{"slug": "openscad", "name": "OpenSCAD", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "Script-based CAD modeller that builds 3D solids from code using constructive solid geometry.", "recommenders": 31, "commenters": 50, "warners": 3, "score": 29.843, "rising": 10.76, "first": "2025-11-10", "latest": "2026-10-16", "why": "Loved by programmers and 3D-printing hobbyists for plain-text, git-friendly parametric designs that LLMs can write well.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 32, "neutral": 17, "compare": 4, "warn": 3}, "spark": [1, 6, 3, 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 0, 2, 1, 13], "listed": true, "loved": ["LLM-friendly", "Code as design"], "caveat": "Fillets and complexity", "short_quote": "It is amazing. I spend more time in OpenSCAD than in any other program I use and I'm amazingly productive with it.", "icon": true, "domain": "openscad.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://openscad.org/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["OpenSCAD"], "verdict": [{"text": "Loved by programmers and 3D-printing hobbyists", "cites": [{"id": 800568832, "item_id": 50035552, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035552", "by": "TacticalCoder", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you love programming and like to DIY stuff around the house, buying a 3D printer and learning some OpenSCAD is a no-brainer.", "excerpt": "OpenSCAD is amazing for those who know nothing about 3D but know about programming. I bought a 3D printer (which is basically simpler and more reliable than a 2D inkjet printer by now: it's send the file, put the filament, and 3D print and it just works) recently and already fixed shitload of stuff around the house with 3D printed parts. I even did \"print in place\" pieces where you add a pause a a certain layer, inse", "context": "developer with a 3D printer", "use_case": "3D printed parts", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 741418080, "item_id": 46338630, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46338630", "by": "Ccecil", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you have a background in code I recommend giving it a go.", "excerpt": "If you are a programmer OpenSCAD is likely for you. It certainly has benefits in things that are repeating patterns (gears and such)...and if your mind is good at visualizing things in \"code\" things will likely go a lot faster. I personally do better with CAD software such as fusion or freecad since my mind doesn't work in the code realm since I have more of a hardware mindset. Translating the picture in my head to c", "context": "hardware mindset", "use_case": "code-based CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}, {"id": 800623696, "item_id": 50038981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50038981", "by": "nayuki", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OpenSCAD as my primary design tool for 3D modeling.", "excerpt": "I use OpenSCAD as my primary design tool for 3D modeling. I get things done, but it isn't easy, and it's hard to recommend it to other people. OpenSCAD really requires the user to mathematics, trigonometry, mental visualization, and programming beforehand as prerequisites - unlike mainstream CAD programs which are more point-and-click friendly. Performing fillets and chamfers on corners is quite tedious, and describi", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric 3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}]}, {"text": " for plain-text, git-friendly parametric designs", "cites": [{"id": 800615280, "item_id": 50038455, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50038455", "by": "Brian_K_White", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love it myself and use it as much as possible simply because it's outstanding to be able to express a complete design in 1k of plain text", "excerpt": "There is no trick way to solve the fillet problem or about 100 other common necessary things in openscad. Don't get me wrong, I love it myself and use it as much as possible simply because it's outstanding to be able to express a complete design in 1k of plain text which is readable, diffable, gittable. You can get a lot done, and some things you can do even easier and simpler than anything else, and you can work-aro", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric 3D design", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 741437168, "item_id": 46339823, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46339823", "by": "jacquesm", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It is amazing. I spend more time in OpenSCAD than in any other program I use and I'm amazingly productive with it.", "excerpt": "It is amazing. I spend more time in OpenSCAD than in any other program I use and I'm amazingly productive with it. 3 to 4 cycles / day, the longest time is waiting for the printer to cough up the next iteration, then it is building debugging and improving again. The power of parametric cad is such that I wouldn't be a 10th as productive using an interactive cad system. And because it is effectively software you are w", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric CAD for 3D printing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}, {"id": 800566832, "item_id": 50035427, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035427", "by": "jacquesm", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OpenSCAD a lot, it ties right into my workflow and plays nice with versioning", "excerpt": "The one you want is the experimental build, it is way faster to the point that 'preview mode' should be disabled. I use OpenSCAD a lot, it ties right into my workflow and plays nice with versioning and re-using modules from one project to another. Over time I've built up a nice library of parts that I can quickly customize for whatever it is that I'm building. Latest project: pick-and-place machine modification for P", "context": "Builds 3D printer modifications and robotics", "use_case": "3D part design", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}]}, {"text": " that LLMs can write well.", "cites": [{"id": 800566176, "item_id": 50035386, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035386", "by": "joewalnes", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "LLMs are excellent at building OpenSCAD models.", "excerpt": "Wrote a tutorial: https://github.com/joewalnes/toybrick LLMs are excellent at building OpenSCAD models. The tutorial (written in the before-times) will help understanding of the key concepts of OpenSCAD: primitives, transformations, and constructive solid geometry.", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 755435680, "item_id": 47214730, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47214730", "by": "arjie", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OpenSCAD with Claude Code and it's pretty impressive.", "excerpt": "I use OpenSCAD with Claude Code and it's pretty impressive. In practice the flow of letting the machine just spend its time iterating on the design with PNGs that it rotates and renders before it actually gives me an STL works quite well. e.g. https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Blog/2026-01-11/Modeling_With_Claude", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling with AI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Vibe Code your 3D Models"}, {"id": 800578561, "item_id": 50036160, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50036160", "by": "tylermarques", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "to write openscad models for me for the past week, with great success", "excerpt": "I've been using Opus 5.5 to write openscad models for me for the past week, with great success. I wanted to expand the project Open Source Watch Winder [0] to have 8 watches, with gears instead of pulleys, and in little back and forth I have a version I've started printing. [1] [0] https://github.com/mwood77/osww [1] https://imgur.com/a/bWent0K", "context": "", "use_case": "3D printed watch winder", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is that fillets and anything beyond simple shapes are tedious", "cites": [{"id": 800597314, "item_id": 50037332, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50037332", "by": "wren6991", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Want to fillet a box in OpenSCAD? Sure, either take the convex hull of 8 spheres, or the minkowski sum of a box and a sphere.", "excerpt": "If you look at this and you think \"wow, I love the idea of CAD-as-code but I wish it was a more sane language\" then have a look at CadQuery: https://cadquery.readthedocs.io/en/latest/quickstart.html#quickstart (I recommend CQ-editor for an easy install: https://github.com/CadQuery/CQ-editor/releases/) It's a similar idea to OpenSCAD, but embedded in Python and using a better geometry kernel. Want to fillet a box in O", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD-as-code", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800623696, "item_id": 50038981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50038981", "by": "nayuki", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OpenSCAD