flat pattern only, never from an assembly. Overwriting a file that already exists needs an explicit instruction. **A drawing on screen never reaches the export tool.** With a drawing active every prompt routes into Drawings Mode, which carries no export tool, so there is no chat route to a drawing PDF. To get a PDF of the sheet, open the generated `.SLDDRW` and use SOLIDWORKS File, then Save As, and choose PDF. Exporting the part or the assembly instead gives you a view of the model, not the dimensioned sheet. Exporting, said the way the tool reads it. ``` export this as a PDF to C:\Projects\Bracket\bracket.pdf save a STEP of this assembly to C:\Projects\Gearbox\gearbox.step flatten the sheet metal part and save the DXF to C:\Projects\Panel\panel.dxf ``` ## Worked examples **Change every fillet under 3 mm on this part to 2 mm.** Edits the matching fillets in one batched operation rather than one at a time, and reports which features it touched. **Add four M8 clearance holes on a 90 mm bolt circle centered on the top face.** Sketches on the named face, places the bolt circle at the measured center, and runs Hole Wizard at the M8 clearance size. **Insert the bearing from this folder at both ends of the shaft and mate them concentric and coincident.** Inserts each instance, then adds the real joints as mates. It asks rather than guessing if the reference face is ambiguous. **Break every external edge at 0.5 mm.** Sweeps the whole family in one call using an edge selector, so edges created by later features in the same run are included rather than left sharp. ## How it decides to build **It builds assemblies as assemblies.** Anything that is not one machined, molded or fabricated piece is treated as several parts: anything with a fastener, a bearing, a moving joint, a seal, or two different materials. It builds each part in its own document and mates them. A build that ends as one part carrying several bodies has not delivered a multi-part design, and it says so plainly rather than calling it done. **It builds to the numbers you gave.** When your own dimensions cannot all hold, it builds exactly what you specified, measures the result, and reports the conflict with the measured value. It does not quietly add geometry to make a contradictory spec pass. ## What it does not do - Surfacing, weldments, simulation, CAM and rendering. - Produce an opposite-hand part. Mirroring a component mirrors where it sits, not which way round it is, so it is a true mirror only for a part already symmetric about that plane. - Export an open drawing sheet. See above. If the reference is ambiguous, a dimension is missing, or two constraints conflict, it says so and asks rather than picking for you. Treat a batch across a part family the way you would treat any bulk operation: run it on one part, check the result in the tree, then run the family. On this page - [How the change is made](#how-it-changes-things) - [The native operations](#coverage) - [When it falls back to VBA](#vba) - [The approval step](#approval) - [What revert actually undoes](#revert) - [Export is an Agent Mode request](#export) - [Worked examples](#examples) - [How it decides to build](#how-it-builds) - [What it does not do](#not-covered) --- # Drawings Mode: generating production drawings URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Drawings Mode Turns a part or an assembly into a drawing on your own standard, and saves exactly one file: a native SLDDRW next to the model. Drawings Mode is on the [Enterprise plan](https://cadabrai.com/pricing/#enterprise), because it depends on your title blocks and drawing rules being learned first. Free, Student, Standard and Professional do not carry it. ## What comes out One file. A native `.SLDDRW`, written into the model’s own folder. - Views chosen from the geometry: front, back, top, bottom, left, right and isometric model views, projected views, section views, detail views, auxiliary views, and the flat pattern on a sheet metal part. - Dimensions imported from the ones marked for drawing in the model, solved into lanes rather than stacked on top of each other. Overall envelope dimensions are added outright. - Hole callouts, center marks and centerlines. - For an assembly, the BOM built from the assembly structure and ballooned to match its item numbers. - Your title block, filled from the model’s custom properties, on a sheet size and scale chosen from the geometry. If nothing in the part is marked for drawing, the sheet comes back with the views and the title block and almost no dimensions. Mark dimensions once in the part and every later drawing of it comes out complete. A part, and the drawing generated from it. ``` C:\Projects\Bracket\Bracket.SLDPRT C:\Projects\Bracket\Bracket.SLDDRW ``` **Drawings Mode does not export PDF.** No PDF, no DXF, no DWG, no image. Exporting a model is a separate [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/#export) request. With a drawing active every prompt routes here, and this mode carries no export tool, so there is no chat route to a drawing PDF: open the saved `.SLDDRW` and use SOLIDWORKS File, then Save As, and choose PDF. ## Always ask blocks Drawings entirely Drawing generation and drawing editing have **no approval step**. There is no plan pass to approve, so an approval preference that demands approval for every change has nothing to approve and refuses instead. With **Always ask** set, the turn is refused and nothing is created: "Your permission setting requires you to approve every change, and drawing generation has no approval step yet". The refusal names the setting and tells you to change it and send again. **Ask for large tasks**, the default, and **Never ask** both run Drawings normally. The setting is Approval preference in the task pane Settings, per machine. See [Agent Mode approvals](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/#approval). ## A drawing on screen routes every prompt here If a drawing is the active SOLIDWORKS document, every prompt goes through Drawings Mode whatever the mode pill says. - From Agent or Drawings the turn can edit the sheet. - From Ask, Plan, Debug or Imagine the turn is review only, and the sheet is not touched. - Without Drawings access it is refused: "Drawing review and editing require Drawings access." ## What you can ask it for - **Generate** one drawing for the open or attached part or assembly. - **Generate a batch**: the assembly drawing plus a drawing for each of its parts. - **Generate from a folder**: point it at a folder path, or name two or more `.SLDPRT` or `.SLDASM` files. - **Plan only**, when you want to see the layout decisions before anything is created. - **Modify** an existing drawing: move, remove or rescale views, edit notes, dimensions and the title block. - **Review**, a read-only critique of an existing sheet. An explicit change request wins: "review it and fix the overlapping dimensions" is a modify. - **Learn** your company standard from reference drawings. See [drawing standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/). - **Reconstruct** the 3D model a drawing describes. The drawing is left untouched. See [drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/). ## Worked examples **Make a drawing of this part.** Plans the sheet from the geometry and your standard, creates it, and saves `.SLDDRW` in the model’s folder. **Draw this assembly and every part in it.** Walks the structure and produces the assembly drawing plus one sheet per part. If any of them already has a drawing, the run stops first and asks whether to overwrite all of them or generate only the missing ones. **Move the section view down and delete the duplicate 40 mm dimension.** Edits the open sheet in place. The 40 mm dimension is removed from the drawing; the dimension in the model is untouched. **Review this drawing against our standard.** A read-only critique. Nothing on the sheet changes. ## Running it across an assembly Ask for a drawing of an assembly without saying whether the parts are included and it asks once, with exactly this question: "Should I draw just the assembly, the assembly plus every part, or only specific parts?" Answer once and it does not ask again in that thread. **If any model in the batch already has a drawing, nothing is generated yet.** The run stops before it creates anything and asks once: "3 of 12 models already have a drawing. Overwrite all of them, or generate only the ones that don’t have one yet?", with the buttons **Overwrite** and **Keep existing**. **Overwrite** regenerates every one of them. **Keep existing** generates only the models with no drawing yet, and the summary marks the rest as already existing. Saying "overwrite" or "keep existing" in the request itself answers the question up front. On a single regenerate the prompt reads "A drawing named Bracket.SLDDRW already exists. Overwrite it, or keep the existing one?", with the same two buttons. Run a small assembly first so you can check the conventions before a large batch. ## Undo inside a drawing Drawing edits use native SOLIDWORKS undo, unlike [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/#revert). It reliably reverses a **delete**: a note or a display dimension you removed comes back. A move is not reversed by undo. Move it back. ## Configure standards first Set up [drawing standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) before a batch. With no learned standard, drawings fall back to ASME defaults: third-angle projection on the CADABRA template. Units and precision from Settings are not applied to a Drawings turn. The learned standard decides those. On this page - [What comes out](#what-it-produces) - [Always ask blocks Drawings entirely](#approvals) - [A drawing on screen routes every prompt here](#routing) - [What you can ask it for](#what-you-can-ask) - [Worked examples](#examples) - [Running it across an assembly](#batch) - [Undo inside a drawing](#undo) - [Configure standards first](#standards-first) --- # Debug Mode: why the model is failing URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Debug Mode The only read-only mode that forces a rebuild. It reports the cause and the smallest safe repair, and changes nothing. Debug Mode needs any paid plan. See [what unlocks each mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/#entitlements). ## What it does on every turn 1. Reads the document Type, units, title and active configuration, so the report is anchored to the file you are actually looking at. 2. Walks the feature tree The whole FeatureManager design tree, not a sample of it. 3. Forces a rebuild and collects diagnostics Feature warnings on a part, and component warnings as well on an assembly. This is the one action a read-only mode takes that you will see happen in the SOLIDWORKS window. 4. Checks external references Broken and missing references are reported by name. ## What it does with what it found Where the diagnostics or the tree show a warning, it opens the affected feature and quotes the specific code or message rather than describing it. On a sketch or profile problem it reads the parent sketch. On an assembly it validates the mates, finds the mates on any component carrying a warning, and runs an interference or distance check when clearance is the suspected fault. It separates confirmed facts from hypotheses. ## The shape of the answer Every Debug reply comes back as a health report under five fixed headings, in this order: 1. **Document.** What was inspected. 2. **Feature health.** The failing and warning features, with the quoted diagnostics. 3. **External references.** Broken, missing, or clean. 4. **Root cause.** The symptom, the affected feature, the cause, and the blast radius. 5. **Recommended next steps.** The smallest safe repair. The recommended step points you to Agent Mode only when a fix is genuinely needed. ## Worked examples **Why does this part rebuild with errors?** Rebuilds, collects the diagnostics, and reports each failing feature with its quoted message, the cause, and what depends on it. **What broke in this assembly after the last change?** Rebuilds, reads the component warnings, validates the mates, and names the components and mates carrying the failure. **This sketch will not close. What is wrong with it?** Reads the parent sketch and reports the specific relation, gap or over-definition, not a general list of reasons sketches fail. **Are any references in this part broken?** The external reference check on its own, naming each broken or missing reference. ## What it cannot do - Fix anything. Debug never receives a mutating tool or the VBA tool. - Change geometry, features, mates or properties. The forced rebuild is the only thing it does to the document, and it adds and removes nothing. - Write the repair plan. That is [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/), which will produce a repair plan when you ask for one. ## Where to go next - You have the cause and want it fixed now: [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/). - You want the repair written down and approved first: [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/). - The error is a SOLIDWORKS one you have seen before: [SOLIDWORKS errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/). - CADABRA itself is the problem, not the model: [CADABRA issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/). On this page - [What it does on every turn](#what-it-does) - [What it does with what it found](#then) - [The shape of the answer](#report) - [Worked examples](#examples) - [What it cannot do](#cannot) - [Where to go next](#next) --- # Imagine Mode: rendered concepts before you commit URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Imagine Mode Up to four rendered concepts for an open-ended request. Nothing is modeled until you pick one. Imagine Mode runs on every plan, including Free. Building the concept you pick hands it to Agent Mode, which needs a paid plan. See [what unlocks each mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/#entitlements). ## What it produces A set of up to **4 concept cards**, generated together. The panel shows the four cells while it works, under the progress line "Generating design concepts…". Each card carries a rendered image, a title, and four fields you can open under **Details**: **What it is**, **Key specs**, **Why it fits**, and **How it’s built**. Under the set are two actions: **Pick one to model it** and **Refine my request**. If a render fails to come back, that card still arrives, marked render unavailable. The concept itself is unaffected. ## When you get concepts and when you get an answer Imagine does not turn every message into concepts. The rule is fixed, and it decides what your next turn costs. - A message containing any of design, build, model, make, create, generate, concept, idea, option, variant, version, sketch, propose, brainstorm, show me, come up with, lay out or mock up **always** produces concepts. - Otherwise a message that ends in a question mark, or opens with what, who, why, when, where, which, how, is, are, was, were, do, does, did, should, would, explain, tell me or define, is answered as a question instead. So "design a bracket for this motor" gives you four concepts, and "what would you use for this bracket?" gives you an answer. ## Worked examples **Design a wall mount for this enclosure that survives a 4 g shock load.** Four concepts with different load paths, each with its key specs and a build strategy, each rendered. **Show me three options for the handle on this housing.** Concepts, because "show me" is one of the design words. A named count between 2 and 4 is honored, so this returns three. Anything outside that range is clamped into it. **What are my options for fastening these two plates?** A written answer, not concepts. It ends in a question mark and carries no design word. **Come up with a lighter version of this bracket.** Concepts built against the open document, so the envelope and interfaces of the existing part are the brief. ## Picking a concept Picking one rewrites the turn to Agent Mode and builds it. What goes across is your original brief, the concept’s title, summary and key specs, and the render itself as an attached image. **That build starts without an approval prompt**, whatever your Approval preference says, because picking the concept was the approval. If you want the steps first, ask for the same thing in [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) instead. **Refine my request** dismisses the set. The reply asks for what would sharpen it, loads, envelope, interfaces and materials, or offers to build a design you describe yourself. A set does not wait forever. After 30 minutes the pending selection is dropped, and clicking a card then answers "These concepts are no longer available" and asks you to send the brief again. ## What it cannot do - Change anything on its own. Imagine is read-only until you pick a card, and then it is Agent Mode that builds. - Propose concepts mid-build. Concepts are for the start of an open-ended request, not for a run already underway. - Propose again in the same request. Once a concept is picked, that turn builds it rather than offering a fresh set. - Run against a drawing. With a drawing as the active document the turn routes to [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) instead. Concepts draw down credits like any other turn, and the quota is checked before the set is generated. ## Where to go next - You picked one and want to know what happens next: [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/). - You want the build steps before anything runs: [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/). - You have a sketch or a photo of the idea instead: [attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/). On this page - [What it produces](#what-it-produces) - [When you get concepts and when you get an answer](#when-it-proposes) - [Worked examples](#examples) - [Picking a concept](#picking) - [What it cannot do](#cannot) - [Where to go next](#next) --- # Prompts, CADABRA documentation URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Prompts An instruction resolves when it carries an operation, a reference, and a number. ## In this section - [Writing Prompts Operation, reference, number. Drop one and it fails.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library Copyable prompts by mode, with what each produces.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments Accepted types, size limits, and what happens to an image.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD A print rebuilt as a feature tree, for an engineer to check.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ## Where to start Read the grammar once, then keep the library open while you work. On this page - [In this section](#pages) - [Where to start](#start-here) --- # Writing a prompt that resolves URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Writing a prompt that resolves Operation, reference, number. Drop one and the instruction has nothing to resolve against. ## The rule An instruction resolves when it contains three things: - **The operation.** Fillet, cut, pattern, shell, export, generate. Not "improve" or "clean up". - **The reference.** Which face, which feature, which holes, which components. A live selection in SOLIDWORKS counts as a reference. - **The number.** The dimension, count, spacing, or angle. "Bigger" is not a number. A fourth thing sits outside the sentence: the mode. [Only Agent and Drawings can change the model](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/), so a perfectly written edit sent from Ask Mode comes back as `That would change your model. Switch to Agent mode to build or edit it.` ## Rewriting an instruction that does not resolve **Make it lighter → Shell the part to 2.5 mm, keeping the mounting bosses solid** The first has no operation and no reference. The second names the operation, the wall, and the exception. **Fix the corners → Add a 1 mm fillet to every edge under 2 mm radius on the top face** The first has no selection rule. The second gives a rule that resolves to a specific edge set, and lands as one fillet feature rather than one per edge. **Make the holes bigger → Change the four Ø6 through holes on the flange to Ø8 and keep the counterbores concentric** The first is ambiguous about which holes and by how much. The second states count, current size, new size, and the downstream rule. **Add some ribs → Add 3 mm ribs from the central boss to the outer wall, patterned 8 times about the axis** The second gives the rib thickness, where it runs, and the pattern count. **Tidy the drawing → Dimension the bore and add a section view through it on sheet 1** The second names two operations and what each acts on. Both are Drawings Mode work. **Send me a PDF → Export this part as a PDF to C:\Users\you\Documents\bracket.pdf** The second names the format and an absolute path. A relative path, a `..