{"slug": "solvespace", "name": "SolveSpace", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "Open source parametric 2D/3D CAD program built around a constraint solver.", "recommenders": 7, "commenters": 7, "warners": 0, "score": 6.201, "rising": -0.96, "first": "2025-11-18", "latest": "2026-10-13", "why": "Liked for a simple, fun sketching interface that many find easier than FreeCAD, and for fast, stable modeling of simple parts and functional 3D prints.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 7, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [2, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1], "listed": true, "loved": ["Simple interface", "Simple parts"], "caveat": "Barebones", "short_quote": "pretty stable and reliable. Fast, compact, great sketching interface, good discoverable UI.", "icon": false, "domain": "solvespace.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://solvespace.com/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["SolveSpace", "Solvespace"], "verdict": [{"text": "Liked for a simple, fun sketching interface that many find easier than FreeCAD", "cites": [{"id": 801209728, "item_id": 50075608, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50075608", "by": "rspeele", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "pretty stable and reliable. Fast, compact, great sketching interface, good discoverable UI.", "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": "parametric CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: SolidCraft \u2013 Open-Source Parametric CAD in Rust (With MCP Support)"}, {"id": 761508096, "item_id": 47594256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47594256", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-03-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love solvespace, it is hard to describe but despite it's limitations and problems (and there are many) it feels joyous to use", "excerpt": "I love solvespace, it is hard to describe but despite it's limitations and problems (and there are many) it feels joyous to use if that makes sense. Something about it's simple and straightforward interface just makes it fun. To the point that my biggest gripe is the modal dialogs that pop when a constraint is deleted or it's conditions cannot be met. It is quite awkward compared to the rest of the workflow. Anyhow, ", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open source CAD in the browser (Solvespace)"}, {"id": 735688400, "item_id": 45980525, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45980525", "by": "MayeulC", "date": "2025-11-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It is very barebones, but was much easier to use than FreeCad for me.", "excerpt": "Ah, interesting, it looks like Dune3D is based on solvespace with opencascade: https://docs.dune3d.org/en/latest/why-another-3d-cad.html I was going to suggest solvespace. It is very barebones, but was much easier to use than FreeCad for me. It also has constraints in 3D space, which I use a lot: https://solvespace.com/index.pl", "context": "", "use_case": "constraint-based 3D CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.0"}]}, {"text": ", and for fast, stable modeling of simple parts and functional 3D prints.", "cites": [{"id": 801209728, "item_id": 50075608, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50075608", "by": "rspeele", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "pretty stable and reliable. Fast, compact, great sketching interface, good discoverable UI.", "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": "parametric CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: SolidCraft \u2013 Open-Source Parametric CAD in Rust (With MCP Support)"}, {"id": 780287312, "item_id": 48767957, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48767957", "by": "IshKebab", "date": "2026-07-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "SolveSpace is actually a good CAD app, especially for simple stuff.", "excerpt": "I would think SolveSpace would be a much better target for this. It's got its own GUI system so probably pretty trivial to get running in the browser. Oh yeah look somebody did it 4 years ago: https://github.com/TrevorDArcyEvans/solve-space-web Plus SolveSpace is actually a good CAD app, especially for simple stuff. (For complex stuff the only good open source option is FreeCAD.)", "context": "", "use_case": "simple CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "LibreCAD in the Browser"}, {"id": 766309972, "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?"}]}, {"text": " The most common caveat is that it is barebones with many limitations", "cites": [{"id": 735688400, "item_id": 45980525, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45980525", "by": "MayeulC", "date": "2025-11-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It is very barebones, but was much easier to use than FreeCad for me.", "excerpt": "Ah, interesting, it looks like Dune3D is based on solvespace with opencascade: https://docs.dune3d.org/en/latest/why-another-3d-cad.html I was going to suggest solvespace. It is very barebones, but was much easier to use than FreeCad for me. It also has constraints in 3D space, which I use a lot: https://solvespace.com/index.pl", "context": "", "use_case": "constraint-based 3D CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.0"}, {"id": 761508096, "item_id": 47594256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47594256", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-03-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love solvespace, it is hard to describe but despite it's limitations and problems (and there are many) it feels joyous to use", "excerpt": "I love solvespace, it is hard to describe but despite it's limitations and problems (and there are many) it feels joyous to use if that makes sense. Something about it's simple and straightforward interface just makes it fun. To the point that my biggest gripe is the modal dialogs that pop when