as my primary design tool for 3D modeling.", "excerpt": "I use OpenSCAD as my primary design tool for 3D modeling. I get things done, but it isn't easy, and it's hard to recommend it to other people. OpenSCAD really requires the user to mathematics, trigonometry, mental visualization, and programming beforehand as prerequisites - unlike mainstream CAD programs which are more point-and-click friendly. Performing fillets and chamfers on corners is quite tedious, and describi", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric 3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800588305, "item_id": 50036769, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50036769", "by": "WJW", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "OpenSCAD is super cool and my go-to for simple things", "excerpt": "This is true, but in things like OnShape I can do it with two clicks whereas in OpenSCAD it's always at least 20 minutes of thinking and trying out. OpenSCAD is super cool and my go-to for simple things, but for anything more involved than a cube or cylinder with some cutouts I tend to revert to \"normal\" CAD programs.", "context": "", "use_case": "simple 3D models", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}]}, {"text": ", in a language commenters call weird and limiting.", "cites": [{"id": 741475344, "item_id": 46342209, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46342209", "by": "ur-whale", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "OpenSCAD is great, and I use it all the time.", "excerpt": "OpenSCAD is great, and I use it all the time.Especially these days if you combine it with an LLM agent like codex and start vibe coding objects (see my other post on this). However, there are a number of limitations that are truly and deeply frustrating. 1. The language is downright weird. Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice little exercise in implementing a functional-tasting scripting language. Someone obviously w", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}, {"id": 741413552, "item_id": 46338347, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46338347", "by": "convolvatron", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use scad pretty often.", "excerpt": "I love the model, it's nice to be able to generate things parametrically instead of grabbing knots with the mouse. so I use scad pretty often. but it has real problems - the language is weird and unfortunate. not anything super fatal, just the obvious product of evolution that would be more cohesive if it were architected wholesale epsilons are really unfortunate. you have to expect that after getting what you want i", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "LLM-friendly", "summary": "Commenters report LLMs generate and iterate on OpenSCAD models with good results.", "quotes": [{"id": 800566176, "item_id": 50035386, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035386", "by": "joewalnes", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "LLMs are excellent at building OpenSCAD models.", "excerpt": "Wrote a tutorial: https://github.com/joewalnes/toybrick LLMs are excellent at building OpenSCAD models. The tutorial (written in the before-times) will help understanding of the key concepts of OpenSCAD: primitives, transformations, and constructive solid geometry.", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 755435680, "item_id": 47214730, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47214730", "by": "arjie", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OpenSCAD with Claude Code and it's pretty impressive.", "excerpt": "I use OpenSCAD with Claude Code and it's pretty impressive. In practice the flow of letting the machine just spend its time iterating on the design with PNGs that it rotates and renders before it actually gives me an STL works quite well. e.g. https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Blog/2026-01-11/Modeling_With_Claude", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling with AI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Vibe Code your 3D Models"}, {"id": 800578561, "item_id": 50036160, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50036160", "by": "tylermarques", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "to write openscad models for me for the past week, with great success", "excerpt": "I've been using Opus 5.5 to write openscad models for me for the past week, with great success. I wanted to expand the project Open Source Watch Winder [0] to have 8 watches, with gears instead of pulleys, and in little back and forth I have a version I've started printing. [1] [0] https://github.com/mwood77/osww [1] https://imgur.com/a/bWent0K", "context": "", "use_case": "3D printed watch winder", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}]}, {"label": "Code as design", "summary": "Designs are readable plain text that can be diffed, versioned and reused across projects.", "quotes": [{"id": 800615280, "item_id": 50038455, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50038455", "by": "Brian_K_White", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love it myself and use it as much as possible simply because it's outstanding to be able to express a complete design in 1k of plain text", "excerpt": "There is no trick way to solve the fillet problem or about 100 other common necessary things in openscad. Don't get me wrong, I love it myself and use it as much as possible simply because it's outstanding to be able to express a complete design in 1k of plain text which is readable, diffable, gittable. You can get a lot done, and some things you can do even easier and simpler than anything else, and you can work-aro", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric 3D design", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 741437168, "item_id": 46339823, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46339823", "by": "jacquesm", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It is amazing. I spend more time in OpenSCAD than in any other program I use and I'm amazingly productive with it.", "excerpt": "It is amazing. I spend more time in OpenSCAD than in any other program I use and I'm amazingly productive with it. 3 to 4 cycles / day, the longest time is waiting for the printer to cough up the next iteration, then it is building debugging and improving again. The power of parametric cad is such that I wouldn't be a 10th as productive using an interactive cad system. And because it is effectively software you are w", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric CAD for 3D printing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}, {"id": 800566832, "item_id": 50035427, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035427", "by": "jacquesm", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OpenSCAD a lot, it ties right into my workflow and plays nice with versioning", "excerpt": "The one you want is the experimental build, it is way faster to the point that 'preview mode' should be disabled. I use OpenSCAD a lot, it ties right into my workflow and plays nice with versioning and re-using modules from one project to another. Over time I've built up a nice library of parts that I can quickly customize for whatever it is that I'm building. Latest project: pick-and-place machine modification for P", "context": "Builds 3D printer modifications and robotics", "use_case": "3D part design", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}]}, {"label": "Parametric precision", "summary": "Changing one dimension in code updates the whole model, unlike nudging parts in a GUI.", "quotes": [{"id": 741418992, "item_id": 46338687, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46338687", "by": "porkloin", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love OpenSCAD.", "excerpt": "Commenting off of you since I wrote all of this and then realized it's basically exactly what you're saying. But to +1 everything you just said in my own words: I love OpenSCAD. I've been 3D printing for a while, but I never really got to a place where I could design interesting parts until I started to get the precision of doing models in code. Sometimes it is slower, for sure. Every time I've used as a CAD GUI prog", "context": "3D printing hobbyist", "use_case": "3D printing part design", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}, {"id": 741437168, "item_id": 46339823, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46339823", "by": "jacquesm", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It is amazing. I spend more time in OpenSCAD than in any other program I use and I'm amazingly productive with it.", "excerpt": "It is amazing. I spend more time in OpenSCAD than in any other program I use and I'm amazingly productive with it. 3 to 4 cycles / day, the longest time is waiting for the printer to cough up the next iteration, then it is building debugging and improving again. The power of parametric cad is such that I wouldn't be a 10th as productive using an interactive cad system. And because it is effectively software you are w", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric CAD for 3D