Volith

An experimental design language for editable 3D, built for AI-driven workflows.

Build a shape from a program, inspect its geometry, then revise the design—not just the mesh. Today's native .vl files preserve the selected executable source, exact inputs and geometry for replay and later edits.

Stored viewer observation fixture in normals mode. This is not an automatic image-to-3D reconstruction or the panel/leaf quickstart output. Capture metadata.

Early development · Windows x64 · Apache-2.0

Quickstart · Examples · Documentation · Connect an AI through MCP · Implementation status · Contributing

Why Volith

The goal is to let an AI turn its understanding of a form into a design it can execute, observe and revise. Volith explores that workflow through a programming language and native MCP tools, rather than treating a finished mesh as the only result.

• Keep the design editable. Save executable source and exact inputs alongside geometry, then replay and change the selected program.

• Inspect what actually ran. Use MCP to execute a program, export its surface and work with observations of the result.

• Make changes checkable. The connected examples share real boundary indices; tests check that a bridge edit preserves its parent surfaces.

For now, this is an early project for developers working on AI tools, geometry and programming languages—not a finished CAD application. The broader goal includes parts, guides, relationships, constraints and preserved design decisions. See the vision and roadmap.

What runs today

The panel and leaf examples use the same reusable design.patch_graph operation with different authored inputs. They demonstrate construction and correction, not trained reconstruction or accepted reference reproduction.

Not implemented yet: arbitrary reference reconstruction, accepted reference fidelity, general nonlinear constraints, separately compiled module imports, or the full native design/reference/history graph. The complete AI interpretation and design-preservation workflow remains a goal, not a delivered product.

Current capabilities and limits are tracked separately from the Revision-3 design.

Quickstart

1. Run an authored example

Requirements: Windows x64, PowerShell 7, Node.js 22+. This scripted example and the native tests need no cloud account, model weights or API key; connecting an AI client is a separate step.

git clone https://github.com/higongback/Volith.git
cd Volith
pwsh -File tools/build.ps1
node tools/run-example.mjs examples/design-graph/panel-bridge.json .work/panel

The build packages the seed and literal Volith source. The example sends real MCP requests and writes a native .vl project, a derived surface and an explicit viewer connection into a new workspace. Use a fresh destination for each run. The JSON input and exported mesh are not native projects.

To verify the native path, run this from the repository root:

node tests/native-design.test.mjs

The tests use Node built-ins and retain a report in a new temporary directory. They check geometry, dependencies, solver cases, native replay and a later edit. See verification details.

2. Inspect the result in 3D

The viewer additionally requires Rust, Windows C++ build tools and WebView2. Starting from the repository root after creating .work/panel:

$env:VOLITH_WORKSPACE = (Resolve-Path .work/panel).Path
cd viewer
npm ci
npm run tauri dev

Choose Load surface to inspect the example or Open to replay a native .vl project. The first Rust build takes longer because it compiles viewer dependencies.

The browser-only display shell does not execute native modeling; use the Tauri viewer for that path. See viewer setup and authored examples.

3. Connect an AI through MCP

Once the local example works, follow the MCP setup guide. Keep the distinction between the tools that run today and the broader design workflow described in the vision.

Documentation

Use the documentation index to navigate the repository without mixing current implementation claims with proposed architecture or retained research. The short version is:

• Implementation status — what runs now.

• Vision and roadmap — direction and planned work.

• Revision 3 design — broader proposed architecture and retained contracts.

• Source layout — directory responsibilities and publication boundaries.

A project to contribute to

We welcome language engineers, geometry and numerical-computing specialists, artists, designers and systems developers. You do not need to understand every layer to help.

Useful first contributions include an independent checker, a reproducible failure case, clearer setup instructions, a reusable spatial operation or a better observation workflow. Starter tasks describe concrete entry points and the evidence expected for each.

Read CONTRIBUTING.md for development boundaries, validation and the pull-request process. Bug and design-proposal templates are included.

Repository layout

Native projects use .vl. Volith source uses .vlth. Production modeling and language execution remain Volith; PowerShell/Node support packaging, transport and independent verification. The viewer uses its disclosed host/display stack. See layout and boundaries.

License

Apache License 2.0. Original Volith source and documentation are open for use and contribution under these terms. Third-party dependencies retain their own licenses; see notices.