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- mkeeterThis could use a (2015) label :)I've been tapering off maintenance since 2016 or so, but it has a more actively-maintained fork over at https://github.com/nsfm/stibium (albeit with heavy LLM assistance, because it's 2026!)YMMV – I haven't used it or closely inspected the changes, but have corresponded with the author, who seems genuinely dedicated in the success of the project.
- WillAdamsThis probably merits noting that the whole Code CAD thing is getting pushed very hard lately with many new AI-driven projects.I will note the following projects which have made recent advancements:- OpenSCAD --- the hopefully final Release Candidate for the long-awaited update is now available: https://openscad.org/downloads.html#rc- PythonSCAD --- for folks who want variables which change and so forth: https://www.pythonscad.org/- CADquery --- https://cadquery.github.io/- Build123D --- https://github.com/gumyr/build123dLonger list/discussion at: https://github.com/Irev-Dev/curated-code-cadAlso, a more recent project by Matt Keeter, Halfspace was announced recently but didn't get much discussion here:https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49881890
- seemaze>Antimony is a computer-aided design (CAD) tool from a parallel universe in which CAD software evolved from Lisp machines rather than drafting tablesThat's an ironic take in that the most prolific CAD software in use, AutoCAD, has supported a a lisp dialect, named AutoLISP[0], natively as an alternative runtime for more than four decades. It is so prolific in the CAD industry, that other vendors have even adopted compatibility with the language.It is heartening to see CAD referenced in relation to drafting tables. I spend much of my time trying to educate new CAD users about the different solutions offered between the 'drafting table' metaphor and the 'world model' metaphor present in most CAD applications.[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoLISP
- sjiaI've been using AI to create CAD models. Results often are close to my intent, but I also have to spend much effort on tweaking parameters and features to fit parts in the real word. AI does help, but doesn't solve CAD modeling problems, unlike GenAI image/video for entertainment.
- badlibrarianTo anyone else who had to parse early KiCad file formats, where the parentheses and quoting on S-expressions was more of a guideline than a rule, I salute you.
- GregDavidsonIvan Sutherland's Sketchpad (1963) [1] greatly antedates Lisp Machines (but not Lisp!) and is still the best model imnsho for CAD. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad
- AceJohnny2How would one apply a fillet to an edge, in this model?I haven't really used the constructive geometry approaches to CAD, but I've been learning CAD recently through OnShape, and really appreciated how easy were all the operations I wanted to do with it. I've heard that the purely constructive geometry approaches of the OpenSCAD type can make certain operations more complicated to implement.
- ragebolAre there any CAD system that combine code-CAD and more traditional sketch based CAD, like OnShape, Solidworks etc?
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- JemmVery cool. I love the concept.I make RapidCAM.app so have an appreciation for the amount of work Antimony must have been to get to that point.
- IshKebabI was all ready to say how useless code-based CAD usually is (like OpenSCAD), but this actually looks pretty sick.If you could add support for SolveSpace's 2D sketcher, and also bevels/fillets, then this might actually be useful.
- syngrog66my father was a draftsman and so I grew up with blueprints and a drafting table in the home. He was also a user of the earliest CAD systems, including AutoCAD (by a vendor named Autodesk). It had a Lisp-like language built-in named AutoLISP. It was the first Lisp running in my home that I can remember or at least the first I interacted with.CAD systems were clearly meant as a software tool for the kind of workflow previously done by hand, by draftsmen, involving printed blueprints. And a Lisp was exposed for user interaction about as early as you can get. When I interacted with it myself it felt like I was dealing with a REPL exposed by a Lisp VM (ported to an IBM PC class machine in the MS-DOS era) that also happened to have a graphics renderer and screen display. And I note the OP's college student "thesis" paper alone was written over 30 years after AutoCAD shipped to my family's home.So I am not clear if the OP is just ignorant of CAD's history, or they are making an intentionally baiting and misleading claim.
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