printing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}, {"id": 741413552, "item_id": 46338347, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46338347", "by": "convolvatron", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use scad pretty often.", "excerpt": "I love the model, it's nice to be able to generate things parametrically instead of grabbing knots with the mouse. so I use scad pretty often. but it has real problems - the language is weird and unfortunate. not anything super fatal, just the obvious product of evolution that would be more cohesive if it were architected wholesale epsilons are really unfortunate. you have to expect that after getting what you want i", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}]}, {"label": "Suits programmers", "summary": "People who know programming but not 3D modeling find it approachable and productive.", "quotes": [{"id": 800568832, "item_id": 50035552, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035552", "by": "TacticalCoder", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you love programming and like to DIY stuff around the house, buying a 3D printer and learning some OpenSCAD is a no-brainer.", "excerpt": "OpenSCAD is amazing for those who know nothing about 3D but know about programming. I bought a 3D printer (which is basically simpler and more reliable than a 2D inkjet printer by now: it's send the file, put the filament, and 3D print and it just works) recently and already fixed shitload of stuff around the house with 3D printed parts. I even did \"print in place\" pieces where you add a pause a a certain layer, inse", "context": "developer with a 3D printer", "use_case": "3D printed parts", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 741418080, "item_id": 46338630, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46338630", "by": "Ccecil", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you have a background in code I recommend giving it a go.", "excerpt": "If you are a programmer OpenSCAD is likely for you. It certainly has benefits in things that are repeating patterns (gears and such)...and if your mind is good at visualizing things in \"code\" things will likely go a lot faster. I personally do better with CAD software such as fusion or freecad since my mind doesn't work in the code realm since I have more of a hardware mindset. Translating the picture in my head to c", "context": "hardware mindset", "use_case": "code-based CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}, {"id": 800575344, "item_id": 50035959, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035959", "by": "jeffbarr", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using OpenSCAD to create cool geometric designs for 3D printing on fabric, with great results.", "excerpt": "I have been using OpenSCAD to create cool geometric designs for 3D printing on fabric, with great results. The functional model is likely unfamiliar to most developers, but I have found that I can be efficient and productive with it. Check out my repos of OpenSCAD objects at https://github.com/jeffbarr/OpenSCADObjects and Truchet Tilings at https://github.com/jeffbarr/TruchetTilings . My code kind of looks like the C", "context": "", "use_case": "geometric designs for 3D printing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}]}, {"label": "Simple, procedural parts", "summary": "A go-to choice for simple or highly procedural parts and patterns.", "quotes": [{"id": 800588305, "item_id": 50036769, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50036769", "by": "WJW", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "OpenSCAD is super cool and my go-to for simple things", "excerpt": "This is true, but in things like OnShape I can do it with two clicks whereas in OpenSCAD it's always at least 20 minutes of thinking and trying out. OpenSCAD is super cool and my go-to for simple things, but for anything more involved than a cube or cylinder with some cutouts I tend to revert to \"normal\" CAD programs.", "context": "", "use_case": "simple 3D models", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 801209730, "item_id": 50075608, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50075608", "by": "rspeele", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "compare", "quote": "cool idea, good for a few types of highly procedural parts", "excerpt": "Thanks for your work on Solvespace. I have been using it for years. When I no longer had access to commercial CAD programs I tried all the open source stuff. My conclusions were: * OpenSCAD -- cool idea, good for a few types of highly procedural parts, but most of the time I'd rather a parametric sketch-based interface over pure code. * FreeCAD -- the most features of any open source CAD, but poor UI, tendency to cra", "context": "long-time user without access to commercial CAD", "use_case": "procedural CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: SolidCraft \u2013 Open-Source Parametric CAD in Rust (With MCP Support)"}, {"id": 748735568, "item_id": 46795973, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46795973", "by": "alnwlsn", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I think OpenSCAD was a great choice to make this part", "excerpt": "It depends. I use Solidworks all the time but I think OpenSCAD was a great choice to make this part: https://github.com/settinger/selectric_typeballs A bit like how you can edit images in MS Paint, Python, or Photoshop. None of these is or should be a one size fits all solution.", "context": "uses Solidworks all the time", "use_case": "parametric part design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Parametric CAD in Rust"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Fillets and complexity", "summary": "Fillets, chamfers, threads and more involved parts are tedious compared with GUI CAD.", "quotes": [{"id": 800597314, "item_id": 50037332, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50037332", "by": "wren6991", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Want to fillet a box in OpenSCAD? Sure, either take the convex hull of 8 spheres, or the minkowski sum of a box and a sphere.", "excerpt": "If you look at this and you think \"wow, I love the idea of CAD-as-code but I wish it was a more sane language\" then have a look at CadQuery: https://cadquery.readthedocs.io/en/latest/quickstart.html#quickstart (I recommend CQ-editor for an easy install: https://github.com/CadQuery/CQ-editor/releases/) It's a similar idea to OpenSCAD, but embedded in Python and using a better geometry kernel. Want to fillet a box in O", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD-as-code", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800623696, "item_id": 50038981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50038981", "by": "nayuki", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OpenSCAD as my primary design tool for 3D modeling.", "excerpt": "I use OpenSCAD as my primary design tool for 3D modeling. I get things done, but it isn't easy, and it's hard to recommend it to other people. OpenSCAD really requires the user to mathematics, trigonometry, mental visualization, and programming beforehand as prerequisites - unlike mainstream CAD programs which are more point-and-click friendly. Performing fillets and chamfers on corners is quite tedious, and describi", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric 3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800588305, "item_id": 50036769, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50036769", "by": "WJW", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "OpenSCAD is super cool and my go-to for simple things", "excerpt": "This is true, but in things like OnShape I can do it with two clicks whereas in OpenSCAD it's always at least 20 minutes of thinking and trying out. OpenSCAD is super cool and my go-to for simple things, but for anything more involved than a cube or cylinder with some cutouts I tend to revert to \"normal\" CAD programs.", "context": "", "use_case": "simple 3D models", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}]}, {"label": "Steep prerequisites", "summary": "It demands math, mental visualization and programming, and every detail must be specified.", "quotes": [{"id": 800623696, "item_id": 50038981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50038981", "by": "nayuki", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OpenSCAD as my primary design tool for 3D modeling.", "excerpt": "I use OpenSCAD as my primary design tool for 3D modeling. I get things done, but it isn't easy, and it's hard to recommend it to other people. OpenSCAD really requires the user to mathematics, trigonometry, mental visualization, and programming beforehand as prerequisites - unlike mainstream CAD programs which are more point-and-click friendly. Performing fillets and chamfers on corners is quite tedious, and describi", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric 3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 801612736, "item_id": 50100796, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50100796", "by": "cladopa", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Now I use OpenSCAD a lot because with LLMs you have the absolute control that code gives you", "excerpt": "OpensCAD and FreeCAD. I learned OpensCAD manually but it was so painful because you needed to take into account the most minimal and ridiculous thing using code, so I used Freecad in the end that is way more intuitive and fast with graphical tools. With code like OpenScad it was just too exhausting just to have to think rationally every single detail. And you spent hours doing the most minimal project. Then LLMs appe", "context": "hobbyist furniture maker", "use_case": "designing furniture", "switched_from": "FreeCAD", "story": "Ask HN: CAD for wood working with LLM support?"