# KittyCAD/modeling-app

The Zoo Design Studio app.

Repository: https://github.com/KittyCAD/modeling-app
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/modeling-app
Homepage: https://zoo.dev/design-studio/download
Language: TypeScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: electron, playwright, react, tailwind, vitest, wasm
Last push: 2026-09-03T01:49:58+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 100, release rhythm 88, longevity 95
- inputs: {"age_days": 1330, "days_push": 0, "days_rel": 0, "gap_med": 1, "n_releases_24m": 246}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1289, forks 124 (observed 2026-09-03T02:15:06.410390+00:00)

## What it is
Zoo Design Studio is a cross-platform CAD application (Electron desktop builds plus a browser build) where every model is plain-text KCL code that can be diffed and version-controlled, editable through both point-and-click tools and a built-in code editor. Its 3D viewport streams video from Zoo's cloud-hosted GPU geometry engine over WebSockets, and it embeds Zookeeper, an AI CAD agent, alongside sketching, constraints, and file-conversion features.

## Use cases
- design 3d cad models by writing code instead of clicking
- version control my cad models in git like source code
- open source alternative to solidworks or fusion 360
- generate 3d models from text prompts with an ai agent
- point-and-click sketching with dimensions and constraints
- build parametric or generative parts for hardware design
- convert between cad file formats

## When to choose
- You want code-first CAD where models are human-readable text checked into git
- You want a hybrid workflow switching between GUI point-and-click and hand-written KCL on the same project
- Your local machine struggles with heavy geometry rendering and you accept a cloud engine streaming the view
- You want AI assistance (Zookeeper agent, MCP tools) built into your modeling workflow

## When to avoid
- You need fully offline CAD — the 3D view and geometry operations depend on Zoo's hosted engine and an account
- You rely on legacy proprietary CAD interoperability, large assemblies, or mature 2D drawing/drafting output
- You want a self-contained tool with no cloud dependency or usage-based pricing for engine time

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: graphics, gui, editor
- domain: graphics, desktop-applications, hardware, cross-platform
- platform: cross-platform, windows, browser, wasm
- tags: cad, kcl, parametric-modeling, 3d-modeling, code-cad, text-to-cad, ai-assisted-design, geometry-engine, mechanical-design, electron-app, websocket, cloud-rendering, playwright, electron, desktop, macos, linux

## Member repositories
- KittyCAD/modeling-app (main) score 95

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-09-03T02:15:06.410390+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 2026-08-30T04:57:39.498081+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/KittyCAD/modeling-app (fetched 2026-09-03T02:15:06.410390+00:00, sha 283127915aae)
  - homepage: https://zoo.dev/design-studio/download (fetched 2026-08-29T12:13:01.031753+00:00, sha b763a7a8edeb)
  - site_page: https://zoo.dev/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T12:13:01.034192+00:00, sha c173340a1cd0)
  - site_page: https://zoo.dev/docs/zoo-design-studio/getting-started (fetched 2026-08-29T12:13:01.044588+00:00, sha 914e815a0ee0)
  - site_page: https://zoo.dev/zoo-pricing (fetched 2026-08-29T12:13:01.040907+00:00, sha 2474d057da2f)
  - site_page: https://zoo.dev/api-pricing (fetched 2026-08-29T12:13:01.042788+00:00, sha 5f9097d1a691)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.