AI · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Open-sourcing our text-to-CAD app
Hey HN! I'm Zach from Adam (https://adam.new/). We’re building an AI co-pilot for mechanical CAD software. As part of our broader research, we built a browser-based Text-to-CAD app (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44182206) and are now open sourcing it. This is a React SPA with a Supabase backend. What it does: * Generates parametric 3D models from natural language descriptions, with support for both text prompts and image references * Outputs OpenSCAD code with automatically extracted parameters that surface as interactive sliders for instant dimension…
Adam's Text-to-CAD app is a browser-based tool that generates 3D parametric models from natural language descriptions or images. It produces OpenSCAD code with extracted parameters that appear as interactive sliders… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.
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I'm currently developing Chili3D, an open-source, browser-based 3D CAD application. By compiling OpenCascade to WebAssembly and integrating Three.js, Chili3D delivers near-native performance for powerful online modeling, editing, and rendering—all without local installation. Access it here: https://github.com/xiangechen/chili3d Features: Modeling Tools: Create basic shapes (boxes, cylinders, cones, etc.), 2D sketches (lines, arcs, circles, etc.), and perform advanced operations (boolean operations, extrusion, revolution, etc.). Snapping and Tracking: Precisely snap to…
2025 · its alternatives →
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Hey HN, I'm a beginner at CAD so I built an app that does it for me ;) Describe a part and ChatToSTL writes the OpenSCAD code, shows a live render with size sliders, then exports the STL/3MF file. Because the output is parametric, it's easy to modify (unlike mesh models like Shap-E or DreamFusion). Try it (needs your own OpenAI key): https://huggingface.co/spaces/flowfulai/ChatToSTL How it works: Text prompt → o4-mini generates OpenSCAD code → live render + sliders → refine in chat → export. Examples & Code: * Walkthrough + real prints (bowl, hook, box, door…
2025 · huggingface.co · its alternatives →
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Hey HN! I’m Zach one of the co-founders of Adam (https://www.adamcad.com). We're building AI-powered tools for CAD and 3D modeling [1]. We’ve recently been exploring a new way to bring GPT-style image editing directly into 3D model generation and are excited to showcase this in our web-app today. We’re calling it creative mode and are intrigued by the fun use cases this could create by making 3D generation more conversational! For example you can put a prompt in such as “an elephant” then follow it up by “have it ride a skateboard” and it preserves the context, identity and…
2025 · adamcad.com · its alternatives →
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Hey HN. Over the last half a year I have been working on a 3D CAD programming language called DSLCAD. Today I am here to show my first release! It is heavily inspired by OpenSCAD which got me hooked on the idea of a CAD programming language and what it can do. Please let me know what you think. Ill be in the thread to answer any questions you may have.
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
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AI CAD Harness▲101Hi HN, I'm Zach, one of the co-founders of Adam (https://adam.new). We've been on HN twice before with text-to-CAD/3D experiments [1][2]. The honest takeaway from those threads: prompt-to-3D model web apps are fun, but serious mechanical engineers don't want a black box that spits out an STL. They want help inside the CAD tool they already use, with full visibility and control over the feature tree. So we built that. Adam is now a harness that integrates directly with your CAD. It reads your parts, understands the existing feature tree, and edits it for you agentically. We are…
May 2026 · fusion.adam.new · its alternatives →
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FreeCAD 1.1▲218Extremely powerful, completely free 3D CAD modeling
Mar 2026 · wiki.freecad.org · its alternatives →
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Context.dev▲814Hello, My name is Yahia, I've been working on scraping products for a long time and maintain a couple of free sites in my spare time (E.g. knifegeek.io) What prompted this is i've rebuilt scraping infra at every company I've started and finally just made it a product. Pass a URL, get clean markdown, html, images, sitemap or pass a domain, get logos, colors, socials, industry data. Goal is to offer a better service than VC funded competitors at a fraction of the cost. Stealth is included and automatic at no additional cost (normally an upcharge by alternatives). Would love your honest thoughts.