}, {"id": 741418080, "item_id": 46338630, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46338630", "by": "Ccecil", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you have a background in code I recommend giving it a go.", "excerpt": "If you are a programmer OpenSCAD is likely for you. It certainly has benefits in things that are repeating patterns (gears and such)...and if your mind is good at visualizing things in \"code\" things will likely go a lot faster. I personally do better with CAD software such as fusion or freecad since my mind doesn't work in the code realm since I have more of a hardware mindset. Translating the picture in my head to c", "context": "hardware mindset", "use_case": "code-based CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}]}, {"label": "Odd language", "summary": "The functional language is described as weird and limiting, pushing some toward CadQuery or PythonSCAD.", "quotes": [{"id": 741475344, "item_id": 46342209, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46342209", "by": "ur-whale", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "OpenSCAD is great, and I use it all the time.", "excerpt": "OpenSCAD is great, and I use it all the time.Especially these days if you combine it with an LLM agent like codex and start vibe coding objects (see my other post on this). However, there are a number of limitations that are truly and deeply frustrating. 1. The language is downright weird. Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice little exercise in implementing a functional-tasting scripting language. Someone obviously w", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}, {"id": 741413552, "item_id": 46338347, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46338347", "by": "convolvatron", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use scad pretty often.", "excerpt": "I love the model, it's nice to be able to generate things parametrically instead of grabbing knots with the mouse. so I use scad pretty often. but it has real problems - the language is weird and unfortunate. not anything super fatal, just the obvious product of evolution that would be more cohesive if it were architected wholesale epsilons are really unfortunate. you have to expect that after getting what you want i", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}, {"id": 800664001, "item_id": 50041500, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50041500", "by": "atoav", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I used both OpenSCAD and cadquery", "excerpt": "I used both OpenSCAD and cadquery, and I find the latter be effectively the same but with a cleaner more expressive syntax and some helper functions that people would commonly expect to be there. If I have to build points up by hand, why not skip OpenSCAD and directly write python scripts that create your OBJ files? The point of OpenSCAD et.al. is to programmatically create geometry. Making exactly that easier is a f", "context": "", "use_case": "programmatic CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}]}, {"label": "Scaling and geometry", "summary": "Critics say it is mesh/CSG-based, lacks sketch constraints and does not scale to complex parts.", "quotes": [{"id": 794982481, "item_id": 49686405, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49686405", "by": "dofm", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "OpenSCAD isn't, really, a proper CAD package. It's a CSG drawing library with a declarative syntax.", "excerpt": "No, the comparison is not apt with PHP (which I use on the daily and have done for twenty years). It's a bit more like comparing CSS with a subset of JavaScript that can do the same tasks. OpenSCAD isn't, really, a proper CAD package. It's a CSG drawing library with a declarative syntax. It is like nested CSS for 3D things. Code complexity and repetition balloons with part complexity. Your thing will not scale well b", "context": "", "use_case": "programmatic CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Benchmark: CadQuery vs. OpenSCAD for agentic CAD work"}, {"id": 755414481, "item_id": 47213405, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47213405", "by": "nszceta", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I would also stay away from mesh based CAD like OpenSCAD", "excerpt": "I have been trying to force LLMs to work with geometries for over a month and it's so hard. Even the best LLMs have an extremely poor sense of geometric relationships in my testing. I would also stay away from mesh based CAD like OpenSCAD and go straight for build123d which operates on real solid models (BREP): https://build123d.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html", "context": "", "use_case": "LLM-driven CAD geometry", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Vibe Code your 3D Models"}, {"id": 735576978, "item_id": 45973561, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45973561", "by": "Teever", "date": "2025-11-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Software like OpenSCAD and FreeCAD are obviously not suitable for much commercial work, and have very irritating limitations for hobbyist work", "excerpt": "You may be interested in CAD Sketcher: https://www.cadsketcher.com/ You're on point that there's a tremendous amount of money captures by Autodesk for CAD software that could be better directed at the open source community instead. Software like OpenSCAD and FreeCAD are obviously not suitable for much commercial work, and have very irritating limitations for hobbyist work, in my mind a big part of that is the UI and ", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.0"}]}, {"label": "Outdated release", "summary": "The stable release is old; commenters advise the nightly build for much faster rendering.", "quotes": [{"id": 800571504, "item_id": 50035719, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035719", "by": "RobotToaster", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I strongly recommend downloading the nightly version and turning on the manifold geometry solver in settings as it's much faster.", "excerpt": "Note that the current release version is very old, I strongly recommend downloading the nightly version and turning on the manifold geometry solver in settings as it's much faster.", "context": "", "use_case": "3D CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 734050288, "item_id": 45878143, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45878143", "by": "worldmerge", "date": "2025-11-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Check out the latest nightly version of openscad it\u2019s significantly faster", "excerpt": "Will this is incredible! I\u2019ve been learning openscad and making 3d models with it using python and this is such an inspiration. Check out the latest nightly version of openscad it\u2019s significantly faster, like seconds vs multiple minutes on my exports.", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Marble Fountain"}, {"id": 800566832, "item_id": 50035427, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035427", "by": "jacquesm", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OpenSCAD a lot, it ties right into my workflow and plays nice with versioning", "excerpt": "The one you want is the experimental build, it is way faster to the point that 'preview mode' should be disabled. I use OpenSCAD a lot, it ties right into my workflow and plays nice with versioning and re-using modules from one project to another. Over time I've built up a nice library of parts that I can quickly customize for whatever it is that I'm building. Latest project: pick-and-place machine modification for P", "context": "Builds 3D printer modifications and robotics", "use_case": "3D part design", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}]}, {"label": "LLM limits", "summary": "LLM-generated models can break down beyond simple, easily described shapes.", "quotes": [{"id": 755419296, "item_id": 47213706, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47213706", "by": "contingencies", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use openscad vibe coding quite a bit. It tends to fall down beyond extremely simple examples, though.", "excerpt": "I use openscad vibe coding quite a bit. It tends to fall down beyond extremely simple examples, though. Error categories I've encountered if you want to build better rails: (1) forgetting axis orientations after multiple layers of rotate() (2) center=true presence ignored resulting in mistaken geometry (3) inconsistent