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PartCAD

PartCAD is the first package manager for CAD models and a framework for managing assemblies. It aims to complement Git with everything necessary to substitute commercial Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tools.

PartCAD maintains information about mechanical parts and how they come together to form larger assemblies. The same parts can be reused in multiple assemblies and multiple projects. And all of that is supercharged by the ultimate versioning and collaboration features of Git.

PartCAD features include:

3D part models using CadQuery, build123d and OpenSCAD scripting languages
3D part models using legacy STEP, STL and 3MF files
Generate 3D models using LLM/GenAI: Google AI (Gemini), OpenAI (ChatGPT) or any model published to Ollama (Llama 3.1, DeepSeek-Coder-V2, CodeGemma, Code Llama etc)
2D blueprints using build123d, or legacy DXF and SVG files
Fully featured object-oriented approach to maintaining part interfaces and mating information (with multiple class inheritance etc)
Live preview of 3D models while coding in VS Code
Render models to SVG, PNG and export to STEP, STL, 3MF, ThreeJS and OBJ
Render Markdown documentation files

Find more documentation here and visit our website.

Installation

Extension for Visual Studio Code

This extension can be installed by searching for PartCAD in VS Code extension search form, or by browsing its VS Code marketplace page.

Command-Line Interface

The recommended method to install PartCAD CLI tools for most users is:

pip install -U partcad-cli

For contributors:

git clone https://github.com/openvmp/partcad.git
cd partcad
python3 -m pip install -U -e ./partcad
python3 -m pip install -U -e ./partcad-cli

PartCAD works best when conda is installed. If that doesn't help (e.g. MacOS+arm64) then try mamba. On Windows, PartCAD requires at least a conda environment. On Ubuntu, try apt install libcairo2-dev if pip install fails to install cairo.

Architecture

Tools for Mechanical Engineering

Here is an overview of open source tools to maintain mechanical projects. It demonstrates where PartCAD fits in the modern mechanical development workflows.

flowchart TB

subgraph repo["Your project's GIT repository"]
  subgraph custom_repo["Custom parts"]
    direction TB
    custom_part_internet["A STEP file\ndownloaded from Internet\nor the vendor site"]
    custom_part_cad["A part exported as a solid\nfrom a CAD tool not\nsuitable for collaboration"]
    custom_part_cq["An individual reusable part\nmaintained as a script\nunder a version control system"]
    custom_part_os["Another reusable part\nmaintained as a script\nunder a version control system"]
  end

  model["Your project's model defined\nas ASSY or Python code\nfor version control\nand collaboration"]

  subgraph scenes["Scenes"]
    test1["Capability 1\ntest scene"]
    test2["Capability 2\ntest scene"]
  end
end

subgraph external_repos["Third-party GIT repositories,\nCDN-hosted files or OCCI servers"]
  subgraph external_repo["Repository of standard\nor popular parts"]
  end
end

subgraph external_tools["External tools"]
  freecad["FreeCAD"]
  cadquery["CadQuery / build123d"]
  openscad["OpenSCAD"]
  gazebo["Gazebo"]

  partcad["PartCAD library"]
  style partcad fill:#c00
end

custom_part_cad <--- |Individual\ncontributor|freecad
custom_part_cq <--- |Part design\nworkflow| cadquery
custom_part_os <--- |Part design\nworkflow| openscad

external_repo ---> |Import| model
custom_repo ---> |Import| model
model -.-> |Import| test1
model -.-> |Import| test2

custom_repo <-. Maintained\nusing\nPartCAD\nconvention .- partcad
external_repo <-. Maintained\nusing\nPartCAD\nconvention .- partcad
model <--- partcad
test1 <--- partcad
test2 <--- partcad

test1 -.-> |Export| gazebo
test2 -.-> |Export| gazebo