Jul 2026 · context.dev · its alternatives →
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Hi HN, I’m the creator of SynapsCAD, an open-source desktop application I've been building that combines an OpenSCAD code editor, a real-time 3D viewport, and an AI assistant. You can write OpenSCAD code, compile it directly to a 3D mesh, and use an LLM (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, ...) to modify the code through natural language. Demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN8a5UozS5Q A bit about the architecture: - It’s built entirely in Rust. - The UI and 3D viewport are powered by Bevy 0.15 and egui. - It uses a pure-Rust compilation pipeline (openscad-rs for parsing and csgrs…
Feb 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Hello HN users, This is a CAD by code project I have been working on on my free time for more than year now. I built it with 3 goals in mind: - It should be familiar to CAD designers who have used other programs. Same workflow, same terminology. - Reduce the mental effort required to create models as much as possible. This is achieved by: - Provide live rendering and visual guidance as you type. - Allow the user to reference existing edges/faces on the scene instead of having to calculate everything. - Provide interactive mouse helpers for features that are hard to write by code: Only 3…
Apr 2026 · fluidcad.io · its alternatives →
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agentcad▲110A CAD design tool for coding agents (free + open source)
Jun 2026 · agentcad.dev · its alternatives →
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I figured I needed to work on my coding skills before building the next groundbreaking AI app, so I started working on this free tool site. Its basically just an aggregation of various commonly used calculators and unit convertors. Link: https://www.calcverse.live Tech Stack: Next, React, Typescript, shadcn UI, Tailwind CSS Would greatly appreciate your feedback on the UI/UX and accessibilty. I struggled the most with navigation. I've added a search box, a sidebar, breadcrumbs and pages with grids of cards leading to the respective calculator or unit convertor, but not sure if…
2025 · calcverse.live · its alternatives →
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Whisker▲94Create and edit CAD models into production-ready prototypes
Mar 2026 · whisker.spatialkittens.com · its alternatives →
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Dust3D 1.0 is finally released — about 10 years after the first commit in December 2016. I posted a preview version here in April 2018 and a beta in December 2018. Back then I thought 1.0 was just around the corner, but I kept adding new features that I could barely find time to finish as a weekend side project. I finally got it done with GitHub Copilot, using models including Claude Opus 4.6, Raptor mini (Preview), Claude Haiku 4.5, and Claude Sonnet 4.6. It's a cross-platform low-poly 3D modeling app focused on making it fast to create game-ready characters and objects from scratch. Source…
2018 · dust3d.org · its alternatives →
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Agent tooling for generative LEGO models building, built with Astra and Opus 5.5, powered by Jev - anteloc/ldraw-nova
21d ago · github.com · its alternatives →
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Render 3D models (OBJ, glTF, GLB, STL, .vox) as ASCII art — in the browser, in React or Vue, or straight in your terminal. A three.js-style API with no WebGL and no canvas: just text in a single <pre>.
Jun 2026 · glyphcss.com · its alternatives →
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SolidCraft: an open-source parametric 3D CAD application built in pure Rust. Desktop, web, and automation through MCP. - bherbruck/solidcraft
11d ago · github.com · its alternatives →
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🔥 Open Source Browser API for AI Agents & Apps. Steel Browser is a batteries-included browser sandbox that lets you automate the web without worrying about infrastructure. - steel-dev/steel-browser
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
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PixyCAD ▲126Fast & precise 3D CAD built natively for iPad and Mac
Jul 2026 · pixycad.com · its alternatives →
- 24LP
LuaCAD models solids in Lua rather than the OpenSCAD language, with operator overloading for CSG (`a + b`, `a - b`, `a * b`). It ships with a CLI and a desktop app, including a preview area and a text editor. I've always been a big fan of OpenSCAD, but the SCAD language itself is unfortunately quite cobbled-together and is a very poorly designed programming language. LuaCAD takes all the good parts of OpenSCAD and combines them with one of the best scripting languages. It has now completely replaced OpenSCAD for me, and I think it provides a better experience than OpenSCAD for all use cases.…
Aug 2026 · luacad.ad-si.com · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →