Get the repetitive half done.
Family-wide edits, rebuild fixes, exports and component lookups, driven from the task pane while you stay on the design.
Where the hours go.
Changes across a family
A wall thickness, a hole size, a bolt circle, repeated over every configuration and every part that shares it.
Rebuild errors
A broken reference three features down, found by clicking through the tree until something turns red.
Exports and file prep
The same PDF, STEP, Parasolid and DXF set, produced by hand for each release.
What CADABRA takes over.
Agent Mode: describe the change, it runs the operations.
Type the edit and CADABRA performs the native feature operations, then exports the files you ask for. Real geometry in the tree, not a throwaway macro.
Debug Mode: the failed feature, named.
It rebuilds the document and reports the feature, sketch or mate that broke and why, so a bad reference stops being a hunt.
Plan Mode: review the sequence before it runs.
On a change you would rather check first, CADABRA writes the steps and touches nothing until you approve them.
Ask Mode: answers without leaving SOLIDWORKS.
Geometry, dimensions, materials and live web search for supplier and process data, answered against the open document.
Who it is for.
- Independent engineers and consultants billing for design time, not for rework.
- Job shops and small product teams pushing revisions faster than the paperwork keeps up.
- Design engineers whose week is half modeling and half repetition.
Questions from engineers.
How much time does it actually save?
It depends entirely on the work. The gains concentrate where the task is repetitive and well specified: generating drawings across an assembly, applying the same edit to a family of parts, and batch hole or fillet changes. On one-off modeling that needs judgment, expect little. The free plan exists so you can measure it on your own parts before paying.
Why not just write a macro or an API script?
Macros work for a fixed, repeated sequence: they break when the feature tree changes, they need a developer to maintain, and each new variation is a new script. CADABRA resolves intent against the actual model at run time, so one prompt covers cases that would otherwise need a separate macro each.
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.
Can it find the right component instead of me modeling one?
For fasteners, yes. CADABRA sizes one to the measured bore and takes it from a company part you name, then your SOLIDWORKS Toolbox, then a parametric screw it models, stopping at the first source that supplies one. It can also insert and mirror components you point it at. For anything else, Ask Mode can search the web for supplier and specification data, but nothing places a catalog part into your assembly for you.
How much does CADABRA cost?
CADABRA has a free plan with no card required. Standard is $50/month for 5M credits a month and commercial use by one engineer. Professional is $120/month for 10M credits a month, DFM review, cost estimates and the Max reasoning level. Enterprise is custom priced and is the only plan with Drawings Mode, custom standards, SSO, zero-retention handling and a dedicated engineer. Every paid plan can be billed yearly at 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $20/month on the education plan at cadabrai.com/education.
Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license?
Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them.
Put it on your own parts.
Install the add-in, open a part you know, and give it a change you would rather not do by hand.