` segment, or a bare drive root is refused. See [getting a file out](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/#exporting). **It broke → Rebuild and tell me why Cut-Extrude3 is failing** The second is a Debug Mode request. Debug reads the metadata and the feature list, forces a rebuild with diagnostics, and checks external references before it answers. ## Referring to things reliably The most reliable reference is a live selection. Select the face, edge or feature in SOLIDWORKS and say "this face". The current selection is read on every prompt, so nothing else has to identify it. The second most reliable is a name that exists in the feature tree, spelled the way the tree spells it: `Cut-Extrude3`, not "the slot cut". Every prompt also carries the document name, type, path, active configuration, configuration count and units, whether you are in a sketch, the feature count, any rollback, an assembly summary, and up to 12 features currently in error or warning. Parts and assemblies add a digest of up to 60 features, up to 16 custom properties, and a geometry block of bounding box, mass, volume, material and body count. [How a prompt is answered](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) covers the rest. A description like "the big hole" resolves when there is exactly one candidate and fails when there are three. When you are not sure, ask first: `which features could you mean by the mounting holes`. ## Units, precision, and standing instructions **Units and precision**, Millimeters or Inches and 0 to 4 decimal places, reaches the model as an instruction on every turn. It does not change the SOLIDWORKS document unit setting, and it is not applied to Drawings Mode turns, which follow the learned drawing standard instead. It is one account value with two front ends: the task pane Settings and the dashboard [preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) write the same setting, so changing it in either place changes it on every machine you sign in on. State the unit in the prompt anyway. `3 mm` cannot be misread; `3` can. Anything you would otherwise repeat every turn belongs in **Modeling standards**, one free-text field of up to 60,000 characters that is prepended to your requests. It is cached for five minutes, so an edit made on another machine can take that long to take effect. [Modeling rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) covers what to put in it. ## Match the verb to the mode The mode picker is a pill in the composer. There is no keyboard shortcut and no mode setting in Settings, and the mode you used last is remembered per machine. - **Ask** answers and cannot edit. When the answer implies a change it offers a **Run in Agent** button on the reply. - **Plan** writes a plan of 4 to 10 steps and performs none of it. The plan carries a **Build this** button that switches the composer to Agent and runs it. - **Agent** performs the change, and is the only mode that writes an exported file. - **Drawings** generates and edits drawings, and rebuilds a print as a part. If a drawing is the active document, every prompt routes here whatever mode is selected. - **Debug** forces a rebuild before answering and never edits. - **Imagine** proposes concepts; **Pick one to model it** rewrites the turn into Agent Mode and builds it. Sending in a mode your plan does not carry never reaches the service. The transcript answers ` mode isn’t available on your current plan.` with an upgrade link. [Plans and limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) lists which plan carries which. ## Keep one instruction to one outcome Chain unrelated requests instead, and check the model between them. A long turn also re-checks your credit allowance before each model call, so a run that outlives the allowance stops part way. The exception is a deliberate batch. "Drawings for every part in this assembly" is one outcome expressed once. When you are unsure the instruction will resolve the way you read it, send it in [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) first. The plan names the features it intends to touch before anything is touched. Prompts that did resolve, grouped by mode, are in the [prompt library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/). What you can send alongside one is in [attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/). On this page - [The rule](#the-rule) - [Rewriting an instruction that does not resolve](#rewrites) - [Referring to things reliably](#reference-tips) - [Units, precision, and standing instructions](#units) - [Match the verb to the mode](#mode) - [Keep one instruction to one outcome](#scope) --- # Prompt library: worked examples by mode URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Prompt library Adapt the numbers and the references. Each group names the mode it needs. ## Questions, in Ask Mode Read-only, on every plan. **What does this part weigh in 6061, and what is its bounding box?** Reads mass properties and the bounding box off the open document and answers with the numbers. **What does Cut-Extrude3 do, and what breaks if I delete it?** Reads the feature, its parents and its children, and names what depends on it. **Which components in this assembly are suppressed?** Reads the assembly structure and lists them. **What is going to make this part expensive to machine?** Prose reasoning over what it can read of the open document, plus live web search, with the sources listed under the answer. **What would switching to 6061 change?** Recomputes mass from the geometry it can read, and reasons in prose about the rest. There is no design-for-manufacture feature, no manufacturability score, no cost model and no price data in CADABRA. A manufacturing or cost question is answered by the assistant reasoning over the open document and searching the web. Read it as an engineer's opinion with its sources attached, not as a quote, a score, or a checked result. ## Before a change, in Plan Mode Read-only, on any paid plan. **Plan the change from a bolted flange to a welded boss on this part** One plan of 4 to 10 steps naming the features it would add, edit and delete. Nothing is touched. **How would you convert this part to sheet metal?** A plan, plus the boundaries it hits. Sheet metal bend edits are supported on an existing sheet-metal part; a base flange is not. **Plan the mates for this sub-assembly, then build it** The plan first. Use the Build this button on the plan to hand it to Agent Mode unchanged. ## Editing geometry, in Agent Mode Changes the model, on any paid plan. **Make the wall 3 mm thicker** Finds the driving dimension or the shell feature, changes it, and rebuilds everything downstream. **Add a 6 mm counterbored hole pattern on a 40 mm bolt circle** A Hole Wizard feature on your configured standard, plus the circular pattern that places it. **Fillet all sharp edges on this face at 2 mm** One fillet feature covering the qualifying edge set, not one per edge. **Pattern this rib eight times around the axis** A circular pattern from the selected feature and the axis you named. **Change the material to 6061-T6 and report the new mass** Applies the library material and returns the recomputed mass properties. **Rename every feature in this tree to what it actually does** A batch rename across the tree in one operation. **Apply this same edit to every configuration in the part** The edit repeated across the configuration list rather than the active one only. ## Components and mates, in Agent Mode Assemblies only. **Add M6 socket head cap screws to these four holes** Sizes the fastener to the hole, sources it from Toolbox, inserts it and mates it concentric and coincident. **Use the screw at this path instead of Toolbox** Pins the fastener source to the company part you named rather than letting it choose. **Insert this component and mirror it across the right plane** Inserts the part, then adds a Mirror Components feature across that plane. It mirrors where the component sits, not which way round it is, so it is a true mirror only for a part already symmetric about that plane. **Add a limit distance mate between these two faces, 5 mm to 30 mm** A distance mate carrying the range. Cam, gear, rack and pinion, width, slot, path, screw, universal and hinge mates are not supported. ## Undoing a change, in Agent Mode Reverting is a request you type, not a button. CADABRA does not group a run into one SOLIDWORKS undo record, so ask for the revert rather than pressing Ctrl+Z. **Revert the last step** Deletes the most recently created feature and returns the tree to the state before that step. The sketch an extrude consumed is its own earlier step, so ask again to peel that too. Parts only: in an assembly, name the feature, mate or component to delete. **Revert the build** Deletes every feature the run created, back to the model’s state at the start of that run. In-place changes, a dimension set, a material applied, a fillet edited, and anything deleted are not undone, and the reply lists them by name. There is no file checkpoint and no save-and-reopen safety net. Ordinary SOLIDWORKS undo still exists, but it is not what revert uses, and the rebuilds and selection changes in a run make it unreliable afterwards. In Drawings Mode, undoing a drawing edit does use native undo, and reverses a delete reliably; a move has to be moved back. ## Getting a file out, in Agent Mode The route from chat to a file on disk. **Export this part as a PDF to C:\Users\you\Documents\bracket.pdf** Writes the file, verifies it exists on disk, and reports the path it wrote. **Save this as a STEP file at D:\projects\housing\housing.step** A STEP export. Naming AP203, AP214 or AP242 is recorded and comes back as a warning: the application protocol cannot be set through this route. **Export the flat pattern to C:\Users\you\Documents\panel.dxf** DXF and DWG come from a real sheet-metal flat pattern on a part. A part with no sheet-metal feature is refused rather than projected flat, and an assembly is refused outright. **Save a copy as C:\Users\you\Documents\bracket-rev-b.sldprt** Writes the copy and leaves the open document pointed at its original file. Without "a copy", a native save repoints the open document at the new file and every later edit goes there. **Replace the existing file at C:\Users\you\Documents\bracket.pdf** An existing file is never overwritten unless the instruction says to replace it. The shape of an export request. The extension picks the format. ``` export this as a to .pdf PDF .step .stp STEP .igs .iges IGES .x_t .x_b Parasolid .stl STL .3mf 3MF .dxf .dwg sheet metal flat pattern, part only .sldprt .sldasm native save ``` The path must be absolute and include the file name. A relative path, a `..` segment, a bare drive root, and anywhere owned by Windows or by another account are all refused, and nothing is written. Generating a drawing writes exactly one file, a native `.SLDDRW` in the model's own folder, and no PDF alongside it. There is no chat route to a PDF of that sheet: while a drawing is the active document every prompt is routed into Drawings Mode, which carries no export tool, so the Agent request never runs. Open the generated `.SLDDRW` and use SOLIDWORKS File, then Save As, and choose PDF. Exporting the part or the assembly instead gives you a view of the model, not the dimensioned sheet. ## Drawings and BOMs, in Drawings Mode Changes the model and writes files. Enterprise today. **Make a drawing of this part on our B-size title block** New sheet, views placed and scaled, features dimensioned, title block filled from the model properties, on your learned standard. **Add an isometric and a section through the bore** Places the isometric and cuts the section on the plane through the feature you named, dimensioning what it exposes. **Drawings for every part in this assembly** One sheet per part plus the assembly drawing, each saved next to its model. A model that already has a drawing raises an Overwrite or Keep existing choice. **Insert the BOM and balloon the components** A BOM table from the assembly structure in your column format, with balloons matched to the item numbers. A BOM table is a drawing annotation, so this is Drawings Mode work and never Agent Mode work. **Review this drawing against our standard** A read-only critique of the title block, views, dimensions and standard conformance. It changes nothing unless you also ask for the fix. **Model this drawing as a part** The reverse direction. [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) covers what it reads and what you have to check. ## Diagnosing a failure, in Debug Mode Read-only, on any paid plan. **Why did this feature fail to rebuild?** Reads the document metadata and the feature list, forces a rebuild with diagnostics, checks external references, then names the cause. **This assembly says it has dangling references. Find them.** The external-reference check runs on every Debug turn, so the answer names the components and the missing files. **The sketch will not fully define. What is missing?** Reads the sketch and reports the underconstrained entities and the relations that would define them. It does not add them; that is an Agent Mode request. ## Concepts, in Imagine Mode Read-only until you pick one, on every plan. **Design a wall bracket for a 3 kg camera with a tilt joint** Rendered concepts, each with what it is, key specs, why it fits, and how it is built. Pick one to model it hands that concept to Agent Mode, which builds it. **Give me three enclosure options for this PCB** Three concepts. A count between two and four is honored; outside that range it is clamped, and four is both the default and the maximum. Refine my request drops them and takes another prompt instead. **What is a good wall thickness for an injection-molded ABS housing?** A plain answer. A message phrased as a question is answered rather than turned into concepts; a design word such as design, build, model, concept or option always produces concepts. A prompt that does not resolve is a grammar problem, not a mode problem. [Writing a prompt that resolves](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/#rewrites) has the rewrites. On this page - [Questions, in Ask Mode](#analysis) - [Before a change, in Plan Mode](#plan) - [Editing geometry, in Agent Mode](#editing) - [Components and mates, in Agent Mode](#components) - [Undoing a change, in Agent Mode](#revert) - [Getting a file out, in Agent Mode](#exporting) - [Drawings and BOMs, in Drawings Mode](#drawings) - [Diagnosing a failure, in Debug Mode](#debug) - [Concepts, in Imagine Mode](#imagine) --- # Attachments: what you can send with a prompt URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Attachments Ten files a prompt. Images, PDFs and text are uploaded; CAD files are read from your disk. ## Three ways to attach - The paperclip, left of the prompt box, labeled **Attach files**. - Drag files onto the composer. It highlights while a file is over it. - Paste into the prompt box. Files on the clipboard are staged; a copied image from a screenshot tool lands the same way. Each staged file becomes a chip above the prompt box, with a thumbnail for an image. A file too large to ride inside the message is transferred in chunks first, showing `Uploading …`, and Send stays disabled until that finishes. ## What is accepted | Kind | Extensions | Limit per file | | --- | --- | --- | | Images | PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF, WEBP | 5 MB | | PDF | PDF | 4.5 MB | | Text | TXT, LOG, MD, CSV, HTML, HTM | 4.5 MB | | SOLIDWORKS files | SLDPRT, SLDASM, SLDDRW, PRTDOT, ASMDOT, DRWDOT, SLDDRT | 20 MB | | Exchange files | STEP, STP, IGES, IGS, X_T, X_B, SAT, DXF, DWG | 20 MB | ## The per-prompt limits - 10 files a prompt. The eleventh is refused with `You can attach up to 10 files.` - 20 MB a prompt across images, PDFs and text. Over it, the batch is refused with `Those files are too large to send together.` - CAD and drawing files do not count toward that 20 MB. They are read from the file on your machine rather than uploaded with the message, which is why a 20 MB assembly and a 20 MB set of images can ride the same prompt. - Over the per-file limit the message names the limit: `That file is too large to attach. The limit is 5 MB.` ## What happens to an image before the model reads it Two separate stages shrink an image, and both lose detail. 1. In the panel, anything over 1600 px on the long edge is redrawn to 1600 px and re-encoded, PNG first, then JPEG at falling quality until it is under roughly 900 KB. 2. Before the model reads an image the add-in captured itself, such as a drawing sheet or a model view, anything over 2000 px on the long edge is resampled to 1568 px. On a full-sheet scan of a print, the smallest text goes first: tolerances, note blocks, and title-block fields at 2.5 mm text height. Crop to the region you are asking about, or attach the sheet in halves, rather than sending one 300 dpi page and asking about a dimension in the corner. A PDF is counted in pages against the context left once the turn has reserved its own share. Past that budget the message reads ` is too large for this model's context. One document can be about pages`, and asks you to split it or attach only the pages you need. N is the figure for the model behind your level, 202 on a 1,000,000-token context. ## Word and Excel are refused `.doc`, `.docx`, `.xls` and `.xlsx` are known to the panel and deliberately not deliverable. The picker does not offer them, and a dragged one is refused with `Unsupported file type. This model can read:` followed by the list above. Save the sheet as CSV, or print the document to PDF, or paste the text into the prompt. ## An attachment in Drawings Mode is not just context Drawings Mode classifies what you attach by extension before it does anything else. A `.slddrw` or a `.pdf` is a reference drawing: it is stored against a drawing standard and learning runs on it. A `.sldprt` or `.sldasm` with the same base name is filed as that reference's source model. A `.drwdot` becomes a template and a `.slddrt` a sheet format. That is the right behavior when you are teaching CADABRA your standard, and the wrong behavior when you meant "read this print and build it". For that, attach a **PNG or JPG**, which is treated as a sheet capture and never learned from. [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) has the detail. `.dwg` and `.dxf` are accepted as reference drawings and stored, and nothing is learned from them. [Drawing standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) covers the quotas: 5 standards, 10 reference drawings each, 25 MB a file. On an account under zero-retention handling, an attachment sent with a prompt is not stored, and neither is chat history or the index. One exception you trigger deliberately: a file that becomes part of a drawing standard, a `.slddrw`, `.pdf`, `.dwg`, `.dxf`, source model, template or sheet format attached in Drawings Mode, is uploaded and kept against that standard, zero retention included. [Data handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) has the list. On this page - [Three ways to attach](#adding) - [What is accepted](#types) - [The per-prompt limits](#counts) - [What happens to an image before the model reads it](#images) - [Word and Excel are refused](#rejected) - [An attachment in Drawings Mode is not just context](#in-drawings-mode) --- # Drawing to CAD: rebuilding a 2D print as a part URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Drawing to CAD An assisted rebuild you check, not a conversion. The output is a new unsaved part with a real feature tree, and nothing verifies it against the print except the model measuring its own work. Requires Drawings access, which is Enterprise today. Without it, any prompt against a drawing is answered with `Drawing review and editing require Drawings access.` See [plans and limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/). ## What it is A request, not a button. You ask for the model a drawing describes, and CADABRA reads the sheet, hands what it read to Agent Mode, and builds the solid with the ordinary native operations. The result is a **new, unsaved part** with a real feature tree: sketches, extrudes, cuts, holes, fillets, each editable and each rebuildable. The drawing you started from is left open and untouched. ## The two ways in 1. **The drawing is open in SOLIDWORKS.** Make it the active document and ask. It has to have been saved once, because the read works from the file on disk. 2. **You have a picture of the print.** Attach a PNG or JPG with no drawing open and ask. There is then no API read behind the picture, so every value comes off the image. Phrase it as a build: `model this drawing`, `build this part from the print`, `recreate the part on this sheet`. With neither a drawing active nor a picture attached, the reply is `Open the drawing you want built as a model (make it the active document), or attach a picture of it, then ask again. A drawing that has never been saved has to be saved first.` Ask from Drawings or [Agent](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/). From a read-only mode, Ask, Plan, Debug or Imagine, the reply is `This mode can read the drawing but not build from it. Switch to Agent mode and ask again.` Do not attach the print as a **PDF**. A PDF is classified as a reference drawing, so attaching one starts learning your company drawing standard from it instead of building anything. Export the page to PNG or JPG first and attach that. ## Only the active sheet is captured The sheet image handed to the model is a capture of the active sheet. On a multi-sheet drawing, activate the sheet carrying the part you want built before you ask, and run the sheets one at a time. ## What the read contains Two sources go to the model together. ### The API read of the sheet - Units, sheet scale, projection and the sheet count. - Every view the API returns, with its type, the orientation it looks along, its scale and its label. - Up to 40 dimensions a view, each with its text, its type, and whether it is a hole callout or a reference dimension. Dimensions that name no view are listed separately, as measurements of the same solid. - Up to 30 sheet notes, and the title block fields that carry a value. - Feature control frames, datum tags and surface finishes, each against the view it sits in. ### A PNG of the sheet Attached to the turn as `source-drawing-sheet.png`. It matters because the API read carries values and labels, not geometry: shapes, hole patterns and how the views line up are read from the picture. The read says so to the model in its own words, so a sheet where nothing captured is answered with what could not be confirmed rather than a guess. On the picture-only path there is no API read and no dimension list to check against. The model is told to read every value off the image, quote it as it uses it, and name any figure it cannot make out. ## The build order it follows 1. Reconcile the views The views are projections of one solid. A circle in one view is a hole, a boss or a fillet depending on what the other views show at that position, and a dimension seen once constrains the same feature everywhere. 2. Establish the envelope The overall sizes first, from the dimensions that state them, saying which dimension each figure came from. 3. Base profile, then material removal The base profile and its extrusion or revolution, naming the plane each sketch sits on, then cuts, then holes, then fillets and chamfers. 4. Trace every size Each size has to trace to a dimension, a note, or an inference it states out loud. A size that is genuinely absent is named as absent, with the assumption made in its place. 5. Build into a new part A new document is created and the features are built into it. The drawing document stays open and is not edited. 6. Measure and compare The finished solid is measured and compared against the overall dimensions the drawing states, and the comparison is reported, including anything that does not match. That last step is the only check that exists. Nothing verifies the part against the print. Tolerances, GD&T, surface finishes and material are read and passed as context, and none of them are applied to the part. ## What you check before it goes anywhere - The overall dimensions, against the print rather than against the model's own report of them. - Every hole: position, diameter, and whether it is through or blind. A hole callout that the API could not read is a circle in a picture. - Which side of the part each feature is on, and any feature that appears in one view only. - Everything the answer flagged as inferred or assumed. It says so explicitly; read that part of the reply. - Tolerances, GD&T, finish and material, none of which are applied. - That the tree rebuilds when you change a driving dimension. A part built from a sheet can carry sketches that solved once and will not solve again. ## A DXF or DWG is a different thing A DXF or DWG is imported as a single unfiltered sketch. Every layer lands in that one sketch, border and dimension lines included. It is 2D geometry to build on, not a rebuild: delete what you do not want, then instruct the features from it. The same two formats are also accepted as drawing-standard references, where they are stored and nothing is learned from them. Only `.slddrw` and `.pdf` are learned from. See [drawing standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/). ## Worked prompts **Model this drawing** The whole flow with no steering. The reply states the envelope it concluded, the plane each sketch sits on, and the measured comparison at the end. **Build the part on this sheet, and treat the 40 mm as the overall length** A stated assumption is used and quoted rather than inferred, which is the fix when the first attempt read an ambiguous dimension the wrong way. **Build this from the attached print. It is a turned part, so start from a revolve** Names the base feature. Useful on a picture-only rebuild, where nothing but the image says whether a profile was extruded or revolved. **Which dimensions on this sheet did you not use?** Ask afterwards, in the same chat. The dimensions the read captured are still in context. On this page - [What it is](#what-it-is) - [The two ways in](#entry-paths) - [Only the active sheet is captured](#active-sheet) - [What the read contains](#what-it-reads) - [The build order it follows](#build-order) - [What you check before it goes anywhere](#what-to-check) - [A DXF or DWG is a different thing](#dxf-dwg) - [Worked prompts](#examples) --- # Standards, CADABRA documentation URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Standards Two things you configure and one you do not. Drawing standards are learned from drawings you have already released. Modeling rules are text you write. Components come from the workstation, with nothing to connect. ## In this section - [Drawing Standards Learned from your released drawings.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules Written once, applied on every run.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners Toolbox, your own files, and nothing to connect.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ## Where to start Drawing standards first if you generate sheets. Modeling rules first if you build geometry. On this page - [In this section](#pages) - [Where to start](#start-here) --- # Setting up your drawing standards URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Drawing standards CADABRA reads your conventions out of drawings you have already released. There is no form of settings to fill in. ## Who can set one up, and where Drawing standards need Drawings access, which is Enterprise today. Without it the upload returns "Your plan does not include Drawing Standards." A standard belongs to the person who created it, not to the organization. Each member of an organization sets up their own, and they are not shared across the team. - Dashboard: `/dashboard/standards`. Create, name and switch standards, add files, pick the sheet template, download or delete a file. - Task pane: the person icon at the top right of the panel opens **Settings**, and **Drawing standards** sits between **Modeling standards** and **Updates**. **Manage drawing standards** opens the same lists. The row for the standard drawings are generated from is marked **Active**. Any other standard is switched to with **Use this standard**. ## The limits - **5 standards** per person. A sixth is refused: "You can keep 5 drawing standards. Delete one to add another." - **10 reference drawings** per standard. The eleventh is refused: "A standard can hold 10 reference drawings. Delete one to add another." Source models, templates and sheet formats do not count against it. - **25 MB** a file. Larger files are rejected before they upload. - **2 to 60 characters** for the name. Outside that the dashboard says "Give the standard a name between 2 and 60 characters." ## The 13 file types, and what each one is for The drop zone reads "Drop files here, or choose files", and under it, "SOLIDWORKS, DWG, DXF, STEP and PDF, up to 25MB". | Stored as | Extensions | What happens to it | | --- | --- | --- | | Reference drawing | `.slddrw` `.pdf` `.dwg` `.dxf` | Counts against the limit of 10. Only the first two are read. | | Source model | `.sldprt` `.sldasm` `.step` `.stp` | The geometry a reference drawing was made from. Nothing is learned from it on its own. | | Drawing template | `.drwdot` | Selectable as the sheet template for that standard. | | Sheet format | `.slddrt` | The border and title block a template draws. | | Sheet capture | `.png` `.jpg` `.jpeg` | Written by the panel when it captures a sheet. Stored, and hidden from the file table. | Only `.slddrw` and `.pdf` are learned from. A `.dwg` or `.dxf` is stored against the standard and nothing is read out of it, which the panel states on the file: "Stored, but nothing can be learned from this file type." Upload the native drawing, or a PDF of it, if you want the conventions picked up. ## What learning reads out of a drawing - **Title block fields**, split into the ones filled from model properties, the ones that carry a date, and the ones it could not resolve either way. - **Projection**, first angle or third angle. - **Units** and the dimension policy that goes with them. - **Typography**, the text height and typeface used when dimensions and notes are written. - **Notes**, separated into the standing notes that belong on every drawing and the excluded ones that were specific to that part. - **Scales actually observed**, each with the part type it appeared on and how many references it came from, plus the scale policy inferred from them. - **Layout policy**, view roles, bend notes and feature callout rules, held per part type. A reference that could not be read is kept in the standard as a failed reference with the reason, rather than dropped silently. The panel counts what worked: "Learned from 4 drawings", or "Not learned from a drawing yet". A drawing CADABRA generated cannot teach the standard. Generated sheets are stamped, and learning rejects them: "This is a drawing CADABRA generated, not one of your own. Upload the original hand-made drawing instead." ## What the Standards page tells you A standard shows three counts, **Drawings**, **Models** and **Templates**, and, once a learning run has finished, a line reading "Last learned" with the date. A badge appears next to the standard name only when something needs your attention. It is one of three values, and each one comes with the sentence that says what to do: - **Learning failed.** "The last run could not read your files. Check they open in SOLIDWORKS, or add a different drawing." - **Needs review.** "Conflicting conventions in your files. Removing older or one-off drawings usually resolves it." - **Updating.** "Your files changed since the last run. The next drawing picks up the new style." There is no readiness score, no percentage and no "Ready" state. ## Picking the sheet template Each standard carries one active template, chosen under **Sheet template**. There are three ways to fill that slot: 1. **Learned from your references.** The template is derived from what the references showed. Until the first learning run completes, this option is annotated "CADABRA default until the first run completes". 2. **CADABRA default.** The template that ships with CADABRA, regardless of what was learned. 3. **An uploaded .drwdot.** Every drawing template you have uploaded to that standard appears as its own option, and the one in use is tagged **Active template** in the file list. The switch is saved immediately and re-read. If it did not take, the page says so rather than leaving a selected radio that means nothing. ## With no standard of your own Drawings Mode still generates. It falls back to **ASME defaults**, described in the panel as third-angle projection with the CADABRA template. Nothing is invented from your files, and the drawing QA notes the gap as "no learned projection convention". Add one released drawing and the next generated sheet uses what it read. ## More than one standard Issuing to two conventions, for example a metric house standard and a customer standard, means two standards, each named. One is active at a time and generation always uses the active one, so switching is a setup step rather than something you say in a prompt. Creating one confirms with the name you typed, followed by "created. Switch to it when you are ready." ## What this feeds [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) reads the active standard on every run, and [drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) uses the same upload path when you attach a PDF of a print. Geometry conventions are a separate field, [modeling rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/). ## Questions ### Will the drawings follow our company standards? Yes, once you have set a standard up. You upload drawings you have already released and CADABRA extracts your title block fields, projection angle, units, text height and standing notes from them. That standard is then applied to every drawing it generates. ### Can it generate drawings for every part in an assembly at once? Yes. Batch generation runs the whole assembly in a single pass, producing one sheet per unique component plus the assembly drawing, each on your title block with the scale chosen from the geometry. On this page - [Who can set one up, and where](#access) - [The limits](#limits) - [The 13 file types, and what each one is for](#accepted-files) - [What learning reads out of a drawing](#what-is-learned) - [What the Standards page tells you](#status) - [Picking the sheet template](#sheet-template) - [With no standard of your own](#no-standard) - [More than one standard](#multiple-standards) - [What this feeds](#next) - [Questions](#faq) --- # Company modeling rules URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Modeling rules One free-text field. Whatever you would otherwise repeat in every prompt goes in it once, and every run reads it. ## Where the field is - Task pane: **Settings**, then **Modeling standards**, directly under **Units and precision**. **Edit rules** opens the editor, which counts characters as you type and saves with **Save standards**. **Clear** empties it after confirming "Clear your saved standards?" - Dashboard: `/dashboard/standards`, the card headed **Company modeling rules**. **Save rules** saves, and the line beside it then reads "The Agent uses these on its next run." On a later visit it reads "Last updated" with the date, and "You have unsaved changes." while an edit is pending. Both write the same field. There is no per-project or per-document version of it. ## How much fits 60,000 characters. The dashboard textarea stops accepting input at that point; the service refuses a longer body outright rather than storing a truncated set of rules. That is roughly a full modeling standards document. Rules that change what gets built. Each line is a decision the model would otherwise make on its own. ``` - Units: millimeters, 2 decimal places. Angles in degrees, 1 decimal place. - Clearance holes for metric socket screws: M3 3.4, M4 4.5, M5 5.5, M6 6.6. Never model a nominal-diameter clearance hole. - Fillets: 2 mm on internal machined corners, 1 mm break on external edges, unless the prompt gives a radius. - Material default: 6061-T6 for machined aluminium parts, 304 stainless for hardware brackets. Set it on the part, not just in a note. - Feature names: _, e.g. Cut_MountSlot, Boss_BearingSeat. No Extrude1, no Cut-Extrude2. - Sheet metal: 1.5 mm 5052, bend radius equal to thickness, K-factor 0.44. ``` ## How a run uses them The rules text is appended to the instructions CADABRA sends with every turn, under the heading **Company modeling rules**, introduced with one line: "Org standards. Apply to every part, assembly and feature you create or modify, unless the user overrides." So [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) builds to them without being reminded, and the read-only modes can be asked about them. Asked whether a model meets the rules, CADABRA audits instead of applying: it works through every rule that bears on what it inspected and reports each as met, not met, or not determinable, names what it inspected, and says where the rules are silent. A rule it did not check is never reported as passing. ## When a rule and a prompt disagree The prompt wins. "Apply to every part, assembly and feature you create or modify, unless the user overrides" is the instruction the rules arrive with, so asking for a 5 mm fillet where the rules say 2 mm gets you 5 mm, for that turn only. Nothing about the saved rules changes, and the next turn is back on 2 mm. Two rules that contradict each other are a different problem. Nothing resolves them for you, and the model picks one. Read the field back after a long paste and delete the loser. ## Who the rules apply to On a plan with Drawings access and an organization on the account, the rules are stored against the organization, so one person editing them changes what everyone in that organization gets. Drawings access is Enterprise today. On every other plan the rules are stored against your own account only. The panel caches the rules for 5 minutes. An edit made in the task pane takes effect on the next run on that machine; an edit made on the dashboard or on someone else's machine can take up to 5 minutes to reach a panel that is already open. ## Turning an existing standards document into rules Attach your modeling standard as a PDF or a text document to a prompt in the panel, and the attachment chip in the transcript carries a **Save as standards** button. It rewrites the document as the durable rules an assistant can follow, keeping every number, tolerance, code and standard reference verbatim, and dropping prose, revision tables and approvals. It shows "Reading…" while it works, then "Saved as your modeling standards." If the document distils to more than 60,000 characters even after a second, tighter pass, nothing is saved and CADABRA tells you the size it reached. Split the document, or paste the part you want. [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) covers the file limits for that upload. ## What this field does not do - It does not set drawing conventions. Title blocks, projection and notes come from [drawing standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/). - It does not change the SOLIDWORKS document unit setting. That is **Units and precision** in Settings, and it reaches the model as an instruction too. See [preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/). - It is not enforced. Nothing blocks a build that breaks a rule, and nothing audits your existing files unless you ask. On this page - [Where the field is](#where) - [How much fits](#limit) - [How a run uses them](#how-it-applies) - [When a rule and a prompt disagree](#conflicts) - [Who the rules apply to](#scope) - [Turning an existing standards document into rules](#from-a-document) - [What this field does not do](#not-this) --- # Components and fasteners: what CADABRA uses from your seat URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Components and libraries CADABRA uses what your workstation already has. It does not connect to a PLM, a PDM vault, or a supplier catalog. ## Where a fastener comes from Ask for a screw and CADABRA sizes one to the measured bore, then tries three sources in a fixed order and stops at the first that supplies one. 1. **A company part you name.** Point it at a `.sldprt`, or at a folder of screws. From a folder it picks the closest metric size to the hole, read from the filename, so `SHCS_M5x16.sldprt` is understood as an M5. 2. **Your local SOLIDWORKS Toolbox.** The Toolbox folder is resolved from your SOLIDWORKS settings, and up to 2,000 files in it are scanned for screw parts that fit the bore. 3. **A parametric screw it models.** No Toolbox and no library file needed. It builds the screw from primitives into a new part saved beside the assembly. You can pin the source instead of letting it choose: company, toolbox or parametric. If every source declines, the failure names why each one declined rather than inserting something that looks close. ## What happens after insertion The screw is dropped at the hole mouth and mated: concentric between the shank and the bore, coincident between the head and the mouth. Where a component has several bores, the exact face is used so the concentric mate is unambiguous. You can ask for rough placement with no mates instead. Filling an assembly runs as a loop: find the holes, insert into each one that reads as unfilled, then check the holes again. Where the hole depth is unknown, the shank is sized at three times the diameter. Components you name directly are inserted the same way, and can be replaced, mirrored, patterned, fixed, floated or mated afterwards like any other component. The assembly has to be saved before a fastener can be inserted. Toolbox sourcing needs Toolbox installed and configured on that workstation; without it CADABRA falls through to a generated screw rather than failing. ## What is not connected No PLM or PDM connector today. There is no supplier catalog lookup either. CADABRA cannot tell you whether an approved part already exists elsewhere in your organization, and it cannot resolve a McMaster-Carr or MISUMI ordering number into a component. [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) can search the web for supplier and specification data and tell you what it found, including thread and tap-drill tables, material alternatives and standards references. Nothing places a catalog part into your assembly for you. If a connector matters to your team, tell us which system on the [contact page](https://cadabrai.com/contact/). ## How this sits with your vault CADABRA edits the document SOLIDWORKS already has open, so whatever your vault permits is what happens. It does not write revision state, it does not check files in or out, and it does not work around a checkout someone else holds. A file you have not checked out is read-only to CADABRA for the same reason it is read-only to you. Files CADABRA creates land on disk, not in the vault: a generated drawing saves as `.SLDDRW` beside its model, and a parametric screw saves beside its assembly. Adding them to the vault is your normal check-in. ## Questions ### Does CADABRA integrate with PLM or PDM? No PLM or PDM connector today. CADABRA works on the files you have open and the drawing standards you upload, and your PDM rules around those files keep applying. If a connector matters to your team, tell us which system. ### Can it find the right component instead of me modeling one? For fasteners, yes. CADABRA sizes one to the measured bore and takes it from a company part you name, then your SOLIDWORKS Toolbox, then a parametric screw it models, stopping at the first source that supplies one. It can also insert and mirror components you point it at. For anything else, Ask Mode can search the web for supplier and specification data, but nothing places a catalog part into your assembly for you. On this page - [Where a fastener comes from](#fastener-source) - [What happens after insertion](#mating) - [What is not connected](#no-connector) - [How this sits with your vault](#pdm) - [Questions](#faq) --- # Account and plans, CADABRA documentation URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Account and plans What you can change about yourself, which machine CADABRA runs on, what a credit is and how many you get, every switch on the Preferences page, and how money moves. ## In this section - [Your Account Name, email, password, two-step, device, deletion.