mcp-cad

Give any AI coding agent direct parametric control over desktop CAD.
Not an app. Not a plugin. An MCP server — infrastructure for the agent-first era of CAD.

Showcase

▶️ Watch showcase video

Related MCP server: SolidworksMCP-python

Why mcp-cad is different

The problem with CAD AI tools today

Existing tools are apps. They force you into their UI, their workflow, their pricing model. CAD add-ins lock you into one vendor and charge per seat. Browser-based tools hold your designs on their servers. Both give you high-level "prompt-to-part" with limited control over the result — and zero transparency into what the AI is actually doing.

What mcp-cad unlocks

mcp-cad is not an app. It's an MCP server that any AI coding agent can use as a tool. You stay in your agent (Claude, OpenCode, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code, Pi) and the agent drives your CAD application directly — sketch by sketch, feature by feature, parameter by parameter.

• 80+ atomic tools — not "generate a bracket", but sketch_line, extrude, circular_pattern, combine. Full parametric control.

• Tag-based entity resolution — name geometry @hole_center and reference it reliably across operations.

• Composable skills — higher-level abstractions built on the atomic tools, reducing tool calls for common workflows.

• Early-bound COM — no dynamic/reflection hacks. Real type safety, real reliability.

• Provider-agnostic — same MCP protocol and tool surface across CAD backends. Swap the engine via config, not client changes.

Built at AI speed — 8 days, 80+ tools

The entire project was built using SDD (Spec-Driven Development) — AI-orchestrated planning and implementation. From first commit to 80+ production tools across sketch, 3D features, assembly, work geometry, parameters, iProperties, and export — in 8 days.

May 26 → Jun 3, 2026
  Sketch (20 tools)      ████████████████████
  3D Features (21)       █████████████████████
  Assembly (16)          ████████████████
  Work Geometry (3)      ███
  Params & Props (9)     █████████
  Export (4)             ████
  Skills (22)            ███████████████████████

Quick start (easiest — for most users)

Download and click. No git. No terminal. No .NET SDK required.

1. Go to the Releases page and download v0.2.0 (mcp-cad-v0.2.0-portable.zip)

2. Extract the zip to any folder (Desktop, Documents, etc.)

3. Double-click McpCad.Installer.exe — the GUI wizard opens immediately (no console window)

4. The GUI wizard opens by default (welcome → agent checkboxes + CAD Skills + Backups toggle → progress → finish). Recommended agents are pre-selected.

5. When you select any agent (Grok, Cursor, Claude, VS Code, OpenCode, Pi...), the installer will:

   • Register the mcp-cad MCP server for that client

   • Copy the CAD skills (macro-basic-part, inventor-new-part, macro-selector, ...) into that agent's skills directory (e.g. ~/.grok/skills/, ~/.cursor/skills/, %APPDATA%/Claude/skills/, etc.) This makes the high-level skills available natively/global to the agent.

6. The standalone "CAD Skills" item deploys the skills to all supported agents in one go.

7. Advanced: McpCad.Installer.exe --tui for the classic keyboard TUI; --recommended / --all for non-interactive CLI.

After it says configured, restart your AI client and open your CAD application (Autodesk Inventor 2025+ in v0.2.0).

That's it. Your AI can now drive CAD directly.

Advanced: run McpCad.Installer.exe --tui for the keyboard TUI, or --recommended / --all for non-interactive CLI.

For developers / building from source

git clone https://github.com/Andiveli/mcp-cad.git
cd mcp-cad

# Publish server + installer (self-contained recommended for distribution)
dotnet publish src/McpCad.Server   -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained -p:PublishSingleFile=true -o dist/mcp-cad
dotnet publish src/McpCad.Installer -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained -p:PublishSingleFile=true -o dist/mcp-cad

# Or use the portable release script (adds skills/, README.txt)
.\scripts\publish-portable.ps1

# Run the installer (GUI default; add -- --tui for Spectre TUI)
dotnet run --project src/McpCad.Installer
# or double-click McpCad.Installer.exe

Prerequisites (dev builds): Windows 10/11 + a supported CAD backend (Inventor 2025+ for v0.2.0) + .NET 8 SDK (only needed to build).

How it works

You → AI Agent (Claude / OpenCode / Cursor / Windsurf / VS Code / Pi)
        │
        ├── "Create a gear with 24 teeth, module 2, 10mm thick"
        │
        ▼
     MCP Protocol (stdio)
        │
        ▼
   mcp-cad server (.NET 8)
        │
        ├── sketch_circle XY 0 0 47.5
        ├── sketch_circle XY 0 0 50 tag=@tip
        ├── extrude 1 10
        ├── circular_pattern extrusion="Extrusion1" axis="Y Axis" count=24
        └── ...
        │
        ▼
   Early-bound COM → CAD backend (Inventor in v0.2.0)

Architecture

src/
├── McpCad.Core/           Protocol & models (zero COM)
├── McpCad.Inventor/        Inventor COM backend
│   ├── Managers/            Sketch, Feature, Assembly, Parameter, Property, Export
│   └── Helpers/              TagStore, AxisResolver, EdgeResolver, ComDispatch
├── McpCad.Tools/           MCP tool definitions (AtomicTools, SkillTools)
├── McpCad.Server/          MCP stdio transport
└── McpCad.Installer/       Installer (GUI wizard default + Spectre TUI via --tui)

Provider pattern — same protocol, multiple CAD engines:

MCP → ICadProvider (connection, docs, export)
       ├── IMechanicalCadProvider (sketch, 3D, assembly)
       │   ├── InventorProvider (COM)          ← v0.2.0 release
       │   └── SolidWorksProvider (in development)
       └── IElectronicCadProvider
           └── KiCadProvider (planned)

Full tool reference

See docs/tools-reference.md for the complete list of 80+ tools and 22 composable skills.

Tags

Tag sketch entities with @name for reliable referencing:

sketch_line 0 -1 0 5 tag=eje     →  revolve profile 1 axis=@eje
sketch_circle 3 0 1 tag=perfil   →  extrude profile=@perfil

Reliability through feedback

After performing operations, the agent should request feedback to verify the actual state in your CAD application (close the loop).

mcp-cad supports two complementary approaches:

• Visual/multimodal: capture_viewport_image returns Base64 PNG screenshots from standard views (Iso, Front, Top, Right, "Current", etc.). Vision models can directly inspect geometry, bosses, grooves, crown shape, etc.

• Structured data: get_feature_tree (feature tree / Árbol de Operaciones), get_bounding_box, and inspect_edges give exact names, structure, and measurements without relying on vision.

See the Inspection & Verification section in the tool reference for details and recommended patterns.

Releases

Full changelog and publishing instructions: docs/RELEASE.md

License

MIT — free, forever.