CADCraft

Computer-aided design and drafting; an open-source, clean-room reimplementation of Autodesk AutoCAD, rebuilt in pure Rust.

A fast, open-source take on the AutoCAD workflow: the command line, object snaps, layers, dimensions, hatches, blocks and DXF drawings you already know. It runs natively on macOS, Windows, Linux and FreeBSD, and in the browser via WebAssembly.
By the ArtCraft team.

CADCraft on getartcraft.com · ArtCraft · All Crafting Apps

CADCraft with an apartment floor plan open: hatched grey walls, blue windows, green door swings, furniture outlines, yellow room names with areas, a yellow room schedule table, a multileader note and cyan dimensions with architectural ticks; Tool Sets on the left, Layers and Properties on the right, the command line at the bottom
_{Apartment plan (examples/apartment.dxf): walls with pick-point hatching, TrueType MTEXT room labels, a TABLE, a multileader and architectural dimensions — built entirely from CADCraft commands.}

> [!NOTE] > **ArtCraft is a community of artists from all walks of life.** Painters, photographers, > filmmakers, illustrators, designers, animators, hobbyists, and people who picked up a pencil > last week. If you make things, you're one of us. **[Come say hi on Discord](https://discord.gg/artcraft).**

Screenshots · Why CADCraft · What works today · Quick start · Agents, MCP and the CLI · Architecture · Roadmap · Downloads · The Crafting Apps · License and credits

## Screenshots


_{Layouts: paper space with viewports, page setups and PLOT to PDF. Double-click a viewport to work in model space through it.}	_{Mounting bracket: a two-view part drawing with centre lines, hidden lines, an ANSI31 section hatch and a title block.}

