Nördnytt! 🤓Launch HN: Adam (YC W25) – Open-Source AI CAD
- AI will be the primary medium for creating mechanical designs just like it is in software today.
- The best paradigm for CAD generation is to generate CAD as code (text -> code -> CAD).
We’re building CADAM, an open source Text to CAD platform. It's a React app (TanStack Start) with a Supabase backend for auth, database, and file storage. Think of it like AI TinkerCAD.
Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iESOr7EGWqk Try it: https://adam.new/cadam/
What it does:
- Generates parametric 3D models from natural language, with support for both text prompts and image references.
- Outputs OpenSCAD code with automatically extracted parameters that surface as interactive sliders for instant dimension tweaking
- Exports as .STL or .SCAD (plus OBJ, GLB/GLTF, FBX, and DXF)
Under the hood:
- One agentic endpoint with two modes that swap system prompts and tools: a parametric mode that writes/edits OpenSCAD via a build_parametric_model tool, and a mesh mode that generates 3D textured meshes.
- Simple parameter tweaks bypass the model entirely; adjusting a slider does a deterministic regex update on the SCAD source, requiring no LLM call.
- Model-agnostic via the Vercel AI SDK: Anthropic (Claude), Google (Gemini), and OpenAI/others through OpenRouter, with adaptive thinking auto-enabled on newer models. Surprisingly, in our evals Gemini 3.1 Pro is the top model.
- Runs fully in-browser by compiling OpenSCAD to WebAssembly (in a Web Worker, so the UI never blocks) and rendering with Three.js via React Three Fiber
- Supports BOSL, BOSL2, and MCAD libraries, plus custom font support (Geist) for text in models
Future improvements:
- Support both build123d and CadQuery. This will allow us to move beyond CSG primitives to constraint-driven modeling and provide direct comparisons to other code-as-CAD primitives.
- Better spatial context: UI for face/edge selection and viewport image integration to give LLMs spatial understanding
You can clone the repo and run it locally! Contributions are very welcome.
- dgellow - 765 sekunder sedanI'm pretty skeptical of AI products, but your onboarding and first design experience has been pretty awesome. I will definitely spend a bit more time experimenting with this
- murkt - 1233 sekunder sedanI find all current LLMs to have pretty poor spatial awareness. It is becoming better, but still very poor. How are you dealing with that? Got any special tricks, any advice?
- dvh - 5120 sekunder sedanI asked it to create 3d model of "AMF-O97L45-DB". It pulled datasheet and generated 3D model. Left is reality, right is what was generated: https://imgur.com/a/oNaz51q
- wrong pitch
- wrong pins position
- missing pins
- paulglx - 6750 sekunder sedanIt could be a nice touch to give some examples of what it's possible to ask CADAM!
- jrflo - 6850 sekunder sedanCan you talk more about the UI for face/edge selection that you're working on? Is that only going to be in the OnShape/Fusion plugins?
- - 6951 sekunder sedan
- _pdp_ - 5831 sekunder sedanVery cool. Why not start with an MCP instead?
An existing LLM could drive the generation while the MCP can render the final result?
- zardo - 5666 sekunder sedanFYI there is already a product with a very similar name, CADEM.
- q3k - 5385 sekunder sedan> A complete V8 internal combustion engine
Yeah, no, that's a lie. This isn't a CAD model. It's a fantasy 3d model that looks like it's straight out of Gearhead Garage (1999).
Any time I see these 'AI CAD' solutions it's always toys, toys, toys. Show me something functional that you've actually manufactured (shitty 3D prints don't count). Or at least show me something that can actually be assembled and isn't just a bunch of boxes with no fasteners to hold them together.
- ark296 - 3944 sekunder sedan[dead]
- jacobblyons - 7407 sekunder sedan[dead]
- cui - 4015 sekunder sedanCan you claim your product here? https://thecadhub.com/details/adam-cad/