The names sound alike and both apps are written in Rust, so they are easy to mix up. The short answer: SolidCraft models 3D parts (sketch, extrude, fillet, a feature timeline you can edit), while CADCraft draws 2D drawings the AutoCAD way (command line, layers, dimensions, hatches, blocks, DWG). They don’t compete much. They can even work together through DXF.
| Topic | SolidCraft | CADCraft |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Parametric 3D solid modeller (Fusion-style workflow) | 2D drafting and annotation (AutoCAD-style workflow) |
| Made by | Tangency Labs (tangency-labs/solidcraft) | The ArtCraft team (storytold/cadcraft) |
| 3D solids | Extrude, revolve, sweep, loft, fillet, shell, holes, threads, patterns, assemblies, sheet metal | About 2% of AutoCAD’s 3D per its roadmap |
| 2D drawings | Deferred on the roadmap (DXF export of sketches, flat patterns and views) | Dimensions, leaders, tables, hatches, blocks, paper-space layouts, PDF plotting |
| Files | .solidcraft; STEP, IGES, 3MF, STL, OBJ, glTF; DXF into and out of sketches | DXF (reads R12–2018, writes R2000), DWG via acadrust (writes R2000), PDF, SVG, PNG; saving drops what it doesn’t model yet |
| Status | “Early but usable for simple parts” (75 of 76 reference parts match) | Pre-alpha, about 38% “ready for real work” by its own estimate |
| Version checked | v0.19.0 (22 Oct 2026) | v0.10.0 (21 Oct 2026) |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, web app | Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, web build |
| Signed downloads | Not signed yet (SmartScreen / Gatekeeper warning) | Windows code-signed; macOS signed and notarized |
| AI agents | solidcraft-cli mcp, 17 tools in 0.19.0 | cadcraft-cli mcp, 12 tools headless in 0.10.0 |
| License | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | MIT OR Apache-2.0 |
SolidCraft is published by Tangency Labs. CADCraft’s README calls it one of the “Crafting Apps” from the ArtCraft team, next to PhotoCraft, VectorCraft and others, and links getartcraft.com/apps/cadcraft as its website. SolidCraft is not on that list, but its NOTICE says some code was adapted from sibling projects including CADCraft. We explain that link in Is SolidCraft a Fusion 360 clone?
Searching for “CadCraft” also turns up getcadcraft.com, a different project
(GitHub organisation getcadcraft) that offers a family of eight CAD and BIM apps. It is not the ArtCraft
CADCraft compared on this page. Check the GitHub owner before you download.
L, OFFSET, TRIM).If you came from Fusion 360, start with SolidCraft vs Fusion 360; if you are weighing open-source 3D CAD, see SolidCraft vs FreeCAD.
We ran both command-line tools on Linux x86_64 (SolidCraft 0.19.0 and CADCraft 0.10.0 tarballs, checksums
verified). First, the official examples/bracket.json with one extra step that saves the “Profile” sketch
as DXF (sketch.export_dxf, “Save As DXF” in the app), then CADCraft reads it and writes a DWG:
$ solidcraft-cli run bracket_dxf.json --out bracket.step --quiet
$ cadcraft-cli info profile.dxf # excerpt
"counts": {
"Line": 6
},
"entityCount": 6,
$ cadcraft-cli convert profile.dxf profile.dwg
wrote profile.dwg (22163 bytes)Then the other way: a 50 × 30 mm plate with a 10 mm hole drawn in CADCraft, inserted into a SolidCraft sketch
(sketch.insert_dxf, “Insert DXF”) and extruded 5 mm:
$ cadcraft-cli run --metric --script 'rectang 0,0 50,30\ncircle 25,15 5\n' --save plate.dxf
wrote plate.dxf (16496 bytes)
$ solidcraft-cli eval plate.json # sketch.insert_dxf + solid.extrude 5 mm
bbox {'max': [50.0, 30.0, 5.0], 'min': [0.0, 0.0, 0.0]} volume_mm3 7107.4 faces {'cylinder': 1, 'plane': 6}The volume matches 50 × 30 × 5 minus the hole (7,107.3 mm³). A DWG saved by CADCraft and converted back to DXF gave the same result.
--metric, a new CADCraft drawing
is saved with inch units ($INSUNITS 1), and SolidCraft scaled the same plate to 1270 × 762 mm. Start
CADCraft drawings from the metric template, or check the size after inserting. Only the geometry travels: DXF
carries no SolidCraft parameters or feature history.Both projects say they are developed with AI coding agents, and both expose their apps to agents over the Model Context Protocol.
solidcraft-cli mcp offers 17 modelling tools in 0.19.0 (sketch, features, measure, export, screenshot,
and more). cadcraft-cli mcp answered tools/list with 12 headless tools in 0.10.0:
command_line, script, execute, list_commands,
inspect_drawing, query_entities, render, find_text,
new_drawing, open, save and cancel; its README adds
screenshot and ui_click when it is connected to the running app. Both are stdio servers,
so an agent such as Claude Code can register them the same way. Setup for SolidCraft is in the
MCP tutorial; other CAD servers are compared in CAD MCP servers
compared.
No. SolidCraft is a parametric 3D modeller published by Tangency Labs (tangency-labs/solidcraft). CADCraft is an AutoCAD-style drafting app from the ArtCraft team (storytold/cadcraft). They are separate downloads with separate file formats, although SolidCraft’s NOTICE says some of its code was adapted from CADCraft.
Not really yet. CADCraft’s roadmap (updated 14 Oct 2026) rates its 3D modelling and rendering at about 2% of AutoCAD’s and puts it in the pre-alpha stage. For solid parts with a feature history, use SolidCraft.
Not finished drawings with title blocks and annotation views: SolidCraft’s roadmap still defers 2D drawings. It can save a sketch, a sheet-metal flat pattern or the current view as DXF, which CADCraft can open for dimensioning.
No. SolidCraft inserts DXF into a sketch (Insert DXF). CADCraft reads and writes DWG, so you can convert a DWG to DXF with cadcraft-cli convert first. In our test the converted file came into SolidCraft at the right size.
Yes. Both are open source under MIT OR Apache-2.0, with no account or subscription, and both run on Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD and in the browser.
Related: SolidCraft vs Fusion 360 · SolidCraft vs FreeCAD · SolidCraft review · install SolidCraft.