naming (4) insufficiently verbose naming (5) 3D printing tolerances (6) lack of validation (7) shar", "context": "", "use_case": "LLM-generated 3D models", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Vibe Code your 3D Models"}, {"id": 768016625, "item_id": 48001039, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48001039", "by": "Eisenstein", "date": "2026-05-03", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I have been using Claude to generate OpenSCAD for 3D printing.", "excerpt": "I have been using Claude to generate OpenSCAD for 3D printing. It works decently when the jobs are simple and can be easily described, but the description part really makes it clear how little vocabulary the ordinary person has to compose a good picture of any real item that isn't just a basic shape. It seems that the trick, like most things with getting LLMs to do something complicated and have it work well, is to b", "context": "", "use_case": "3D printing models", "switched_from": "", "story": "Text-to-CAD"}]}], "who": [{"by": "cladopa", "context": "hobbyist furniture maker", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50100796", "date": "2026-10-15"}, {"by": "diogopmonteiro", "context": "builds simple furniture and cabinets", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50100302", "date": "2026-10-15"}, {"by": "matthova", "context": "power user for years", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035604", "date": "2026-10-10"}, {"by": "TacticalCoder", "context": "developer with a 3D printer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035552", "date": "2026-10-10"}, {"by": "jacquesm", "context": "Builds 3D printer modifications and robotics", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035427", "date": "2026-10-10"}, {"by": "arjie", "context": "3D printing hobbyist", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46813703", "date": "2026-01-29"}, {"by": "Zarathruster", "context": "uses OpenSCAD to make keycaps", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46800618", "date": "2026-01-28"}, {"by": "alnwlsn", "context": "uses Solidworks all the time", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46795973", "date": "2026-01-28"}, {"by": "porkloin", "context": "3D printing hobbyist", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46338687", "date": "2025-12-20"}, {"by": "Ccecil", "context": "hardware mindset", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46338630", "date": "2025-12-20"}], "tags": ["for 3D printing", "for programmers", "for AI-assisted CAD", "for kids and families", "for CNC routing"], "use_cases": ["3d modeling", "cad modeling", "3d printing models", "programmatic cad", "3d printed parts", "parametric cad"], "compared": [{"slug": "cadquery", "name": "CadQuery", "co": 8, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "freecad", "name": "FreeCAD", "co": 8, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "build123d", "name": "build123d", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "blender", "name": "Blender", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "onshape", "name": "Onshape", "co": 3, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "claude-opus", "name": "Claude Opus", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "fusion-360", "name": "Fusion 360", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "claude-code", "name": "Claude Code", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49984349", "title": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller", "mentions": 14}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46337984", "title": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat", "mentions": 9}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50067325", "title": "Ask HN: CAD for wood working with LLM support?", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47183039", "title": "Show HN: Vibe Code your 3D Models", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49676577", "title": "Benchmark: CadQuery vs. OpenSCAD for agentic CAD work", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47970497", "title": "Text-to-CAD", "mentions": 2}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 4, "recommend": 6}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 3, "recommend": 3}, "2026-02": {"compare": 1}, "2026-03": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 2}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 13, "neutral": 3, "compare": 3}}, "quotes": [{"id": 801844657, "item_id": 50115291, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115291", "by": "zdp7", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I had been using Gemini to build OpenScad models.", "excerpt": "I had been using Gemini to build OpenScad models. The other day Gemini mentioned CadQuery as an option. It's essentially OpenScad for Python. The big plus is b-rep modeler. https://github.com/cadquery/cadquery", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: CAD for wood working with LLM support?"}, {"id": 801612736, "item_id": 50100796, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50100796", "by": "cladopa", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Now I use OpenSCAD a lot because with LLMs you have the absolute control that code gives you", "excerpt": "OpensCAD and FreeCAD. I learned OpensCAD manually but it was so painful because you needed to take into account the most minimal and ridiculous thing using code, so I used Freecad in the end that is way more intuitive and fast with graphical tools. With code like OpenScad it was just too exhausting just to have to think rationally every single detail. And you spent hours doing the most minimal project. Then LLMs appe", "context": "hobbyist furniture maker", "use_case": "designing furniture", "switched_from": "FreeCAD", "story": "Ask HN: CAD for wood working with LLM support?"}, {"id": 801604832, "item_id": 50100302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50100302", "by": "diogopmonteiro", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use a combination of openscad, blender to render previews of the full thing, and opcut to generate cutlists.", "excerpt": "I use a combination of openscad, blender to render previews of the full thing, and opcut to generate cutlists. I usually ask the models to generate a workshop pdf with the cutlist and the exploded view of the assembly. I'm doing mainly simple furniture and cabinets.", "context": "builds simple furniture and cabinets", "use_case": "furniture and cabinet design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: CAD for wood working with LLM support?"}, {"id": 801571795, "item_id": 50098237, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50098237", "by": "artyom", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "doing FreeCAD+Python or OpenSCAD code, usually one-shots things", "excerpt": "Second this. Since Opus 4.6 there's been a very noticeable bump in accuracy at just doing FreeCAD+Python or OpenSCAD code, usually one-shots things with basically described geometry. Recently, Sonnet 5.5 got quite good, too, but not at the level of Opus/Fable for complex geometry Disclaimer: I use it for very precise 3D printing, not woodwork.", "context": "", "use_case": "3D printing models", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: CAD for wood working with LLM support?"}, {"id": 801209730, "item_id": 50075608, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50075608", "by": "rspeele", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "compare", "quote": "cool idea, good for a few types of highly procedural parts", "excerpt": "Thanks for your work on Solvespace. I have been using it for years. When I no longer had access to commercial CAD programs I tried all the open source stuff. My conclusions were: * OpenSCAD -- cool idea, good for a few types of highly procedural parts, but most of the time I'd rather a parametric sketch-based interface over pure code. * FreeCAD -- the most features of any open source CAD, but poor UI, tendency to cra", "context": "long-time user without access to commercial CAD", "use_case": "procedural CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: SolidCraft \u2013 Open-Source Parametric CAD in Rust (With MCP Support)"}, {"id": 800664001, "item_id": 50041500, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50041500", "by": "atoav", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I used both OpenSCAD and cadquery", "excerpt": "I used both OpenSCAD and cadquery, and I find the latter be effectively the same but with a cleaner more expressive syntax and some helper functions that people would commonly expect to be there. If I have to build points up by hand, why not skip OpenSCAD and directly write python scripts that create your OBJ files? The point of OpenSCAD et.al. is to programmatically create geometry. Making exactly that easier is a f", "context": "", "use_case": "programmatic CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800623696, "item_id": 50038981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50038981", "by": "nayuki", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OpenSCAD as my primary design tool for 3D