Download v0.0.1

Ready-to-run builds for Linux, Windows, and macOS. Unsigned on Windows/macOS for early releases — Gatekeeper/SmartScreen may prompt; verify SHA256 checksums on the release page.

What you can make today

The everyday solid-modeling loop is already here: constrained sketches, classic features, direct edits, and a parametric history you can reopen and change. Click a preview to watch the full demo.

Place hole… inset from corners

Size a plate, then Place hole… near a corner — magnets snap and inset by an amount inferred from Ø, thickness, and material.

Sketch → dimension → extrude

Draw closed profiles, drive them with dimensions, and extrude solid bodies — the core path from idea to part.

Revolve profiles into solids

Spin a sketch about an axis for washers, flanges, and other parts of revolution.

Sweep along a path

Combine sketch rails into a path, then sweep a profile into tubing and rails — or select profile + rail for a one-shot sweep.

Loft with guide rails

Blend between profiles and steer the transition with an open guide rail.

Full sketch toolkit

Lines, rectangles, circles, splines, trim, extend, construction geometry, and constraints — familiar drafting, not a toy canvas.

Edit features later

Leave a sketch, come back, change dimensions or geometry — the solid updates with the history.

Assemblies that move

Mate jaws to a pin with concentric + coincident — leftover revolute DOF lets you drag the pliers open and closed.

Fewer clicks than SolidWorks on a beginner part

We timed a centered through-hole (the same Extruded Cut pattern as the pin hole) against SolidWorks’ official Creating a Cut Extrude lesson from the Model a pair of needle-nose pliers training series (Nick Ler, SolidWorks training team).

  • SolidWorks — ~32 gestures for the comparable brick + through-hole path (sketch → extrude → sketch circle → Extruded Cut Through All)
  • SolidExpress — ≤10 clicks with Box + Apply hole, or ≤8 with the O shortcut (Depth 0 = through)

Through-hole click audit: mounting-block study · pliers series (mates + revolute drag): see the Assemblies that move demo above and the needle-nose pliers study · recipe: mounting-block howto

It is your software

SolidExpress is open-source CAD. Study it, change it, redistribute it, and keep your models in formats the rest of the industry already speaks. No subscription gate between you and the kernel. No proprietary dead-end for the parts you design.

v0.0.1 binaries available

Beyond the first solid

Finish and combine

  • Fillet and chamfer edges
  • Boolean unite, subtract, and intersect
  • Push / pull planar faces for quick direct edits
  • Mirror, linear and circular patterns, offset

Work like a modeler

  • Orbit, pan, and zoom with mouse, trackpad, or touch
  • Section views and shaded / edged / wireframe display
  • Variables and equations that drive dimensions
  • Feature history with undo and redo

Import & export

Bring geometry in, send geometry out. Drag and drop onto the viewport, or use the File menu. Your work stays movable across the tools you already use.

Bring in

  • STEP (.step / .stp) — industry B-rep exchange
  • STL — mesh import for reference or further work
  • SVG — drop 2D artwork onto a face as sketch geometry
  • Native documents — open and save parametric models with full history

Send out

  • STEP — hand off precise solids to CAM, simulation, or other CAD
  • STL — mesh for 3D printing and visualization
  • SVG drawings — lightweight 2D views of your model
  • AI context — markdown export of the document so assistants can reason about your design

Roadmap

What is coming next, and what it unlocks for you — not a laundry list of internals.

Ready-to-run builds

Installer-ready packages for Linux, macOS, and Windows so you can open SolidExpress without compiling from source.

Enables: try it in minutes, share it with a shop or classroom, and keep a known-good desktop release on every machine.

Assemblies & mates

Multi-body products with mate connectors, joints, explode views, and interference checks.

Enables: mechanisms and product structures — not just single parts — with motion you can drag and clearances you can verify before you cut metal.

Production drawings

Associative drawing sheets with dimensions, GD&T, BOM balloons, and PDF / DXF export.

Enables: shop-floor prints and supplier packages that update when the model changes, without redrawing every revision by hand.

Richer interchange

Fuller STEP AP242 exchange (colors, names, assembly structure), plus 3MF / glTF meshes and DXF into sketches.

Enables: cleaner handoffs to CAM, visualization, and other CAD — and sketching from existing 2D data instead of retracing it.

Sheet metal, frames & surfacing

Flanges and flat patterns, structural frames with cut lists, cosmetic welds, and surface modeling tools.

Enables: enclosures, weldments, and freeform shapes that leave the desk ready for laser, brake, and fabrication — not only prismatic solids.

Model-based definition (MBD)

3D product manufacturing information on the model itself, exportable with semantic STEP PMI.

Enables: inspection and manufacturing to read tolerances from the solid — fewer ambiguous 2D callouts, one source of truth on the part.

Presentation & motion

Still renders, turntable / explode video, and kinematic motion studies.

Enables: reviews, marketing stills, and mechanism proof-outs you can share without opening the CAD session.

Automation & extensions

Scripted document control, batch CLI export, and a plugin surface for custom commands.

Enables: regenerate families of parts overnight, wire SolidExpress into your pipeline, and grow the tool without waiting on the core team.

Open by design

SolidExpress is not a black box with a logo on it. The modeling software, the interchange paths, and the document story are meant to stay under your control — whether you are a solo maker, a shop floor, or a team that refuses to rent its toolchain forever.

Fork it. Audit it. Teach with it. Ship products with it. It remains your software.