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations The one-machine rule, and how to move.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits Credits per plan, what spends them, and the limit.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences Every dashboard setting and what it changes.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing Subscriptions, plan changes, extra usage, cancellation.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ## Where to start The credit is the unit everything else here is counted in, so read plans, usage, and limits first. If something is already refused, the wording tells you which page you need: an activation message is the workstation rule, a credit limit is the plan. On this page - [In this section](#pages) - [Where to start](#start-here) --- # Your account: profile, password, two-step, deletion URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Your account The Account page is eight rows in four groups. ## The eight rows Open the dashboard and choose **Account** in the sidebar. | Row | Group | Control | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Name | Account | Edit icon, then save | The name on your account and in team lists. It cannot be empty: "Name is required". | | Email | Account | Edit icon, then save | Your sign-in address for the dashboard and the add-in. A duplicate is refused: "An account with that email already exists." | | University | Account | Read only | The institution on record. The row is hidden entirely unless your account has one. | | Password | Account | Change password | Opens the change-password dialog. The row is hidden on an account that signs in through SSO. | | Phone number | Account | Edit icon, then save | Optional, and stored in international format. Include the country code. Clearing the field removes the number. | | Two-step verification | Security | Set up, Reset, Turn off, New recovery codes | An authenticator app code on top of your password, on the dashboard and in the add-in. | | Activated on | Device | Release | The one machine CADABRA is running on, with the date it was last used. | | Delete account | Danger zone | Delete account | Cancels the subscription, detaches payment history in Stripe, removes the account record. | ## Editing a field Name, Email and Phone number are read-only until you click the pencil beside them. The pencil becomes a save icon, and the value is written when you click it again. Clicking save without changing anything closes the field. Validation happens before anything is sent, and the message appears under the row: - Name: "Name is required". - Email: "Enter a valid email address", and "An account with that email already exists." if it belongs to someone else. - Phone number: "Enter a valid phone number (e.g. +1 555 123 4567)". Changing your email changes the address you sign in with, in the add-in as well as the dashboard. ## Turning on two-step verification 1. Open the row Account, then the Security group, then **Set up** on the Two-step verification row. 2. Add it to your authenticator A QR code appears: "Scan this with your authenticator app, then enter the code it shows." If the camera is not an option, **Enter the key manually** reveals the setup key as text. 3. Confirm the code Type the 6-digit code and press **Turn on**. Anything shorter is refused before it is sent: "Enter the 6-digit code from your authenticator app." A stale code comes back as "That code was not accepted. Try the next one." 4. Save the recovery codes A list appears under "Save these now. Each works once, and they are not shown again." **Copy** puts all of them on the clipboard. They are the only way back in without the authenticator. 5. Use it From then on, sign-in on the dashboard and in the add-in asks for a code. Enter an authenticator code or one unused recovery code. ## Managing two-step afterwards - **New recovery codes** issues a fresh set. It asks for an authenticator code or an unused recovery code first, and the old set stops working. - **Reset** replaces the authenticator app. You scan the new QR, then enter a code from the new app and a code from the current one in the same dialog. - **Turn off** disables it, again after a code from the authenticator or a recovery code. When you have spent every recovery code the row says so: "No recovery codes left. Issue a new set before you lose your authenticator." Do that before the phone is replaced, not after. ## The Device group The Device group carries one row, **Activated on**, showing the machine CADABRA is bound to and when it was last used, with a **Release** button beside it. CADABRA runs on one machine at a time. [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) covers the rule, the refusal you get on a second machine, and how to move. ## Deleting your account This is a button, not an email to support. 1. Account, then the **Danger zone** card at the bottom, then **Delete account**. 2. The dialog reads "Delete your account?" and states what happens: "This is permanent. Your subscription will be canceled, payment history detached in Stripe, and your account record removed." 3. Type your password to confirm. The confirm button stays disabled until the field has something in it. An account that signs in through SSO has no password step and the dialog omits it. 4. Press **Delete account permanently**. On success the dialog reads "Account deleted." and you are returned to the website. Deletion cannot be undone, and it is not the way to stop paying. To stop the renewal and keep your history, cancel instead: [billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/#changing). Your CAD files are untouched by any of this. Everything CADABRA built is native SOLIDWORKS geometry in your own files, and it stays there after the account is gone. On this page - [The eight rows](#rows) - [Editing a field](#editing) - [Turning on two-step verification](#two-step) - [Managing two-step afterwards](#two-step-after) - [The Device group](#device) - [Deleting your account](#delete) --- # Workstations: one machine at a time URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Workstations One active machine per account on Free, Student and Professional. Moving to another is a release and a sign-in. ## The rule One workstation is active at a time on Free, Student, Standard and Professional. Enterprise is not limited to one. The add-in sends a device identifier and the machine name with each request. The first machine to sign in binds the account; every later request from that machine only refreshes the binding, including a Windows reinstall that keeps the same identifier. The binding is per account, not per seat. On a team, each member has their own workstation. The three messages the activation gate can return. The name in quotes is the machine already holding the account. ``` CADABRA is already active on "". Release it from your account settings to use this one. You have activated CADABRA on 3 devices recently. You can activate another in days, or ask an admin to reset it. This device was released. Sign in again to activate CADABRA on it. ``` ## Blocked on a second machine Signing in on a machine while another one holds the account is refused, and the message names the machine holding it. Nothing is taken over automatically, so a colleague cannot knock you off your own account by signing in on theirs. The fix is to release the first machine, which you do from the dashboard rather than from the panel. The steps are below. ## The three-in-30-days throttle Activation is also rate limited by machine, separately from the one-at-a-time rule. Three distinct devices in a rolling 30-day window is the ceiling. A fourth is refused and the message says how many days are left before the oldest of those three ages out. An already-known device is never throttled. Moving back and forth between two laptops costs nothing. On a team, an admin can clear it: the Team page carries **Release device** on each member row. See [seats and members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/). ## Releasing a machine and activating another 1. Open the Device group Dashboard, **Account**, then the **Device** group. The **Activated on** row shows the machine name and the date it was last used. 2. Release it Press **Release**. The confirmation reads "Release ?" over "CADABRA stops working on that machine and you can activate it on another. Do this when you replace a computer, or when the old one is gone." Confirm with **Release**. 3. Read the confirmation A toast confirms it: " released. Sign in from the new machine to activate it." The Activated on row now reads "No device activated". 4. Sign in on the new machine Open SOLIDWORKS, open the CADABRA panel, and sign in. The first request binds the account to that machine. Nothing else is needed. If the add-in is not installed there yet, see [install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/). 5. Ignore the old panel If the panel is still open on the released machine it stops working and says "This device was released. Sign in again to activate CADABRA on it." Signing in there again takes the account back, and blocks the new machine. Releasing a machine changes nothing about your files, your chat history, your standards or your plan. ## What this is not This is not a license check against SOLIDWORKS. You still need your own SOLIDWORKS license on the machine, and CADABRA does not touch it. It is also not the reason a mode is grayed out or a prompt is refused for credits. Those are the plan, not the machine: [plans, usage, and limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/). On this page - [The rule](#rule) - [Blocked on a second machine](#blocked) - [The three-in-30-days throttle](#throttle) - [Releasing a machine and activating another](#release) - [What this is not](#not-this) --- # Plans, credits, and limits URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Plans, usage, and limits The unit is a credit. Every plan is a monthly credit allowance, and nothing carries over. ## The plans | Plan | Price | Credits a month | Conditions | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Free | Free | 700K | None | | Student | $20 a month | 3.5M | Requires an academic email in a supported region. | | Standard | $50 a month | 5M | None | | Professional | $120 a month | 10M | None | | Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Requires a company email. | ## What a credit is A credit is the unit CADABRA meters work in. It is not a prompt, not a message and not a request: it is drawn down per completion, so the cost of a turn tracks how much work the turn actually took. - A question in [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) costs a fraction of an edit. - An edit in [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) costs more, and more again when it takes several attempts. - A drawing set from [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) costs the most of anything in the product. - A higher model level costs more per turn than a lower one on the same prompt. Unused credits do not roll over. Free is 700K a month, and every paid plan is a multiple of it: Student 5 times, Standard 7.1 times and Professional 14.3 times. Enterprise is set per organization. ## Which levels your plan reaches A reasoning level is how much thinking a turn gets before CADABRA acts. Higher levels hold more of the model in view and take longer, and they cost more credits. You pick a level, never a model, and the picker is a pill in the composer in the task pane. | Plan | Levels | Default | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | Low | Low | | Student | Low, Medium and High | Medium | | Standard | Low, Medium and High | Medium | | Professional | Low, Medium, High, Ultra and Max | Medium | | Enterprise | Low, Medium, High, Ultra and Max | Ultra | ## How the level behaves - On Free the picker is hidden, because Low is the only level there. - There is no automatic routing between levels. A turn runs at the level on the pill. - If your plan drops below the level you had saved, the plan default is used and nothing warns you. - There is no model picker anywhere in CADABRA. You choose a level, never a model. The **Credits by model** breakdown on the dashboard Overview page is a report of what ran, not a control. Modes are the other axis, and they are gated separately: [all modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) has the entitlement table. ## Where the number is The dashboard **Overview** page is the meter. A ring shows the percentage of the allowance used, over three figures: **Credits used**, **Requests** and **Resets in**. The range control above it switches between **Billing period**, **1d**, **7d**, **30d**, **This month** and **Last month**, and every figure follows it. The ring alone stays on the billing period, which is the window the allowance is measured over. Under it, **Allowance used per day** is a per-day chart with an **Export CSV** button, and **Credits by model** breaks the same range down. The quota is checked before a turn starts and again before each model call inside it, so a long Agent run can stop part-way through with the same message it would have refused with at the start. [Reaching the limit](#running-out) covers what that leaves in the model. ## When it resets The allowance resets with your billing period, not on the first of the month. **Resets in** counts down to it, and shows the date underneath. On a paid plan two emails are sent per period, at most once each: "You have used 80% of your CADABRA usage" and "You have used your CADABRA usage". Both carry the date the allowance comes back. ## Reaching the limit Past the allowance the service answers 429 and the turn does not run. The panel reads "You've reached your credit limit on the {plan} plan. Manage your plan in the dashboard to keep going. Resets {date}." The version written into chat history is worded per plan and offers extra usage where you have it. [Error messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/#credits) carries both. A run that stops part-way stops where it is. Every feature created before the stop is in the model and nothing is rolled back, apart from a step that failed on its own and was reverted at the time. There is no half-built feature left behind. Extra usage is bought for the current period from the dashboard **Billing** page, on Student, Standard, Professional and Enterprise. It is a one-off charge that does not change your subscription and does not roll over: [extra usage](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/#extra-usage). Once you have credits again, send `continue` in the same chat and Agent resumes from the current model state rather than starting over. From Free the only path is a plan change, and it works immediately: there is no top-up on Free, and upgrading raises the allowance for the period you are already in. See [changing a plan](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/#changing). A separate cap of 120 requests a minute is not the credit allowance and clears within a minute: [rate limit](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/#rate-limit). ## A subscription that is not active A paid plan whose subscription has lapsed is treated as Free: the allowance drops to 700K and every mode except Ask locks until billing is current. The plan card says so, and the Billing page shows the reason. Enterprise allowances are set per organization rather than from this table. [Talk to us](https://cadabrai.com/contact/) with your headcount and the work you intend to batch. On this page - [The plans](#plans) - [What a credit is](#credit) - [Which levels your plan reaches](#levels) - [How the level behaves](#levels-notes) - [Where the number is](#measurement) - [When it resets](#reset) - [Reaching the limit](#running-out) - [A subscription that is not active](#lapsed) --- # Preferences reference URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Preferences Eight settings in four groups, saved the moment you change them. ## Every setting on the page Dashboard, **Preferences**. The groups render in this order. | Group | Setting | Default | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Notifications | Desktop notifications | On | Notify me when the Agent finishes or needs attention. | | Notifications | Completion sound | Off | Play a sound when the Agent finishes responding. | | Notifications | Keep the SOLIDWORKS save reminder | Off | The add-in turns the reminder off for the session when auto-save is on. Keep it on to leave SOLIDWORKS alone. | | Agent | Apply Agent changes without review | Off | Applies proposed model changes without pausing for an approval prompt. | | Agent | Units | Millimeters | What the Agent designs and answers in. The other value is Inches. | | Agent | Decimal places | 2 | Precision the Agent uses when it sets a dimension, from 0 to 4. | | Updates | Early access builds | Off | Pre-release add-in updates, which may be less stable than the default channel. | | Privacy | Do not store my data | Off | Answer requests without keeping your designs, prompts or files on CADABRA servers. | ## How the page saves There is no save button. Each control writes as you change it, and a write that fails puts the message under that row and returns the control to what it was. A setting your plan pins is disabled and shows "Included with your plan." beneath it, rather than being hidden. These are account settings and follow you to every machine you sign in on. ## Apply Agent changes without review Off means Agent proposes and waits. On means it applies without the prompt. It is not the only approval control, and it is not the one in the panel. The task pane has its own **Approval preference**, with three values: **Always ask**, **Ask for large tasks**, which is the default, and **Never ask**. That one is stored per machine. Before turning either of them loose, read what reverting actually does: CADABRA does not group its work into one SOLIDWORKS undo record. [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) has the detail. ## Units and Decimal places These are the same two account values the task pane shows under **Units and precision**. There is one stored setting each, so changing it in either place changes it in both, and no machine can disagree with another. Both reach the model as an instruction about how to answer and how to dimension. Neither changes the unit setting of your SOLIDWORKS document, and neither converts anything already modeled. They are not applied to a [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) turn, which uses the units and precision of your learned drawing standard instead. See [drawing standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/). ## Do not store my data Off by default. On, your designs, prompts and files are processed to answer the request in front of them and kept on no CADABRA server. It also turns off cloud chat history and cross-device recall, and attachments stop being uploaded. This is the setting that governs training. If your organization has a policy against vendor model training, turn it on before the first real part goes through CADABRA. [Data handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) covers what is kept regardless. ## Account settings that are not on this page - **Allow extra usage** and **Budget this period** are on the [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/#extra-usage) page, next to the thing they authorise. - **Data protection** is stored on your account with two values, standard and encrypted, and is set in the task pane as "Encrypt my stored data at rest". On Enterprise it is encrypted always, and the row reads that it