modeling.", "excerpt": "I use OpenSCAD as my primary design tool for 3D modeling. I get things done, but it isn't easy, and it's hard to recommend it to other people. OpenSCAD really requires the user to mathematics, trigonometry, mental visualization, and programming beforehand as prerequisites - unlike mainstream CAD programs which are more point-and-click friendly. Performing fillets and chamfers on corners is quite tedious, and describi", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric 3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800615280, "item_id": 50038455, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50038455", "by": "Brian_K_White", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love it myself and use it as much as possible simply because it's outstanding to be able to express a complete design in 1k of plain text", "excerpt": "There is no trick way to solve the fillet problem or about 100 other common necessary things in openscad. Don't get me wrong, I love it myself and use it as much as possible simply because it's outstanding to be able to express a complete design in 1k of plain text which is readable, diffable, gittable. You can get a lot done, and some things you can do even easier and simpler than anything else, and you can work-aro", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric 3D design", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800597314, "item_id": 50037332, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50037332", "by": "wren6991", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Want to fillet a box in OpenSCAD? Sure, either take the convex hull of 8 spheres, or the minkowski sum of a box and a sphere.", "excerpt": "If you look at this and you think \"wow, I love the idea of CAD-as-code but I wish it was a more sane language\" then have a look at CadQuery: https://cadquery.readthedocs.io/en/latest/quickstart.html#quickstart (I recommend CQ-editor for an easy install: https://github.com/CadQuery/CQ-editor/releases/) It's a similar idea to OpenSCAD, but embedded in Python and using a better geometry kernel. Want to fillet a box in O", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD-as-code", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800588305, "item_id": 50036769, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50036769", "by": "WJW", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "OpenSCAD is super cool and my go-to for simple things", "excerpt": "This is true, but in things like OnShape I can do it with two clicks whereas in OpenSCAD it's always at least 20 minutes of thinking and trying out. OpenSCAD is super cool and my go-to for simple things, but for anything more involved than a cube or cylinder with some cutouts I tend to revert to \"normal\" CAD programs.", "context": "", "use_case": "simple 3D models", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800578561, "item_id": 50036160, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50036160", "by": "tylermarques", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "to write openscad models for me for the past week, with great success", "excerpt": "I've been using Opus 5.5 to write openscad models for me for the past week, with great success. I wanted to expand the project Open Source Watch Winder [0] to have 8 watches, with gears instead of pulleys, and in little back and forth I have a version I've started printing. [1] [0] https://github.com/mwood77/osww [1] https://imgur.com/a/bWent0K", "context": "", "use_case": "3D printed watch winder", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800575344, "item_id": 50035959, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035959", "by": "jeffbarr", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using OpenSCAD to create cool geometric designs for 3D printing on fabric, with great results.", "excerpt": "I have been using OpenSCAD to create cool geometric designs for 3D printing on fabric, with great results. The functional model is likely unfamiliar to most developers, but I have found that I can be efficient and productive with it. Check out my repos of OpenSCAD objects at https://github.com/jeffbarr/OpenSCADObjects and Truchet Tilings at https://github.com/jeffbarr/TruchetTilings . My code kind of looks like the C", "context": "", "use_case": "geometric designs for 3D printing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800572784, "item_id": 50035799, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035799", "by": "WillAdams", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "One of my favourite tools.", "excerpt": "One of my favourite tools. As noted, use the Nightly builds from: https://openscad.org/downloads.html#snapshots When working with kids, it's well worth keeping: https://www.blockscad3d.com/editor/ in mind, or for folks who like to draw connections: https://github.com/derkork/openscad-graph-editor Eventually, someone will note that its programming model limits variables and so forth --- for folks who want a more tradi", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800572144, "item_id": 50035759, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035759", "by": "dvh", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use openscad for all my kicad 3d models", "excerpt": "I use openscad for all my kicad 3d models via scad->off->obj->(manually edit in mm3d to add colors)->wrl->kicad It's not as bad as it looks, it's all automatic except adding colors which takes about 2 minutes.", "context": "", "use_case": "KiCad 3D models", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800571504, "item_id": 50035719, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035719", "by": "RobotToaster", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I strongly recommend downloading the nightly version and turning on the manifold geometry solver in settings as it's much faster.", "excerpt": "Note that the current release version is very old, I strongly recommend downloading the nightly version and turning on the manifold geometry solver in settings as it's much faster.", "context": "", "use_case": "3D CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800569664, "item_id": 50035604, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035604", "by": "matthova", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love OpenSCAD. Have been a power user for years.", "excerpt": "I love OpenSCAD. Have been a power user for years. It's so great asking LLMs to make 3d models in openscad. I made a rust-implementation of openscad called openrscad (https://openrscad.com). It still has some rough edges, but runs quite fast both on desktop and in the browser", "context": "power user for years", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800568832, "item_id": 50035552, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035552", "by": "TacticalCoder", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you love programming and like to DIY stuff around the house, buying a 3D printer and learning some OpenSCAD is a no-brainer.", "excerpt": "OpenSCAD is amazing for those who know nothing about 3D but know about programming. I bought a 3D printer (which is basically simpler and more reliable than a 2D inkjet printer by now: it's send the file, put the filament, and 3D print and it just works) recently and already fixed shitload of stuff around the house with 3D printed parts. I even did \"print in place\" pieces where you add a pause a a certain layer, inse", "context": "developer with a 3D printer", "use_case": "3D printed parts", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800566832, "item_id": 50035427, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035427", "by": "jacquesm", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OpenSCAD a lot, it ties right into my workflow and plays nice with versioning", "excerpt": "The one you want is the experimental build, it is way faster to the point that 'preview mode' should be disabled. I use OpenSCAD a lot, it ties right into my workflow and plays nice with versioning and re-using modules from one project to another. Over time I've built up a nice library of parts that I can quickly customize for whatever it is that I'm building. Latest project: pick-and-place machine modification for P", "context": "Builds 3D printer modifications and robotics", "use_case": "3D part design", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 800566176, "item_id": 50035386, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035386", "by": "joewalnes", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "LLMs are excellent at building OpenSCAD models.", "excerpt": "Wrote a tutorial: https://github.com/joewalnes/toybrick LLMs are excellent at building OpenSCAD models. The tutorial (written in the before-times) will help understanding of the key concepts of OpenSCAD: primitives, transformations, and constructive solid geometry.", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD the Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller"}, {"id": 794982481, "item_id": 49686405, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49686405", "by": "dofm", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "OpenSCAD