## Why CADCraft - **The workflow you know.** Type `L`, click two points, type `@5<45`, press Enter. The command line, prompts with clickable `[Keywords]`, AutoComplete, object snaps, polar tracking, ortho, direct distance entry, window and crossing selection, grips, and right-click-to-repeat behave the way decades of drafting habit expect. - **Open files.** DXF is read and written natively (ASCII and binary, R12 through 2018), and DWG files (R13 through 2018) open and save through the open-source acadrust library. Export to SVG and PNG today. - **Fast and native.** Pure Rust and egui, no Electron, no web view. One binary on macOS (universal), Windows, Linux and FreeBSD, plus a WebAssembly build for the browser. - **Built for agents.** Every menu item, tool and prompt is a command. Agents can type at the command line exactly like a person, call any command with JSON, inspect the drawing to verify their work, and render it — over MCP, a JSON control channel, or the CLI. - **Free.** MIT OR Apache-2.0, with no account and no subscription. ## What works today CADCraft is in early, fast development. Honest status (see [ROADMAP.md](ROADMAP.md) for parity numbers): | Area | Status | |---|---| | Drawing area | Model space with adaptive grid, axes, pan/zoom (wheel, middle-drag, pinch), crosshair cursor with pickbox, UCS icon, ViewCube, viewport label | | Command line | Prompts with keywords, history, AutoComplete, aliases, `@dx,dy`, `@d cargo build --release`) also embed its fonts: BIZ UDPGothic, BIZ UDMincho and Shippori Mincho (Japanese) and Noto Sans Arabic (the web build, which has no system fonts, only BIZ UDPGothic Regular and Noto Sans Arabic). A text style can use them by family name, and they draw characters a text's font lacks when no installed wide-coverage CJK font has them. Without `CRAFT_FONTS_DIR` nothing is embedded. SHX fonts (including big fonts such as `chineset.shx`) aren't read yet: text in an SHX style is drawn with our own stroke font, and any character a text's font lacks (CJK, for example) is drawn from an installed font that has it, preferring wide-coverage fonts such as Noto Sans CJK, Source Han Sans, WenQuanYi, PingFang or Microsoft JhengHei. Two settings, set with `SETVAR` or (for every run) an environment variable, steer this: | Variable | Environment | Meaning | |---|---|---| | `FONTALT` | `CADCRAFT_FONTALT` | Font used instead of a text style font that can't be found (an SHX file, a missing TTF), by file or family name, e.g. `Noto Sans CJK TC`. Empty (default) = our stroke font. | | `FONTFALLBACK` | `CADCRAFT_FONTFALLBACK` | Fonts tried first for characters a text's font lacks, comma-separated, e.g. `Noto Sans CJK TC, msjh.ttc`. | `.` clears either one. **Your own fonts.** Any `.ttf`, `.otf` or `.ttc` font works: install it in the system font folder (Windows `C:\Windows\Fonts` or per-user fonts, macOS `/Library/Fonts` or `~/Library/Fonts`, Linux and the BSDs `/usr/share/fonts`, `/usr/local/share/fonts`, `~/.local/share/fonts` or `~/.fonts`) and name it in a text style (`STYLE`, or `style {"name":"FA","font":"Vazirmatn"}`) by file name (`Vazirmatn-Regular.ttf`) or family name (`Vazirmatn`), or inline in MTEXT with `\fVazirmatn;`. Restart CADCraft after installing a font: the font folders are scanned once. **Right-to-left text (Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Hebrew).** TEXT and MTEXT lines are laid out with the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (the paragraph direction comes from its first letter, so numbers and Latin words inside Persian text keep their own order), and Arabic-script text is shaped with OpenType (contextual letter forms, lam-alef and other ligatures, ZWNJ / ZWJ, mark positioning). Justification (left, centre, right, MTEXT attachment and wrapping) still refers to the text's box. Our stroke font has no Arabic letters, so Persian in a stroke-font style is drawn from an installed font that has them: Vazirmatn, Noto Naskh Arabic, Noto Sans Arabic, Segoe UI, Tahoma, Arial and DejaVu Sans are looked for first. To choose the font, install a free Persian font such as [Vazirmatn](https://github.com/rastikerdar/vazirmatn) (SIL Open Font License) and either use it in the text style or set `FONTFALLBACK` (`CADCRAFT_FONTFALLBACK="Vazirmatn"`). Formatting changes inside a word (an MTEXT colour change in the middle of a Persian word) break the joining at that point. ### Logs The desktop app writes its `log` records to standard error and to `logs/cadcraft.log` in the settings directory (Linux and the BSDs `~/.config/cadcraft/logs/`, or `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/cadcraft/logs/`; macOS `~/Library/Application Support/CADCraft/logs/`; Windows `%APPDATA%\CADCraft\logs\`; or under `CADCRAFT_CONFIG_DIR`). A start from a desktop menu or the Dock has no terminal, so this file is what to attach to a bug report. Each launch moves the previous log to `cadcraft.1.log` (and that one to `cadcraft.2.log`), so the log of a run that crashed survives the next start. The file stops growing at 16 MiB. `--version` writes no file. | Variable | Effect | |---|---| | `CADCRAFT_CONFIG_DIR` | Use this directory instead of the platform settings directory (the log goes to its `logs/`) | | `RUST_LOG` | Log levels for standard error and the log file. Default: `info` for CADCraft's own crates, `warn` for everything else. env_logger-style directives replace that, e.g. `RUST_LOG=debug`, `RUST_LOG=warn,cadcraft_io=trace` or `RUST_LOG=info,wgpu_core=warn`; a directive ending in `*` covers every target starting with it (`cadcraft*=debug`). `cadcraft_engine=debug` also logs every command-line message. | The logger is `apps/cadcraft/src/logging.rs`; the web build logs to the browser console instead. ## Drive it from agents, MCP and the CLI ```sh # MCP server on stdio, headless: cadcraft-cli mcp # …or bridged to the running app (start it with --control 7979): cadcraft-cli mcp --connect 127.0.0.1:7979 # One-shot headless runs: cadcraft-cli run --sample --script 'CIRCLE 22,3 1\n' --save out.dxf --export out.png cadcraft-cli info drawing.dxf cadcraft-cli convert drawing.dxf drawing.svg # Frame part of the drawing (model space, drawing units, lower-left corner first): cadcraft-cli convert drawing.dwg detail.png --window 0,0,20000,15000 cadcraft-cli run drawing.dwg --cmd 'zoom {"mode":"window","p1":[0,0],"p2":[20000,15000]}' --export