Native AI assistant for SOLIDWORKS — grounded in your live CAD session, not generic chat.
Adze is a free, in-process SOLIDWORKS add-in. It reads your active document through 18 typed tools, reasons over the results with an agentic AI loop, and delivers grounded answers in a conversational Task Pane. Write operations follow an 8-step safety lifecycle: plan, preview, approve, apply, verify, trace, undo-label, and history. Nothing leaves your machine unless you choose a cloud provider.
Current status: v0.1.1 shipped. v1.0.0 PAUSED. v1.1 UI rebuild = primary track. The v1.0 release path was paused after R5.3/R5.4 unblocked — the team prioritised a native-WinForms sidebar rebuild over shipping the v1.0 polish to address a perception gap (the IE11 WebBrowser sidebar feels embedded rather than native to SOLIDWORKS). The v0.1.1 public-beta release remains the last stable build. The legacy WebBrowser sidebar is still the default; the new native sidebar lands behind a feature gate (
SOLIDWORKS_AI_NATIVE_SIDEBAR, default OFF) until the new surface is verified live.18 typed tools (10 read + 1 retrieval + 7 write), 767 tests, agentic loop, governed writes, streaming, multi-provider AI. Confirmed working on SOLIDWORKS for Makers (the $48/yr consumer tier) — no commercial license required.
| Capability | Details |
|---|---|
| Reads your document | Feature trees, dimensions, mates, configs, diagnostics, custom properties, reference graphs |
| Runs an agentic loop | The model calls tools, observes results, and iterates — you see each tool chip as it fires |
| Governs writes | Preview before apply, verification after, cascade analysis, trust-tier gating, undo labels |
| Works offline | Deterministic fallback broker works without internet or API keys |
| Runs local models | Ollama and LM Studio support — no data leaves your machine |
| Streams answers | SSE real-time streaming from any supported provider |
| Quick actions | One-tap toolbar: Diagnose, Mates, Dimensions, Properties — no typing required |
| Tool | What it reads |
|---|---|
get_active_document |
Document type, path, configuration, rebuild state |
get_document_summary |
Feature count, body count, material, mass properties |
get_selection_context |
Currently selected entities and their properties |
get_feature_tree_slice |
Feature tree with types, suppression state, errors |
get_dimensions |
All dimensions with values, tolerances, driven state (paginated) |
get_configurations |
Configuration names, parameters, active config |
get_custom_properties |
Document and configuration-specific custom properties |
get_mates |
Assembly mates with types, status, references (paginated) |
get_rebuild_diagnostics |
Rebuild errors and warnings with affected features |
get_reference_graph |
Component references and dependency relationships |
search_project_files |
Search closed SOLIDWORKS files by keyword or property |
| Tool | What it does | Class |
|---|---|---|
set_custom_property |
Set or create custom properties | Standard |
set_dimension_value |
Change dimension values (triggers rebuild, config-scoped) | Standard |
suppress_feature |
Suppress features with cascade risk analysis | Standard |
unsuppress_feature |
Unsuppress features (triggers rebuild) | Standard |
rename_object |
Rename features with collision and reference checks | Standard |
insert_component |
Insert components into assemblies | Elevated |
create_drawing_view |
Create standard drawing views (9 view types) | Elevated |
All write tools: preview → user approves → apply → verify → trace → undo label. Elevated tools show orange-bordered confirmation cards with explicit warnings.
If you just want to see what Adze does on your SOLIDWORKS install:
- Download the latest release zip from Releases
- Extract it, then double-click
install-adze.bat— the PowerShell installer runs in a console window, registers the add-in per-user, and reports a verify-after-write check. - (Optional) Double-click
Adze.Manager.exeto open the Adze Manager — a small WinForms control panel for ongoing management (logs, settings, install state, Launch SOLIDWORKS button, Verify Setup, Eject for Update). - Launch SOLIDWORKS — the Adze panel appears in the right sidebar. Type a question about the active document, click Run assistant.
No API key needed. Adze runs a built-in deterministic broker that reads your document and returns grounded answers using the 11 read tools. To enable AI-powered answers (OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, Ollama, LM Studio), use the Manager's Settings tab or see AI Configuration below.
The Adze Manager is a separate post-install tool. It shows install state, whether SOLIDWORKS or the 3DEXPERIENCE updater are running, the last-verified SW build, the most recent compatibility-probe result, and your config path. Use it to launch SOLIDWORKS, uninstall, or Eject for Update (safely detaches Adze before you apply a 3DX update, so the updater can run cleanly).
Installed per-user at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Adze\bin — no admin privileges required. To uninstall, double-click uninstall-adze.bat or click Uninstall in the Manager.
install-adze.bat is the one-click installer. It runs the PowerShell installer with the same flags as the headless path:
powershell.exe -NoProfile -File install-adze.ps1Both perform the same HKCU COM registration and DLL copy to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Adze\bin. Launch Adze.Manager.exe separately for the GUI control panel.
Prerequisites: Windows 10/11 · SOLIDWORKS 2025+ · Visual Studio 2022+ · .NET Framework 4.8 · PowerShell 5.1+
# Build the solution
pwsh -NoProfile -File scripts\setup\build-all.ps1 -StopSolidWorks
# Install from repo (builds Debug, registers per-user)
powershell.exe -NoProfile -File install\install-adze.ps1
# Run tests
pwsh -NoProfile -File scripts\setup\run-tests.ps1See SETUP.md for full configuration, model setup, and troubleshooting.
