Tue, 04/21/2026 - 21:13
I'm in the process if building a CAD app that I feel is a pleasure to use. For me, that means writing it in Rust.
For now, that project is private until I feel comfortable sharing, but I'm working on a binding library in parallel.
https://github.com/occt-rs/occt-rs
I've only spent a day on _this_ repo so far, and yes, a lot of it is heavier on the LLM slop that I'm comfortable with. My main justification is that API bindings are a fairly boiler-platey thing.
A note on licence:
It's AGPL, dyn-linked to OCCT system library. I'm using it from my (currently closed, undistributed, and proprietary) application. It has a very heavy CLA. That is all preamble to my documented intent that the bindings, and the application project, is going to be FOSS.
I'm currently in the priviledged position to put in the work full-time for the next few months to come. My hope is to make a _really pleasant to use_ CAD system, that is feature-rich enough for basic models that a 3d-printing hobbyist or furniture maker would like to design. Usable in the browser (server running locally, or hosted in the cloud) or native.
Long term goal, if things work out really well, is to hand over the system to a foundation so as to safeguard the project. I would like to see the parametric modelling domain feel like they have their own version of blender, if that makes sense.
anyway. Just early days, and would be grateful for any words of encouragement and/or direction.