# BRL-CAD/brlcad

BRL-CAD is a powerful cross-platform open source combinatorial solid modeling system

Repository: https://github.com/BRL-CAD/brlcad
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/brlcad
Homepage: https://brlcad.org
Language: Tcl
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: cad
Last push: 2026-09-03T00:54:26+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 87/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 100, release rhythm 62, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 1994, "days_push": 0, "days_rel": 40, "gap_med": 250, "n_releases_24m": 4}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1021, forks 231 (observed 2026-09-03T02:15:05.085490+00:00)

## What it is
BRL-CAD is a cross-platform open source combinatorial solid modeling system with an interactive 3D geometry editor, a high-performance network-distributed ray-tracer, and geometric analysis libraries. It has been actively developed since 1979 and is used by the U.S. military for weapons system modeling.

## Use cases
- create and edit 3D solid geometry models
- ray-trace renderings of CAD models
- perform geometric analysis on solid models
- benchmark system performance with a rendering workload
- script geometry construction programmatically
- model weapons systems for vulnerability analysis

## When to choose
- you need CSG or B-REP solid modeling with a proven open-source kernel
- you need high-performance ray tracing for rendering or geometric analysis
- you need a cross-platform CAD system usable from scripts and libraries
- you work in defense or engineering analysis requiring precise solid geometry

## When to avoid
- you want modern parametric feature-based mechanical CAD like FreeCAD
- you need surface mesh modeling or sculpting rather than solid geometry
- you want a polished GUI-first modeling experience with a large community

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: graphics, simulation, image-processing, benchmarking, cli, gui
- domain: graphics, simulation, developer-tools
- platform: windows, bsd, cross-platform
- tags: cad, solid-modeling, csg, b-rep, ray-tracing, geometry-editor, 3d-modeling, tcl, computer-aided-design, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- BRL-CAD/brlcad (main) score 87

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-09-03T02:15:05.085490+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:09:20.337945+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/BRL-CAD/brlcad (fetched 2026-09-03T02:15:05.085490+00:00, sha 43896e430b16)
  - homepage: https://brlcad.org (fetched 2026-08-29T13:09:25.424842+00:00, sha 3eab998c96d6)
  - site_page: https://brlcad.org/wiki (fetched 2026-08-29T13:09:25.434150+00:00, sha b8c6aa20793d)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.