detail.png cadcraft-cli run drawing.dwg --cmd 'select {"window":[[0,0],[20000,15000]]}' --cmd 'zoom {"mode":"object"}' --export sel.png ``` How image exports (PNG 2400×1600, SVG, PDF) are framed: `convert` fits the model-space extents. `run --export` shows the current view when the script or commands changed it (`zoom`, `pan`, `view.set`, …) and otherwise fits the extents too. `--window x0,y0,x1,y1` shows exactly that rectangle, centred and scaled without distortion; `--view extents` or `--view current` forces either framing. To frame a selection set, `zoom {"mode":"object"}` after selecting. MCP tools include `command_line` (type at the prompt), `execute` (any command with JSON), `inspect_drawing`, `query_entities`, `render` (returns a PNG) and, when connected to the app, `screenshot` and `ui_click`. The desktop app's JSON control channel is documented in [docs/control-protocol.md](docs/control-protocol.md). ## Architecture ```text geom ─┐ f64 geometry: arcs, bulges, splines, intersections, offsets dxf │ (standalone) DXF tag reader/writer color ┤ colour index, true colour doc ┤ drawing database, copy-on-write entity store (cheap undo) fonts ┤ render stroke font + TEXT/MTEXT layout │ display lists, linetypes, hatches, dims, CPU raster io ┤ DXF mapping, SVG/PNG export engine┤ sessions, commands, command line + prompts, snaps, selection, undo ui-egui · mcp the swappable egui front end · MCP server apps: cadcraft · cadcraft-cli · cadcraft-web ``` Nothing below `ui-egui` knows about egui, so the front end can be replaced. `cargo xtask ci` checks formatting, clippy, tests, asset attribution, the crate layering and the wasm build. Drafting and layer-palette icon buttons use the pinned `craft-ui` button component for interaction, accessible labels and keyboard focus. CADCraft keeps its multicolor icon painter, dark palette, disabled tint and tool commands. The native host saves workspace visibility and toolset choices atomically; `CADCRAFT_CONFIG_DIR` selects an isolated profile. Compact toolbar groups move into a More menu, and status readouts truncate with a full-value tooltip before they reach layout tabs. Painted toolbar and tab controls have accessible labels and visible keyboard focus. Property controls remain application-specific. ## Accessibility Over the drawing area CADCraft hides the system cursor and draws its own crosshair. Tools that follow the system cursor (Windows Magnifier set to follow or centre the mouse pointer, other screen magnifiers, screen recorders, remote desktops) lose track of it there. Turn on **View ▸ Accessibility ▸ Show System Cursor** to keep a small system crosshair visible at the centre of the drawn one, or start CADCraft with the environment variable `CADCRAFT_SYSTEM_CURSOR=1` (on Windows, set it once with `setx CADCRAFT_SYSTEM_CURSOR 1` and start CADCraft again). Agents can switch it with the control channel: `ui.set {"systemCursor": true}`. ## Roadmap See [ROADMAP.md](ROADMAP.md) for the stage, measured parity and the estimate of remaining work, and [docs/gaps.md](docs/gaps.md) for everything still missing. ## Downloads **Download CADCraft** from GitHub: the [latest release](https://github.com/storytold/cadcraft/releases/latest) has every build listed below, and [all releases](https://github.com/storytold/cadcraft/releases) has earlier versions and their notes. `` in the file names is the version number, and `SHA256SUMS.txt` lists a checksum for every file. ### Windows | Build | Installer | Portable | |---|---|---| | x64 (64-bit Intel/AMD) | `cadcraft--windows-x64.msi` | `cadcraft--windows-x64-portable.zip` | | arm64 (Snapdragon and other ARM PCs) | `cadcraft--windows-arm64.msi` | `cadcraft--windows-arm64-portable.zip` | | x86 (32-bit) | `cadcraft--windows-x86.msi` | `cadcraft--windows-x86-portable.zip` | Installers and executables are code-signed. The installer adds CADCraft to the Start menu and asks whether to add a desktop shortcut too (unticked by default). For a silent install with the desktop shortcut: `msiexec /i cadcraft--windows-x64.msi /qn DESKTOPSHORTCUT=1`. **If the app doesn't open on Windows:** the desktop app initializes only DirectX 12 by default. Letting wgpu also create an OpenGL instance can crash some graphics drivers (AMD's `atio6axx.dll`) before the window appears, so the app would flash in Task Manager and quit. `WGPU_BACKEND` overrides the default for troubleshooting (for example `dx12` or `vulkan`). In PowerShell, from the folder containing the executable: ```powershell $env:WGPU_BACKEND = "vulkan" & .\cadcraft.exe Remove-Item Env:WGPU_BACKEND # restore the default for later launches ``` An explicit `gl` override can bring the driver crash back on affected systems. The macOS, Linux and web backend defaults are unchanged. ### macOS | Build | File | Notes | |---|---|---| | App, universal (Apple silicon + Intel) | `cadcraft--macos-universal.dmg` | Signed and notarized | | Command-line tool, universal | `cadcraft-cli--macos-universal.zip` | Signed and notarized | ### Linux | Format | x86_64 | aarch64 (ARM64) | Notes | |---|---|---|---| | AppImage | `cadcraft--linux-x86_64.AppImage` | `cadcraft--linux-aarch64.AppImage` | Runs anywhere; updates itself with [AppImageUpdate](https://github.com/AppImageCommunity/AppImageUpdate) (`.zsync` files) | | Flatpak | `cadcraft--linux-x86_64.flatpak` | `cadcraft--linux-aarch64.flatpak` | Sandboxed; `flatpak install --user ` | | Debian/Ubuntu | `cadcraft--linux-x86_64.deb` | `cadcraft--linux-aarch64.deb` | | | Fedora/RHEL/openSUSE | `cadcraft--linux-x86_64.rpm` | `cadcraft--linux-aarch64.rpm` | | | Tarball | `cadcraft--linux-x86_64.tar.gz` | `cadcraft--linux-aarch64.tar.gz` | Unpack anywhere | RISC-V (riscv64): `cadcraft--linux-riscv64.tar.gz`, cross-compiled; needs glibc 2.39 or newer (Ubuntu 24.04+, Debian 13+). ### FreeBSD | Build | File | |---|---| | x86_64 | `cadcraft--freebsd-x86_64.tar.gz` | ### Web (WebAssembly) | Build | File | Notes | |---|---|---| | Static site | `cadcraft-web-.zip` | Runs in a modern browser; host it on any static server | ## The Crafting Apps CADCraft is one of the **Crafting Apps**: free, open-source creative tools from the [ArtCraft](https://getartcraft.com/) team, each written from scratch in Rust and each able to stand on its own. | | App | What it's for | Code | Learn more | |:-:|---|---|---|---| |