is included with your plan: [data handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/#encryption). - The **level** picker is a pill in the composer in the task pane, per machine. There is no model or level control on the dashboard: [plans and limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/#levels). - Language, Appearance, Approval preference, Modeling standards and the update channel confirmation all live in the task pane Settings. On this page - [Every setting on the page](#all) - [How the page saves](#saving) - [Apply Agent changes without review](#agent) - [Units and Decimal places](#units) - [Do not store my data](#privacy) - [Account settings that are not on this page](#elsewhere) --- # Billing, plan changes, and extra usage URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Billing Monthly through Stripe, changed and canceled from the dashboard. ## What the Billing page shows Checkout, card changes and invoices run through Stripe, so CADABRA never handles your card details. - The **plan card**: your plan name, the price line, and either "Renews {date}" or "Cancels {date}". A badge appears only when there is something to say, and only ever reads Trial, Free month or Past due. - The button beside it reads **Change or cancel plan** on an active subscription, **Upgrade plan** on Free, and **Manage billing** otherwise. All three open the Stripe portal. - **Auto-renew**, a switch on the plan card. - **Payment method**, showing the brand and last four digits, with **Add card** or **Update card**. - **Extra usage**, covered below. - **Invoices**: date, description, status and amount, straight from Stripe. Enterprise billed by invoice shows "Billed by invoice" instead of a price, and has no portal button. ## Changing or cancelling a plan Switching plan asks first, in the form "Switch to the Professional plan?" over "Your bill is prorated for the rest of this period." A switch takes effect the moment you confirm it, up or down. Stripe prorates the difference against your next invoice, your billing period and its renewal date are unchanged, and the new allowance applies to the period you are already in. Credits you have already spent this period count against it, so an upgrade adds the difference rather than starting you at zero. Student carries a condition the others do not: requires an academic email in a supported region. It is licensed for non-commercial coursework. Professional is the commercial plan for one engineer. Cancelling stops the renewal rather than cutting you off. You keep the plan for the period you have paid for, and the plan card changes from "Renews" to "Cancels" on the same date. **Past due** shows "Payment failed. Update your card to keep your subscription." **Incomplete** shows "Your subscription is incomplete. Finish payment to activate it." In both, fix the card through the portal button. A lapsed subscription is treated as Free, so every mode except Ask locks: [plans and limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/#lapsed). ## Extra usage Extra usage is how you keep working past the monthly allowance without changing plan. It is available on Student, Standard, Professional and Enterprise, and there are two controls plus a purchase. ### Allow extra usage A switch, off by default. It is disabled until there is a card on file, and says so: "Add a card first." While it is off, nothing extra can be charged to you, and the over-limit notice on the Overview page says exactly that and offers **Set up extra usage** instead of a purchase button. ### Budget this period A whole-dollar cap for the current period, from 0 to 10,000. It is disabled until the switch above is on. 0 means no limit, and the row then reads "No limit. $X spent this period." With a cap set, the row reads "$X of $Y used", and a purchase that would pass the cap is refused with how much is left. ### Buying **Buy usage** opens "Buy extra usage". The rate is stated at the top of the dialog as a price per 1M credits, followed by "Expires at the end of your billing period." Enter a dollar amount and the dialog estimates what it adds to your allowance, then **Charge card & add usage** takes it from the card on file. The minimum is $10 and the maximum is $10,000 in one purchase. The same $10,000 is the ceiling on the period budget. Bought credits belong to the billing period you bought them in and expire with it. They do not change your subscription, your plan or your renewal. The budget caps what you can buy in a period. It is not a spending alert, and it is not a way to keep working after the money runs out: at the cap, purchases stop and the plan allowance is all that is left. ## Stopping There are two different endings, and only one of them is reversible. - **Cancel.** The renewal stops, you keep the plan to the end of the period, and your account, history and invoices stay. Turning it back on is a plan change. - **Delete.** Account, Danger zone, **Delete account**, confirmed with your password. It cancels the subscription, detaches payment history in Stripe and removes the account record. It cannot be undone. The full flow is on [your account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/#delete). ## Billing questions ### Can I switch plans later? Yes, from account settings. A change takes effect immediately in both directions, and Stripe prorates the difference against the period you are already in. ### What payment methods do you accept? Visa, Mastercard, and American Express on every plan. Enterprise can also pay by ACH or wire and be billed annually on NET-30 terms. ### Can I cancel any time? Yes. Paid plans renew until you cancel, and you can cancel from the dashboard at any time on both monthly and yearly billing. Checkout and billing run through Stripe. On this page - [What the Billing page shows](#basics) - [Changing or cancelling a plan](#changing) - [Extra usage](#extra-usage) - [Stopping](#stopping) - [Billing questions](#faq) --- # Team, CADABRA documentation URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Team Everything the Team page in the dashboard controls, and which of it only the owner can reach. ## In this section - [Seats and Members Adding people, roles, seats, and the activity log.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On OIDC setup, domain verification, and the claims used.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync SCIM tokens, endpoints, and what does not sync.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ## Where to start Seats and members first: everything else assumes the organization exists and you own it. Single sign-on and directory sync are independent of each other, so turn on whichever you need. On this page - [In this section](#pages) - [Where to start](#start-here) --- # Seats, members, and roles URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Seats and members Everything on the dashboard Team page, and who is allowed to press it. ## Where it is **Team** appears in the dashboard sidebar under the heading **Organization**, at `/dashboard/team`. It is hidden unless your account belongs to an organization. An organization is created by CADABRA when the Enterprise agreement is set up, with one named owner who must already have a CADABRA account. There is no self-serve way to create one. Enterprise requires a company email. The page holds up to six cards. Every member sees the organization name and the **Seats used** and **Members** counts. Admins additionally see the **Members** table, **Activity**, and organization usage. **Directory sync**, **Seats** and **Single sign-on** render for the owner only. The **Members** table has four columns: Member, Role, **Add-in** (the CADABRA version that account last reported, or "Not installed"), and **Usage (30d)**, which is a rolling 30 days rather than the billing period. ## What each role can do Three roles. The owner is always an admin as well, and there is exactly one owner. | Action | Member | Admin | Owner | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | See the member list and organization usage | No | Yes | Yes | | Add a member | No | Yes | Yes | | Remove an ordinary member | No | Yes | Yes | | Remove an admin | No | No | Yes | | Grant or revoke admin | No | No | Yes | | Release another member’s workstation | No | Yes | Yes | | Read the activity log | No | Yes | Yes | | Change the seat count | No | No | Yes | | Configure single sign-on | No | No | Yes | | Generate or revoke a directory sync token | No | No | Yes | | Transfer ownership | No | No | Yes | There is no invitation email and no pending state. The person must already have a CADABRA account, created at [the sign-up page](https://cadabrai.com/dashboard/signup), before you can add them, and adding them does not notify them. ## Adding a member 1. They sign up first They create a CADABRA account with the address you are going to add. Any plan, including Free, is fine. 2. Type the address On the Members card, the field marked `member@company.com` sits next to **Add member**. Both are shown to admins only. 3. Press Add member The row appears immediately with the role Member. The confirmation reads "Added name@company.com. They were not emailed, so let them know they now have access." 4. Tell them Their account moves onto the organization plan the moment they are added, so their next sign-in in the panel carries Enterprise entitlement, including Drawings Mode. Nothing needs reinstalling. ## When adding is refused - **"No CADABRA account with that email yet. Ask them to sign up first, then invite again."** The address has never signed up. The lookup is on the exact address, so a personal address they signed up with will not match the work address you typed. - **"That user already belongs to another organization."** An account is in one organization at a time. It has to leave the other one first. - **"Your organization has used all of its seats."** Every seat is occupied. Buy seats, or remove someone. Adding someone straight in as an admin is possible through the API only, and only for the owner. The dashboard always adds an ordinary member, and the owner promotes them afterwards. ## Changing a role Role controls appear on a member row for the owner only, and never on the owner’s own row. - **Make admin** confirms with "Admins can invite people, remove ordinary members, and manage the organization. Only you, as the owner, can take it back." - **Revoke admin** confirms with "They stay in the organization as an ordinary member and keep their plan." - **Make owner** confirms with "They take over control of who is an admin. You stay an admin, but from then on only they can undo this." Three rules the server enforces whatever the interface offers: the owner is always an admin and cannot be demoted ("The organization owner is always an admin. Transfer ownership first."), the last remaining admin cannot be demoted ("Cannot demote the only organization admin."), and the owner cannot be removed ("The organization owner cannot be removed. Transfer ownership first."). ## Removing a member **Remove** confirms with "They lose access to the organization and their account drops to the Free plan, whatever plan they had before joining." That is literal. The account is not deleted, but its plan is set to `free`, so Drawings Mode, the higher [model levels](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) and the organization allowance stop at once. A personal subscription they had before joining is not restored; they resubscribe from [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/). The seat is freed immediately. The last admin cannot be removed ("Cannot remove the only organization admin."). ## Releasing a workstation **Release device** on a member row releases every active workstation on that account, not just one. It confirms with "CADABRA stops working on the machine they last used, and they can activate it on a new one. Use this when a computer is replaced or gone." Members do this for themselves from [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/). An admin needs the button when the machine is gone and the person cannot reach it. ## Buying seats The **Seats** card is Enterprise and owner only. An admin who is not the owner sees the count and the line "Only the owner can add seats." 1. Press **Add seats**. The form has one field, **Total seats**, which is the new total rather than the number you are adding, under the note "Seats come down at renewal, not mid-term." 2. Press **Get a price**. The quote is computed against your contract term and its negotiated seat rate. 3. Press **Confirm**. It finishes with "Seats updated to N. The prorated amount appears on your next invoice." The line shown before you confirm is exactly this: The confirmation an owner sees before a seat change ``` N more seats: $X for the rest of the term, added to your next invoice, then $Y a year from . ``` How $X is derived ``` prorated = added seats x the seat rate on your contract, per year x seconds left in the term / seconds in the whole term ``` Seats never come down mid-term. A lower total is refused with "Seats come down at renewal, not mid-term. Talk to us if the contract needs to change sooner." A total below your current headcount is refused separately and names the headcount: remove those people first. If your contract has no recorded start and end date, the price cannot be computed and the change is refused with "This contract has no recorded term yet, so a mid-term price cannot be calculated. Contact us and we will set it." [Tell us](https://cadabrai.com/contact/) and we will set it. ## Activity The **Activity** card is visible to admins, and only once something has been recorded. It lists the 25 most recent changes, newest first, in two columns, Change and When. Times are relative up to a week ("Just now", "14m ago", "5h ago", "3d ago") and a date beyond that. It records organization changes, not prompts or CAD work: - added, removed, made an admin, revoked admin, made the owner - changed seats, with the old count, the new count and the prorated amount - released the device, naming it - created, switched or turned off a drawing standard, and deleted a file - changed the SCIM token, issued or revoked - configured single sign-on with the issuer, verified a domain, turned single sign-on off The actor is a person’s name or email, the literal `SCIM` when a directory sync did it, or `SSO (org:)` when a first sign-in provisioned the account. ## Next Stop maintaining the list by hand. [Single sign-on](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) creates the account on first sign-in, and [directory sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) adds and removes members from your identity provider. On this page - [Where it is](#where) - [What each role can do](#roles) - [Adding a member](#adding) - [When adding is refused](#refusals) - [Changing a role](#roles-change) - [Removing a member](#removing) - [Releasing a workstation](#devices) - [Buying seats](#seats) - [Activity](#activity) - [Next](#next) --- # Single sign-on with OpenID Connect URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Single sign-on CADABRA is an OpenID Connect relying party. You register it as an application in your identity provider, then prove you own the email domains it may sign in. Single sign-on is Enterprise, and the card is owner only. An organization is created by CADABRA when the Enterprise agreement is set up. There is no self-serve way to create one, and [the Team page](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/#where) is hidden until there is. ## What is supported One protocol: **OpenID Connect**, authorization code flow with PKCE (S256). The id_token must be signed RS256 or PS256. **There is no SAML, no WS-Federation and no LDAP.** If your identity team asks, the answer is OIDC only. The dashboard names Entra ID and Okta because they are what customers bring, but nothing in the implementation is provider specific: any identity provider that publishes an OpenID Connect discovery document and issues a client id and secret is configured the same way. "Continue with Microsoft" on the sign-in page is a different thing. That is CADABRA’s own Microsoft application, open to anyone, and it does not put the account in an organization. Organization single sign-on is what this page describes. ## What CADABRA needs from you Five fields, on one form under **Team**, **Single sign-on**, **Set up**: - **Issuer.** Must begin with `https://`. A Microsoft-style tenant template, `{tenantid}` inside the issuer, is resolved per token from the `tid` claim, so one configuration covers a tenant that issues its own id. - **Discovery URL.** The `.well-known/openid-configuration` document, https only. CADABRA reads `authorization_endpoint`, `token_endpoint` and `jwks_uri` from it and refuses the configuration if any of the three is not https. It is cached for one hour. - **Client ID.** - **Client secret.** Required the first time. On a later edit, blank keeps the stored one, which the form says: "Leave the secret blank to keep the one already stored." It is stored AES-256-GCM encrypted and is never returned by the API. - **Email domains.** Comma separated. A public email provider is refused by name: gmail.com, outlook.com, icloud.com and 20-odd others cannot be claimed by an organization. The scope requested is `openid profile email` unless one is set through the API. The redirect URI to register with your provider. The form prints it under the fields. ``` https://accounts.cadabrai.com/api/auth/sso/callback ``` ## Setting it up 1. Register the application A confidential web application in your identity provider, authorization code flow, with the redirect URI above, releasing openid, profile and email. 2. Fill the form Team, Single sign-on, Set up. Issuer, Discovery URL, Client ID, Client secret, Email domains. Save answers "Single sign-on saved. Verify your domains to switch it on." 3. Add the TXT record Each unverified domain appears with its own record and a Verify button, under the line "Add this TXT record at your domain's DNS, then verify. Until a domain is verified it cannot sign anyone in." 4. Verify Press Verify once DNS has propagated. CADABRA resolves the TXT records itself. A miss answers "That TXT record is not visible yet."; a hit answers "acme.com verified. Your team can sign in with it now." 5. Test it On the sign-in page, type an address at a verified domain. After a moment the button becomes "Continue with ". That is home-realm discovery finding your organization by email domain. The DNS record, at the root of the domain ``` name @ type TXT value cadabra-domain-verification= ``` A domain that is listed but not verified grants nothing. Until one is verified the summary reads "No domain is verified yet, so nobody can sign in through it.", and the configuration is inert. What CADABRA reads out of the id_token ``` oid, sub the subject. oid wins when both are present. email the address. preferred_username, then upn, are the fallbacks. email_verified read, and enforced only when requireVerifiedEmail is set on the configuration. The dashboard form does not set it. name display name. given_name is the fallback. tid the tenant, used to resolve a {tenantid} issuer template. iss aud azp nonce exp nbf iat verified on every sign-in, 120s clock skew. ``` ## What happens on a first sign-in Someone at a verified domain who has never used CADABRA is created and joined to your organization in one step. They take a seat, land on the organization plan, and the activity log records the actor as `SSO (org:)`. If the organization has no free seat the sign-in itself is refused with "Your organization has used all of its seats." Buy seats before a rollout, not during one. If the address already has a CADABRA account, that account is linked and joined rather than duplicated. If it already belongs to a different organization, the sign-in is refused. CADABRA never accepts your provider’s token as its own. The callback verifies the assertion once and mints a first-party session, which the dashboard and the add-in then use. The add-in signs in through the system browser over a loopback listener, so single sign-on covers the SOLIDWORKS panel as well as the dashboard. Two-step verification still applies. If the account owes a challenge, it is asked for after your provider returns. ## What the sign-in errors mean The sign-in page shows the message on the left. The cause is on the right. | Message | Cause | | --- | --- | | "No single sign-on is set up for that address." | No organization has a verified domain matching that email. Check the domain is spelled the same way in the configuration and in the address. | | "Your organization has not verified that email domain for single sign-on." | Your provider released an address outside the verified list, an alias domain or a `.onmicrosoft.com` address for example. Add that domain and verify it. | | "Your identity provider refused the sign-in. Check with your administrator." | The provider returned an error to the callback: assignment, consent, or conditional access. | | "Single sign-on is unavailable right now. Try again shortly." | An account lookup failed on our side. Nothing to change; the sign-in is refused rather than guessed at. | | "That sign-in could not be completed. Try again." | Everything else, including an expired sign-in and an id_token that failed verification. | ## The precise refusals A caller that asks for JSON gets the reason in full: - **"Your identity provider did not share an email address, so we cannot match you to an account. Ask your administrator to release the email claim."