# Company modeling rules > One free-text field of up to 60,000 characters that is added to every run, so CADABRA builds to your hole sizing, fillet defaults, feature naming, material defaults and units without being told each time. URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/ Updated: 2026-08-28 --- - Getting started [Overview](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/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [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/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Modeling rules One free-text field. Whatever you would otherwise repeat in every prompt goes in it once, and every run reads it. ## Where the field is - Task pane: **Settings**, then **Modeling standards**, directly under **Units and precision**. **Edit rules** opens the editor, which counts characters as you type and saves with **Save standards**. **Clear** empties it after confirming "Clear your saved standards?" - Dashboard: `/dashboard/standards`, the card headed **Company modeling rules**. **Save rules** saves, and the line beside it then reads "The Agent uses these on its next run." On a later visit it reads "Last updated" with the date, and "You have unsaved changes." while an edit is pending. Both write the same field. There is no per-project or per-document version of it. ## How much fits 60,000 characters. The dashboard textarea stops accepting input at that point; the service refuses a longer body outright rather than storing a truncated set of rules. That is roughly a full modeling standards document. Rules that change what gets built. Each line is a decision the model would otherwise make on its own. ``` - Units: millimeters, 2 decimal places. Angles in degrees, 1 decimal place. - Clearance holes for metric socket screws: M3 3.4, M4 4.5, M5 5.5, M6 6.6. Never model a nominal-diameter clearance hole. - Fillets: 2 mm on internal machined corners, 1 mm break on external edges, unless the prompt gives a radius. - Material default: 6061-T6 for machined aluminium parts, 304 stainless for hardware brackets. Set it on the part, not just in a note. - Feature names: _, e.g. Cut_MountSlot, Boss_BearingSeat. No Extrude1, no Cut-Extrude2. - Sheet metal: 1.5 mm 5052, bend radius equal to thickness, K-factor 0.44. ``` ## How a run uses them The rules text is appended to the instructions CADABRA sends with every turn, under the heading **Company modeling rules**, introduced with one line: "Org standards. Apply to every part, assembly and feature you create or modify, unless the user overrides." So [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) builds to them without being reminded, and the read-only modes can be asked about them. Asked whether a model meets the rules, CADABRA audits instead of applying: it works through every rule that bears on what it inspected and reports each as met, not met, or not determinable, names what it inspected, and says where the rules are silent. A rule it did not check is never reported as passing. ## When a rule and a prompt disagree The prompt wins. "Apply to every part, assembly and feature you create or modify, unless the user overrides" is the instruction the rules arrive with, so asking for a 5 mm fillet where the rules say 2 mm gets you 5 mm, for that turn only. Nothing about the saved rules changes, and the next turn is back on 2 mm. Two rules that contradict each other are a different problem. Nothing resolves them for you, and the model picks one. Read the field back after a long paste and delete the loser. ## Who the rules apply to On a plan with Drawings access and an organization on the account, the rules are stored against the organization, so one person editing them changes what everyone in that organization gets. Drawings access is Enterprise today. On every other plan the rules are stored against your own account only. The panel caches the rules for 5 minutes. An edit made in the task pane takes effect on the next run on that machine; an edit made on the dashboard or on someone else's machine can take up to 5 minutes to reach a panel that is already open. ## Turning an existing standards document into rules Attach your modeling standard as a PDF or a text document to a prompt in the panel, and the attachment chip in the transcript carries a **Save as standards** button. It rewrites the document as the durable rules an assistant can follow, keeping every number, tolerance, code and standard reference verbatim, and dropping prose, revision tables and approvals. It shows "Reading…" while it works, then "Saved as your modeling standards." If the document distils to more than 60,000 characters even after a second, tighter pass, nothing is saved and CADABRA tells you the size it reached. Split the document, or paste the part you want. [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) covers the file limits for that upload. ## What this field does not do - It does not set drawing conventions. Title blocks, projection and notes come from [drawing standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/). - It does not change the SOLIDWORKS document unit setting. That is **Units and precision** in Settings, and it reaches the model as an instruction too. See [preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/). - It is not enforced. Nothing blocks a build that breaks a rule, and nothing audits your existing files unless you ask. On this page - [Where the field is](#where) - [How much fits](#limit) - [How a run uses them](#how-it-applies) - [When a rule and a prompt disagree](#conflicts) - [Who the rules apply to](#scope) - [Turning an existing standards document into rules](#from-a-document) - [What this field does not do](#not-this)