| **PhotoCraft** | Image editing: layers, masks, type and real PSD files | [GitHub](https://github.com/storytold/photocraft) | [Website](https://getartcraft.com/apps/photocraft) | |

| **CADCraft** | **Computer-aided design and drafting · you are here** | [GitHub](https://github.com/storytold/cadcraft) | [Website](https://getartcraft.com/apps/cadcraft) | And [**ArtCraft**](https://getartcraft.com/) itself, our AI image and video studio for artists who want real control.

Come make things with us

Our Discord is where artists of every kind hang out: people who paint, shoot, draw, cut film, set type, and people still figuring out what they like to make. Share what you're working on, ask for help, tell us what's broken, or tell us what you wish these tools could do. Whatever your medium and however long you've been at it, you're welcome here.

discord.gg/artcraft · getartcraft.com · The Crafting Apps · CADCraft

## License and credits CADCraft is dual-licensed under [MIT](LICENSE-MIT) or [Apache-2.0](LICENSE-APACHE), at your option. Copyright (c) 2026 ArtCraft Team and the CADCraft contributors. Required notices are in [NOTICE](NOTICE). Bundled fonts, icons, images and other assets keep their own open licenses; each one is listed with its author, source and license in [ATTRIBUTION.md](ATTRIBUTION.md). CADCraft's icons, its single-stroke drafting font, its hatch patterns and its linetypes are all original work, drawn or defined in code. The sample drawings are generated in code too. The ArtCraft name, wordmark and logos in [`docs/brand/`](docs/brand/) are trademarks of the ArtCraft Team and are not covered by this license. They may be used only unmodified, and only as part of this repository and CADCraft, under [`docs/brand/LICENSE-brand.txt`](docs/brand/LICENSE-brand.txt). Forks and modified versions must remove them. _{Autodesk, AutoCAD and DWG are trademarks or registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. CADCraft is an independent, open-source project and is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Autodesk, Inc.; these names are used only to describe the workflows and file formats it is compatible with.}

_{Made by the ArtCraft team and community.}

Tool Sets, Layers, and Properties can be regrouped, split, floated within the app window, closed, and reopened. The drawing canvas stays visible and cannot be closed or turned into a tab. Drag a panel header to a target edge or another header. Its context menu offers Float panel, Move to group, and Close panel. Existing panel toggles reopen panels at their saved location; Reset Panel Layout restores the app layout. Floating panels remain inside the current app window.