ForgeBoard

AI-driven CAD assembly engine. Design parts, validate assemblies, generate BOMs.

ForgeBoard is an assembly orchestration engine, not a single-part generator. It coordinates the design of multiple components, constrains them into assemblies, detects collisions, generates bills of materials, and exports production-ready STEP/STL files -- all driven by natural language or Python API.

Quick Start

Install

pip install forgeboard

With all optional features:

pip install "forgeboard[all]"

CLI Usage

# Design components from a text description
forgeboard design "M5 bolt flange with 4 mounting holes on 40mm PCD"

# Assemble components from a registry file
forgeboard assemble --registry assembly.yaml

# Validate an assembly (collision detection, constraint satisfaction)
forgeboard validate --assembly output/assembly.step

# Generate a bill of materials
forgeboard bom --assembly output/assembly.step --format csv

# Render orthographic views
forgeboard render --assembly output/assembly.step --views front,right,top,iso

# Start the MCP server for AI agent integration
forgeboard serve

Python API

from forgeboard import ForgeBoard

fb = ForgeBoard()

# Design a component
bracket = fb.design("L-bracket, 3mm aluminum, 40x40mm, 4x M5 holes")

# Load existing components and assemble
assembly = fb.assemble(
    registry="assembly.yaml",
    validate=True,
)

# Export
assembly.export_step("output/assembly.step")
assembly.export_bom("output/bom.csv")

Features

• Build123d Engine -- powered by the Build123d CAD kernel for precise solid modeling with full OCCT support
• Swappable CAD Backend -- the CadEngine Protocol defines the interface for geometry operations. Build123d is the default; other backends (e.g., FreeCAD) can be plugged in by implementing the protocol
• Constraint-Based Assembly -- define mate pairs, axis alignments, and offsets; the solver positions components automatically
• Dry-Fit Bounding-Box Validation -- the assembly solver auto-generates Build123d box proxies from component dimensions when no detailed CAD geometry exists yet. This lets you validate layout, clearances, and spatial fit early in the design process without modeling every part
• Collision Detection -- interference checks between all component pairs before export. Pass skip_collisions=True to the solver for fast layout validation that skips the expensive pairwise collision pass
• BOM Generation -- structured bills of materials in CSV, JSON, or YAML with mass, material, and sourcing data. Cost calculation accepts both unit_cost and unit_cost_usd keys in the procurement dict
• MCP Server -- Model Context Protocol server for integration with AI coding agents (Claude Code, etc.)
• STEP/STL Export -- production-ready output in industry-standard formats
• Procurement Pipeline -- optional COTS component lookup and sourcing integration

Architecture

forgeboard/
|-- core/          # Part, Assembly, Constraint data models
|-- engines/       # Build123d geometry generation engine
|-- assembly/      # Constraint solver and assembly orchestration
|-- export/        # STEP, STL, and render export pipelines
|-- bom/           # Bill of materials generation
|-- procure/       # COTS component search and procurement
|-- mcp_server/    # Model Context Protocol server
|-- cli/           # Click-based command-line interface

                +------------------+
                |   CLI / MCP API  |
                +--------+---------+
                         |
              +----------v-----------+
              |   Assembly Solver    |
              |  (constraints, fit)  |
              +----+-----+-----+----+
                   |     |     |
          +--------+  +--+--+  +--------+
          |           |     |           |
    +-----v---+ +----v----+ +-----v-----+
    | Engine  | | Validate| |  Export    |
    | build123d| | collide | | STEP/STL  |
    +---------+ +---------+ +-----------+

Development

# Clone and install in dev mode
git clone https://github.com/forgeboard/forgeboard.git
cd forgeboard
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Lint and type-check
ruff check .
mypy forgeboard/

License

ForgeBoard is licensed under FSL-1.1-ALv2 (Functional Source License 1.1, Apache License 2.0 Change License). The source code is available for non-competing use immediately, and converts to Apache-2.0 after two years.

See LICENSE.md for full terms.