** The `email` claim is missing and neither `preferred_username` nor `upn` filled in. - **"An account already uses that email, and your identity provider did not prove it owns the address. Sign in with your password, then link single sign-on from your account settings."** The address sits outside the domains your configuration claims. - **"Your browser did not send the sign-in cookie back. Start the sign-in again in this same browser window, and allow cookies for accounts.cadabrai.com."** The sign-in state is bound to an HttpOnly cookie so a callback cannot be replayed in another browser. CADABRA retries the round trip once by itself before showing this. - **"That sign-in took too long. Start it again."** A sign-in has 10 minutes between leaving CADABRA and coming back. ## Turning it off **Turn off** confirms with "Anyone who signs in through your identity provider will have to use a password instead. Your saved configuration is deleted, including the client secret." Accounts and membership survive it. Anyone provisioned through single sign-on who has no password uses the password reset flow to set one. ## What a security review asks next ### What security controls does CADABRA have? CADABRA answers a security questionnaire directly, against the controls in place today. Single sign-on and role-based access on Enterprise. Encrypted in transit. A second at-rest layer under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data, one setting on every plan. Indexed CAD content filtered to the account that wrote it. Only the context a given prompt needs is loaded at run time. A 90-day expiry on the operational logs CADABRA keeps about the service. Zero-retention handling on Enterprise, configured per organization. ### Is CADABRA secure for company data? CAD content is encrypted in transit and at rest, under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data. Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it. CADABRA does not sell customer data. Enterprise adds single sign-on and zero-retention handling; on every other plan you can turn training off in dashboard settings. ## Next Single sign-on creates an account the first time someone signs in. It does not remove one when they leave. That is [directory sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/). What is stored, and for how long: [data handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/). On this page - [What is supported](#what) - [What CADABRA needs from you](#needs) - [Setting it up](#setup) - [What happens on a first sign-in](#first-signin) - [What the sign-in errors mean](#errors) - [The precise refusals](#api-errors) - [Turning it off](#off) - [What a security review asks next](#faq) - [Next](#next) --- # Directory sync with SCIM 2.0 URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Directory sync SCIM 2.0 behind a bearer token, so a joiner takes a seat and a leaver gives one back with nobody opening the dashboard. Directory sync is Enterprise, and the card is owner only. An organization is created by CADABRA when the Enterprise agreement is set up. There is no self-serve way to create one, and [the Team page](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/#where) is hidden until there is. ## Where it is The **Directory sync** card sits on the [Team page](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/). Off, it reads "Connect Entra or Okta so joiners get a seat and leavers lose one automatically." On, it reads "Directory sync is on. Joiners get a seat and leavers lose one automatically." It is SCIM 2.0 with a long-lived bearer token. One endpoint serves every provider; nothing in it is Entra or Okta specific. ## Turning it on 1. Generate the token Press Generate token. It confirms with "It is shown once and stored hashed. Any token you generated before stops working immediately, so generate a new one only when you are setting sync up or rotating it." 2. Copy both fields Endpoint and Token appear under the line "Copy the token now. It is stored hashed and cannot be shown again." Only a SHA-256 hash is kept, so a lost token is replaced, never recovered. 3. Paste them into your provider In Entra these are the provisioning Tenant URL and Secret Token; in Okta, the SCIM connector base URL and the HTTP header bearer token. Test Connection reads /ServiceProviderConfig and passes with no further configuration. 4. Assign people Assign the users or the group CADABRA covers, and run a cycle. The Members table and the Activity card show what landed. The endpoint and the token. Copy the endpoint the dashboard prints rather than typing this. ``` https://accounts.cadabrai.com/scim/v2 Authorization: Bearer .<43 characters of base64url> Content-Type: application/scim+json ``` A person must already have a CADABRA account before SCIM can attach them, unless [single sign-on](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) is on, in which case their first sign-in creates it. Provisioning an unknown address answers "That person does not have a CADABRA account yet. They need to sign up once, then SCIM will attach and manage their seat." ## What is implemented Users only. There is no /Groups resource at any path. | Request | Effect | | --- | --- | | `GET /ServiceProviderConfig` | Capabilities. patch true, filter true with maxResults 200, bulk false, sort false, etag false, changePassword false. | | `GET /ResourceTypes` | One resource type, User. | | `GET /Users` | Every member of the organization. `startIndex` and `count` paginate; count defaults to 100 and is capped at 200. | | `GET /Users?filter=` | Only `userName eq "value"` is understood. Anything else is a 400 `invalidFilter`. | | `GET /Users/{id}` | One member. The id is the CADABRA account id, which is what POST returns. | | `POST /Users` | Attaches an existing CADABRA account to the organization and consumes a seat. 201 with the user. | | `PATCH /Users/{id}` | Only `active` is acted on. `active: false` deprovisions. Every other operation is accepted and ignored. | | `PUT /Users/{id}` | Same rule: `active: false` deprovisions, the rest of the body is ignored. | | `DELETE /Users/{id}` | Deprovisions. 204, no body. | The only PATCH that changes anything ``` PATCH /scim/v2/Users/{id} { "schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp"], "Operations": [{ "op": "replace", "path": "active", "value": false }] } ``` ## What deprovisioning does Setting `active` to false, or sending a DELETE, does exactly what **Remove** on the Team page does: - the account leaves the organization and its seat is freed - its plan is set to `free`, so Drawings Mode and the organization allowance stop - any admin flag is cleared - the [activity log](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/#activity) records it with the actor `SCIM` The account itself is not deleted, and the person keeps it. Deleting an account is theirs to do, from [Your account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/). With [single sign-on](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/#first-signin) on, an address at a verified domain that has never signed in through your identity provider is joined to the organization again on its first sign-in there, and takes the seat back. An account that has already signed in that way returns without an organization. Remove a leaver at your identity provider as well, not only in CADABRA. `active` on a read is not a stored field. It is true when that account is currently a member of the organization asking, and false otherwise. ## What does not sync - **Groups.** There is no `/Groups` endpoint. Assigning a group in your provider works only insofar as the provider expands it into individual users. - **Roles.** Admin and owner are set in the dashboard by the owner. No claim, group or SCIM attribute grants either. - **Names and email addresses.** They are read from the CADABRA account and returned; a write is ignored. Nothing your directory sends renames or re-addresses an account. - **Passwords.** `changePassword` is false. Credentials stay in your identity provider. - **Bulk, sort and ETag.** All three report false, so a provider that expects them falls back to per-user calls. - **Everything except active.** A PATCH or PUT that changes any other attribute succeeds and changes nothing. ## The refusals, and what to do - **401 "Invalid token."** The token was rotated or revoked. Generate a new one and paste it into your provider. - **507 "No seats available. Add seats before provisioning more people."** Provisioning stops at the seat cap. [Buy seats](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/#seats), then run the cycle again. - **409 "User already provisioned."** Already a member. Harmless, and providers treat it as a match. - **409 "That user belongs to another organization."** An account is in one organization at a time. - **403 "The organization owner cannot be deprovisioned through SCIM."** Deliberate: it stops a directory rule from locking your organization out of itself. Transfer ownership in the dashboard first. - **404 "User not found."** The id is unknown, or belongs to an account outside your organization. Every error body is a `urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error` carrying `status` and `detail`, and responses are `Content-Type: application/scim+json`. ## Rotating and turning it off Once sync is on the button reads **Rotate token**. A new token invalidates the previous one the moment it is issued, so paste the replacement into your provider in the same sitting. **Turn off** confirms with "The token stops working immediately, and your identity provider can no longer add or remove members." Members already provisioned keep their seats; the directory stops driving the list. Both actions are written to the activity log as "changed the SCIM token", with the detail `issued` or `revoked`. A provisioning failure that survives a token rotation is worth sending to team@cadabrai.com with the provider name, the request it logged, and the response body. We reply within one business day. On this page - [Where it is](#where) - [Turning it on](#turn-on) - [What is implemented](#implemented) - [What deprovisioning does](#deprovision) - [What does not sync](#not-synced) - [The refusals, and what to do](#errors) - [Rotating and turning it off](#rotate) --- # Security and data, CADABRA documentation URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Security and data What leaves your workstation, what is kept, and the one setting that stops storage and training. ## In this section - [Data Handling The default by plan, the opt-out, what leaves the machine, deletion.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ## The short version - Your SOLIDWORKS files are not uploaded. What leaves the machine is derived context, field by field in [what leaves the workstation](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/#leaves). - The exception is a drawing standard, which you upload on purpose: the reference drawings, and any part or assembly you submit with them, are stored in full. [Your CAD files](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/#files). - By default on Free, Student and Professional, your content is stored and may be used to train CADABRA’s models. [The default, by plan](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/#default). - One account setting stops both, **"Do not store my data"**, off by default. [What changes when it is on](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/#on). - On Enterprise, zero retention is configured for your organization when the agreement is set up. The plan tier does not switch it on. [The default, by plan](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/#default). - Stored chats, attachments, standards files and feedback are encrypted at rest under a key held in a hardware-backed vault, separate from the data. Always on for Enterprise, one setting away on every other plan. [Encryption](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/#encryption). - The providers whose models generate your output are contractually barred from training on your content. [Sub-processors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/#vendors). - CADABRA does not sell customer data, and does not share it with third parties for their own purposes. Do not use CADABRA for designs under export control (ITAR, EAR, or an equivalent regime) or for classified work. Derived content leaves your machine on every prompt, and an inference request may be served from model capacity outside the United States. There is no on-premises deployment today. [Talk to us](https://cadabrai.com/contact/) before that work goes through CADABRA, not after. ## Running a vendor security review CADABRA answers a security questionnaire directly, against the controls in place today. Read in this order, then send yours. 1. [Data handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/), which is written in the order a review asks. 2. [Privacy policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/) §3 for retention and training, §6 for the third parties involved, §7 for how long each category is kept. 3. The [EULA](https://cadabrai.com/eula/), which is the binding version of the training and retention terms. 4. [Security](https://cadabrai.com/security/) for the control summary, and [status](https://cadabrai.com/status/) for uptime and incidents. 5. [Send the questionnaire](https://cadabrai.com/contact/). Support answers within one business day. Vulnerability reports go to [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com), also published at [/.well-known/security.txt](https://cadabrai.com/.well-known/security.txt). ## Questions ### Do you train on my CAD files? By default on Free, Student, Standard and Professional, yes: the EULA and privacy policy state that CAD geometry, prompts, and metadata may be used to operate, maintain, and improve CADABRA and its AI models. You can stop it at any time with the data setting in your dashboard, which takes effect from the moment you turn it on rather than retroactively. On Enterprise, zero-retention handling is configured as part of the agreement. ### How do I stop CADABRA training on my designs? Turn on the data setting in the dashboard under Preferences. It processes your designs, prompts, and files only to answer the request in front of it, keeps none of them on CADABRA’s servers, and excludes them from training. The trade-off is that it also turns off cloud chat history and cross-device recall, because both are stored data. It is included with every plan. ### What security controls does CADABRA have? CADABRA answers a security questionnaire directly, against the controls in place today. Single sign-on and role-based access on Enterprise. Encrypted in transit. A second at-rest layer under a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data, one setting on every plan. Indexed CAD content filtered to the account that wrote it. Only the context a given prompt needs is loaded at run time. A 90-day expiry on the operational logs CADABRA keeps about the service. Zero-retention handling on Enterprise, configured per organization. ### Where does CADABRA process our CAD data? CADABRA runs as an add-in on your workstation and reaches a hosted processing environment for inference. It does not run offline. Enterprise runs in a dedicated cloud tenancy under zero-retention handling, so prompts and model context are processed to answer the request and kept on no CADABRA server. Your vault is never uploaded wholesale: what leaves the workstation is the context a given prompt needs. On this page - [In this section](#pages) - [The short version](#short-version) - [Running a vendor security review](#review) - [Questions](#questions) --- # How CADABRA handles your CAD data URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Data handling What happens to the geometry and the prompts you send. The [EULA](https://cadabrai.com/eula/) is the binding version, and the [privacy policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/) is the detailed one. ## The default, by plan | Plan | Content stored | Used to train CADABRA models | Changed by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Free | Yes, until you delete it | Yes | The setting below | | Student | Yes, until you delete it | Yes | The setting below | | Professional | Yes, until you delete it | Yes | The setting below | | Enterprise | Per your agreement | Per your agreement | Applied to your accounts when the agreement is set up | "Content" means your prompts and chat messages, the CAD content read from the active document, the outputs generated for you, the screenshots the copilot captures, and the files you attach or submit as drawing standard references. On Free, Student and Professional that content is retained so chat history and cross-session recall work, and may be used to operate, secure and improve the service, including to improve and train CADABRA’s own AI models. That is what the [EULA](https://cadabrai.com/eula/) and [privacy policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/) state, and it is the default until you change it. The providers whose models generate your output are contractually barred from training on your content and required to delete it after processing. That is a commitment from the provider, not a technical guarantee CADABRA can enforce. On Enterprise the zero-retention arrangement is applied to your accounts as a configuration step when the agreement is set up. It does not switch itself on because of the plan tier. If you are on Enterprise and are not certain it was applied, [ask for confirmation in writing](https://cadabrai.com/contact/). ## The setting The row is **"Do not store my data"** on the dashboard, under [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/). It is **off by default**. It is one account setting, not a per-machine one, so it follows you to every workstation you sign in on. The same switch appears in the task pane Settings under **Data and privacy**, where it reads "Don’t use my data to train AI". Changing either changes both. When a plan pins it on, the row is disabled and says so rather than disappearing. - It applies from the moment you turn it on. It is not retroactive, and it does not delete content already stored. For that, see [deletion](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/#delete). - You do not have to find it yourself. Email [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) and we will set it on your account. If your organization has a policy against vendor model training, turn this on before the first real part goes through CADABRA. Turning it on later stops future retention and leaves everything already sent in place until you ask for it to be erased. ## What changes when it is on It is enforced by the service, not by the panel, so it holds no matter which version of the add-in is installed. Four things behave differently, and three of them are features you lose. ### Chat history is refused Creating a chat returns an ephemeral id and `retained: false`. Appending a message or renaming a chat returns success and writes nothing. The panel shows a line on the history view saying the conversation is not retained. The consequence: no chat history, no resuming a conversation on another machine, and no cross-session recall. ### Indexing and retrieval return nothing The index request returns `indexed: 0, retained: false` and stores no vector. Retrieval returns an empty result list, so the document matches described in [what leaves the workstation](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/#leaves) are never fetched and never appended to a prompt. The copilot works from the live situation and the digest alone. ### Attachments are not uploaded A file you attach is passed to the model to answer that turn and is not written to storage, so it is not on the chat afterwards and there is nothing to fetch later. Limits are unchanged: see [attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/). A file you add to a drawing standard is not a chat attachment. It is uploaded and stored under this setting too: see [what is kept anyway](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/#kept). ### Quality traces keep no content The observability trace for a turn replaces the prompt text, the output, the model’s reasoning and the per-operation text with `[redacted: zero-retention]`, and your name and email are not attached to it. What is left is metadata: model identifier, mode, plan, latency, stop reason, token counts, and whether the step succeeded. Usage telemetry carrying your content is dropped rather than stored. ## What is kept anyway These categories survive the setting and survive an Enterprise zero-retention arrangement. - **Operational diagnostics.** The logs CADABRA keeps about the service, and your machine name. They expire 90 days after they are written, and per-account erasure from them before that is not something we can carry out. - **Feedback you explicitly submit.