Adze works without any AI configuration using its deterministic fallback. To enable AI-powered answers, set environment variables in a .env file at the repo root:
SOLIDWORKS_AI_ENABLE_MODEL=true
SOLIDWORKS_AI_AGENT_LOOP=true
SOLIDWORKS_AI_PROVIDER=openai # openai | anthropic | ollama | lmstudio
SOLIDWORKS_AI_OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
Local models — no data leaves your machine:
SOLIDWORKS_AI_PROVIDER=ollama
# Requires: ollama serve && ollama pull <model>
OpenRouter — single key for OpenAI and Anthropic models:
SOLIDWORKS_AI_PROVIDER=openai
SOLIDWORKS_AI_OPENAI_ENDPOINT=https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
SOLIDWORKS_AI_OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-or-...
See SETUP.md for all provider options, feature gates, and environment variables.
| Variable | Default | What it enables |
|---|---|---|
SOLIDWORKS_AI_ENABLE_MODEL |
false |
AI-powered answers |
SOLIDWORKS_AI_AGENT_LOOP |
false |
Iterative agentic tool calling |
SOLIDWORKS_AI_FIRST_WAVE_WRITES |
false |
Write tool definitions in agent loop |
SOLIDWORKS_AI_RETRIEVAL |
false |
Closed-file search tool |
SOLIDWORKS_AI_STREAM_FINAL_TEXT |
false |
SSE streaming for real-time answers |
SOLIDWORKS_AI_NATIVE_SIDEBAR |
false |
v1.1 native WinForms sidebar (replaces legacy WebBrowser sidebar). See Switching to the v1.1 sidebar in SETUP. |
SOLIDWORKS (host process)
└── Adze.Host (COM add-in, Task Pane UI, native sidebar shim)
├── Adze.Broker (AI orchestration, provider routing, agentic loop)
├── Adze.Tools (18 typed tool implementations)
├── Adze.Trace (traces, recipes, progression, memory)
├── Adze.Index (closed-file OLE indexer, no COM dependency)
├── Adze.Contracts (shared types, schemas, tool contracts, ITaskPaneHost)
└── Adze.UI (native WinForms sidebar v2 — gated behind SOLIDWORKS_AI_NATIVE_SIDEBAR)
Standalone tooling:
Adze.Manager.exe (4-tab control panel: Logs / Settings / Agent Profile / Status)
Adze.UiHarness.exe (out-of-SOLIDWORKS dev shell for hot UI iteration)
| Project | Role |
|---|---|
| Adze.Host | SOLIDWORKS lifecycle, Task Pane, COM context capture, write UI; hosts NativeTaskPaneControlShim for v1.1 sidebar |
| Adze.Broker | Prompt composition, OpenAI/Anthropic/local clients, agentic loop runner |
| Adze.Tools | Read and write tool implementations, dependency analyzer |
| Adze.Trace | JSON persistence for traces, snapshots, recipes, achievements |
| Adze.Index | OLE Structured Storage file indexer — reads SOLIDWORKS files without COM |
| Adze.Contracts | Shared models, enums, tool names, write contracts, ITaskPaneHost |
| Adze.Manager | Standalone WinForms control panel (Adze.Manager.exe) — 4 tabs, install/uninstall/eject orchestration |
| Adze.UiHarness | Out-of-SOLIDWORKS dev shell — mounts NativeTaskPaneControl against a stub host for hot iteration |
| Adze.UI | Native WinForms sidebar v2 (NativeTaskPaneControl + ChatMessageView + WriteCardView + QuickActionsBar + MarkdownToRichText) — runtime UI library, no SOLIDWORKS interop |
767 NUnit unit tests across all layers:
- Broker orchestration, model response parsing, prompt composition
- All 11 read tools and all 7 write tools
- Write execution coordinator, snapshot/diff/verification
- Agent loop runner, tool dispatcher, capability gate probing
- Learning system (trust tiers, recipe capture, achievements)
- Per-document memory, cost budgets, feature gates
- Conversation state, multi-turn context, OLE indexer
- Session telemetry, error classifier, dependency analyzer
- AgentPolicyEngine (trust-gated tool access, 27 tests)
- SSE streaming, rate limiting, tool result truncation
- 6 live provider smoke tests (skip gracefully without API key)
See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, coding conventions, and how to submit changes.
MIT — see LICENSE.
v0.1.1 (last shipped) — Public beta. 18 typed tools, 670 unit tests, agentic loop, governed write lifecycle, SSE streaming, 5 AI providers, AgentPolicyEngine trust tiers, quick-action toolbar, live tool execution chips.
v1.0.0 (PAUSED, not released) — In-app Settings panel, DPAPI-encrypted API key storage, zero-config defaults, double-click .bat installers, user-facing label polish. Release path paused 2026-04-28 to prioritise the v1.1 UI rebuild (the IE11 WebBrowser sidebar undermines Adze's positioning as a native CAD tool).
v1.1 (in development) — Native WinForms sidebar (Adze.UI library), 4-tab Adze.Manager control panel, indigo #4F46E5 visual refresh, QuickActionsBar chips, hot-iteration dev harness (Adze.UiHarness), dark mode, feature-gated cutover behind SOLIDWORKS_AI_NATIVE_SIDEBAR (default OFF). Architectural rationale: docs/adr/001-native-winforms-ui-authority.md.
Built by VH Tech as a free tool for the SOLIDWORKS engineering community.