Use this when you need to LOOK at a kernelCAD model — render its script to deterministic PNG views for visual self-check (the visual half of the evaluate → render → inspect → fix loop), with NO studio or dev server required. Pass { code } (inline source) or { file } (a .kcad.ts path), exactly one. Renders the canonical engineering views (front, right, top, iso — pass { views } for a subset, e.g. ["iso"] for fastest iteration) plus an optional { pose: "<az>,<el>" } arbitrary camera angle (degrees; az=0,el=0 is front, +az rotates CCW around +Z, +el lifts the camera). NO STUDIO / DEV-SERVER REQUIRED: a prebuilt static player (dist/headless-player) is served from an ephemeral local port automatically; a running studio dev server is used as fallback, and { base_url } forces one. The only environment dependency is playwright chromium (npx playwright install chromium). Pass { focus } or { hide } (arrays of feature ids or assembly part names, mutually exclusive) to isolate parts — same semantics as `kernelcad render --focus/--hide`. Pass { section: { axis, position, flip? } } to cut a cross-section and inspect INTERIOR geometry (wall thickness, internal pockets, whether a bore runs through) rather than only the outer shell. Pass { explode: { factor, mode? } } to pull a multi-part assembly apart (mode: "mate-axis" default, or "radial") using the same mesher as `kernelcad render --explode` — requires assembly.model()/solvedModel(). PNGs are written to { out_dir } (default: a fresh temp session directory) and returned as absolute paths with per-view camera descriptions (kernelCAD is Z-up). Mechanism truth runs first, same protocol as `kernelcad render`: a broken mechanism still renders but every tile is watermarked MECHANISM BROKEN (KERNELCAD_RENDER_STRICT=1 refuses instead); read { mechanism, mechanism_failure_codes }. The probe runs full BREP interference sweeps and can dominate latency on large assemblies — pass { no_mechanism_check: true } for fast iteration (the preview then reports mechanism: "unverified"; ignored under strict mode). Pass { overlay: 'zebra' | 'curvature' | 'continuity' } for a surface-quality visualisation (zebra stripes from vertex normals, curvature as vertex colours, continuity edges coloured by G0/G1/G2/broken) — numbers come from inspect({ of: 'continuity' | 'curvature' }); the overlay is the picture. PUBLISH PRESET: pass { preset: 'publish' } for a share-ready studio product shot (gallery tile, social post, README image, product page): key/fill/rim lights + room reflections, soft contact shadow, clean backdrop ({ background: 'white' (default) | 'light' | 'dark' | 'black' | '#rrggbb' | 'transparent' } — transparent gives a PNG with alpha), { shadow: false } to drop the shadow, 2× supersampled anti-aliasing, 30° lens, the model silhouette centred and auto-framed with ~11% air (a script's setCameraTarget is ignored), per-part colours/materials as authored, no watermark. With no views/pose it renders ONE image named 'hero' (3/4 front-right, az=30°, el=22°) at 1600×1200; width/height go up to 2048; views/pose still work under the preset. Output is deterministic for the same input. For a 360° loop use capture_animation({ turntable: true }). INSPECTION SHEET: { sheet: true } renders all seven views (iso, front, back, left, right, top, bottom) and adds one labelled image named 'sheet' tiling them — do not call a model done because it compiled; call it done when every tile of the sheet matches the request. Returns { ok, images: [{ name, path, description }], out_dir, bounds, mechanism, render_source, render_ms, diagnostics }. PATHS ARE LOCAL to the machine running the MCP server — local stdio clients read them directly; hosted/remote clients should use open_in_studio instead.
Hosted server: the PNGs come back IN the result as image content (up to ~1.5 MB total; larger sets are link-only) and each `images[i].url` is an HTTPS link that expires after 24 h. `images[].path` is a server-side path you cannot open. Works without saving a project (autosave:false is fine). Hosted: lib.fromSTEP / fromSTL / fromDXF / fromSVG and referenceImage take a direct string literal or a const bound to one (computed expressions are unsupported). They accept "asset:<id>" (from request_upload), an https:// URL or a data: URI as the path.