OpenSCAD + Claude: CAD Without Drawing a Single Line
I have been using Claude for something a bit different from my usual coding: designing physical parts to 3D print. The trick that makes it work is OpenSCAD. Why OpenSCAD fits an AI so well OpenSCAD is CAD written as code. Instead of clicking and dragging, you describe a part as shapes that are added together and cut from each other, and every dimension is a named variable. To a language model that is just a text file, so it can read the whole design, reason about it and change it precisely. My setup is simple: Claude Code runs in the terminal and edits the .scad file, while OpenSCAD has the same file open with automatic reload. Every time Claude saves, the 3D preview updates in front of me, so I watch the part take shape in real time. How the conversation goes I give it measurements, photos and what the part has to do. Claude writes a parametric model with comments explaining each value. I look at the preview and say what is wrong in plain words: "the corners look easy to...