# SOLIDWORKS rebuild, sketch, and mate errors

> Using Ask Mode to diagnose rebuild failures, dangling relations, over-defined sketches, mate errors, and missing references in the context of your own model.

URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/
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/)

# SOLIDWORKS errors

These are SOLIDWORKS problems rather than CADABRA problems. Ask Mode can read the failing feature and everything it depends on.

## Ask about the specific failure

Ask Mode can read the failing feature, its parents, and what changed, so ask it directly: `why did this feature fail to rebuild` with the feature selected.

Because Ask Mode is read-only, doing this on a released or checked-out file is safe.

## The common causes

- **Rebuild failure after an edit.** A feature lost a reference that a parent used to provide. Ask which parent changed.
- **Dangling relations.** A sketch relation pointed at an edge or face that no longer exists.
- **Over-defined sketch.** Two constraints are asserting the same thing. Ask which pair conflicts.
- **Mate errors.** Usually over-constraint or a component whose geometry moved under the mate.
- **Missing external references.** A file moved, or a PDM reference did not resolve.

## Errors that appear after a CADABRA edit

The same causes apply: a downstream feature depended on something that changed. The feature tree shows exactly what changed.

Undo, ask what the failing feature depends on, then reissue the instruction with the dependency accounted for.

On this page

- [Ask about the specific failure](#ask-first)
- [The common causes](#common)
- [Errors that appear after a CADABRA edit](#after-a-change)