a constraint is deleted or it's conditions cannot be met. It is quite awkward compared to the rest of the workflow. Anyhow, ", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open source CAD in the browser (Solvespace)"}]}, {"text": ", so FreeCAD is suggested for complex work.", "cites": [{"id": 780287312, "item_id": 48767957, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48767957", "by": "IshKebab", "date": "2026-07-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "SolveSpace is actually a good CAD app, especially for simple stuff.", "excerpt": "I would think SolveSpace would be a much better target for this. It's got its own GUI system so probably pretty trivial to get running in the browser. Oh yeah look somebody did it 4 years ago: https://github.com/TrevorDArcyEvans/solve-space-web Plus SolveSpace is actually a good CAD app, especially for simple stuff. (For complex stuff the only good open source option is FreeCAD.)", "context": "", "use_case": "simple CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "LibreCAD in the Browser"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Simple interface", "summary": "Commenters find the sketching UI straightforward, discoverable and enjoyable to use.", "quotes": [{"id": 801209728, "item_id": 50075608, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50075608", "by": "rspeele", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "pretty stable and reliable. Fast, compact, great sketching interface, good discoverable UI.", "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": "parametric CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: SolidCraft \u2013 Open-Source Parametric CAD in Rust (With MCP Support)"}, {"id": 761508096, "item_id": 47594256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47594256", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-03-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love solvespace, it is hard to describe but despite it's limitations and problems (and there are many) it feels joyous to use", "excerpt": "I love solvespace, it is hard to describe but despite it's limitations and problems (and there are many) it feels joyous to use if that makes sense. Something about it's simple and straightforward interface just makes it fun. To the point that my biggest gripe is the modal dialogs that pop when a constraint is deleted or it's conditions cannot be met. It is quite awkward compared to the rest of the workflow. Anyhow, ", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open source CAD in the browser (Solvespace)"}, {"id": 735688400, "item_id": 45980525, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45980525", "by": "MayeulC", "date": "2025-11-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It is very barebones, but was much easier to use than FreeCad for me.", "excerpt": "Ah, interesting, it looks like Dune3D is based on solvespace with opencascade: https://docs.dune3d.org/en/latest/why-another-3d-cad.html I was going to suggest solvespace. It is very barebones, but was much easier to use than FreeCad for me. It also has constraints in 3D space, which I use a lot: https://solvespace.com/index.pl", "context": "", "use_case": "constraint-based 3D CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.0"}]}, {"label": "Simple parts", "summary": "Seen as a good CAD app for simple parts and functional 3D prints.", "quotes": [{"id": 780287312, "item_id": 48767957, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48767957", "by": "IshKebab", "date": "2026-07-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "SolveSpace is actually a good CAD app, especially for simple stuff.", "excerpt": "I would think SolveSpace would be a much better target for this. It's got its own GUI system so probably pretty trivial to get running in the browser. Oh yeah look somebody did it 4 years ago: https://github.com/TrevorDArcyEvans/solve-space-web Plus SolveSpace is actually a good CAD app, especially for simple stuff. (For complex stuff the only good open source option is FreeCAD.)", "context": "", "use_case": "simple CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "LibreCAD in the Browser"}, {"id": 766309972, "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?"}]}, {"label": "Long-term use", "summary": "Some commenters have relied on it for years or even decades.", "quotes": [{"id": 777901136, "item_id": 48618821, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48618821", "by": "atmanactive", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love SolveSpace, been using it for last two decades", "excerpt": "I love SolveSpace, been using it for last two decades, this is excellent news. Just bolt on an MCP on top and we're golden.", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Neosolve \u2013 SolveSpace fork with OpenCASCADE CAD kernel"}, {"id": 801209728, "item_id": 50075608, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50075608", "by": "rspeele", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "pretty stable and reliable. Fast, compact, great sketching interface, good discoverable UI.", "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": "parametric CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: SolidCraft \u2013 Open-Source Parametric CAD in Rust (With MCP Support)"}]}, {"label": "Stable and fast", "summary": "Described as stable, reliable, fast and compact.", "quotes": [{"id": 801209728, "item_id": 50075608, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50075608", "by": "rspeele", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "pretty stable and reliable. Fast, compact, great sketching interface, good discoverable UI.", "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": "parametric CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: SolidCraft \u2013 Open-Source Parametric CAD in Rust (With MCP Support)"}]}, {"label": "3D constraints", "summary": "Supports constraints in 3D space, which one user relies on heavily.", "quotes": [{"id": 735688400, "item_id": 