** A thumbs down sends what you typed, the request id and your version. Where your build includes them, that turn’s prompt and output go with it, because that is the substance of the report. - **Drawing standard reference files and the learned standard**, which the feature exists to store for you. Removing a file from a standard deletes the stored copy; deleting a standard deletes every file under it. - **Usage records** for billing, quota and abuse prevention. They record the model, the mode, token counts and the chat identifier, not the text of your prompts or outputs. - **De-identified, aggregated metrics** that no longer identify you or your designs. Your learned drawing standard and its reference files are reachable by authorized CADABRA staff under least-privilege controls, for support. The log files CADABRA writes on your own machine are a different thing. They are yours, nothing in CADABRA deletes them, and they reach us only when you attach one: [the files you can attach](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/#not-here). ## What leaves the workstation on a prompt Three things, plus your prompt. All of it is derived from the open document. None of it is the document. ### The live situation Whether a document is open, and if so its name, type, full local path, active configuration, configuration count and units. Whether you are in a sketch, the feature count, and any rollback state. Your current selection. A summary of the assembly. Up to 12 features in error or warning. The full local path is in the context of every turn, not only in diagnostics, and a Windows path carries your folder names and your user name. ### The bounded digest For a part or an assembly, a digest capped before it is sent: up to 60 features, up to 16 custom properties with each value trimmed to 120 characters, and a geometry block of bounding box, mass, volume, material and body count. The whole digest is capped at 3,000 characters. ### The retrieval index When you open a part, the panel builds text chunks and sends them to be embedded and stored: one document line of title, active configuration, component count and mass, then one chunk per feature-tree node up to 400 of them, skipping the History and Sensors folders. The document is keyed by a hash of its file path, not the path. On a later prompt the top 6 matches are fetched and appended. It is skipped for assemblies, skipped for drawings, and skipped for a part over 1,500 features, because walking those trees on open freezes the SOLIDWORKS UI thread. It is refused outright by the service for an account with **"Do not store my data"** on, or in encrypted mode. ### Screenshots Produced by SOLIDWORKS’ own image export, so they contain the model view and nothing else. The panel does not read your screen: no desktop, no other application window, and no part of the CADABRA panel. If the export fails, no screenshot is taken and the turn continues without one. ## The caps, in one place | What | Cap | | --- | --- | | Features in the digest | 60 | | Custom properties in the digest | 16, each value trimmed to 120 characters | | The digest as a whole | 3,000 characters | | Features in error or warning | 12 | | Feature-tree chunks indexed when a part opens | 400 | | Index matches appended to a prompt | 6 | | Part size that is indexed on open | Up to 1,500 features. Above that, nothing is indexed | | Assemblies and drawings | Never indexed on open | | Attachments | See [attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) for the per-file and per-prompt limits | | Drawing standard reference files | 25 MB a file. See [drawing standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) | ## Your CAD files Your part, assembly and drawing files are not uploaded. The panel sends the derived content above. There is one exception, and it is one you trigger on purpose. Drawing standard reference files are uploaded in full and stored, keyed to your organization, so the learned standard stays reproducible. If you submit a part or assembly alongside the drawing, both are uploaded. Files stay until you remove them; there is no automatic expiry. A `.slddrw` attached to a chat outside Drawings Mode is different: it is opened on your machine, captured as an image, and only the image is transmitted. The drawing file itself is not uploaded. Attach the same file in Drawings Mode and it is a drawing standard reference: it is uploaded in full and learned from, as above. See [attachments in Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/#in-drawings-mode). ## Encryption In transit, TLS on 443 to the hosts listed under [install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/). At rest, storage-level encryption across the databases and object storage, which cannot be disabled. CADABRA holds those keys, so access is limited by least-privilege controls rather than made impossible. An authorized member of staff can reach stored content. A second layer sits above that one: stored chats, attachments, standards files and feedback are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before they are written, each account’s data key wrapped by a key held in a hardware-backed vault separate from the data, and decryption gated behind a key permission that storage access alone does not grant. Storage access without that permission reads ciphertext. It is one row in the task pane on every plan, "Encrypt my stored data at rest". While it is on, indexing and retrieval return nothing, the same as under zero retention. Sign-in tokens held on your own machine are encrypted with DPAPI. No at-rest measure changes the fact that answering a prompt means the model provider processes your content in plaintext. ## Isolation and staff access - Indexed content is filtered to the account that wrote it, and a retrieval request cannot reach another account’s chunks. - Only the context a given prompt needs is loaded at run time. Your library is never uploaded wholesale. - Staff access to stored content is granted through the cloud provider’s permission system, to the people who need it, for three reasons: investigating a failure you reported, keeping the service running, and responding to a security or legal obligation. - The internal console shows account details, plan and subscription state, add-in version, devices and token totals. It cannot open your account, read your chats or open your files, and there is no impersonation path. - Your designs, drawings and prompts are not used in demonstrations, sales material, screenshots, talks, case studies or public benchmarks. If we ever want to show your work, we ask first. Single sign-on and role-based access are Enterprise features. See [SSO](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) and [directory sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/). ## Deleting a chat, your content, or your account ### A chat Delete it in the panel. That removes the chat and its attachments. ### Your account Dashboard, Account page, **Delete account** in the danger zone. You confirm with your password, or without one on an account whose password is managed by your identity provider, and the button reads "Delete account permanently". It cancels the subscription, detaches payment history in Stripe and removes the account record and the identity with the authentication provider. [Your account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) covers the page, [billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) covers what happens to the subscription. ### Content stored before you changed the setting Deleting the account does not by itself erase content already stored in the copilot backend, and closing it removes the identity used to locate that content. Email [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com) **before or at the same time as** closing the account, and we will carry the erasure out and confirm when it is done. Three limits apply. 1. Billing and tax records are kept up to 7 years, along with anything a legal obligation makes us hold. If we rely on one of those we say which. 2. One account’s records cannot be pulled out of operational telemetry, logs and diagnostics. Collection can be stopped for you; per-user erasure of that data cannot be promised today. 3. Databases are backed up continuously, so a deleted record can persist in backups for the length of the restore window. ## Sub-processors §6 of the [privacy policy](https://cadabrai.com/privacy/) names every third party and states what each receives. In outline: - **Identity.** Microsoft Entra External ID, and Amazon Cognito during the migration. Your password is stored and verified there, not by CADABRA. - **Model providers.** Amazon Bedrock and Microsoft Azure AI Foundry. Which one answers depends on the deployment your request reaches. - **Observability.** Langfuse, hosted in the United States and outside CADABRA’s cloud accounts, which holds the quality traces described above. Azure Monitor and Application Insights receive traces of the services themselves, not your content. - **Payments.** Stripe. Card numbers stay with Stripe. CADABRA runs as an add-in on your workstation and reaches a hosted processing environment for inference. It does not run offline. The servers, databases and object storage are in the United States, as are the identity, payment and observability providers. Model deployments use a global routing tier, so the inference request that generates your output may be served by provider capacity in a data center outside the United States. ## Reporting a vulnerability Send it to [team@cadabrai.com](mailto:team@cadabrai.com). The same address is published at [/.well-known/security.txt](https://cadabrai.com/.well-known/security.txt). A product bug that is not a security issue goes through [troubleshooting](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) instead. On this page - [The default, by plan](#default) - [The setting](#setting) - [What changes when it is on](#on) - [What is kept anyway](#kept) - [What leaves the workstation on a prompt](#leaves) - [The caps, in one place](#limits) - [Your CAD files](#files) - [Encryption](#encryption) - [Isolation and staff access](#isolation) - [Deleting a chat, your content, or your account](#delete) - [Sub-processors](#vendors) - [Reporting a vulnerability](#report) --- # Troubleshooting, CADABRA documentation URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Troubleshooting Three pages: CADABRA itself, the SOLIDWORKS document, and every string the product can print at you. ## In this section - [CADABRA Issues Add-in registration, network, account, refused runs.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors Debug Mode on a failing document, with worked examples.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages Every refusal, its cause, and its fix.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) ## Where to start If the panel is missing, will not connect, or will not sign in, start with CADABRA issues. If SOLIDWORKS is throwing the error, start with SOLIDWORKS errors. If you are looking at a message and want to know what it means, go straight to error messages. On this page - [In this section](#pages) - [Where to start](#start-here) --- # CADABRA will not load, connect, or sign in URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # CADABRA itself is not working Four places this breaks: the add-in registration, the network, the account, and the run. Each has its own message, and the message tells you which one you are in. ## The CADABRA icon is not in SOLIDWORKS The add-in is installed but not loaded, or it was never registered. 1. In SOLIDWORKS, open **Tools**, then **Add-Ins**. 2. Scroll to **Other Add-Ins**. The left box loads CADABRA in this session, the **Start Up** box loads it in every session. Setup writes the Start Up flag itself, so both are normally already ticked. 3. If CADABRA is not in the list at all, registration did not complete. Close SOLIDWORKS entirely and run `Cadabra.Bundle.exe` again. Setup cannot replace files or write the COM registration while SOLIDWORKS is open, and installing the version you already have is the supported repair. Setup writes every step to `%ProgramData%\CADABRA\install.log`. That file is the only artifact when the panel never appears, so attach it if you [contact us](https://cadabrai.com/contact/). The full check list is in [install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/#checks), and the uninstall and reinstall path is in [uninstall, repair and reinstall](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/#repair). If the icon is there but the pane shows a Windows error label instead of the chat interface, that is a WebView2 or payload failure rather than a registration one: see [pane failures](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/#panel). ## The panel opens but cannot reach CADABRA The panel interface is served from disk, so the interface painting is not evidence of a working connection. Only the API calls cross the network, over HTTPS on port 443. ### The hosts to allow These carry everything the panel does after install. - `api.cadabrai.com`, for every prompt, and the update check. - `accounts.cadabrai.com`, for sign-in, your plan, and usage. - `cadabrai.com`, for the dashboard and billing links the panel opens. The rest are not needed to run a prompt: `builds.dotnet.microsoft.com` for the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime, during setup only, and `stcadabraprds3lz74yr.blob.core.windows.net` for the installer download and in-app updates, and `cadabra-installers.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com` for the installer the update service advertises. The full table, with what breaks when each one is blocked, is [hosts to allow](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/#network). A blocked host breaks the matching feature. Blocking `api.cadabrai.com` stops every prompt. Blocking `accounts.cadabrai.com` leaves you unable to sign in or read your usage. Blocking the update hosts leaves the panel working but unable to install an update. ### Behind a proxy The add-in carries no proxy settings of its own. It uses the Windows system proxy, a PAC script included, and it validates certificates against the Windows certificate store with no pinning. A proxy that inspects TLS therefore works once its root certificate is trusted on the machine, and breaks every call when it is not, without blocking a single host. That is the case to rule out when the hosts are open and nothing connects. There is nowhere to enter proxy credentials, so a proxy that demands its own sign-in has to let these hosts through without one. ### When there is no connectivity at all The add-in still loads, but the saved session cannot be validated, so you land back on the sign-in screen rather than seeing an error. That is the symptom to expect on a machine that is offline or fully blocked. Nothing about your network is measured from your side by [the status page](https://cadabrai.com/status/), so check these hosts before reporting an outage. ## Sign-in is refused The panel prints the message the service returned, word for word. Which message you get names the cause. ### Another machine holds the account One workstation is active at a time on Free, Student, Standard and Professional. Enterprise is not limited to one. Signing in on a second machine is refused and the refusal names the machine holding the account. Nothing is taken over automatically. Release the first machine from the dashboard **Account** page, **Device** group, then sign in again on the new one. The full procedure is [releasing a machine](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/#release). ### Too many machines in 30 days Activation is also throttled by machine, separately from the one-at-a-time rule: three distinct devices in a rolling 30-day window. A fourth is refused, and the message says how many days remain before the oldest of the three ages out. An already-known device is never throttled, so moving between two laptops costs nothing. On a team, an admin can clear it with **Release device** on the member row: [seats and members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/#devices). ### This machine was released If someone released this machine from the dashboard while the panel was still open, the panel stops working and says so. Signing in again from here takes the account back, and blocks whichever machine was activated in the meantime. ### The email is not confirmed A new account is unverified until the code from the sign-up email is entered. Sign-in returns 403 with "Please confirm your email first." Finish verification on the website, then sign in in the panel. Changing your email address makes the account unverified again. ### The password is wrong, or there is no password **Forgot password?** at the bottom of the sign-in form opens `/dashboard/forgot` in your browser. Reset there, then come back to the panel. An account created through Microsoft or through your company identity provider has no CADABRA password to reset, and the refusal says so. ### Single sign-on **Continue with single sign-on** opens your browser, runs the flow at your provider, and hands the session back to the panel. Use it for any account on company SSO. If your provider needs a step the panel cannot show, sign-in stops with "Additional sign-in step required. Please sign in on the CADABRA website." Two-step verification is handled in the panel: it asks for the 6-digit code from your authenticator app, and enrols you if your organization requires it and you have not set it up. Setup, domain verification and the provider-side errors are in [SSO](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/). The refusals, as the panel prints them. The name in quotes is the machine already holding the account. ``` CADABRA is already active on "". Release it from your account settings to use this one. You have activated CADABRA on 3 devices recently. You can activate another in days, or ask an admin to reset it. This device was released. Sign in again to activate CADABRA on it. Please confirm your email first. Incorrect email or password. If you signed up with Microsoft, use the Microsoft button instead. Your password is managed by your single sign-on provider, so it cannot be changed here. Sign-in timed out. Please check your connection and try again. ``` ## Requests are being declined Three different limits refuse a run, and they are not the same thing. - **The mode is not on your plan.** The turn never reaches the service. The transcript answers that the mode is unavailable and shows an **Upgrade** button. See [what unlocks each mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/#entitlements). - **The credit allowance is exhausted.** The service answers 429 and the turn does not run. The message names your plan and the date the allowance returns. The quota is checked before the turn and again before each model call, so a long Agent run can stop part-way with the same message. - **The rate limit.** 120 requests a minute per account, which is not the credit allowance. It clears on its own within a minute, and changing level does not help. The dashboard **Overview** page is the meter: **Used**, **Requests** and **Resets in**. Extra usage for the current period is bought from **Billing** on Student, Professional and Enterprise; from Free the only path is a plan change. See [plans, credits and limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/#running-out) and [extra usage](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/#extra-usage). The exact wording of each refusal, and how the credit message differs per plan, is on [error messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/). ## It did nothing The turn answered and the model is untouched. Check three things, in this order. 1. The mode pill. Only Agent and Drawings change the model, so a request to build or edit sent in Ask, Plan, Debug or Imagine is refused before anything is touched, and the answer reads “That would change your model. Switch to Agent mode to build or edit it.” Switch the pill to **Agent** and send it again, or take the **Run in Agent** handoff under the answer. 2. The line under the answer. **Couldn’t confirm this change. Check your model.** means the operation reported success and the check after it could not prove the change landed. The feature tree settles it. 3. The instruction. A reference that resolves to nothing, and a missing number, both produce an answer rather than an edit. [Writing prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) covers the grammar that removes both. On an active drawing every prompt routes through Drawings Mode whatever the pill says, and a read-only mode there reviews without editing: [Drawings refusals](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/#drawings). ## It did something I did not expect CADABRA does not group a run into a single SOLIDWORKS undo record. Revert is a feature-tree diff, in two scopes: reverting the last step deletes the most recently created feature, and reverting the build deletes every feature the run added, by feature id. An in-place change that added no feature, such as a dimension value, a material or a custom property, is reported as not undone, and a feature the run deleted is not brought back. Ordinary SOLIDWORKS undo still exists, but the rebuilds and selection changes during a run make it unreliable afterwards, and there is no file checkpoint. Read [what revert really does](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/#revert) before you rely on it. Read the feature tree first. It shows exactly what was added, renamed or suppressed. Then revert, or repair the specific feature. Then look at the instruction. An unexpected result is almost always an ambiguous reference or a missing number, and [writing prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) covers the grammar that removes both. If the instruction was unambiguous and the result was still wrong, thumbs down under the answer opens a two-field form, **What did you expect?