isn't, really, a proper CAD package. It's a CSG drawing library with a declarative syntax.", "excerpt": "No, the comparison is not apt with PHP (which I use on the daily and have done for twenty years). It's a bit more like comparing CSS with a subset of JavaScript that can do the same tasks. OpenSCAD isn't, really, a proper CAD package. It's a CSG drawing library with a declarative syntax. It is like nested CSS for 3D things. Code complexity and repetition balloons with part complexity. Your thing will not scale well b", "context": "", "use_case": "programmatic CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Benchmark: CadQuery vs. OpenSCAD for agentic CAD work"}, {"id": 794846032, "item_id": 49677877, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49677877", "by": "fwip", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used OpenSCAD for the first time. I got Gemini (just the chatbot, no harness or MCP) to help me design a water-bowl holder", "excerpt": "Just this morning I used OpenSCAD for the first time. I got Gemini (just the chatbot, no harness or MCP) to help me design a water-bowl holder for our senior dog (she kept knocking it over). It was probably an easy model to get right, since the only \"critical\" dimension was the radius of the interior. But I was able to tweak the numbers on the support length & some other details relatively easily, and I had a working", "context": "", "use_case": "3D printing parts design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Benchmark: CadQuery vs. OpenSCAD for agentic CAD work"}, {"id": 793204112, "item_id": 49575257, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49575257", "by": "nl", "date": "2026-09-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use LLMs for 3D CAD using OpenSCAD", "excerpt": "> at the end of the day their geometric intuition is nonexistent This isn't true anymore. I use LLMs for 3D CAD using OpenSCAD and they understand geometry fine. I've had more success with Sol than with Opus (Opus 5 is around 10 times slower because it does too much verification) though. I haven't tried Astra or Fable for it.", "context": "", "use_case": "3D CAD with LLMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Can AI design circuit boards yet?"}, {"id": 792273217, "item_id": 49517076, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49517076", "by": "WillAdams", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "to rough out designs as well as simple algorithms for OpenSCAD and ultimately, PythonSCAD", "excerpt": "I dunno about fulfilling career, but I have to admit that I often use BlockSCAD: https://www.blockscad3d.com/editor/ to rough out designs as well as simple algorithms for OpenSCAD and ultimately, PythonSCAD for my current project: https://github.com/WillAdams/gcodepreview", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Has early Scratch experience led to fulfilling careers?"}, {"id": 789283808, "item_id": 49330238, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49330238", "by": "hegjon", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use both OpenSCAD and BOSL2", "excerpt": "Awesome! I use both OpenSCAD and BOSL2, looking forward to test it!", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: LuaCAD \u2013 Parametric CAD Scripted in Lua"}, {"id": 788685376, "item_id": 49292836, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49292836", "by": "gunalx", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "i use openscad with opencode", "excerpt": "Personally both, i use openscad with opencode, and paste images but it is pretty often the modell decides by itself it wants to see a render and uses the render shell commands to get a image to look at.", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD modeling with AI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gemini 3.7 Flash"}, {"id": 786294035, "item_id": 49143377, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49143377", "by": "fho", "date": "2026-08-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I like using OpenSCAD and CadQuery...", "excerpt": "Version 10-12 is 10-ish years ago. They switched to yearmonth (e.g. 2604) release names long ago. Let's just say things changed since then. There is also a difference between intuitive and familiar. I learned to CAD on Fusion 360 with no formal education and it just worked. I can use FreeCAD sufficiently well to be productive (it really has become better over the years). I tried OnShape and just started working. I li", "context": "", "use_case": "code-based CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: I'm a 15 Year Old Wannabe Engineer, This Is a Cycloidal Gearbox I Built"}, {"id": 784250048, "item_id": 49015628, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49015628", "by": "nl", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use LLMs for 3D CAD design in OpenSCAD.", "excerpt": "I use LLMs for 3D CAD design in OpenSCAD. There seems to be a very strong correlation between models that are good at SVG and models that are good at 3D CAD. Anecdote I know, but there does seem to be generalization going on here.", "context": "", "use_case": "3D CAD design", "switched_from": "", "story": "Are AI Labs Pelicanmaxxing?"}, {"id": 777563056, "item_id": 48597691, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48597691", "by": "lucasoshiro", "date": "2026-06-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it's easier/faster to have everything local. That's one of the reasons that I moved to OpenSCAD", "excerpt": "Really nice! Do you have plans to release it for desktop (maybe using Electron)? One of my main complains about tools like Tinkercad is that they are browser-based, and it's easier/faster to have everything local. That's one of the reasons that I moved to OpenSCAD", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modelling locally", "switched_from": "Tinkercad", "story": "Akse3D \u2013 open-source 3D modelling anyone can master"}, {"id": 775625088, "item_id": 48476568, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48476568", "by": "TacticalCoder", "date": "2026-06-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "a few days ago I created one in OpenSCAD for myself", "excerpt": "Very interesting timing: a few days ago I created one in OpenSCAD for myself and my... daughter (not named \"Molly\" though) would accidentally hit my PC's power button all too often while plugging in a USB device. For the power button is located next to two USB ports I use and, for whatever reason and although it's a very good PC tower, the button is ultra sensitive. So I created a \"not-molly guard\" that \"plugs\" into ", "context": "", "use_case": "designing a 3D-printed power button guard", "switched_from": "", "story": "More Molly Guards"}, {"id": 774463008, "item_id": 48403938, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48403938", "by": "ravenstine", "date": "2026-06-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a basic 3D printer and OpenSCAD installed on the family laptop", "excerpt": "I love this! I'm kind of sad that I'm likely beyond the point where I can ever have kids, but what you describe are absolutely the kind of things I'd want to provide them if I'm lucky. One recommendation I have is a basic 3D printer and OpenSCAD installed on the family laptop. I can see that opening up a lot of added interactivity with other things like the Legos, robotics, etc.", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling for kids", "switched_from": "", "story": "Retro-Tech Parenting"}, {"id": 770790480, "item_id": 48174405, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48174405", "by": "cjtrowbridge", "date": "2026-05-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This has been easy with OpenSCAD for a long time. I have made lots of cool, complex models this way.", "excerpt": "This has been easy with OpenSCAD for a long time. I have made lots of cool, complex models this way. I built a repo of the prompts I use to show the llm how to do this and it includes many of the models I've created this way... https://github.com/cjtrowbridge/vibe-modeling", "context": "", "use_case": "LLM-generated 3D models", "switched_from": "", "story": "GenCAD"}, {"id": 768025856, "item_id": 48001616, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48001616", "by": "behaviors", "date": "2026-05-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using an OpenSCAD container with various local models.", "excerpt": "I've been using an OpenSCAD container with various local models. Dumping the render.png straight to the model, allowing it to modify the code and try again. Made some interesting things, but the main purpose was to fix things I've already made and have some weird single issue that cascades to a broken model if I touch it. OpenSCAD is the first step, FreeCAD and similar(now starting to see more CAD LLM work) are still", "context": "", "use_case": "LLM-assisted CAD fixes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Text-to-CAD"}, {"id": 768016625, "item_id": 48001039, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48001039", "by": "Eisenstein", "date": "2026-05-03", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I have been using Claude to generate OpenSCAD for 3D printing.", "excerpt": "I have been using Claude to generate OpenSCAD for 3D printing. It works decently when the jobs are simple and can be easily described, but the description part really makes it clear how little vocabulary the ordinary person has to compose a good picture of any real item that isn't just a basic shape. It seems that the trick, like most things with getting LLMs to do something complicated and have it work well, is to b", "context": "", "use_case": "3D printing models", "switched_from": "", "story": "Text-to-CAD"}, {"id": 766309971, "item_id": 47894373, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47894373", "by": "chancitag", "date": "2026-04-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Big fan of OpenSCAD[1] and solvespace[2] for making functional 3D prints.", "excerpt": "Love OBS and Blender. Recently started using Kdenlive and it is awesome. Big fan of OpenSCAD[1] and solvespace[2] for making functional 3D prints. I'm going to branch out a bit here and say GrapheneOS is my favorite thing going on right now. [1] https://openscad.org/ [2] https://solvespace.com/index.pl", "context": "", "use_case": "functional 3D prints", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are your top open source apps/software?"