45980525, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45980525", "by": "MayeulC", "date": "2025-11-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It is very barebones, but was much easier to use than FreeCad for me.", "excerpt": "Ah, interesting, it looks like Dune3D is based on solvespace with opencascade: https://docs.dune3d.org/en/latest/why-another-3d-cad.html I was going to suggest solvespace. It is very barebones, but was much easier to use than FreeCad for me. It also has constraints in 3D space, which I use a lot: https://solvespace.com/index.pl", "context": "", "use_case": "constraint-based 3D CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.0"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Barebones", "summary": "Users acknowledge it is barebones with many limitations and problems.", "quotes": [{"id": 735688400, "item_id": 45980525, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45980525", "by": "MayeulC", "date": "2025-11-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It is very barebones, but was much easier to use than FreeCad for me.", "excerpt": "Ah, interesting, it looks like Dune3D is based on solvespace with opencascade: https://docs.dune3d.org/en/latest/why-another-3d-cad.html I was going to suggest solvespace. It is very barebones, but was much easier to use than FreeCad for me. It also has constraints in 3D space, which I use a lot: https://solvespace.com/index.pl", "context": "", "use_case": "constraint-based 3D CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.0"}, {"id": 761508096, "item_id": 47594256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47594256", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-03-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love solvespace, it is hard to describe but despite it's limitations and problems (and there are many) it feels joyous to use", "excerpt": "I love solvespace, it is hard to describe but despite it's limitations and problems (and there are many) it feels joyous to use if that makes sense. Something about it's simple and straightforward interface just makes it fun. To the point that my biggest gripe is the modal dialogs that pop when a constraint is deleted or it's conditions cannot be met. It is quite awkward compared to the rest of the workflow. Anyhow, ", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open source CAD in the browser (Solvespace)"}]}, {"label": "Complex models", "summary": "One commenter says FreeCAD is the better open source option for complex work.", "quotes": [{"id": 780287312, "item_id": 48767957, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48767957", "by": "IshKebab", "date": "2026-07-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "SolveSpace is actually a good CAD app, especially for simple stuff.", "excerpt": "I would think SolveSpace would be a much better target for this. It's got its own GUI system so probably pretty trivial to get running in the browser. Oh yeah look somebody did it 4 years ago: https://github.com/TrevorDArcyEvans/solve-space-web Plus SolveSpace is actually a good CAD app, especially for simple stuff. (For complex stuff the only good open source option is FreeCAD.)", "context": "", "use_case": "simple CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "LibreCAD in the Browser"}]}, {"label": "Modal dialogs", "summary": "Modal pop-ups when constraints are deleted or unsatisfiable feel awkward.", "quotes": [{"id": 761508096, "item_id": 47594256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47594256", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-03-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love solvespace, it is hard to describe but despite it's limitations and problems (and there are many) it feels joyous to use", "excerpt": "I love solvespace, it is hard to describe but despite it's limitations and problems (and there are many) it feels joyous to use if that makes sense. Something about it's simple and straightforward interface just makes it fun. To the point that my biggest gripe is the modal dialogs that pop when a constraint is deleted or it's conditions cannot be met. It is quite awkward compared to the rest of the workflow. Anyhow, ", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open source CAD in the browser (Solvespace)"}]}], "who": [{"by": "rspeele", "context": "long-time user without access to commercial CAD", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50075608", "date": "2026-10-13"}], "tags": ["for 3D printing", "for simple parts", "commercial CAD alternative", "browser port available"], "use_cases": ["cad", "parametric cad modeling", "simple cad", "functional 3d prints", "constraint-based 3d cad"], "compared": [{"slug": "freecad", "name": "FreeCAD", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "openscad", "name": "OpenSCAD", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 803210320, "item_id": 50200645, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50200645", "by": "phkahler", "date": "2026-10-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "In solvespace we use a simple ear clipping algorithm", "excerpt": ">> I've wondered for a long time why ear clipping + optimizations has won on triangulation over stuff like Seidel's trapezoidal method, which has O(nlogn) time complexity In solvespace we use a simple ear clipping algorithm but I'd love to have something O(nlog(n)). I have yet to see one that's both small and comprehensible ;-) If I were to attempt it, I'd just add a spatial index to make the check for anything insid", "context": "", "use_case": "polygon triangulation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Faster than earcut: triangulating 3.7M map polygons in 489 ms"}, {"id": 782610368, "item_id": 48913148, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48913148", "by": "phkahler", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "This recently happened with solvespace (I am a maintainer).", "excerpt": ">> The commits are in my fork if anyone