# Ask Mode: a SOLIDWORKS expert that knows your model > Ask Mode is CADABRA’s read-only assistant for SOLIDWORKS. It answers questions about the open model and pulls live data, materials, and standards from the web. URL: https://cadabrai.com/blog/ask-mode-solidworks-expert.html Updated: 2026-08-15 --- [← All posts](https://cadabrai.com/blog/) # Ask Mode: a SolidWorks expert that knows your model CADABRA Team · May 12, 2026 · 4 min read CADABRA's Ask Mode is the read-only counterpart to its editing tools. You don't ask it to change the model, you ask it questions about the model, and it answers using what it can see in SolidWorks plus, where useful, what it can pull from the web. ## What Ask Mode is good at ### Questions about your model Anything you could find by clicking through the FeatureManager, Mass Properties dialog, Evaluate tools, or properties pane: - "What's the mass of this assembly in steel? In aluminum 6061?" - "How many unique parts are in this assembly? How many fasteners?" - "What's the bounding box of the largest component?" - "Which mates reference the housing? Are any of them over-defined?" - "What features are suppressed in the current configuration?" - "Where is the model's center of gravity, and how far is it from the bottom face?" ### Questions about SolidWorks itself Ask Mode is also a SolidWorks reference that doesn't make you tab over to a forum: - "What's the difference between a coincident and a tangent mate?" - "How do I create a configuration-specific suppression state for this feature?" - "Why would a sketch be marked as 'invalid sketch' here?" ### Questions that need the web For anything that depends on live data, material costs, supplier lookups, standards references, manufacturing rates, Ask Mode performs a web search and cites the sources it used. Examples that work well today: - "What's the current price per kg of 6061-T6 aluminum?" - "What's a typical CNC machining rate per hour in the US for prismatic parts?" - "What's the standard tolerance for a press fit between a Ø10 shaft and a steel housing?" - "What's a reasonable supplier for M6 stainless socket-head screws in small quantities?" For the cost-and-DFM angle specifically, we wrote a dedicated post: [DFM and cost estimates at design time, not after the quote](dfm-cost-estimates-at-design-time.html). ## How Ask Mode reads your model When you open Ask Mode, CADABRA inspects the active SolidWorks document: feature tree, dimensions, custom properties, mates, configurations, mass properties. That context is what makes the answers specific to your part rather than generic SolidWorks documentation. Because Ask Mode is read-only, nothing about it modifies the model. It's safe to leave running while you work, and safe to use on production files without worrying about accidental edits. ## What Ask Mode is not good at (yet) Being honest about the rough edges: ### Anything that depends on simulation Ask Mode does not run FEA, CFD, or motion studies. If you ask "will this bracket fail at 500 N?", the best it can do is rough hand-calc estimates with caveats, not a substitute for a real simulation. ### Highly numeric DFM that needs a quote It can give you ballpark cost ranges and DFM heuristics. It cannot give you a real quote, only your shop can do that. Use it to catch obvious cost drivers before sending out for quote, not to replace the quote. ### Proprietary internal standards Ask Mode doesn't know your company's drawing template, your in-house material codes, or your preferred suppliers, unless you tell it. We're working on the ability to drop in your standards as context. ## The pattern that emerges Most teams using Ask Mode settle into one of three habits: 1. **Design-time sanity checks.** "How much does this weigh? What's the cost range for this volume of material? Will it fit through a standard CNC fixture?" 2. **Troubleshooting.** "Why is this mate failing? What does this rebuild error mean?", covered in detail in [Stop Googling SOLIDWORKS errors](troubleshoot-solidworks-errors.html). 3. **Knowledge transfer.** Junior engineers using Ask Mode as a senior-engineer-shaped rubber duck, asking the model questions they'd otherwise feel embarrassed to ask a colleague. Ask Mode pairs well with the [natural-language editor](edit-solidworks-in-plain-english.html): ask first, then edit. [Book a demo](https://cadabrai.com/pricing/#demo) if you want to see it run on a real model. ### Try CADABRA on your own model Natural-language edits, automated drawings, and Ask Mode, inside SolidWorks. Book a demo or start a plan today. ## Questions, answered. ### What is Ask Mode? Ask Mode is CADABRA’s read-only assistant. It answers questions about the open model, its geometry, dimensions, features, and materials, and it can search the web for component pricing, material properties, and manufacturing processes without leaving SOLIDWORKS. It makes no changes to your model. ### Can CADABRA fix SOLIDWORKS errors? CADABRA diagnoses rebuild errors, mate failures, dangling sketch relations, and missing references in the context of your open model, and explains what to change. Because it can see the feature tree and the failing feature, the answer is specific to your file. ### How accurate is it, and who checks the work? You do. CADABRA performs real operations on your model and shows exactly what it changed, so every edit is reviewable in the feature tree and revertible. ## Keep reading - [AI for SOLIDWORKSAn add-in that performs operations, not a chatbot beside the window.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-for-solidworks/) - [Ask ModeAnswers questions. Cannot modify anything.](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [GlossaryAI CAD and mechanical design terms, one paragraph each.](https://cadabrai.com/glossary/)