** and **Why did this response miss the mark?**, which sends what you typed with the request id and your version. It sends no logs and no chat, and it is not a support ticket: for that, [contact us](https://cadabrai.com/contact/) with the prompt and your version number. Approvals are the way to see a change before it lands. **Approval preference** in the task pane Settings has three values, **Always ask**, **Ask for large tasks** (the default) and **Never ask**, and it is stored per machine. The dashboard has a separate **Apply Agent changes without review**, off by default. See [preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/#agent). On this page - [The CADABRA icon is not in SOLIDWORKS](#no-icon) - [The panel opens but cannot reach CADABRA](#no-connection) - [Sign-in is refused](#sign-in) - [Requests are being declined](#declined) - [It did nothing](#nothing) - [It did something I did not expect](#unexpected-edit) --- # SOLIDWORKS rebuild, sketch, and mate errors URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # SOLIDWORKS errors These are document problems, not CADABRA problems. Debug Mode is built for them: it rebuilds, reads the diagnostics, and reports the root cause without touching the model. Debug Mode needs any paid plan. On Free, Ask Mode is the read-only fallback and is described [below](#ask-fallback). See [what unlocks each mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/#entitlements). ## Start in Debug Mode Pick **Debug** from the mode pill in the composer with the failing document open, and describe the symptom. Before it answers anything, Debug always runs four calls, in this order. 1. `get_doc_meta`, for the document type, units, title and active configuration, so the report is anchored to the file in front of you. 2. `list_features`, walking the whole FeatureManager design tree rather than sampling it. 3. `rebuild_and_collect_diagnostics`, a forced rebuild that reads the feature warnings, and the component warnings as well on an assembly. This is the one thing a read-only mode does that you will see happen in the SOLIDWORKS window. 4. `check_external_refs`, reporting broken and missing external references by name. It is the only read-only mode that forces a rebuild, which is why it beats asking. A stale error list describes the document as it was before your last change; Debug describes it as it is now. Where the diagnostics or the tree show a problem it opens the affected feature and quotes the specific code or message rather than paraphrasing it. On a sketch or profile fault it reads the parent sketch. On an assembly it validates the mates, finds the mates on any component carrying a warning, and runs an interference or distance check when clearance is the suspected cause. Every Debug reply comes back under five fixed headings: **Document**, **Feature health**, **External references**, **Root cause**, **Recommended next steps**. Confirmed facts are separated from hypotheses. Full behavior is in [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/). ## Worked examples Send these in Debug Mode with the failing document open. Selecting the feature first is not required, naming it is enough. **Cut-Extrude3 failed to rebuild. What happened?** Rebuilds, quotes the diagnostic on Cut-Extrude3, then opens the feature and its parents to name what it lost. The report separates the error your last change caused from errors already in the file, and the blast radius lists the downstream features that depend on it. **Why are there dangling relations in Sketch7?** Reads the parent sketch and lists the broken and dangling relations, each row naming the entities it binds. The cause is a relation pointing at an edge or face that a parent feature no longer produces, so the fix is upstream of the sketch, not in it. **This part has a broken external reference. Which one, and what consumes it?** Runs the external reference check on its own and returns each row with the owning feature, the referenced entity, the owning component and the status. A missing file and an unresolved in-context reference report differently, so you know whether to repair a path or repair the geometry. **Sketch2 is over-defined. Which constraints conflict?** Reports the sketch constraint status, which is one of `UnderConstrained`, `FullyConstrained`, `OverConstrained`, `NoSolution` or `InvalidSolution`, and lists the relations with the indices that identify them, so you can delete the specific one rather than hunting. **The bracket will not mate correctly in this assembly. What is wrong?** Validates every mate, including sub-assembly mates, and sorts them into healthy, suppressed, over-defined and error. It then finds the mates on the component you named, and checks interference or distance when clearance is the suspect. ## Ask Mode, the read-only fallback Ask Mode is on every plan including Free, and it reads the same document: the feature tree, the current selection, the assembly summary, and up to 12 features already in error or warning. What it does not do is rebuild. It reports the errors SOLIDWORKS recorded at the last rebuild, so on a document you have edited since, the list can be stale. It also does not run the mate validation, the sketch introspection or the external reference check as a required step, though it can call them when the question points at them. It changes nothing, which makes it safe on a released or checked-out file. When the answer implies a change it offers a **Run in Agent** handoff rather than making one. See [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/). ## Errors that appear after a CADABRA edit The cause is the same as any other downstream failure: a feature depended on something the edit changed. What is different is the recovery. CADABRA compares the rebuild errors before and after each operation, so an error it caused is reported differently from one that was already in the file. If a single operation fails after changing a value, the captured value is restored and re-read to confirm the restore, and if that restore fails the message names what could not be put back. Revert is a feature-tree diff, not a SOLIDWORKS undo record. It deletes the features the run added and names them, names any it could not delete, and reports an in-place change that added no feature as not undone. Read [what revert really does](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/#revert) first, then decide between reverting and repairing. Run Debug on the document afterwards. It will tell you whether the tree is clean, which is the one thing the run itself cannot promise you. ## Getting it fixed Debug never edits, and never receives a mutating tool or the VBA tool. Take the root cause it gives you to one of these. - Fix it now: [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/), which performs the repair as native feature operations. - Write the repair down and approve it first: [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/), 4 to 10 steps, no edits. - The document is a drawing rather than a part or assembly: every prompt on an active drawing routes through [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) regardless of the mode on the pill, and needs Drawings access. Nothing verifies that the repaired geometry is the geometry you wanted. CADABRA can tell you the rebuild is clean; it cannot tell you the result is right. Review it. ## Questions. ### Can CADABRA fix SOLIDWORKS errors? CADABRA diagnoses rebuild errors, mate failures, dangling sketch relations, and missing references in the context of your open model, and explains what to change. Because it can see the feature tree and the failing feature, the answer is specific to your file. On this page - [Start in Debug Mode](#debug-first) - [Worked examples](#examples) - [Ask Mode, the read-only fallback](#ask-fallback) - [Errors that appear after a CADABRA edit](#after-a-change) - [Getting it fixed](#fixing) - [Questions](#questions) --- # Error messages, and what each one means URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/ Updated: 2026-09-07 - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Error messages The exact strings, with the cause beside each one. Search this page for the words you are looking at. The panel shows the message in your interface language. The English wording below is what the panel prints when **Language** is English. Where the saved chat history carries a different wording from the line on screen, both are given. ## The mode is not on your plan Two different messages, from two different points in the flow. The first is the panel refusing before it calls anything. Sending in a mode your plan does not have never reaches the service, and the transcript answers with an **Upgrade** button beside it. The second comes from the service, and appears when the panel believed the mode was allowed and the account said otherwise, for example while account status is still arriving after a plan change. The saved transcript for this one is worded differently from the line on screen. Cause: `agentAllowed` covers Plan, Agent and Debug, and is true on every plan except Free. Imagine renders on every plan; only building the concept needs `agentAllowed`. `drawingsAllowed` covers Drawings and is Enterprise only. A paid plan whose subscription is not active is treated as Free, so every mode but Ask locks. See [what unlocks each mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/#entitlements) and [a subscription that is not active](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/#lapsed). On screen, then the wording saved to chat history. ``` Agent mode isn’t available on your current plan. Agent mode is available on paid plans. Upgrade in your dashboard to build and edit models. This mode is available on paid plans. Upgrade to Student or Professional in your dashboard to build and edit models. ``` ## The credit allowance is exhausted HTTP 429, and the turn does not run. The quota is checked before the turn starts and again before each model call inside it, so a long Agent run can stop part-way through with the same message it would have refused with at the start. On screen you get one line naming your plan, with the reset appended as `Resets {date}.` in your locale. The wording saved to chat history is per plan, and that is where the difference between plans shows: each one names the route out that actually exists for that plan. - Free: upgrade. There is no top-up on Free. - Student: upgrade to Professional, or turn on extra usage. - Professional: turn on extra usage. - Enterprise and any other plan: manage the plan, or turn on extra usage. A third wording appears when the limit is hit mid-run rather than at the start. It opens `Credit limit reached for your 'professional' plan`, then gives the credits used against the limit, the reset date, and that retrying will not help. Nothing is rolled back when a run stops there. What was already created is in your model. Buy extra usage, then tell it to continue in the same chat and it picks up from where it stopped, the same as [any unfinished run](#run). Fix: buy extra usage for the current period from the dashboard **Billing** page, on Student, Professional and Enterprise. It is a one-off charge, it does not change your subscription, and it does not roll over. Minimum $10, maximum $10,000 a purchase, and the control is disabled until a card is on file. See [extra usage](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/#extra-usage) and [reaching the limit](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/#running-out). One more place this surfaces: a reference drawing that runs out of allowance while it is being read is saved but not learned from. That message is in [drawing standards](#standards). The line on screen, then the four wordings saved to chat history. ``` You’ve reached your credit limit on the Professional plan. Manage your plan in the dashboard to keep going. Resets {date}. You've reached your free credit limit. Upgrade to a paid plan in your dashboard to keep going. Your limit resets on {date}. You've reached your credit limit on the Student plan. Upgrade to Professional, or turn on extra usage in your dashboard to buy more. Your limit resets on {date}. You've reached your credit limit on the Professional plan. Turn on extra usage in your dashboard to buy more. Your limit resets on {date}. You've reached your credit limit. Manage your plan, or turn on extra usage in your dashboard to buy more. Your limit resets on {date}. ``` ## Too many requests in the last minute A separate limit of 120 requests a minute per account, which is not the credit allowance. It clears on its own within a minute. Switching level does not help, because the limit counts requests whichever model they go to, and buying extra usage does not help either, because no credit was involved. You will only meet it by sending in bursts, usually from several machines on one account or from a script. A single person prompting normally does not reach it. The opening of the message. Search on this. ``` Too many requests in the last minute ``` ## That would change your model Only Agent and Drawings can change the model. A mutating request sent in Ask, Plan, Debug or Imagine is refused before anything is touched. Fix: switch the mode pill to **Agent** and send it again. Ask Mode also offers a **Run in Agent** handoff under the answer, which does the switch for you, and a Plan can be handed to Agent from the plan card. On a drawing the refusal is worded differently, because the routing is different: an active drawing sends every prompt through Drawings Mode regardless of the pill, and a read-only mode there can review but not edit. ``` That would change your model. Switch to Agent mode to build or edit it. Ask mode can review this drawing but not change it. Switch to Agent mode to edit it. ``` ## Drawings refusals ### Drawings access is required A drawing as the active document routes every prompt through Drawings Mode, whatever the mode pill says. Without Drawings access the turn is refused. `drawingsAllowed` is Enterprise only today. The saved transcript wording differs from the line on screen. ### Approvals block Drawings Drawings Mode has no approval step. If **Approval preference** is set to **Always ask**, drawing generation and drawing edits are refused rather than run unapproved, and nothing is created or changed. The message opens `Your permission setting requires you to approve every change, and drawing generation has no approval step yet`, and the edit path says the same about drawing edits. Fix: set **Approval preference** to **Ask for large tasks** or **Never ask** in the task pane Settings, then send it again. The refusal text says "in the composer", which is where the control used to live; it is in Settings now. See [preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/#agent) and [approvals in Drawings](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/#approvals). ### SOLIDWORKS is not running Drawings Mode reaches SOLIDWORKS directly, so it refuses rather than falling back when SOLIDWORKS is not there. ### There is no model to draw A drawing request with no part or assembly to work from opens `Open the part (or assembly) you want a drawing for`, and tells you to open it or attach its `.SLDPRT` file and ask again. ### A drawing already exists Generating a drawing for a model that already has one asks before overwriting, with **Overwrite** and **Keep existing**. On a batch it counts how many of the models already have one and offers the same choice for all of them. On screen, then the wording saved to chat history, then the rest. ``` Reviewing and editing drawings needs Drawings access. Drawing review and editing require Drawings access. Drawings mode needs SolidWorks running. Open SolidWorks and try again. A drawing named "" already exists. Overwrite it, or keep the existing one? ``` ## CADABRA cannot reach SOLIDWORKS The panel is alive and the service answered, but the add-in could not get a document out of SOLIDWORKS. - No document is open. Open a part or an assembly and send it again. - The active document is a type the request does not apply to. - SOLIDWORKS is busy in a modal dialog. Close the dialog. - The COM connection was lost, usually after a SOLIDWORKS crash or a recovery restart. Restart SOLIDWORKS. A separate message covers the case where the model inspection tools themselves could not run. ``` Couldn’t reach SolidWorks. Make sure a part or assembly is open, then try again. CADABRA couldn’t inspect the model. Make sure a SolidWorks document is open, then try again. CADABRA couldn’t reach the model. Check your connection and try again. ``` ## Your session expired The saved session could not be validated, so the turn was not sent. Sign in again in the panel and send the message again; nothing was consumed. This is also the message you get on a machine with no connectivity, because the session cannot be checked. Confirm `accounts.cadabrai.com` is reachable before assuming the account is at fault: [the hosts to allow](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/#network). A device released from the dashboard, or an account activated on another machine, produces the workstation messages instead: [sign-in is refused](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/#sign-in). ``` Your session expired. Sign in again, then retry. Signed in, but your account didn’t load. Try again. Sign-in failed. Check your email and password. ``` ## Update messages ### An optional update A dismissible notice reading `Version {x} is available.` with **Update now**. Nothing is blocked. ### A required update A non-dismissible overlay titled **Update required**, with the version in the body and a single **Update now** button. It cancels in-flight requests and blocks the panel until the update is installed. Installing downloads the installer, verifies its SHA-256, closes SOLIDWORKS and runs setup elevated, so a UAC prompt appears. ### SOLIDWORKS stayed open If SOLIDWORKS is still open 120 seconds after the update asked it to close, the update is abandoned and nothing was installed. Save or close your open documents and press **Update now** again. An unsaved-changes dialog is the usual reason SOLIDWORKS did not close. ### It keeps failing A required update that fails three times stops blocking the panel. Settings then tells you to install the latest version from the website, and the fix is to download the installer from [the download page](https://cadabrai.com/download/) and run it with SOLIDWORKS closed. ``` Update required You must update to {version} before continuing. SolidWorks stayed open, so the update wasn’t installed. Save or close your open documents, then try again. A required CADABRA update is waiting. Install it and restart SolidWorks to continue. The update isn’t ready yet. Restart SolidWorks and try again. This update failed to install repeatedly, so it is no longer required. Install the latest version from the CADABRA website. Couldn’t reach the update service. The channel is saved and applies at the next check. ``` ## The panel itself failed ### Disconnected The chat interface loaded but the add-in behind it stopped answering. The status line reads **Disconnected** over `Cadabra isn’t responding. Restart SolidWorks to reconnect.` A transient drop shows **Connection lost** instead and recovers on its own. Restarting SOLIDWORKS is the fix for the first; the second needs nothing. ### The chat panel crashed The interface caught its own error and replaced itself with **The chat panel crashed.** over "Your saved chats are safe. Retrying rebuilds the panel and clears the open chat." **Retry** rebuilds it. **Copy error details** puts an error id and the stack on your clipboard and sends nothing, so paste it into a message to us. ### The pane never loaded These come from the add-in rather than the interface, and appear as a plain Windows label filling the pane. All three mean the installation is damaged, and all three are fixed by closing SOLIDWORKS and running `Cadabra.Bundle.exe` again. The first opens `Failed to load the CADABRA pane.` and its second line says the installation may be incomplete and to reinstall CADABRA. The other two are quoted in full below. If a reinstall does not fix it, `%ProgramData%\CADABRA\install.log` is the artifact to attach: see [uninstall, repair and reinstall](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/#repair). ### SOLIDWORKS crashed during a run On the next start the panel shows **SolidWorks stopped unexpectedly** and tells you unsaved changes from that session are not in your file, with the date of the crash when it has one. It points at **Tools**, then **Options**, then **Backup/Recover** for the auto-recover copies. A crash log is written to `%APPDATA%\Cadabra\logs\crash__