}, {"id": 755435680, "item_id": 47214730, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47214730", "by": "arjie", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OpenSCAD with Claude Code and it's pretty impressive.", "excerpt": "I use OpenSCAD with Claude Code and it's pretty impressive. In practice the flow of letting the machine just spend its time iterating on the design with PNGs that it rotates and renders before it actually gives me an STL works quite well. e.g. https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Blog/2026-01-11/Modeling_With_Claude", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling with AI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Vibe Code your 3D Models"}, {"id": 755419296, "item_id": 47213706, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47213706", "by": "contingencies", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use openscad vibe coding quite a bit. It tends to fall down beyond extremely simple examples, though.", "excerpt": "I use openscad vibe coding quite a bit. It tends to fall down beyond extremely simple examples, though. Error categories I've encountered if you want to build better rails: (1) forgetting axis orientations after multiple layers of rotate() (2) center=true presence ignored resulting in mistaken geometry (3) inconsistent naming (4) insufficiently verbose naming (5) 3D printing tolerances (6) lack of validation (7) shar", "context": "", "use_case": "LLM-generated 3D models", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Vibe Code your 3D Models"}, {"id": 755414481, "item_id": 47213405, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47213405", "by": "nszceta", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I would also stay away from mesh based CAD like OpenSCAD", "excerpt": "I have been trying to force LLMs to work with geometries for over a month and it's so hard. Even the best LLMs have an extremely poor sense of geometric relationships in my testing. I would also stay away from mesh based CAD like OpenSCAD and go straight for build123d which operates on real solid models (BREP): https://build123d.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html", "context": "", "use_case": "LLM-driven CAD geometry", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Vibe Code your 3D Models"}, {"id": 753478434, "item_id": 47092402, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47092402", "by": "autumn-antlers", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "compare", "quote": "as an alternative to OpenSCAD", "excerpt": "I've enjoyed Build123d (and it's over-loaded python operators) as an alternative to OpenSCAD, backed (like FreeCAD) by the OpenCascade CAD kernel... but now they're vibe-coding PRs, and I'm even more exited to adopt real constructive-modeling (rather than emulating it on-top of edge & face representations) as libfive matures -- it's already widespread language bindings and a few lightweight dedicated editors", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "FreeCAD is an open-source parametric 3D modeler"}, {"id": 749019248, "item_id": 46813703, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46813703", "by": "arjie", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use OpenSCAD with Claude and that seems as good as it can be.", "excerpt": "My wife and I bought a Bambu P1S and I think the machine has had a duty cycle of 30% (excluding when we weren\u2019t in town). It\u2019s great fun. The majority of the models are ones we get from the Internet, it\u2019s true. But my wife used some base open source components to design a block that goes into the bits of a playpen that we used to have and transform it into something that docks with the wall instead of only with itsel", "context": "3D printing hobbyist", "use_case": "3D modeling for printing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Making niche solutions is the point"}, {"id": 748825376, "item_id": 46801586, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46801586", "by": "givc", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I found that starting with an SVG and extruding from there is perfect in OpenSCAD", "excerpt": "I used OpenSCAD to create a map of Manhattan. It shows the live location of subway trains. It was surprisingly easy, I struggled a lot with OnShape and Fusion360 trying to do this because there were too many polygons. I found that starting with an SVG and extruding from there is perfect in OpenSCAD, but I\u2019m sure I\u2019m underutilizing it a lot. I wrote a bit about it here if you\u2019re curious https://hackaday.io/project/202", "context": "", "use_case": "3D models from SVG", "switched_from": "OnShape", "story": "3D-Printed Mathematical Lampshades"}, {"id": 741475344, "item_id": 46342209, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46342209", "by": "ur-whale", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "OpenSCAD is great, and I use it all the time.", "excerpt": "OpenSCAD is great, and I use it all the time.Especially these days if you combine it with an LLM agent like codex and start vibe coding objects (see my other post on this). However, there are a number of limitations that are truly and deeply frustrating. 1. The language is downright weird. Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice little exercise in implementing a functional-tasting scripting language. Someone obviously w", "context": "", "use_case": "3D modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}, {"id": 741437168, "item_id": 46339823, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46339823", "by": "jacquesm", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It is amazing. I spend more time in OpenSCAD than in any other program I use and I'm amazingly productive with it.", "excerpt": "It is amazing. I spend more time in OpenSCAD than in any other program I use and I'm amazingly productive with it. 3 to 4 cycles / day, the longest time is waiting for the printer to cough up the next iteration, then it is building debugging and improving again. The power of parametric cad is such that I wouldn't be a 10th as productive using an interactive cad system. And because it is effectively software you are w", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric CAD for 3D printing", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}, {"id": 741418080, "item_id": 46338630, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46338630", "by": "Ccecil", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you have a background in code I recommend giving it a go.", "excerpt": "If you are a programmer OpenSCAD is likely for you. It certainly has benefits in things that are repeating patterns (gears and such)...and if your mind is good at visualizing things in \"code\" things will likely go a lot faster. I personally do better with CAD software such as fusion or freecad since my mind doesn't work in the code realm since I have more of a hardware mindset. Translating the picture in my head to c", "context": "hardware mindset", "use_case": "code-based CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}, {"id": 741413552, "item_id": 46338347, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46338347", "by": "convolvatron", "date": "2025-12-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use scad pretty often.", "excerpt": "I love the model, it's nice to be able to generate things parametrically instead of grabbing knots with the mouse. so I use scad pretty often. but it has real problems - the language is weird and unfortunate. not anything super fatal, just the obvious product of evolution that would be more cohesive if it were architected wholesale epsilons are really unfortunate. you have to expect that after getting what you want i", "context": "", "use_case": "parametric modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenSCAD is kinda neat"}]}