wants them but I can\u2019t imagine why anyone would. This recently happened with solvespace (I am a maintainer). Someone posted a link to a fork with a bunch of goodies added. I think they just had AI implement some big features that had already been discussed and were either rejected or far future/maybe. That fork still exists but looks to be dead, as there hasn't been any new dev", "context": "maintainer of SolveSpace", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The zero-cost fallacy: open-source software in the agentic era"}, {"id": 739986049, "item_id": 46249128, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46249128", "by": "phkahler", "date": "2025-12-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We use GNU Unifont in Solvespace", "excerpt": "We use GNU Unifont in Solvespace for the text window/property browser. It's built right into the executable. This turned out to be amazingly useful. Some people have CJK stuff in their designs and it \"just works\" on all platforms. I was also looking into hole annotations in CAD and was pleased to see the symbols for counter-bore and counter-sink are both already there in unifont. You can see unifont in the experiment", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "GNU Unifont"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45972519", "title": "Blender 5.0", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50193170", "title": "Faster than earcut: triangulating 3.7M map polygons in 489 ms", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50064840", "title": "Show HN: SolidCraft \u2013 Open-Source Parametric CAD in Rust (With MCP Support)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48865001", "title": "The zero-cost fallacy: open-source software in the agentic era", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48755075", "title": "LibreCAD in the Browser", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48618391", "title": "Neosolve \u2013 SolveSpace fork with OpenCASCADE CAD kernel", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 2}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 801209728, "item_id": 50075608, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50075608", "by": "rspeele", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "pretty stable and reliable. Fast, compact, great sketching interface, good discoverable UI.", "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": "parametric CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: SolidCraft \u2013 Open-Source Parametric CAD in Rust (With MCP Support)"}, {"id": 780287312, "item_id": 48767957, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48767957", "by": "IshKebab", "date": "2026-07-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "SolveSpace is actually a good CAD app, especially for simple stuff.", "excerpt": "I would think SolveSpace would be a much better target for this. It's got its own GUI system so probably pretty trivial to get running in the browser. Oh yeah look somebody did it 4 years ago: https://github.com/TrevorDArcyEvans/solve-space-web Plus SolveSpace is actually a good CAD app, especially for simple stuff. (For complex stuff the only good open source option is FreeCAD.)", "context": "", "use_case": "simple CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "LibreCAD in the Browser"}, {"id": 777901136, "item_id": 48618821, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48618821", "by": "atmanactive", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love SolveSpace, been using it for last two decades", "excerpt": "I love SolveSpace, been using it for last two decades, this is excellent news. Just bolt on an MCP on top and we're golden.", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Neosolve \u2013 SolveSpace fork with OpenCASCADE CAD kernel"}, {"id": 766309972, "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": 761508096, "item_id": 47594256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47594256", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-03-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love solvespace, it is hard to describe but despite it's limitations and problems (and there are many) it feels joyous to use", "excerpt": "I love solvespace, it is hard to describe but despite it's limitations and problems (and there are many) it feels joyous to use if that makes sense. Something about it's simple and straightforward interface just makes it fun. To the point that my biggest gripe is the modal dialogs that pop when a constraint is deleted or it's conditions cannot be met. It is quite awkward compared to the rest of the workflow. Anyhow, ", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open source CAD in the browser (Solvespace)"}, {"id": 735688400, "item_id": 45980525, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45980525", "by": "MayeulC", "date": "2025-11-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It is very barebones, but was much easier to use than FreeCad for me.", "excerpt": "Ah, interesting, it looks like Dune3D is based on solvespace with opencascade: https://docs.dune3d.org/en/latest/why-another-3d-cad.html I was going to suggest solvespace. It is very barebones, but was much easier to use than FreeCad for me. It also has constraints in 3D space, which I use a lot: https://solvespace.com/index.pl", "context": "", "use_case": "constraint-based 3D CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.0"}, {"id": 735585921, "item_id": 45974120, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45974120", "by": "gcr", "date": "2025-11-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Also take a look at solverspace, caligula, FreeCAD, ...", "excerpt": "agreed! take a look at https://Plasticity.xyz. It's not open-source, but it's got a small, highly dedicated team behind it. It's built on Solidworks' kernel, so it's quite robust. Also take a look at solverspace, caligula, FreeCAD, ...", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.0"}]}