{"slug": "brl-cad", "name": "BRL-CAD", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 2.186, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-11-07", "latest": "2026-05-24", "why": "For a current example of a tool which works along those lines see the venerable BRL-CAD:", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "For a current example of a tool which works along those lines see the venerable BRL-CAD:", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "brlcad.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://brlcad.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["BRL-CAD"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 759922064, "item_id": 47495129, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47495129", "by": "RobotToaster", "date": "2026-03-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Brl-cad https://brlcad.org/", "excerpt": "Brl-cad https://brlcad.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "3D CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dune3d: A parametric 3D CAD application"}, {"id": 748737104, "item_id": 46796069, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46796069", "by": "Gud", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Surprised no one is mentioning BRL-CAD.", "excerpt": "Surprised no one is mentioning BRL-CAD. This is exactly how BRL-CAD works! https://brlcad.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Parametric CAD in Rust"}, {"id": 736480576, "item_id": 46030036, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46030036", "by": "WillAdams", "date": "2025-11-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "if one wants to use that sort of thing, why not go _all_ the way back", "excerpt": "Yes, but if one wants to use that sort of thing, why not go _all_ the way back: https://brlcad.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "Solid modeling CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "\u00b5cad: New open source programming language that can generate 2D sketches and 3D"}, {"id": 733572032, "item_id": 45848252, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45848252", "by": "WillAdams", "date": "2025-11-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For a current example of a tool which works along those lines see the venerable BRL-CAD:", "excerpt": "For a current example of a tool which works along those lines see the venerable BRL-CAD: https://brlcad.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: JermCAD \u2013 A YAML-powered, vibe-coded, browser-based CAD software"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["cad modeling", "3d cad modeling", "solid modeling cad"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48253386", "title": "Microsoft open-sources \"the earliest DOS source code discovered to date\"", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48099347", "title": "Golden Testing a CAD Library", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47475417", "title": "Dune3d: A parametric 3D CAD application", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46786196", "title": "Parametric CAD in Rust", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46027216", "title": "\u00b5cad: New open source programming language that can generate 2D sketches and 3D", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45823565", "title": "Show HN: JermCAD \u2013 A YAML-powered, vibe-coded, browser-based CAD software", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 2}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 772140976, "item_id": 48258811, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48258811", "by": "RobotToaster", "date": "2026-05-24", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "brl-cad is still in active development and has commits from 1983", "excerpt": "Not quite as old, but brl-cad is still in active development and has commits from 1983. https://github.com/BRL-CAD/brlcad/graphs/contributors?all=1", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft open-sources \"the earliest DOS source code discovered to date\""}, {"id": 770120176, "item_id": 48132511, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48132511", "by": "brlcad", "date": "2026-05-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "BRL-CAD has had the pixdiff, bwdiff, and pixcmp tools for a very long time", "excerpt": "Nice to see other open source CAD development being explored. BRL-CAD has had the pixdiff, bwdiff, and pixcmp tools for a very long time, for very similar purposes: pixdiff: https://manpage.me/index.cgi?q=pixdiff&sektion=1&apropos=0&manpath=FreeBSD+11.1-RELEASE+and+Ports bwdiff: https://manpage.me/index.cgi?q=bwdiff&sektion=1&apropos=0&manpath=FreeBSD+11.1-RELEASE+and+Ports pixcmp: https://manpage.me/index.cgi?apropo", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Golden Testing a CAD Library"}, {"id": 759922064, "item_id": 47495129, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47495129", "by": "RobotToaster", "date": "2026-03-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Brl-cad https://brlcad.org/", "excerpt": "Brl-cad https://brlcad.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "3D CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dune3d: A parametric 3D CAD application"}, {"id": 748737104, "item_id": 46796069, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46796069", "by": "Gud", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Surprised no one is mentioning BRL-CAD.", "excerpt": "Surprised no one is mentioning BRL-CAD. This is exactly how BRL-CAD works! https://brlcad.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Parametric CAD in Rust"}, {"id": 736480576, "item_id": 46030036, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46030036", "by": "WillAdams", "date": "2025-11-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "if one wants to use that sort of thing, why not go _all_ the way back", "excerpt": "Yes, but if one wants to use that sort of thing, why not go _all_ the way back: https://brlcad.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "Solid modeling CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "\u00b5cad: New open source programming language that can generate 2D sketches and 3D"}, {"id": 733572032, "item_id": 45848252, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45848252", "by": "WillAdams", "date": "2025-11-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For a current example of a tool which works along those lines see the venerable BRL-CAD:", "excerpt": "For a current example of a tool which works along those lines see the venerable BRL-CAD: https://brlcad.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: JermCAD \u2013 A YAML-powered, vibe-coded, browser-based CAD software"}]}