# Ask Mode: questions about the open model

> Ask Mode is read-only. It answers questions about geometry, features, materials, and mass properties in the open document, and can search the web for material and process data.

URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/
Updated: 2026-08-15

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- [Getting started](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/)
- [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/)
- [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/)

- [All Five Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/)
- [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/)
- [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/)
- [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/)

- [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/)
- [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/)

- [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/)
- [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/)

- [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/)
- [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/)
- [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/)

- [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/)

- [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/)
- [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/)

# Ask Mode

Read-only. It answers questions about the open document and changes none of it.

## What it can answer

- Geometry and dimensions: sizes, distances, wall thicknesses, bounding boxes.
- The feature tree: what each feature does, what depends on what, why one failed.
- Materials and mass properties, including the effect of a hypothetical substitution.
- Interference between components, with the clash volume for each pair it finds.
- Live web data: material properties, machining and process information, component pricing.

## What read-only guarantees

Because it cannot change anything, Ask Mode is safe to use on a released part, on someone else’s file, or on a document under PDM checkout.

Use it before an edit to establish what a feature does and what depends on it.

## Diagnosing errors

Ask Mode can see the failing feature and everything it depends on, so its answer is specific to your file.

Common uses: rebuild failures, dangling sketch relations, over-defined sketches, mate errors, and missing external references. See [SOLIDWORKS errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/).

On this page

- [What it can answer](#what-it-answers)
- [What read-only guarantees](#why-read-only)
- [Diagnosing errors](#diagnosis)